Two 700MB AVIs -> 1400MB AVI -> 700MB AVI

[clueo8]

I have 2 700 MB avi's that I put together using v-dub and now I have a 1.36GB (1400MB) avi that I would like to re-encode and shrink it down to a single 700 MB avi. How can I get the 1400MB down to 700MB?

[jellysandwich]

How much help do you need? What do you know how to do already?

js

[Peter1234]

clueo8:
There are many types of AVI files. What type do you want? DivX?

[Peter1234]

Forum Moron:
It just has to be re-encoded at half the data rate. Quality will of course not be as good at lower data rate.

[Teegedeck]

A good first step would be to get rid of the AC3 audio if there is any. Beyond that: good luck!

[mg262]

As a rough outline of the video part of the process, you first need to calculate the target bit rate by dividing the length of the movie by the space available... e.g. type this into Google:

700 MB/112 minutes in kbps

and you will see

(700 MB) / (112 minutes) = 853.333333 kbps

Then you subtract from that your audio bit rate to get your video bit rate;
now for the compression itself. From the compression menu of VirtualDub select Fast Recompress and under Compression choose whatever codec you want with the appropriate bit rate, and save the video.

In practice you will probably want to recompress audio as well. You can use the StreamList option in the Streams menu of VirtualDub(Mod) to a) save the audio as a separate file and b) remove it from the video file. Recompressing the audiowill require another application... go and read the guides.You shouldbe able to at the new audio back in by using the Stream List option again (thoughI haven't tried this myself...)

[Doobie]

You'll get a lot lower quality with DVD -> 1400MB -> 700MB than you would with DVD -> 700MB.

I see so many posts of people asking how to do things they shouldn't be doing. Why do you need to cut the file size in half? Blank CDs too expensive?

But, if you must, if you have AC3 audio, recode it to 128Kbs MP3, or better yet, 64Kbps HE-AAC or Ogg (this leaves more room for video). Chop off the end credits and maybe a bit of the intro. Now, recode video.

If you want the easiest way, rather than the optimal results, download the Divx6 encoder, drag your 1400MB file into the encoder, choose 700MB, and poof, you'll have what you're looking for.

[setarip_old]

oh yeah, where do i select my bitrate in vdub?

"Video" dropdown menu>>Compression>>Codec>>Configure

[clueo8]

Well, I started this mess, I might as well respond to some of the questions... I hate when its 2 seperate 700MB files, cause when its just a single 700MB for an entire movie, I don't notice any quality differences, and it saves on space...

I want the output to be a XVid encoded AVI... Divx6 encoder will give me a .divx file and it didn't compress it to 700MB when I tried it... I used Dixv Creator... if thats the program you were talking about... I'm not quite sure.

[mg262]

Well, I started this mess, I might as well respond to some of the questions... I hate when its 2 seperate 700MB files, cause when its just a single 700MB for an entire movie, I don't notice any quality differences, and it saves on space...What is your source?

[jellysandwich]

Well, I started this mess, I might as well respond to some of the questions... I hate when its 2 seperate 700MB files, cause when its just a single 700MB for an entire movie, I don't notice any quality differences, and it saves on space...

I want the output to be a XVid encoded AVI... Divx6 encoder will give me a .divx file and it didn't compress it to 700MB when I tried it... I used Dixv Creator... if thats the program you were talking about... I'm not quite sure.

If you re-encode a 1400MB video file into a 700MB one, you WILL notice a difference. A dramatic one, that is.

js

[Manngo]

@jellysandwich
I guess he reencoded AC3 audio to MP3 in the same time. This means 448-128=320Kbps sparing. This can help a lot against video quality loose.
BTW I would write it on a DVD, so that I don't need to change the disc in the middle.

[Doobie]

Well, I started this mess, I might as well respond to some of the questions... I hate when its 2 seperate 700MB files, cause when its just a single 700MB for an entire movie, I don't notice any quality differences, and it saves on space...

I understand that 1CD is convenient; the whole thing in one place, on one disk. And, if done from the original DVD, usually the results will be satisfactory on one CD. But, I don't understand why someone wouldt try to reduce a 2CD to 1CD. It's a lot of hassle for bad results. Just go ahead and burn two disks.

I want the output to be a XVid encoded AVI... Divx6 encoder will give me a .divx file and it didn't compress it to 700MB when I tried it... I used Dixv Creator... if thats the program you were talking about... I'm not quite sure.

Divx6 makes AVI files. You can just rename the *.divx to *.avi. And, Divx Encoder will do a very good job at hitting target file size, just make sure you tell it you want a 700MB file.

[CWR03]

Forum Moron, I expected that. If you do the initial encode to one CD and at a smaller resolution, it may not be so bad. I helped someone back up Kill Bill Vol. 1 at 640 x 272 with MP3 audio, and it actually came out pretty good.

[Wesmosis]

I'm always doin' this thing with every 2 DVD rips I got
I'm prefer only 1 cd
i'm using the VDmod