Converting AVI or MPEG files into RMVB or other more efficient formats

[waterchan]

Does anyone know any free software that can convert a bunch of AVI or MPEG files into a more compressed and efficient format, like RMVB? I have a bunch of anime videos (around 90 GB) that I want to convert into a smaller format, with minimal loss of quality. As you could imagine, having them in AVI format eats up a lot of space.

What about H.264? Any software that can convert to that?

Thanks!

[Ledgem]

A bit of clarity: AVI is a file container, not a codec. You can convert an AVI to an OGM or MKV without touching the video itself; it's like taking a small statue out of a display case and putting it into another display case. You're not modifying the statue, just the case around it.

RMVB is a format and a codec. It's a pretty terrible codec, too, from what I understand. Most of the time, people ask whether others know of a way to convert out of RMVB and to something else.

H264 is a codec - likely, the AVI files that you have are codec in XviD. H264 is a better codec in terms of compression. If you could convert to H264, the files would take up less space. However, you'd also lose at least a bit of quality. H264 isn't a lossless codec, so in the process of re-encoding, your AVIs would lose at least a bit of quality. Also, unless you're skilled at encoding, there's a chance that the files would come out in bad quality, and would be larger than your current AVI files... but it may be worth a shot, anyway.

[waterchan]

Thanks for the explanation Ledgem.

I had an MPEG and a RMVB version of an anime episode; the RMVB was of only slightly lower apparent quality while the file size was about half the MPEG's. I think I would be happy with either.

Is there a freeware program that I can use to convert to these formats?

[Ledgem]

A file as an MPEG would be huge. As far as I know, if it's MPEG, it's almost non-compressed (the compression is extremely low). MPEG is what DVDs use. For comparison, a standard DVD can fit about four 24-minute anime episodes to a disc (single layer). If you were to burn the episodes (XviD-encoded videos) as data to the disc, you would be able to fit anywhere from 20-26, depending on how well the episodes were encoded. With H.264, depending on the encoding settings and the video in question, you should be able to fit more.

There is a program called VirtualDub (also VirtualDubMod, which is VDub but with some added functionality) that you can use to encode. You'll need a stand-alone codec in order to encode in that codec (in other words, if you use FFDShow for video playback, you'll need to download an XviD codec to encode in XviD; for H.264, you'll need a stand-alone H.264 codec... FFDShow will not allow you to encode). I'll let you know up front that being able to encode such that you have good quality and a reasonable file size isn't easy. It requires a fair bit of reading up on how things work, as well as experimentation. Unless your system is extremely speedy, encoding a single episode may take up to an hour, too.

I don't know whether there are any programs that make the conversion process more automated... there may be. You may want to look into it. Then again, if you're just converting from MPEG to XviD or H.264, even a "large" XviD or H.264 file will likely be much smaller than an MPEG file.

[Vexx]

I occasionally would like to convert a avi/mkv/mp4 onto a DVD format disk for my technically challenged relatives to throw into their tv player.
However, I've not found a piece of software that either works well or doesn't require an insane amount of twiddling so it doesn't look washed out to hell or other issues (Nero, etc). Am I just wishing a fantasy or is there a piece of software that will do some auto-adjusting to avoid losing color and resolution richness in the conversion? Or am I an idiot and there's a "do it right" knob?

[shuto zaido]

I learned this from X-Death, you should thank him,not me.


How to Convert AVI to RM?

EASY REALMEDIA PRODUCER
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0OUW6PBV

Just Click those image to view.. the picture

Install the .exe file from the .rar
You may choose only these checked box for install. I say this because at my first install i checked all boxes and when trying to convert, the program crashed because of codec jam. If it still crashes, it means that there is a codec jam from codecs previoulsy installed by you. You will have to sort this out alone

After installation, open Easy RealMedia Producer v1.94 from Start Menu (you can still create a shortcut on desktop). On opening you will be prompted to the Global Settings Menu. Only one correction here: Set Process Priority to "Above Normal" (to gain in time)

Now follow the steps 1 to 7
1. Browse for AVI to be converted
2. Highlight files to apply settings (here only one but u can highlight as much as u want for batch converts)
3. Click on Settings
4. Choose "Use CBR"
5. Choose "Sharpest Image" (this one gave me best results)
6. Choose "RealVideo 10" as Video Codec
7. Check "Loss Protection"
additional options is to add clip info like www.AnimeHaven.co.nr, your name, destination folder and save or set the settings as default for future use.

Now comes the most interesting part of this software
It allows you to have total control of the ouput media, that is file size and quality...
Follow steps 1 to 6
1. Click Calulator
2. Type episode length
3. Size of output file you would wish (conver MB to KB, 1MB=1024KB)
4. Calculate... Bitrate appears, here 371 (memorise)
5. Close
6. Insert bitrate in white box (450 is the default value)

Then Click OK and then Click Start

Only downs to this software is that it may take from 30min to 40min depending on your computers performance (Me P4 3GHz, 512RAM, took 38mins for one episode). So i would advise you to prepare your convert list, Start and go to BED! My explanation may appear long but it's short and quickly done. TRUST ME, YOU WON'T REGRET THE OUTPUT!!!

Once again this explanation was given by X-Death,go thank him,ok?

[wingdarkness]

I'm currently trying to convert a 175 avi. file to mp4, but when I finished the filesize was even bigger (231)....I was under the impression I could convert 175 to something much, much smaller...I'm using 4U MP4 converter, perhaps I'm doing something wrong but I'd like to convert to something less than 100 MB's

[killmoms]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

A file as an MPEG would be huge. As far as I know, if it's MPEG, it's almost non-compressed (the compression is extremely low). MPEG is what DVDs use. For comparison, a standard DVD can fit about four 24-minute anime episodes to a disc (single layer). If you were to burn the episodes (XviD-encoded videos) as data to the disc, you would be able to fit anywhere from 20-26, depending on how well the episodes were encoded. With H.264, depending on the encoding settings and the video in question, you should be able to fit more.

An MPEG is certainly larger than DivX or whatnot, but it's not "almost non-compressed," by a long shot. The DVD spec maintains that the maximum bitrate allowed for MPEG-2 video is 9mbit/sec (that also include peaks in VBR streams, which basically everything is). Uncompressed RGB of the same size and frame-rate (720 x 480 @ 29.97 frames per second) is around 240mbit/sec. Big difference.

Now, the two may not look very different (perceptually) to your eye, but there is a large difference in compression.

EDIT: As a side note, that's uncompressed 4:4:4. Uncompressed 4:2:2 (the same color space as DVD and digital tape formats like DigiBeta and D1) is about 120mbit/s. Amazing what you can do by halving your color sampling, isn't it? Still though, that's a fair sight higher than DVD's 9mbit/s maximum.

EDIT 2: All of this is to point out that, quite frankly, anyone bitching about file sizes at this point is pretty much a fucking lunatic. We're getting AMAZING quality relative to the size these files are. With the cost of storage decreasing constantly (in terms of both hard drives and recordable optical media) there's really no reason at all to bitch about a 174MB AVI file. Seriously.

EDIT 3: Also, transcoding from one lossy format to another will never result in similar quality at the same filesize, much less a smaller filesize. Ever. It can only look worse. If you're trying to get the file smaller than the original, it can only look WORSE THAN THAT.