.mov > .flv

[Liquid]

Okay, a while ago I asked you all for a DVD rip program and you were all most helpful.

However, the program converts to .mov with a huge file size whereas the .flvs I normally get off YouTube are much smaller in comparison. With the rip program there is no way to change the outgoing file type.

Does anyone know of a good program which will turn my large .movs into small .flvs, or generally a way to compress the file sizes of my videos?

 

[TB]

Any Video Converter.

Select source(s), select output type and location, set options, profit.

 

[Liquid]

I'll check it out.

 

[F1GTR]

Personally I wouldn't convert the MOV files to FLV, I'd covert to MP4/H264 for better compatibility across platforms.

 

[niky]

FLV is small because FLV sucks. It's like complaining your VCDs take up less space than DVDs.

I prefer AVI or MP4.

 

[Samus]

MOV and FLV are both just containers (as are AVI and MP4). They can both contain the exact same codecs and ergo unless you specifically need something in FLV container, just encode a lower bitrate MOV. FLV files aren't smaller because they're FLV, they're smaller because the bitrate of the video is lower. They usually feature the same H.264 video as you'll usually find in an MP4 or MOV container.

 

[Grayfox]

Well Samus is the one that knows what their talking about.

If you want a even smaller file size use the H.265 codec.
It can give same picture quaility as H.264 but use a lower bitrate.

 

[sesselpupser]

I've personally used Handbrake in the past, it allows you to select your output from a range of presets. The Apple TV preset (which I think was renamed to something else) was a pretty good H.264 rip, quality wasn't perfect but it's about as good as I can stream on my home network.

 

[Samus]

Well not much point using H.265 yet since most hardware won't be able to decode it. Stick to H.264 and as neema says use any frontend for the x264 encoder, like Handbrake, and you'll get good results even with low bitrate.

Use the CRF setting at around 20, if the result is too big for you increase the number, if it's too blocky lower it.

 

[Omnis]

I use freemake because it's gpu accelerated and convert all my movs to mp4.

 

[Grayfox]

Well not much point using H.265 yet since most hardware won't be able to decode it. Stick to H.264 and as neema says use any frontend for the x264 encoder, like Handbrake, and you'll get good results even with low bitrate.

Use the CRF setting at around 20, if the result is too big for you increase the number, if it's too blocky lower it.

I would say use a 2-pass method with a file size target.
This way you know how big it will be and while it takes longer it does give better picture quality in the end.

 

[Liquid]

It's not the quality of the file I am concerned about, it's the size of the file. I know there is a crossover between the two, but for example a 30 minute MOV video I have, ripped from a DVD, is 700MB whereas a 30 minute FLV video from YouTube is just 100MB.

You're right, there is a difference in quality but not one which I am too concerned about. Maybe instead of converting the MOVs I already have, I need to find a better DVD rip software?

 

[Samus]

Right, like I said FLV and MOV are just containers. The only reason your MOV is bigger than the FLV is because someone/you encoded it with higher bitrate than the FLV. Youtube compresses their videos much more than most people would for playback, hence why it's smaller. It's nothing to do with the fact it's an FLV. You could demux the FLV, take the video and audio from it and remux them into a MOV container. The size would be the same, give or take because of how different containers write their headers.

In short, if you want files a certain size and aren't concerned about quality too much then yes, encode to a set file size using something like Handbrake.

Here is a decent enough guide - http://lifehacker.com/5809765/how-to-rip-a-dvd-to-your-computer

Only change you need to make is when you get to step 7. Select a preset but then also go to the video tab. Tick the average bitrate box on the right and calcuate what that should be, based on your target filesize.

https://3ivx.com/support/calculator/index.html

Put your target size at the top, the length and the bitrate of the audio (Can be set in Handbrake on the audio tab). Then you'll get a result, you want the bottom one, kiloBits/sec. Put that in the box in Handbrake and encode. Your resulting file should be around about (1-3Mb either way) the filesize you selected on the calculator.

 

[Agent_47]

Okay, a while ago I asked you all for a DVD rip program and you were all most helpful.

However, the program converts to .mov with a huge file size whereas the .flvs I normally get off YouTube are much smaller in comparison. With the rip program there is no way to change the outgoing file type.

