Multimedia Assistance Required

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Multimedia Assistance Required; DV to AVI
Topic Started: 24 May 2009, 07:57 PM (123 Views)
fred_the_red	24 May 2009, 07:57 PM Post #1
Posts: 623 Group: Moderators Member #60 Joined: 13 September 2004 Migration Status Citizen My Mood Slightly Warm	Hope someone maybe able to point me in the right direction? I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to my camcorder, which explains why I've got the bulk of my captured video still on the original tapes as opposed to nicely stored away on DVD's. The problem I'm having is that when I go to convert the footage on my camcorder (DV Tape) to, for example, AVI, the file size is stupidly large - well over 2Gb for a 5 or 6 minute clip. This makes it impossible to email clips back to family, etc, and will require me to buy shares in a DVD/R company. I've tried using several products (Nero, Windows Movie Maker, etc) as well as my Panasonic supplied software and yet still the size of the output is massive. Now I know that an average, DVD quality, movie in AVI format, is around 800Mb. I'd really appreciate any pointers so I can get my captured video footage down to a manageable size. Thanks in advance. Simon



Nagiboy	24 May 2009, 08:14 PM Post #2
A phenomenon Posts: 1,623 Group: Members Member #1,165 Joined: 11 February 2007 Migration Status Permanent Resident My Location Drysdale	I suffered from this problem with my old Samsung camcorder but I can't remember how I resolved it but I know I did. I'll put my thinking cap on. For now though how does your camcorder's instructions tell you to transfer the files over?



gary 'n' wendy	24 May 2009, 09:28 PM Post #3
AUSSIE INTERNET IS FUBAR Posts: 1,623 Group: Members Member #1,066 Joined: 3 January 2007 Migration Status Permanent Resident My Mood If a didnae laugh ah'd greet	Hi Simon DV tape files are pretty big. There will be various types of software tools to bring down the size. I have however got round this problem with windows movie maker. There is no doubt fancier programs you can use, but Ive found that movie maker is easy to use and suits my basic needs. Ok here's the how to. 1) open movie maker 2) Select Import from digital camera 3) once the clips up, drag it down to the movie board ( it says drag media here in the first box) 4) Two ways to go here, either leave your clip unedited, or play around with the programs editing tools. You can do things like add titles, fade in and outs, cut out parts you dont need etc. 5) This part answers your original question. When your finished playing about or just want to use your footage in its raw state, click on file, then select publish movie. Your going to go through a few screens now. One the first one, select " Publish for playback on this computer " Next screen, name your movie. You have an option here to select a folder to save to, the default is the windows video folder in documents. Next screen shows your output options. Put a tick in more settings box. Open the drop down menu on that option, and you will see the different choices for output quality. As you highlight each one, you will notice down the bottom of the screen that the movie file size changes. Select the one that suits you best. All thats left after this is hit publish. It will take a little time to convert your original DV tape file to your new format, but once its done it will be in the folder you specified in its new form. Have you considered youtube for putting your videos on for people back home to see ? We have been here two years now, and Gran back in Scotland demands a steady supply of video clips of her grandson. Once youve opened an account on youtube, you can upload clips up to 10 mins long. You can have your page private too if you only want certain people accessing it. Check out mine www.youtube.com/jockdownunder Hope this helps. Al's always the guy to speak to on here about software, but what Ive explained works well for me. :tartan: Gary :tartan:



fred_the_red	24 May 2009, 09:44 PM Post #4
Posts: 623 Group: Moderators Member #60 Joined: 13 September 2004 Migration Status Citizen My Mood Slightly Warm	Hi Gary, Thanks for the quick and detailed reply, it's much appreciated. I can now try different clips using those different file types and see which one produces the best size versus quality files. I was thinking about YouTube but wasn't sure about the whole privacy thing - I'll take another look if you can restrict who can view the video. Thanks again, Simon



gary 'n' wendy	24 May 2009, 10:44 PM Post #5
AUSSIE INTERNET IS FUBAR Posts: 1,623 Group: Members Member #1,066 Joined: 3 January 2007 Migration Status Permanent Resident My Mood If a didnae laugh ah'd greet	You can definetly restrict who has access to your youtube page, but I think that means that those you wish to have access have to open a youtube account, so you can grant them. :tartan: Gary :tartan:


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