Re: Newbie needs help fast!
- From: Terry Pinnell <terrypin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 10:03:50 +0100
trotter <swish@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Greetings. I've just filmed my first video clips using my digital
camera. The files are in uncompressed avi format. I'd like to post my
clips on the net, but they're too big (38mb for a 20 second clip) so
I'm looking for a free, idiot-proof utility that will allow my to
somehow reduce the filesize without drastically reducing the quality.
I have no idea what I'm doing yet. I downloaded something called
virtualdub which allows me to do the editing I wanted to do (rotate,
crop and sharpen), but I can't figure out how to compress the files. I
see compression options listed, but I don't know how to use them. Does
anyone know how to use this program OR can you please recommend
another free one that'll do the job even for a moron like myself? I've
got impatient models waiting for results...D'OH! Thanks!!!
As you already have VirtualDub, here's a step-by-step on how to
compress a file:
1) Open VirtualDub
2) File > Open video file. Browse to your large AVI file.
3) Video > Normal recompress. That sets the correct mode for
compression.
4) Video > Compression. That opens the 'Select video compression'
dialog. You should now see a list of all the codecs supported by your
system. (In my case there are 25, although several appear duplicated,
and many are similar.) That's about as far as we can go confidently
until we know what codecs *you* have. But, meanwhile, this is how I
proceed...
5) Select 'DivX 6.4.0 Codec (Logical CPU)'. Note the Format
restrictions about Height and Width, and ensure that your input meets
them (and the colour depth spec, which is rarely an issue.) Click
Configure.
6) For now, select 'Unconstrained' in the Certification Profile box,
and '1-pass quality-based' in the Rate Control mode, and '4' in Fixed
Quantizer. Click OK. And again, to close that dialog.
7) File > Save as AVI, and enter an appropriate name. Click Save.
In my case, a 32 MB input AVI file was converted to a 2 MB AVI file.
You were not very precise about what you wanted to do with your
converted files ("I'd like to post my clips on the net..."). However,
the above might fully meet your needs, assuming you have or can
install a suitable codec. YouTube for example can accept AVI files.
But if you need to convert the AVI to WMV format, then you would
probably be better off using MovieMaker (MM), as Robert suggests.
(IMO, I think you'll find Windows Media Encoder rather complex, but
try it and see.)
Begging the questions of what sort of PC and OS you use, MM also has
the advantage of being already installed on XP and Vista systems. But,
unless you and your intended viewers are very tolerant, you'll need to
take care to preserve the aspect ratio so that circles and faces don't
get distorted. The default options for WMV output in MM don't
automatically handle that. However, there are custom options at the
output stage that will do so.
--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
.
- References:
- Newbie needs help fast!
- From: trotter
- Newbie needs help fast!
- Prev by Date: Re: HD Video on regular DVD?
- Next by Date: Oddball audio synch problems.
- Previous by thread: Re: Newbie needs help fast!
- Next by thread: Film making summer class/camp in Boston area
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
