Replay TV to avi

zerodamage · Jan 7, 2004, 03:42 AM

Hi. I've been transfering my Replay TV recording, at least those I want to keep to my PC for archiving.
I have yet to convert any of them to a smaller size. Anyone have any recomendations on what to use to edit out the commercials?

How about making the video a smaller size yet keep the aspect ratio?

I have some ideas but would like some input from those who've done this before.

A half-hour "Family Guy" episode is very large, close to 2 Gigs in size. As you can see, this is too large to keep for a long period of time, especially if you want a lot of them. Any and all input would be welcome.

Vampyromaniac · Jan 7, 2004, 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by zerodamage
I have some ideas but would like some input from those who've done this before.

Not me, but I'll still give some input.

For editing out commercials, I think VirtualDub should be able to do the trick. Just not sure if ti would work with a file from ReplayTV.

As for making the video smaller, do you mean a) lower resolution (frame size), or b) smaller filesize?
In either case, encoding the video through your favorite codec would probably be your best bet. (DivX, XviD, WMV, etc)
But I don't know what compression, if any, your .avi may already have, so I don't know what encoder would support it

Can you try finding out what codec is used for your .avi, perhaps with gspot?

zerodamage · Jan 7, 2004, 06:43 PM

Well it transfers from the Replay TV as a MPEG. I used "avi" as a generic meaning to divx or xvid or whatever.

I want to make it smaller in resolution and in actually size 64MB vs 2 Gigs. Etc.

Vampyromaniac · Jan 8, 2004, 12:22 AM

Well judging from the filesize you mentioned (2GB for 30 minutes), I'd guess you have an MPEG-2 file, so you can probably go about encoding and resizing it as you would a DVD. If it is a MPEG-2, you probably cannot edit the commercials out with VirtualDub as I mentioned before, unless there is a version of VDub which can handle MPEG2 that I don't know about. You can either use an MPEG-2 editor beforehand, or encode it to avi, then edit the commercials out with VDub. Are you familiar at all with encoding with XviD or DivX, and VirtualDub or some other app?

zerodamage · Jan 8, 2004, 03:51 AM

I have ZERO experience with encoding with any of the programs. I will probably however do the encoding with XviD since it is a free encoding vs the Divx. And yes, they are MPEG2. I had a program once and I can not remember what it was called that let me edit MPEG2 (it may have been the software that game with my buddies 9700 AIW card).

But I would like a free program to do this with.

Vampyromaniac · Jan 8, 2004, 05:16 AM

I think the software you're thinking of is Pinnacle 8, but that's OK, you can edit the commercials afterwards.

Can you find out for me what format the audio is, in your mpeg2 file? (can gspot show you that?)

Jan 7, 2004, 03:42 AM	#1
zerodamage HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 3,478 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Replay TV to avi Hi. I've been transfering my Replay TV recording, at least those I want to keep to my PC for archiving. I have yet to convert any of them to a smaller size. Anyone have any recomendations on what to use to edit out the commercials? How about making the video a smaller size yet keep the aspect ratio? I have some ideas but would like some input from those who've done this before. A half-hour "Family Guy" episode is very large, close to 2 Gigs in size. As you can see, this is too large to keep for a long period of time, especially if you want a lot of them. Any and all input would be welcome.

Jan 8, 2004, 12:22 AM	#4
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	Well judging from the filesize you mentioned (2GB for 30 minutes), I'd guess you have an MPEG-2 file, so you can probably go about encoding and resizing it as you would a DVD. If it is a MPEG-2, you probably cannot edit the commercials out with VirtualDub as I mentioned before, unless there is a version of VDub which can handle MPEG2 that I don't know about. You can either use an MPEG-2 editor beforehand, or encode it to avi, then edit the commercials out with VDub. Are you familiar at all with encoding with XviD or DivX, and VirtualDub or some other app? __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Jan 8, 2004, 05:16 AM	#6
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	k bud I think the software you're thinking of is Pinnacle 8, but that's OK, you can edit the commercials afterwards. Can you find out for me what format the audio is, in your mpeg2 file? (can gspot show you that?) __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Jan 7, 2004, 06:43 PM	Thread Starter #3
zerodamage HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 3,478 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Well it transfers from the Replay TV as a MPEG. I used "avi" as a generic meaning to divx or xvid or whatever. I want to make it smaller in resolution and in actually size 64MB vs 2 Gigs. Etc.

Jan 8, 2004, 03:51 AM	Thread Starter #5
zerodamage HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 3,478 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	I have ZERO experience with encoding with any of the programs. I will probably however do the encoding with XviD since it is a free encoding vs the Divx. And yes, they are MPEG2. I had a program once and I can not remember what it was called that let me edit MPEG2 (it may have been the software that game with my buddies 9700 AIW card). But I would like a free program to do this with.