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Making highly compressed wmv files

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  • dhgeyer
    Junior Member
    Junior Member
    • Jan 2009
    • 5

    Making highly compressed wmv files

    Hello All!

    I am a bit new to all of this, but I've learned quite a bit already. I can convert videos back and forth with no real problem with a couple of video editors and a couple of conversion programs I have.

    One thing I am having some trouble with is getting decent quality wmv files at 640 by 480 at relatively small file sizes. I know it can be done, as various people send me such videos via email. I have seen, for example a 3 minute and 16 second 640 by 480 video that looks quite good with a file size a bit over 5 megabytes. I can't get anything like that much under 20 megs with any tool I have. I understand just enough to know that what I need is a flexible codec, and I need to know how to install it in something I have, or something I need to obtain.

    The videos I want to compress are ones I take myself of various social events and such. I already have Flash figured out, so I can do streaming video on my websites, but for people with very slow connections I'd like to offer the alternative of a link to a reasonably small file that they can download and play.

    What tools do I need, and what do I need to learn, and where can I learn it?

    Any help with this would be much appreciated.

    Thanks!

    Dave Geyer
  • gonwk
    Lord of Digital Video
    Lord of Digital Video
    • Dec 2005
    • 1500

    #2
    Hi Dave,

    Have you tried "Windows Movie Maker" it has a feature that you can select your Output size ... and it should be pretty glitch-free!

    BTW, what OS are your running?

    G!

    Comment

    • dhgeyer
      Junior Member
      Junior Member
      • Jan 2009
      • 5

      #3
      Gonwk,

      Thank you for responding and for the suggestion. Yes, I did try WMM, and looked into the feature that you mention. Unfortunately, as you set smaller file sizes, the resolution of the output also shrinks at specific break points. By the time I got down to 5 or 6 megapixels, WMM was going to output a 240 by 180, or some such numbers - my memory is going fast. At any rate, it wasn't 640 by 480 anymore, or even close to it. It makes sense that it works that way if the efficiency of the compression algorythm is a constant.

      Trouble is, I've seen at least two examples that I know of (since I started paying attention) that had full VGA resolution, two to over three minute duration, good quality, and file sizes under 6 mp, so I know it can be done. Unfortunately, the examples I cite came to me via those ever present mass emails from friends, forwarded Lord only knows how many times, and I have no way of knowing who originally created them or how!!!

      I currently have WMM, Pinnacle, and Cyberlink's Power Director, and I have tried I think all the codecs and permutations that come with them. I also have Blaze and IMToo converters - no help there either.

      So, it remains a mystery to me.

      Comment

      • paglamon
        Lord of Digital Video
        Lord of Digital Video
        • Aug 2005
        • 2126

        #4
        By the time I got down to 5 or 6 megapixels
        and file sizes under 6 mp
        Huh ? You surely meant megabytes and MB , right ?

        I have seen, for example a 3 minute and 16 second 640 by 480 video that looks quite good with a file size a bit over 5 megabytes.
        Can you please post more info about this file using Mediainfo ?


        Also,you might wish to have a look here:http://forum.videohelp.com/topic244268.html
        Last edited by paglamon; 22 Jan 2009, 05:49 PM.
        sigpic

        ONLY MOMENTS LINGER...DEWDROPS ON A FALLEN LEAF

        Comment

        • dhgeyer
          Junior Member
          Junior Member
          • Jan 2009
          • 5

          #5
          Paglamon,

          Thank you thank you thank you! You have steered me in the right direction. I can follow the trail of breadcrumbs from here.

          Here is the output from mediainfo for the file I described. The secret is
          Photo Story 3, and also the Windows Media 9 codecs, which I guess
          I will have to learn to configure and use.

          Thank you again - very helpful

          General
          Complete name : C:\_Video\polanskivideo.wmv
          Format : Windows Media
          File size : 5.19 MiB
          Duration : 3mn 16s
          Overall bit rate mode : Variable
          Overall bit rate : 222 Kbps
          Maximum Overall bit rate : 372 Kbps
          Publisher : Photo Story 3 for Windows
          Genre : Photo Story
          Encoded date : UTC 2008-11-16 23:13:14.218
          Writing application : Photo Story 3 for Windows 3.0.1115.0
          Cover : Y

          Video
          ID : 2
          Format : WVP2
          Codec ID : WVP2
          Description of the codec : Windows Media Video 9.1 Image
          Duration : 3mn 16s
          Bit rate mode : Variable
          Bit rate : 10.4 Kbps
          Width : 640 pixels
          Height : 480 pixels
          Display aspect ratio : 4/3
          Frame rate : 30.000 fps
          Resolution : 24 bits
          Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.001
          Language : en-us

          Audio
          ID : 1
          Format : WMA2
          Format profile : L1
          Codec ID : 161
          Codec ID/Info : Windows Media Audio 2
          Description of the codec : Windows Media Audio 9.2 - VBR Quality 75, 44 kHz, stereo 1-pass VBR
          Duration : 3mn 16s
          Bit rate mode : Variable
          Bit rate : 125 Kbps
          Channel(s) : 2 channels
          Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
          Resolution : 16 bits
          Language : en-us

          Comment

          • paglamon
            Lord of Digital Video
            Lord of Digital Video
            • Aug 2005
            • 2126

            #6
            Well, Photo Story seems to be a slideshow maker...creating a video file from still images. Is the video(you posted mediainfo about) made from still photos ?
            sigpic

            ONLY MOMENTS LINGER...DEWDROPS ON A FALLEN LEAF

            Comment

            • dhgeyer
              Junior Member
              Junior Member
              • Jan 2009
              • 5

              #7
              Yes, it was. However, there is another video of a live performance that had similarly impressive performance for its size.

              Photo Story 3, by the way, is a wonderful piece of freeware from Microsoft if you want to make a video from stills. It is much more powerful than the similar capabilities built into video editors. The bad news is that they didn't carry it forward to Vista, so it will only work on XP or earlier.

              I think that the real piece of information from mediainfo is that the codec is on the Windows Media 9.1 family. I need to learn how to use their codec manager and get these codecs available to my editing software. Now, at least, I know where to begin.

              Comment

              • paglamon
                Lord of Digital Video
                Lord of Digital Video
                • Aug 2005
                • 2126

                #8
                However, there is another video of a live performance that had similarly impressive performance for its size.
                Mediainfo ?
                sigpic

                ONLY MOMENTS LINGER...DEWDROPS ON A FALLEN LEAF

                Comment

                • dhgeyer
                  Junior Member
                  Junior Member
                  • Jan 2009
                  • 5

                  #9
                  Sorry. You already gave me the answer (Windows Media Encoder), so I stopped looking. Thank you very much!

                  Comment

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