Question: How do you get a small video file?

Daikon38 · 05-18-2007

Question:

How do you convert a television show or movie into a small file without compromising too much quality?

Background:

I'm a novice when it comes to video conversion, so please use laymen's terms rather than technical lingo in your explanations;
I've been successful converting YouTube .flv files to Xvid, which typically come out to be fairly small files (~20-30mb);

Goal:

I'm primarily interested in converting television and full movies into smaller files than what I have been getting:
- Current File Size = ~250mb @ 1 hr
- Goal File Size = ~150mb @ 1 hr

Is this even possible? If so, please provide a "How To." If not, thanks anway...

iversonjack · 05-18-2007

What kind of poll is this........

I convert videos using BADAK. Example below:

1 episode of The Simpsons = ~150MB
Can be compressed down to: ~45MB
Time required to do so: ~15 minutes

Therefore you can convert your 250MB video:
- to ~75 MB
- in ~25 minutes

This is using BADAK with medium quality preset selected. Download BADAK here. It is very easy to use. follow the instructions on the link.

Daikon38 · 05-18-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by iversonjack

What kind of poll is this........

I convert videos using BADAK. Example below:

1 episode of The Simpsons = ~150MB
Can be compressed down to: ~45MB
Time required to do so: ~15 minutes

Therefore you can convert your 250MB video:
- to ~75 MB
- in ~25 minutes

This is using BADAK with medium quality preset selected. Download BADAK here. It is very easy to use. follow the instructions on the link.

Oh, awesome! That's precisely what I was looking for. Thanks for the heads up, I'll give it a shot.

Blackstar · 05-18-2007

Do be aware though, encoding times are dependent on the user's computer.

iversonjack · 05-18-2007

Yeah, thats right. Sometimes my converted videos don't play... so yeah, becareful. I don't know why though... any enlightenments?

Daikon38 · 05-18-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by iversonjack

Yeah, thats right. Sometimes my converted videos don't play... so yeah, becareful. I don't know why though... any enlightenments?

So, I had a chance to convert some videos overnight. You're right, not all videos play, and there's no apparent reason for it either...at least to me.

One file worked fine (i.e. play, pause, fast forward, rewind);
One file partially worked (i.e. play, pause, no fast forward, no rewind);
One file didn't work at all (i.e. crashed upon playing).

When working, the file compression is phenomenal. Because of the screen's small dimensions, the "low quality" preset doesn't seem to degrade the videos too much. Nice!

Again, thanks for the heads up on this program...it's awesome!

BliND123 · 05-18-2007

I downloaded the newer version of BADAK and just copied the presents from the older one but when converting videos they are not rotated....So I guess they don't work on the newer one. Where can I get presets that will work with the newest version of BADAK?

Hillman5100 · 05-18-2007

there should be another option, like:

I dont care if its 250 mb cause i have 4 gb, but it would be nice if it could be 150 mb :D

h3ll0 · 05-18-2007

Im sorta a noob but the original converter that comes with the CD works for me? good quality and sound and codes really fast like 5mins on my computer for a film? i dont no if anyone else uses it. And it also roates

iversonjack · 05-19-2007

Yeah, I'm not sure about the video converter that the CD possesses. I tried it but it didn't seem to work for me. And then my friend told me about BADAK, so I've been using BADAK since then. I also sometimes use MediaConverter.