AVI Shrinker / Re-Encoder App?

[~Shard~]

I have an AVI file that I want to burn as a DVD, however it needs to be compressed first - if I simply load it into Toast it says it requires 5.5 GB and of course my disc has only 4.3 GB (or whatever). So, I need to shrink my AVI file, I assume this will mean re-encoding it.

I know there are tools out there that will do this for actual DVDs (DVDBackup, DVD2OneX etc.) in terms of ripping, compressing, etc., but how can I take an existing AVI, shrink it, then burn it as a DVD?

 

[7on]

iDVD will do it for you

Further compressing the AVi won't work because Toast converts it into MPEG2 to make a video DVD, and therefore looks at the length of the footage.

If you're not burning it as a DVD video disk (to be played in standalone DVD video players) then Quicktime Pro or iMovie is all you need.

 

[TDM21]

like 7ON said, the length of the the movie is the most limiting factor; if you are burning it as a video dvd.

If length is not the problem or you are just burning a avi file onto a dvd then I suggest you take a look a ffmpegx. This program will re-encode almost any video file into what ever you like. For you I suggest changing the display size of the movie as well as the bitrate. This will cause the movie to become a smaller file size.

 

[~Shard~]

iDVD will do it for you

Further compressing the AVi won't work because Toast converts it into MPEG2 to make a video DVD, and therefore looks at the length of the footage.

If you're not burning it as a DVD video disk (to be played in standalone DVD video players) then Quicktime Pro or iMovie is all you need.

Cool, I didn't know that - so I could just "import" the AVI into iDVD? Didn't know iDVD could handle that, cool... And I didn't know about Toast and the footage length - thanks!

 

[~Shard~]

like 7ON said, the length of the the movie is the most limiting factor; if you are burning it as a video dvd.

If length is not the problem or you are just burning a avi file onto a dvd then I suggest you take a look a ffmpegx. This program will re-encode almost any video file into what ever you like. For you I suggest changing the display size of the movie as well as the bitrate. This will cause the movie to become a smaller file size.

Cool - I played around with ffmpegx a bit, but it looked a little complicated at first. I had thought of using it as well, but was unsure if I could re-enocde an AVI as a smaller AVI, and since ffmpegx had about 4 different formats of AVI to encode to, I was a little hesitant at the time . Looks like a powerful little tool though.

 

[live4ever]

If you can post a bit more info about the .avi it would really help out choosing the best solution.

Some info that would be helpful:

video codec - DV-avi, XviD, DivX etc. (use QT or VLC to determine)
audio codec - mp3, mp4, ac3, PCM etc.
resolution & aspect ratio - 720x480, 4:3, 16:9
frame rate (PAL/NTSC) - 24fps, 25fps, 29.9fps, 23.9fps
length of video - 2hr, 15min (will have an effect on what bitrate to choose)

All this info will help in choosing the best way to compress the file.

 

[~Shard~]

If you can post a bit more info about the .avi it would really help out choosing the best solution.

Some info that would be helpful:

video codec - DV-avi, XviD, DivX etc. (use QT or VLC to determine)
audio codec - mp3, mp4, ac3, PCM etc.
resolution & aspect ratio - 720x480, 4:3, 16:9
frame rate (PAL/NTSC) - 24fps, 25fps, 29.9fps, 23.9fps
length of video - 2hr, 15min (will have an effect on what bitrate to choose)

All this info will help in choosing the best way to compress the file.

Thanks, here is the info:

Length: 1:49:52
Resolution: 480x352
File Size: 687.9 MB
Video Codec: 3ivx D4 4.5.1 (this is what Toast says)
mp4v (this is what VLC says)
Audio Codec: MPEG Layer-3 Audio (44.1 kHz, 2 channels)
Frame Rate: 29.9 fps 24 bits

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[~Shard~]

Oh, and I tried importing the AVI into iDVD, but iDVD said it did not recognize the format. Is this due to my older version of iDVD?