Welcome to RCF - WHF

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

First of all I have no idea what I'm doing but that has never stopped me in the past and now is no exception.

First of all I have somehow managed to save a DVD movie to my HDD as a .mpg although I don't remember how or what program I used so don't ask me.

NOW I have managed to save a tiny clip from that move, about 5 seconds long and it is also a .mpg. But it's HUGE! That tiny clip is over 10 MB for crying in the milk!!

How do I make it smaller? Would a AVI be what I want?

dontknow

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

Rb, use what ever program you edited it with, there should be a quality setting somewhere, choose a small size or "for the web".

Since most all programs are different in the language, I need to know which program you are using.

In adobe elements 2 premiere, you can save as "DVD, quicktime, or as mpeg (thats what I use for all & as you did too), you have output choices - CD, VCD, DVD etc. quality, and then open advanced and set the sound and other configurations in there. Like if you leave it as dolby sound, it will be larger and may not have sound at all in some programs, so turn that dolby off to be sure. Like, dolby doesn't work when I burn with roxio 6, theres no sound. Also, I use VCD output for the web because it is a large screen, this is for utube flash movies, my website movies I use cd quality or smaller for a tiny screen. There is probably a dozen output levels.

In Roxio 6 there is 3 output choices, fast loading, auto adjust for size on DVD or highest quality.

In roxio 8 - now this is the best for web yet, you have many choices, most for the web so you can basically set the size of the player screen, some are tiny, but there is many choices, too many to list.

Nero is the same way, just look around for choices in output. Let me know what you are using and I will tell you more.

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

Hey thanks, Dave! Lots of good information and suggestions. Yes the Save As and then options sounds familar. And the Output options. AND the Dolby! And I did have Dolby on.

Like I said I used so many proprams to get where I am ... I'm kind of lost.

Bobby suggested the free DVDFab program for one process and I DID use it to create something. Maybe the copy to the HDD. Thing is though there doesn't seem to be anything I can do with the copy on the HDD. But that's another problem.

I also used Ulead DVD Movie Factory to do something. I have a very old copy of that. I used it to cut out that final clip I'm working on. The one that is too large. But there were output options and like you said I chose MPEG.

I will have to just experiement as time permits, start over from scratch. However, with the information you gave I now know more about choices and what they mean. I'll keep you informed.

Thank you, Dave!

sunny

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

I do the same thing, I use different programs. Its like do what ever works when it comes to video. I can send you a copy of roxio if you want. Roxio 6 for DVD and 8 for internet video.

10 mb isn't that big. My clips I send into utube are 100 mb. On my site I have to use really small size as you seen. Thats why I wanted flash converter, they are much lighter with flash. I still may buy that progrma you found to make ads and stuf. You can load your 10 mb video to google video and that coverts to flash and you can use it for what ever. I have a few of those, along with all my youtube and others. I kind of backed of when I open my directory with that flash movie, it really slows things down. I checked and it might be best to get a certain video host. They aren't much more, but I think I could run into problems with my site if I had 100 videos on it, I don't know yet though.

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

Only thing I know for certain right now is that DVDFab Express (Free Version) makes a perfect copy of your DVD to the HDD. And it makes the process easy as pie.

http://www.cdrinfo.com/forum/tm.asp?m=112204&mpage=1&key=&#112204

Some times these programs that do everything can be overwhelming. I think I need programs that do only one thing until I get the hang of it.

BTW, what started this journey into the dark and scary recesses of DVD Land was my desire to make copies of my VCR tapes onto DVDs. Well I have that licked and also know how to make copies. Have several made already.

Now I'm trying to perfect (HA, I really don't care if it's perfect or not to tell you the truth) the art of editing a movie, such as cutting out a section. Seems it's not as easy as it should be. Cutting it out is only the beginning!

Still working on it.

sunny

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

Looks like I was typing my post while you were posting, fishead. 10MB is not that big?? Really? I may try posting that clip on RCF and see what happens. That's really the only place I would want to post one anyway.

I may even try loading the video to Google like you say and let them turn it into flash. However, the clip is a nothing and pointless, just a cut out of a home movie to experiment with. Hummmm, then there is Putfile if I just wanted it posted somewhere. I have an account there!

http://www.putfile.com/

Well I'm off to trying the edit business again. And YES, I would love to have a copy of Roxio. If I have to uninstall Nero then so be it. OR else I'll install it on my other PC and work on my movie there.

sunny

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

Used Ulead Movie Factory (version 4) to do the editing. First it loads the movie off the DVD and plays it for you. A little tricky cutting out the part you want but I did manage to do that. To export you have a ton of choices

First time I chose Fast Export Video and that saves it as MPEG only.

2nd time I chose Custom and got more choices of format. I saved the clip as AVI, I know the SS shows MPEG but I changed that after taking the SS.

The AVI is a lot larger than the MPEG

BTW, they both have sound. And one plays in WMP and the other in Real.

On to more experimenting as soon as I get some thing to eat!!

sunny

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

Chopped out another clip and saved it in all possible formats. MPEG seems like the best bet in size and options. The Windows Media Player (wmv) is the smallest but the screen is only a small sq in a large black field.

You can configure the MPEG in various ways. I didn't know about this before I saved my clip.

fishead · Feb 09, 2005

Well it sounds like you're having fun!

Here is some tips - full size movies really should be cut into sections. Its best to keep sections at 15 minutes or less, then put togther to burn later. This way you can edit easier and don't have to load the full movie all the time.

I use mpegs mostly, they can be changed to avi etc later. I also use mpeg2. I try to keep the quality as high as possible when I capture and then lower the size and quality later.

I tried to get some footage from VCR once and the quality was so bad I didn't use it. Then I just had to have some lost footage so I tried again and it wasn't as bad as I thought. That was the mill tapes where its dark anyway.

Most movies people get off the internet are from a camcorder in a movie theater. Most people wouldn't notice the quality loss, except maybe people who work with video.

rb2d2 · Sep 25, 2004

Thanks for the suggests, fishead!

About cutting the movie up ... I'm not sure how I would go about doing that on purpose, however, when I download it to Ulead Movie Factory a boxes comes up with a list that looks like the movie has been cut into sections. The last one showed 6 "Titles" and then each title had sub items, don't remember what they were .. libraries? Or something.

Anyway never did figure that out because when I checked the last "Title" I expected to get the end of the movie but I didn't, I just a tiny piece a short distance from the beginning. So I just ignorned that part completely after that. It's enough to make a preacher cuss sometimes working with this stuff.

Yes, I can see that mpeg would be the best fromat to use, however, even that turned out to be a pain in the neck. I uploaded that one tiny clip to our site and when I played it in a post it ran way toooooo fast! As you know for yourself all kind of movie fromats have been played on our forum with no problem. Don't know why mine acts so weird, when I play it on my PC it's perfect.

I finally uploaded the Window Media Player clip and it plays ok but it's a very small screen. Pulling my hair out.

As for the VCR tapes, I was really surprised how good they turned out on the DVD. The quality looks better than the tape. Most if not all of my tapes were recorded as SLP (Super Long Play) but when I recorded it on the DVD I use the SP mode. Mind you I don't really know what I'm doing, I'm flying by the seat of my pants just hoping for the best. What I still don't understand is that one of the tapes was well over 2 hours but it fit just fine on the DVD. Isn't the DVD suppose to be only 120 minutes?

dontknow