Compressing MP2 video files ??

[Andrew]

Hello,

I recently bought a DVB USB dongle to view and record freeview on my PC.
The software that came with it was Blaze HDTV (version 2). The only
problem is that the filesize of the video is massive !. I reckon it's
about 700mb for just a 20 minute clip. It decodes to MPEG2 (resolution
720 X 540, I think) and so I was wondering if:-

A) Is there was any software out there (preferably freeware) which would
decode these files to a managable filesize (e.g. DivX, MPEG4 or even
WMV) ?. A stand-alone program would be great, where I could just right
click on the file and decode it to DivX, MPEG4, WMV etc etc, from there,
that would be brilliant.

B) Is there any other bundled software which I could use with this DVB
USB instead of Blaze HDTV (which came with the DVB USB dongle but which
I find rather basic, especially on the EPG (electronic program guide)
front. Also Blaze HDTV has no options to save video to different formats
and quality and so it's a bit basic in that respect.

Kindest regards,
Andrew

 

[hummingbird]

Hello,

I recently bought a DVB USB dongle to view and record freeview on my PC.
The software that came with it was Blaze HDTV (version 2). The only
problem is that the filesize of the video is massive !. I reckon it's
about 700mb for just a 20 minute clip. It decodes to MPEG2 (resolution
720 X 540, I think) and so I was wondering if:-

A) Is there was any software out there (preferably freeware) which would
decode these files to a managable filesize (e.g. DivX, MPEG4 or even
WMV) ?. A stand-alone program would be great, where I could just right
click on the file and decode it to DivX, MPEG4, WMV etc etc, from there,
that would be brilliant.

B) Is there any other bundled software which I could use with this DVB
USB instead of Blaze HDTV (which came with the DVB USB dongle but which
I find rather basic, especially on the EPG (electronic program guide)
front. Also Blaze HDTV has no options to save video to different formats
and quality and so it's a bit basic in that respect.

Exactly what does the DVB dongle record: video only or video & audio?
What's the current filetype created by your dongle?

 

[Ivan Tisljar]

A) Is there was any software out there (preferably freeware) which would
decode these files to a managable filesize (e.g. DivX, MPEG4 or even
WMV) ?. A stand-alone program would be great, where I could just right
click on the file and decode it to DivX, MPEG4, WMV etc etc, from there,
that would be brilliant.

No standalone, but you can try AutoGordianKnot. You'll have to install
xvid codec with it, though.

B) Is there any other bundled software which I could use with this DVB
USB instead of Blaze HDTV (which came with the DVB USB dongle but which
I find rather basic, especially on the EPG (electronic program guide)
front. Also Blaze HDTV has no options to save video to different formats
and quality and so it's a bit basic in that respect.

DVB by standard is mpeg 2 audio and video transport stream; your
software just passes it to hard disc, it doesn't encode it to
anything. You can burn it to DVD without re-encoding, but bear in mind
that DVB stream isn't DVD compatible, there are few things messed up
like resolution (non-standard) and bitrate (often set in headers too
high, where in fact is much lower).

Ivan.

 

[rich]

Hello,

I recently bought a DVB USB dongle to view and record freeview on my PC.
The software that came with it was Blaze HDTV (version 2). The only
problem is that the filesize of the video is massive !. I reckon it's
about 700mb for just a 20 minute clip. It decodes to MPEG2 (resolution
720 X 540, I think) and so I was wondering if:-

Should be 720 x 480 - NTSC or 720 x 576 - PAL

That size is not unreasonable for a DVD mpeg2 capture using a high-ish
quality setting.
It is all about bitrate and I would estimate that your clip is about 8 Mbps.
Have a look at www.videohelp.com - top left corner - what is ... DVD. Its
worth 5 mins to see what you are dealing with.
I do not know the Blaze software but try and find a quality setting, it
might just be described as good..better..best rather than a specific
bitrate. You can go down to 4 or 5 Mbps, still have reasonable quality and
get 30-35 minutes on a CD (mini-DVD)
Another thing to look for is a profile - there may be one for VCD (352 x 288
) which would give 1 hour on a CD.

A) Is there was any software out there (preferably freeware) which would
decode these files to a managable filesize (e.g. DivX, MPEG4 or even
WMV) ?. A stand-alone program would be great, where I could just right
click on the file and decode it to DivX, MPEG4, WMV etc etc, from there,
that would be brilliant.

Super(c) - http://www.erightsoft.com/home.html is a good front end for
conversions.
Codecs - http://www.xvcd.com/sources.htm - look at the bottom of the page.

Remember that mpeg2 is already compressed so if you use, say Xvid as the
codec you might get a 50% reduction in size and a big loss in quality. Do
any editing *before* you re-encode.
Depending on computer power re-encoding can take a long time, try various
settings on small clips first.

B) Is there any other bundled software which I could use with this DVB
USB instead of Blaze HDTV (which came with the DVB USB dongle but which
I find rather basic, especially on the EPG (electronic program guide)
front. Also Blaze HDTV has no options to save video to different formats
and quality and so it's a bit basic in that respect.

have another lookYou are talking some sort of PVR freeware - do not know of any.
Virtualdub has a capture facility, but not for mpeg, so files are enormous -
never got it to work properly in PAL format.
VideoMakerFree has a capture facility - http://www.videodvdmaker.com/ -
never tried it.
They all use your capture card (device) driver software anyway so there is
no advantage over Blaze other than a different interface.

 

[rich]

have another look

Having not much better to do I have had a look at the Blaze Manual and the
app is pretty basic.
No wonder they give it away with the tuner/capture device, I would not like
to pay for it.
You tried the 1080 quality settings? - only work for HD I suppose.

(ROT13)
gel naq svaq n purnc pbcl bs Znvapbaprcg CIE ba ronl

 

[Andrew]

rich:

Having not much better to do I have had a look at the Blaze Manual and the
app is pretty basic.
No wonder they give it away with the tuner/capture device, I would not like
to pay for it.
You tried the 1080 quality settings? - only work for HD I suppose.

(ROT13)
gel naq svaq n purnc pbcl bs Znvapbaprcg CIE ba ronl

Cheers all ! - yeah Blaze HDTV is VERY basic !! - there are no settings
for different rates of MPEG2. it's just 720 X 576 standard. I'm only
archiving onto the Hard Drive, so 352 X 288 would be adequate, but Blaze
HDTV hasno option to set it to that !. I'll give those programs
mentioned earlier a go.

Thanks
Andrew