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lbroskee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 4, 2008
5
0
i have a bunch of WMV videos that i need to convert to use with iDVD, but i can't find a good converter that will keep quality the same without making the file much bigger. QT X made a HD movie go from 5 GB up to 8 GB
 

spinnerlys

Guest
Sep 7, 2008
14,328
7
forlod bygningen
Do you care about the size that much? I guess QT X used the H264 codec to transcode the video to and AAC for the audio? You can find out via opening the transcoded file (8GB) in QT X and open the Movie Inspector (Command + I) and see for yourself and maybe post the results here. As that file is only temporary I guess, can you live with the larger size of the output, as you only use it for iDVD and trash it afterwards?
 

lbroskee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 4, 2008
5
0
well im trying to fit 4 HD movies onto a DVD, and in WMV 3 are 5 GB and 1 is 3GB so if anything i would prefer them a little smaller
 

spinnerlys

Guest
Sep 7, 2008
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forlod bygningen
well im trying to fit 4 HD movies onto a DVD, and in WMV 3 are 5 GB and 1 is 3GB so if anything i would prefer them a little smaller

As iDVD transcodes the videos again, due to video DVDs (if you are talking about those) using the MPEG-2 codec, the QT X files you created will not determine the final size. As MPEG-2 is a less efficient codec than H264 or the WMV codec you have with your .wmv files, the resulting files will be bigger anyway. And as normal Single Layer (SL) DVDs only have a capacity of 4.37GB and using the MPEG-2 codec (with video DVDs there is no other choice), you will not get more than 90 minutes of video in acceptable quality onto an SL-DVD. You might be able to use Double Layer (DL) DVDs (7.8GB), but I guess the 18GB of .wmv files contain more than 150 minutes of video, though them being HD (720p or 1080i/p), they might contain less than 150 minutes of video, which might work with a DL-DVD, as video DVDs only use Standard Definition (SD - 480i or 576i) as a resolution.

Was that understandable? I sometimes might drift off a bit, especially with all the technobabble (wow, that word is even in the dictionary).
 

steviec

macrumors member
Apr 25, 2009
64
8
i have a bunch of WMV videos that i need to convert to use with iDVD, but i can't find a good converter that will keep quality the same without making the file much bigger. QT X made a HD movie go from 5 GB up to 8 GB


Why not use Handbrake to convert your movies?
 

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
You can't fit 18GB in 4.37GB or in 7.8GB without quality loss. Either get more DVDs or live with the loss in quality.

How high quality content are we talking about? E.g. 50Mb/s Blu-Ray can be encoded to ~15Mb/s without huge loss in quality and that should shrink the size by 70%.


Will Handbrake read .wmv files?

At least it does for me.
 

lbroskee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 4, 2008
5
0
they are all lik 90 min movies. guess i'm out of luck anyway if i want to use this on a dvd player. o well
 

spinnerlys

Guest
Sep 7, 2008
14,328
7
forlod bygningen
they are all lik 90 min movies. guess i'm out of luck anyway if i want to use this on a dvd player. o well

Not out of luck, you just can't get five videos á 90 minutes onto a Single Layer or Dual Layer DVD without compromising quality.
You could burn the five videos onto five SL DVDs an be done with it. Or connect your Mac to the TV.
 
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