AVI video file baloons in size.

thief_ wrote on 3/12/2004, 3:40 AM
Just as a test, I loaded a 1.1MB video file captured from my Sony DV cam, into VV4 4.0d Build 205.

I then rendered the AVI to a new filename, using the TechSmith codec, which is supposed to be the best quality and compression.

The resulting file was 36.6MB!

I didn't edit it at all. Just loaded the video and rendered it back out.

I then rendered it out as Default Template/uncompressed, and the resulting file was 944MB!

What's going on here??

Interestingly, I loaded the 36MB rendered avi into Flash MX and exported that out to an SWF movie, and the output was 3.6MB in size!

Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/12/2004, 5:49 AM
Uncompressed makes the BIGGEST file here can be (no compression), the TechSmith codec probley has less compression then DV, and SWF compressed different then the others.

Filesize doesn't relate to picture quality eigther: a mpeg-2 rendered at 15mbs may not look any better then one renderd at 2mbs, depending on the video resolution, etc.
rebel44 wrote on 3/12/2004, 10:19 AM
The question is- do you want quality or size. Any time you compress the clip you will loose in quality and less frames to work with for editing.
Capture in uncompressed AVI file will give to you more frames to edit.
After final rendering you would choose the best codec to render for distribution. I allways capture uncompressed and after editing render it to coded I need to distribute.
GaryKleiner wrote on 3/12/2004, 10:25 AM
Let's get a few things straight:

DV is compressed 5:1 (there is no uncompressed DV).
DV footage will not change one bit (literally) if you render it and there are no changes made to it.
For sections where there are changes (transitions, FX, etc) the Vegas NTSC or PAL DV codec is quite excellent and you will see no degradation, so stick with that.

Gary
rebel44 wrote on 3/12/2004, 2:19 PM
Gary you are absolutely right. DV it is compressed, but durring recording to tape. When capture to computer you can capture uncompressed AVI and that where the size come out. NTSC DV template give to you option to capture in uncompressed AVI.
jetdv wrote on 3/12/2004, 2:26 PM
NO. You capture to DV-AVI. You can RENDER to uncompressed.
GaryKleiner wrote on 3/12/2004, 3:35 PM
>When capture to computer you can capture uncompressed AVI and that where the size come out. <

When you capture, you copy the ones and zeros from your tape to your hard drive. That's it. No change of any kind.

Gary
satish wrote on 3/12/2004, 3:45 PM
Techsmith codec is best quality and compression only for screen captures.. for natural footage it is not suitable.
thief_ wrote on 3/12/2004, 5:58 PM
Thanks all,

But my question remains unanswered, or did I miss something?

I simply captured an AVI using Camtasia (screen capture), and it used the TechSmith codec to create the AVI.

I then loaded the AVI into VV4, and rendered it back to AVI, using the default template and the TechSmith codec. No changes of any type were done to the video footage.

I want to know why VV4 ballooned the final footage to ten times the original footage's size, while the same codec was used in both instances of capture and rendering.

Why? Is VV4 buggy?
riredale wrote on 3/12/2004, 6:03 PM
Thief:

I don't understand. You say you loaded a 1.1MB file from your camcorder. In the DV format, that represents one-fourth of a second! Can that be right?

PeterWright wrote on 3/13/2004, 12:27 AM
You said you captured from a Sony DV cam, then you said it was with Camtasia, which captures from computer screen display.

Which was it, and if screen capture, what screen resolution?

If you captured DV from a camera, you need about 13Gb per hour. That doesn't change, because it's a straight copy, tape to hard drive.

To explain the "ballooning" you've experienced, more info is required.

TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/13/2004, 4:16 AM
You can use a 3rd party capture program to capture uncompressed, but it takes up A LOT of hd space (so get something bigger then 80gb!). I use iuVCR and can capture uncompressed, DV, or with a codec (but not all codec's work well)
TheHappyFriar wrote on 3/13/2004, 4:19 AM
If you capture using a screen capture program, when you rendered it in Vegas it rendered it at 30fps. More size. But, like the 2 previous people said, you told us you captured from a DV camera, then converted it...
thief_ wrote on 3/16/2004, 9:27 PM
Sorry guys, I'm not at my best at 2:30am! I used Camtasia to capture a screen-capture/video @ 800x600 res. Camtasia uses the Techsmith codec, which is good 4 screen captures, and recorded it all to an AVI, which was 1.1MB.

I then loaded it into VV4, and rendered it to AVI again to see what happens to the file size, and it ballooned. And I used Techsmith codec again when rendering from VV4.