Best Software For Compressing Avi at DVinfo.net

Dean Orewiler · July 23rd, 2007, 09:32 AM

I'm looking for either a free download or a reasonably priced software that I can use to compress AVI for the internet. Does anybody have any suggestions?? I'm looking for something that has variable quality / compression.
Thanks again!!
Dean

Emre Safak · July 23rd, 2007, 09:59 AM

The best I know is Carbon Coder or Procoder. At the cheap end there is Mediacoder.

Seth Bloombaum · July 23rd, 2007, 10:10 AM

Dean, first question is what format do you want to create? (Quicktime, Windows Media, Flash, Real Media, DIVX)

Most of the compression software out there can create similar quality. Vegas does fine with Windows Media and Quicktime out of the box.

Why? Compression software is usually built on Software Development Kits (SDKs) supplied by eg. Microsoft, Apple or Real.

Flash is a little different - Macromedia/Sorenson (?) made the Spark codec freely available, but the newer (and much better) VP6 codec is costly, and VP6 encoding is not supported by Vegas, other NLEs or freeware.

The next question is what features do you want bundled with your compression software? Vegas bundles full audio/video editing and processing and access to most of the available encoder controls. Sorenson Squeeze and most software sold for compression have *very* sophisticated batch manager capabilities, as well as sophisticated processing controls.

The freeware Windows Media Encoder has no batching, no audio/video processing other than interlace and pull-down, but exposes every encoder control.

So... specifically, what is it you want to do?

John Miller · July 23rd, 2007, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seth Bloombaum

The freeware Windows Media Encoder has no batching, no audio/video processing other than interlace and pull-down, but exposes every encoder control.

Not sure if it is what you mean, but Windows Media Encoder is fully automatable via traditional Windows methods. Hence, you could write a VBScript that automates it or do it from Excel, Word etc (i.e., any app with Visual Basic for Applications) etc. I've used it quite a bit that way.

Dean Orewiler · July 23rd, 2007, 01:04 PM

I have the vegas movie maker (not the fully version) and it does have the fuction where you can covert avi file to the internet, but I've tried it and can't get it to work...Do you have any suggestions on how to convert a rendered movie file?

Bill Watson · July 23rd, 2007, 01:44 PM

Windows Movie Maker is free and does a pretty good job creating mpegs for the web.

Mike Kujbida · July 23rd, 2007, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dean Orewiler

I have the vegas movie maker...

Do you mean Vegas Movie Studio or Windows Movie Maker?
No matter which one you have, it should allow for rendering as a WMV file as that's what you'd want for an internet clip.

Mike Kujbida · July 23rd, 2007, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Watson

Windows Movie Maker is free and does a pretty good job creating mpegs for the web.

Windows Movie Maker only allows for saving as a DV-AVI or WMV files, not MPEG.

Bill Watson · July 23rd, 2007, 10:42 PM

Hush ma mouth. I meant WMV.

It still does the job.

C.M. de la Vega · July 25th, 2007, 05:50 AM

I've used Super, lets you encode to many formats:

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

July 23rd, 2007, 09:32 AM	#1
Dean Orewiler Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 186	Best Software For Compressing Avi I'm looking for either a free download or a reasonably priced software that I can use to compress AVI for the internet. Does anybody have any suggestions?? I'm looking for something that has variable quality / compression. Thanks again!! Dean

July 23rd, 2007, 01:04 PM	#5
Dean Orewiler Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 186	here's my dilemma I have the vegas movie maker (not the fully version) and it does have the fuction where you can covert avi file to the internet, but I've tried it and can't get it to work...Do you have any suggestions on how to convert a rendered movie file?

July 23rd, 2007, 09:59 AM	#2
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	The best I know is Carbon Coder or Procoder. At the cheap end there is Mediacoder.

July 23rd, 2007, 10:10 AM	#3
Seth Bloombaum Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 3,420	Dean, first question is what format do you want to create? (Quicktime, Windows Media, Flash, Real Media, DIVX) Most of the compression software out there can create similar quality. Vegas does fine with Windows Media and Quicktime out of the box. Why? Compression software is usually built on Software Development Kits (SDKs) supplied by eg. Microsoft, Apple or Real. Flash is a little different - Macromedia/Sorenson (?) made the Spark codec freely available, but the newer (and much better) VP6 codec is costly, and VP6 encoding is not supported by Vegas, other NLEs or freeware. The next question is what features do you want bundled with your compression software? Vegas bundles full audio/video editing and processing and access to most of the available encoder controls. Sorenson Squeeze and most software sold for compression have very sophisticated batch manager capabilities, as well as sophisticated processing controls. The freeware Windows Media Encoder has no batching, no audio/video processing other than interlace and pull-down, but exposes every encoder control. So... specifically, what is it you want to do?

July 23rd, 2007, 01:44 PM	#6
Bill Watson Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Noosa Queensland Australia Posts: 248	Windows Movie Maker is free and does a pretty good job creating mpegs for the web.

July 23rd, 2007, 10:42 PM	#9
Bill Watson Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: Noosa Queensland Australia Posts: 248	Hush ma mouth. I meant WMV. It still does the job.

July 25th, 2007, 05:50 AM	#10
C.M. de la Vega New Boot Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 17	I've used Super, lets you encode to many formats: http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html