Large file (125gb) from converting VHS - how do I compress?

[ZakAttack]

I have a two hour long VHS I have just converted. It is 125gb. I have 2 main issues:

 

Issue 1: How do I compress the file so that it does not lose too much quality?

Issue 2: What are my options for sending this video file to others on the internet?

 

Thank you.

[PsYcHoKiLLa]

How did you get a 125GB file? Even filming with a digital camcorder I end up with a file around 20GB. (It's GB not gb by the way, before anyone else moans about it :p B = Byte, b = bit)

 

Also if it's a VHS original then 480p will do it just fine, 720p is over VHS quality. Best options for sending/sharing are probably dropbox or gdrive.

 

Even for converting you should be able to use a TV card and use a recording program.

[ZakAttack]

  On 04/08/2013 at 21:09, PsYcHoKiLLa said:

How did you get a 125GB file? Even filming with a digital camcorder I end up with a file around 20GB. (It's GB not gb by the way, before anyone else moans about it :p B = Byte, b = bit)

 

Also if it's a VHS original then 480p will do it just fine, 720p is over VHS quality. Best options for sending/sharing are probably dropbox or gdrive.

 

Even for converting you should be able to use a TV card and use a recording program.

 

Its just what happens when you convert VHS to digital. Any particular software recommended?

[PsYcHoKiLLa]

Handbrake is probably your best bet, it's free and has very good results. If you have an Nvidia card there's a video converter that uses CUDA (Nvidia streaming tool), there's actually quite a few packages that use CUDA but I'm not sure how many are free.

 

Although, to be honest, with a starting file of 125GB you're going to be waiting hours, not sure how you even arrived at that filesize, unless you converted to 1080p which is completely pointless, I would do it again.

 

You can also use vlc media player to convert video live as it's streaming, which includes video coming in through a tv card but it needs a powerful PC

[+Xinok Subscriber²]

Freemake Video Converter - http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/

 

My guess, the software you used for converting the VHS to digital uses a low-quality codec, like MPEG1 or MPEG2, but at a very high bitrate. Why? Because encoding using these codecs is very fast, so it can convert in real-time using little CPU. On the other hand, a high-quality codec like H.264 or XVID would be too slow on older hardware.

Edited August 4, 2013 by Xinok

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Has already been suggested - but I'd also give a thumbs up for Handbrake. Great piece of software :)

[r3drum]

Next time try using Avid Express to import the video and you will have more import options. Do bare in mind that the file will still be large as a result of the tape being comparable to a lossless file unlike a digital camcorder which compresses the file while shooting. 

[srbeen]

VirtualDub can import video from tuner cards/capture cards and compress the video on-the-fly. You better have a fast system. its free software too. Don't help you now, but maybe in the future. I would use handbrake to shrink the video up with H264 codec at 480p res max, like already suggested. Handbrake runs on unix/mac/win, so its very functional. May want to split audio from video and tweak in an audio proggy, then mux it back together.

[Lee G. Veteran]

I recommend VirtualDub. I've used it to convert captured VHS video to Xvid.

 

Despite it being old, I found this tutorial useful: http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/187587-How-to-convert-DV-to-DivX-or-XviD-using-Virtualdub

[Elliot B.]

  On 04/08/2013 at 21:20, Xinok said:

Freemake Video Converter - http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/

+1, they make fantastic products.

[+BudMan MVC]

What did you use to convert from vhs to digital?

125GB is nuts for a vhs quality anything..

why don't you grab say mediainfo http://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo and post up the details of your video..

So we can see what we are working with, and then can suggest how to reduce the file size to something more manageable ;)

Just grab the zip file of the above problem, the installer includes opencandy - which I doubt you want to install..

example - here is HD video I recorded of my grand daughter a few days back

 

General
Complete name                            : M:\Video\2013\Jul2013\VID00185.MP4
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : Sony PSP
Codec ID                                 : MSNV
File size                                : 255 MiB
Duration                                 : 3mn 36s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Constant
Overall bit rate                         : 9 905 Kbps
Encoded date                             : UTC 2013-07-20 19:51:27
Tagged date                              : UTC 2013-07-20 19:51:27

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : Main@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP                     : M=1, N=15
Codec ID                                 : avc1
Codec ID/Info                            : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                                 : 3mn 36s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 9 759 Kbps
Nominal bit rate                         : 20.0 Mbps
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 60.000 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.176
Stream size                              : 251 MiB (99%)
Encoded date                             : UTC 2013-07-20 19:51:27
Tagged date                              : UTC 2013-07-20 19:51:27
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : 40
Duration                                 : 3mn 36s
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 132 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : 17ms
Stream size                              : 3.38 MiB (1%)
Encoded date                             : UTC 2013-07-20 19:51:27
Tagged date                              : UTC 2013-07-20 19:51:27

Look at the bitrate and size 1280x720 at 60 fps -- for 3.5 minutes of video its 260MB.. Or about 72MB per minute.. Lets round it up to 80MB per minute.. So for your 2 hour video at this quality you would only be talking about 9.6GB... Your at 125GB??? For a VHS video??

Yeah got lots of room to shrink that without any loss quality...

BTW I convert those to FLV and change to about 1K bitrate and drop the size to 640x360 at 30fps to stream and that video goes from 260MB to less than 26.. And still looks very good...