Encoding MPEGs?

[bigmo]

I have some movies in MPEG format that I would like to shrink down by re-encoding them.

The encoder I've used for all of my DVD movies is HC Enc with DVD-RB, in order to compress them down to fit onto a single DVD-R. But I don't plan on putting these MPEG movies on a DVD-R, I merely want to store them on my harddrive and playback on the computer alone. I'd like to shrink them down as much as I possibly can while preserving quality in order to save the harddrive space.

How could I setup HC Encoder to 'compress' it a custom %? Normally DVD-RB handles that for me by calculating how much is necessary to fit on a DVD-R, but seeing as how the files are only around 300mb, I think I need to do it manually to make this work.

ps: Since I don't intend on playing this on a TV, would reducing the frames per second from the usual 29~ or so a TV uses to a modest 25~ also cause the movie's size to be reduced? Is it even possible to do that?

Thanks.

[Mug Funky]

old bitrate * percent/100 = new bitrate :)

to find the old bitrate you can use bitrateview or something similar (though bitrateview free edition gives wrong numbers, so you have to multiply by 1.024 to get the real rate).

[petermarina]

Have you considered DIVX or XVID for low bitrate movies?

[feedback]

I merely want to store them on my harddrive and playback on the computer alone. I'd like to shrink them down as much as I possibly can while preserving quality in order to save the harddrive space.

For storing to and playing back from your HD, using only your computer to view, I agree Xvid would be the way to go.

Check out the Xvid forum here at doom9.

Regards,:)