Reduce movie file size?

A570 IS movie
I went on vacation a few weeks ago, so before going I played a little bit with the movie mode and discovered that a 3 min. movie shot with the default settings made a very large file (over 300MB I think). It took ages to download to my computer and then didn't play properly (jumpy). I played with the camera settings (uhmmm...cannot remember what I did but I think I changed the frames per second from 30 to 15) and was happy with the result.

So off I go on my hols and start taking short movies. When I arrived home and downloaded the movies (it took forever!) I discovered that half of them were ok, but then I must have accidentally changed the settings (or does it go back to default when the batteries die?) and the later half are back to 30 fps They will not play properly on my computer. They range from 30 to 300+ MB.

So, my question is....is there any way that I can reduce the file size or frames per sec. or whatever so they aren't so big and so that they will play properly on my computer? (I had no problem with playback on the camera itself)

Please be kind....I am new to this forum and only had the camera a few months....I am not too computer savvy either but I can follow step by step instructions, as long as all the steps are there!

Thanks
Linda

Hi, welcome to POTN.

I'm not a big movie maker so I'm not too sure but I'm surprised that the software for the camera won't display the movies very well. What software are you using by the way?

There are some movie editors that will reduce file sizes. I think microsoft movie maker will allow you to do this - you should have it as it comes with windows I think. That's about as much as I know though! There are a few here who will be able to help you more, they should pop up in time, hopefully!

LindaCanada wrote in post #5629842
A570 IS movie
I went on vacation a few weeks ago, so before going I played a little bit with the movie mode and discovered that a 3 min. movie shot with the default settings made a very large file (over 300MB I think). It took ages to download to my computer and then didn't play properly (jumpy). I played with the camera settings (uhmmm...cannot remember what I did but I think I changed the frames per second from 30 to 15) and was happy with the result.

So off I go on my hols and start taking short movies. When I arrived home and downloaded the movies (it took forever!) I discovered that half of them were ok, but then I must have accidentally changed the settings (or does it go back to default when the batteries die?) and the later half are back to 30 fps They will not play properly on my computer. They range from 30 to 300+ MB.

So, my question is....is there any way that I can reduce the file size or frames per sec. or whatever so they aren't so big and so that they will play properly on my computer? (I had no problem with playback on the camera itself)

Please be kind....I am new to this forum and only had the camera a few months....I am not too computer savvy either but I can follow step by step instructions, as long as all the steps are there!

Thanks
Linda

The reason why it may be jumpy in playback on your pc could be down to the fact that it's a massive file and your RAM and video card are struggling to cope. Also I believe your camera like my A710 records in a avi format which always produces huge files!

On my A710 once I download a short movie I always compress it so that it doesn't take too much space and then you can upload it on youtube or whatever. You can download software that compresses it to a divx format (I think it's mpeg4) and that reduces the file size quite considerably - your 300mb file would be prob be compressed to about 50mb or less! I use Dr Divx - it's a free version and you can download it safely here: http://sourceforge.net​/projects/drdivx/

I think there are different programs that do the same sort of thing but I found this one easy to use - just a couple of clicks and it does the job - and of course it's free!

P.S. Welcome to the forum! You'll find loads of help here so just keep asking and reading and before long you'll be advising others!

Thanks so much pridash. I will give that software a try

I just realized that I had set the movie mode to "compact" before my hols, that changes the fps and the recording pixels. I'm not sure why it went back to "standard" mode, but I am pleased to know that I can at least reduce the file size.

Thanks for your response - I also received a response from my other posting on the Equipment list. There is software that can reduce the size.

I also figured out what my settings were before I went on my hols - "compact" (Makes sense - lol) Don't know why it went back to "standard" mode and quite honestly cannot understand why Canon has the default such that it makes such large files. I would have thought my camera was more for the beginner types (not meant to offend anyone, but a beginner I am!)

I played back the movie on Windows Media Player Perhaps that's part of the problem.

LindaCanada wrote in post #5630044
Thanks so much pridash. I will give that software a try

I just realized that I had set the movie mode to "compact" before my hols, that changes the fps and the recording pixels. I'm not sure why it went back to "standard" mode, but I am pleased to know that I can at least reduce the file size.

No worries!

BTW when you have it on the compact setting I think you can record much longer clips. If ever you want to splice the clips into shorter sections another good software is SolveigMM video splitter: http://solveigmm.com/?​Products&id=VideoSplit​ter

It's not free but you have about 21 days to use it so good for those "emergencies"! Again I'm sure if you google it you prob find other types of splitters if ever you need them.

Just curious but what's the rotation speed of your HD?

5400rpm drives can sometimes cause choppy playback of hi-res video. 7200rpm drives work better and 10,000rpm drives are ideal.

Sorry I don't know.... but please tell me how to check

BTW when you have it on the compact setting I think you can record much longer clips. If ever you want to splice the clips into shorter sections another good software is SolveigMM video splitter: http://solveigmm.com/?​Products&id=VideoSplit​ter

Thanks for that info. I found my little advanced user guide. It says max. movie length in compact mode is 3 minutes, with fixed frame rate at 15 and fixed recording pixels at 160x120. Only the standard mode allows longer movie lengths. I think I have a to play with it a bit more. Perhaps I would be better off using standard mode and changing frame rate to the minimum (15) and min. pixels in that mode (320x240)

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #5630128
Just curious but what's the rotation speed of your HD?
5400rpm drives can sometimes cause choppy playback of hi-res video. 7200rpm drives work better and 10,000rpm drives are ideal.

10K drives aren't ideal, that's overkill. 7200rpm is ideal.

You didn't mention if you are using a laptop or a desktop computer.
Can you find the specs of your machine,
Windows XP Home?
Intel Celeron/Pentium 4?
256MB Ram?

You cannot ask questions like that without telling me where to look

Desktop (that one was easy-peasy)

XP Home 2002 sp2 (easy )

?? ....... Does ASUS sound right?? Or AMD Athlon 1.09 GHz??

512MB RAM

Yep that sounds right and the first thing I'd suggest is to increase memory.