Re-encoding AVI files

[purplemist62]

I have numerous AVI files (home videos) which i need to burn onto a DVD. One AVI file is only 16 minutes in length (which I created with Adobe Priemere), yet it 3.35 BG large!! Is there anyway i can compress or "re-encode" the AVI files so that i can fit more per DVD? Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[celtic_druid]

Well assuming that you want it playable on a standalone, then you would have to convert to DVD compliant MPEG2 anyway, which would definatly be smaller.

If you are just using it for storage/backup, then I am not sure what to suggest, as I can't really think of anyway of reducing the size without sacrificing quality... You could always put it back on a DV tape.

 

[purplemist62]

Thank you for your reply! (yes, for the purpose of stand-alone)
Though i am not very knowledgable, i thought that any mpeg files are larger than AVI files? How can i convert them to mpeg? Will i lose any quality?
Also, i believe i have burned a few DVD's with AVI files, and they played fine on my stand-alone. Is there a higher chance of problems with AVI files versus the mpeg? (i must make multiple copies of these dvd's, and do not want to anticipate problems with people's dvd players)

Also, i am confused. As i said earlier, one AVI file is 3.34 GB large (when i view it's properties) Yet when i went into "Sonic My DVD" to see how much i could burn, it said i could actually put on many files. According to looking at properties, the total size of the files should have been approx 12 GB. Does anyone know if this program (Sonic MyDVD) compresses files itself??

 

[celtic_druid]

Definatly sounds like Sonic MyDVD is re-encoding, although I would suggest that you do the encoding and authoring seperatly, as it gives more control, also probably better quality if you say use CCE for a 3 pass encode.

Yes, you will definatly loose quality as MPEG2 is a lossy format (with a decent bitrate/encoder, I doubt you coudl tell though), the audio you could keep the same quality, although I would still recommend converting it to AC3 or mp2, you could even have a go at creating 5.1 sound out of your stereo source.