Videos: avi to mpeg

[tetrisfrk]

Anyone know a good freeware to convert avi files to mpeg? Thanks in advance.

[AeroSquid]

google is your friend.

http://www.filetransit.com/view.php?id=22063

(shareware)

there are freeware ones out there, check out www.dvdrhelp.com and expand your mind :p

[Kima]

If you convert from avi to mpeg, does it make the file smaller? I tried to email a short avi and it takes so long it keeps timing out.

[AeroSquid]

If you want to make an avi smaller and not lose quality your best bet is to convert it to DiVX. More info available here- www.dvrhelp.com

[Kima]

Thank you, I'll check it out!

[s00pcan]

tmpgenc
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[HKMonkey]

Allow me to expound on s00pcan's post... tmpgenc is a great tool that you can use to convert .avi files to .mpg. You can make the file size smaller by converting the file to use a smaller bitrate. But if you do that, you will also get a file with lower video quality. There are ways to get a smaller file size and not lose video quality (eg. Variable Bitrates), but if you are just beginning, you may get frustrated with that. As Aerosquid mentioned earlier, definately check out www.dvdrhelp.com (aka videohelp.com aka vcdhelp.com). It has a lot of great info including some step by step tutorials. It should help a lot!

Find tmpgenc at www.tmpgenc.net (http://www.tmpgenc.net)

[s00pcan]

Variable bitrates? Sounds like a good idea, and I haven't used it.

[HKMonkey]

Yeah, in the project wizard, under other settings, there is a setting for the rate control mode. By default it is set to a constant bitrate of 1150 kbits/sec. With this, the entire movie is encoded at this bitrate whether you need it or not. The better option is the 2-Pass VBR (Variable Bitrate). With this, you set your high and low and average bitrates. The program does two passes with the movie, first analyzing and then encoding. It sees where there is less movement in the movie and assigns it the lower bitrates because it is not needed and assigns the higher bitrates to the higher action scenes. You get a smoother video and a smaller file size (usually) because it is not using a higher bitrate for scenes that do not require it. This of course is a much slower process than the CBR (Constant Bitrate), but the results are worth it. I just start a movie before bed and let it run overnight. Check out www.dvdrhelp.com for a better description than I gave!