Why are my .AVI capture files so large

[glinde]

I am using VideoStudio 7 SE Basic which came with a video grabber I purchased. I am grabbing video from an old analog camcorder through RCA jacks (yellow, white, red). When capturing in AVI format through VisualStudio I am getting enormous files (approx 40 GB). When I use the other formats the size is closer to what one would expect but I don't get the resolution I am looking for. Why are the AVI files so large?

Thanks,

Gregg

[heinz-oz]

Which settings did you use? AVI is NOT a file type as such, it's just a wrapper for digital media content. I suspect you used uncompressed AVI which gobbles up over 60 GB per hour of footage, using mpeg4 AVI may only be around 800 MB for the same file.

If you can (I daubt it, given your device) capture to DV-AVI. That will take about 13GB per hour but gives good quality (from VHS source) and easily editetable files. After editing, if you want to put it on DVD, render to mpeg2 at around 4000 to 4500 kbps. Any higher bitrate will only increase the file size without improving the quality.

Failing the ability to capture DV-AVI, capture to mpeg2 since you will need that for DVD. If you want to put it on the web, use WMV, mpeg4, DivX etc. since the file sizes are smaller.

[heinz-oz]

Ooops, just read your original post again, VS 7 SE basic may not even have mpeg2 capabilities and you can forget about mpeg4 as well. I think an upgrade to a full version VS 10+ is in order if you are serious about your hobby.

[GuyL]

I am using VideoStudio 7 SE Basic which came with a video grabber I purchased. I am grabbing video from an old analog camcorder through RCA jacks (yellow, white, red). When capturing in AVI format through VisualStudio I am getting enormous files (approx 40 GB). When I use the other formats the size is closer to what one would expect but I don't get the resolution I am looking for. Why are the AVI files so large?

Thanks,

Gregg

What CODEC are you using with your AVI file? It may also be uncompressed and therefore very large as a result. While this is the best quality, file sizes are sometimes too large to manage.