Recoding isn't really this hard?.. is it?..

[deathtical]

What I am using...

VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 (full package)
Avisynth 2.5
Xvid 1.1.2
WMP
MPC
ZoomPlayer

What I am trying to do...

I have some .mp4 files that I would like to convert to .avi.

My system doesn't handle the .mp4 files very well and I have gone through forums to try and config my system to better handle the .mp4 files but with no luck. I have been through the paces trying to convert them but the files either come out HUGE, unplayable, or crash the media player (all three). I don't mind the files being bigger... just not HUGE!!! The .mp4 files are about 230-250mb but the playable .avi files I get are almost twice that. I have tried resizing, single pass, and double pass (which never produces a usable file). Could someone please help with this? I have tried making sense of the FAQs on both VirtualDubMod's and Avisynth's web pages but they seem to assume that the person using it has worked with video editing of some kind and understands what they are talking about. I am not new to computers (been an IT Pro for over 10 years) so I think I am pretty good at understanding technical things but I am at a loss with this encoding stuff. If anyone is willing to "hold my hand" a bit and help me understand what I am doing or not doing and can provide some information that a lay person could understand I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

PS: Let me know if you need any further info that would help you to help me. Not sure what I could do in return for the help but would do what I could to return the favor.

[Guest]

Let me know if you need any further info that would help you to help me. Are they movies and how did you make the MP4s?

[deathtical]

They are video files. I had some old VOB files that I wanted to compress down. I have an ATI video card that came with a tool called AVIVO. It uses the video card to do the work instead of the CPU. It's pretty fast but the only files it will produce without crashing are the .mp4 files (probably some proprietary thing there). So I used it to convert my VOBs to .mp4 and (I should know better) deleted the original VOBs. Now when I try to play them back my system runs very slow. I burned one onto a disc and brought it to work (where I have a better PC) and the file plays just fine there. So I know the files are ok just my home PC doesn't have the juice to keep up :( . Trust me, I'd love to upgrade at home but that isn't an option for a while. So I'd like to just convert them into good old .avi files but the AVIVO thing keeps crashing. I did some looking around and read some forums on "transcoding" and these tools where said to be quick and easy to use. So here I am...

[setarip_old]

Hi!deleted the original VOBs.I'd suggest it would be simplest to re-rip your original DVDs that the VOBs came from...

[Jay Bee]

It would make MUCH mroe sense to sort out your playback problem than to reencode all the files. Unless it's a hardware problem of course. What are your PC specs?

[jggimi]

This is a repeat of http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=121552 in which our newbie was advised of rule 6 violations.

Unfortunately, "altering reality" and reposting the same question gets the same result.

Thread closed.