AVI File Size

[sdculp]

I have Video Studio 11. Currently I am importing VHS video files and trimming them. I have been experimenting with both AVI and MPG. The Clip-Save function works fine as long as I don't have to stitch more than one file. The Share-Create Video File-MPG optimizer works OK, as does Share-Create Video File-MPG. However, the Share-Create Video File-AVI creates impossibly large files.

Am I doing something wrong? The files are far too large to be used on a DVD. That being the case, what are they used for?

Stu Culp

[Black Lab]

Uncompressed AVI files are around 65 GB per hour. DV-AVI files, the kind you get from a mini-dv camcorder, are around 13 GB per hour. Yes, they are large files. AVI files are basically lossless, meaning you can edit and render them without losing quality.

MPEG-2, on the other hand, is a compressed file type. It's also a lossy format, meaning editing/rendering it will cause it to lose quality. How much editing/rendering is needed until you see degradation is a matter of opinion.

DVDs have very specific parameters, and AVI files do not fit those specs. DVDs must be made up of MPEG-2 files.

I capture my footage as DV-AVI. After editing is complete I render my project out to a DVD-compliant MPEG-2 file that I then burn to DVD.

Since you are capturing VHS quality footage some people might say to avoid the extra step of capturing to DV-AVI, since you will have to convert to MPEG-2 anyway - why not just capture to MPEG-2 in the first place. If you are not going to do any heavy editing that is probably a wise choice (make sure SmartRender is enabled - it will then only render the parts that have changed - i.e. your trimmed parts). But if you are going to be adding a lot of effects, such as video filters, titles, etc. my advice would be to capture to DV-AVI, then render to a DVD-compliant MPEG-2 file for burning.

[Ken Berry]

Just to add a little to Black Lab's useful response, (with which I totally agree), for the sake of completeness you need to be aware that the term 'AVI' can be sometimes misleading. It is in fact a 'wrapper' format. As Black Lab 'true' or uncompressed AVI is huge. But there is a huge variety of other video formats which call themselves AVI as well, though they have wildly varying properties. There is the DV/AVI format which Black Lab also mentioned. But at the other end of the spectrum there are highly compressed mpeg-4 type formats, such as DivX and XVid, which also use the .avi extension. They can be demanding to edit, but are capable of high quality output in fairly small files. But like all AVIs, they are not compatible with the international DVD standard which, as Black Lab has said, requires DVD-compatible mpeg-2 files which have properties within certain defined parameters.

That being said, and just to confuse things a little further, you can in fact burn DivX files directly to a DVD (or CD), but not/not as a video file. You burn them to disc like you would a document or other file, as an archive. Then if you have a DVD stand-alone player rated to play DivX (it will be marked on the case), you put the DivX disc into the player, and it will detect and play the content. There will be no menus this way, though (unless you have one of the very few rated players and also the DivX Author program).

[oka]

Well, now I know what “Smart Render” really means.

After capturing my video (in AVI), I create a video file or create an ISO file directly. However, under CREATE A VIDEO FILE options, could someone please educate me on the differences with:

1. Same as project settings
2. Same as First Video Clip
3. MPEG Optimizer

4. DV - NTSC DVD (4:3)
5. DVD/VCD/SVCD/MPEG – NTSC (4:3)

6. Custom

7. During capturing, there is no way to be able to capture the video (AVI) in chunks. That is, if a four to five hour video needs to be captured in AVI (hard drive space not an issue), is there a way to capture in one/two hour chunks/segments. With this, the captured video would sync with its audio at the end or the video will be completely lost after about twenty minutes. Sometimes I capture a three-hour video without any problems.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Share Create Video File

If you select Same as Project Properties then VS will use the project properties to render the project
If you select Same as First Video then VS will use the video files properties to render the project
Mpeg Optimiser ( don¡¦t know much about this option )
DV-NTSC will create a DV-AVI file at 13Gb per hour.
DVD/VCD/SVCD/MPEG ?NTSC (4:3) If you intend to burn a disc (DVD) then choose DVD. IF you only have a CD burner then you should use VCD or SVCD
Custom allows you to set your own properties for your project render. All render options are available here.

There is a lot of settings, most you don¡¦t need, we need to know alot more about what you are trying to make in order to advise you what to use.

We need to know how you capture your video.

What capture device are you using, Firewire, capture card.......................

What is the source of the video, camera, VHS recorder......................

What are you trying to make , a video for the web or a DVD?

I do not understand this comment.... After capturing my video (in AVI), I create a video file or create an ISO file directly
Is this just a typo.........

[sdculp]

Thank you for your responses. Sorry for the delay, as I have been away for a few days. I¡¦m new to video editing and will copy your responses for future reference.

I am capturing with the ADS Tech DVDXpress DX2. It is the successful climax of a long, long series of efforts, part of which can be seen at ¡§Poor Video Quality¡¨ and ¡§Cannot Start the Capture Graph¡¨ in this forum.

Using CapWiz, I captured two, approximately 10 second files using DVD Mpeg-2 and DIVX (MPEG-4, 640x480 (Home Theater 2), Good (smaller file size). CapWiz tech support tells me that the DIVX format is the same as AVI, and it does, in fact, result in an AVI file.

The mpg file was 6000kb in size and the AVI file was 2900 kb. Using the ¡§Clip-save trimmed video¡¨ method, the mpg file was 6000 and the AVI file was 2450. Using the ¡§Share-create video file-MPG optimizer¡¨ method, the mpg file was 6000. Using the ¡§Share-create video file-custom-MPEG, the mpg file was 6200. Multiplying these figures by 360 to get an hour¡¦s worth of video results in file sizes of 1 to 2 gig, which seems about right to me. Using the ¡§Share-create video file-MPEG-4¡¨ the file was 806.???!!!

Using the ¡§Clip-share trimmed video¡¨ method, the AVI file was 2900. However, using the ¡§Share-create video file¡¨ method with the AVI resulted in 378,906 KB!! Multiplying that figure by 360 to get an hour¡¦s worth of file results in an astounding 136 gig!!! The file grew by a factor of 131!! Suspecting something was amiss, I used Any Video Converter to convert it to an mpeg file and then back again to avi and the results were comparable. The video was still viewable and OK

All the created files played back OK. Although my computer is fairly good (AMD Athlon 64, 3500+, 2.6 GHZ with 1 gig of RAM), the rendering times with normal AVI files are hours long, and, of course, unusable.

Something is clearly screwy with the AVI technique, but I can¡¦t figure it out.

Stu

[Black Lab]

Something is clearly screwy with the AVI technique, but I can¡¦t figure it out.

That's because not all AVIs are the same.

CapWiz tech support tells me that the DIVX format is the same as AVI, and it does, in fact, result in an AVI file.

That is sort of, kind of, not really, almost true. From Videohelp.com: AVI
Audio Video Interleaved - A multimedia file format for storing sound and moving pictures in RIFF format developed by Microsoft. An AVI file can use different codecs and formats so there is no set format for an AVI file unlike for example standard VCD video which sets a standard for resolution, bitrates, and codecs used.

There are literally hundreds of AVI file types, from uncompressed AVI (65 GB/hr), DV-AVI (13 GB/hr), to Xvid and DivX (highly compressed and thus, smaller file sizes). Some, such as DV-AVI, are ideal for editing while others, like Xvid and DivX, were designed for distribution and are difficult to edit. So, not all AVIs are the same thing.

If you cannot capture to DV-AVI, then my recommendation would be to capture to MPEG-2, which you seem to be able to do with the CapWiz.