Keeping File Size Down

[Scarpad]

I'm starting to use AutoGK and Xvid to convert My TV show DVD Collection over to Divx and play from a media Server. First up I'm doing the Original Star Trek. I'm retaining the AC3 and setting the quality percentage to 75% and 640 width. I'm getting file sizes around 650-800 meg. The quality is stunning. But I was hoping to keep these 1 hr Shows down to about 500 meg an episode. Now the original TOS was film based and might not compress down as much and it was longer than a show today approx 51 minutes compared to Next Generations 45 min. Any tips for keeping file size down and quality up? If I lower my resolution down from 640 can I retain quality? Also I've noticed converting to MP3 takes longer and really does not save much on size.

Any suggestions appreciated.

[manono]

Hi-

Yes, there are several things you can do. If you want to go for a specific size, then you can run 2 passes for a final size of 500 MB and let AutoGK make the other choices. Doing it that way however, you'll probably get the different episodes at different resolutions. Or you can choose the fixed size with a fixed resolution, but the final quality may vary quite a bit.

If you prefer to stay with the one pass quality method, then you have no choice but to either lower the resolution, the quality, or both. As to whether or not lowering the res will maintain quality, only you can judge. Try one at, say, 576*xxx and have a look. But going from 650-800 MB to 500 MB is a big step down, and you'll have to make some compromises to achieve it.