Does anyone know of a good program which will turn my large .movs into small .flvs, or generally a way to compress the file sizes of my videos?

Why do you need .flv files? Use .mkv. It is a much more versatile container. MKVMergeGUI is free and will dump your streams into a .mkv file. The only compatibility problem I've ever had as far as .mkv container goes is with LPCM audio. Then again, there's no reason not to compress LPCM to some sort of lossless container like .flac.

You could also use the .mp4 container with AAC stereo audio which will significantly cut file size and works with most stuff out there.

 

[Danoff]

Why do you need .flv files? Use .mkv. It is a much more versatile container.

I like mkv's for blu-rays.

@Liquid

You want the biggest file size you can get - because that's the one where you're not throwing away information. From there you can make re-encoded versions that are smaller for particular applications (like tablets).

Does anyone know how to go from 1080p mkv to an MPEG without re-encoding? I rip the data from blu-ray straight to mkv without actually encoding anything. I'd love to convert to MPEG as a straight dump from there but have not found a way. No matter what I do, re-encoding always does something stupid - it either introduces artifacts and losses, or it makes the video impossible to play with current video hardware.

 

[Agent_47]

I like mkv's for blu-rays.

@Liquid

You want the biggest file size you can get - because that's the one where you're not throwing away information. From there you can make re-encoded versions that are smaller for particular applications (like tablets).

Does anyone know how to go from 1080p mkv to an MPEG without re-encoding? I rip the data from blu-ray straight to mkv without actually encoding anything. I'd love to convert to MPEG as a straight dump from there but have not found a way. No matter what I do, re-encoding always does something stupid - it either introduces artifacts and losses, or it makes the video impossible to play with current video hardware.

The reason for using .mkv for Blu Ray is to keep DTS audio which, to my knowledge, doesn't work in an .mp4 or .m4v container.

Not sure about .mpeg, but you could use TSMuxer and go straight to a .ts file. All you're doing is remuxing into a different container. This tool and MKVMergeGUI are both free. Subler does basically the same thing to .mp4 formats on Mac computers.

 

[Grayfox]

I use H.264 and AAC for everything due to it being compatible with everything.

 

[Samus]

I like mkv's for blu-rays.

@Liquid

You want the biggest file size you can get - because that's the one where you're not throwing away information. From there you can make re-encoded versions that are smaller for particular applications (like tablets).

Does anyone know how to go from 1080p mkv to an MPEG without re-encoding? I rip the data from blu-ray straight to mkv without actually encoding anything. I'd love to convert to MPEG as a straight dump from there but have not found a way. No matter what I do, re-encoding always does something stupid - it either introduces artifacts and losses, or it makes the video impossible to play with current video hardware.

Well it depends what is actually in that MKV container and what you mean by MPEG. Chances are the video inside is already MPEG (4) AVC (Unless it's an old Blu Ray, in which case it may be VC-1 or MPEG2) and if you want to put it into an MPEG-TS container rather than MKV use TSMuxer, as above.

If when you say MPEG you actually mean the MPEG-2 codec then of course unless the video inside the MKV is already MPEG2, you'll have to re-encode, no other way around that.

Perhaps the best thing to ask is why you want it in 'MPEG' format, what is the target and why is the MKV container unsuitable?

 

[Danoff]

Well it depends what is actually in that MKV container and what you mean by MPEG. Chances are the video inside is already MPEG (4) AVC (Unless it's an old Blu Ray, in which case it may be VC-1 or MPEG2) and if you want to put it into an MPEG-TS container rather than MKV use TSMuxer, as above.

If when you say MPEG you actually mean the MPEG-2 codec then of course unless the video inside the MKV is already MPEG2, you'll have to re-encode, no other way around that.

Perhaps the best thing to ask is why you want it in 'MPEG' format, what is the target and why is the MKV container unsuitable?

The target is a movie editor that only edits MPEGs (as far as I can tell, it edits pretty much any MPEG). I've only found one free editor that can do it without doing a full video re-encode when I cut and splice scenes. I do not like to ever let anything re-encode my movies. An alternative solution would be to find a free editor that allows me to do things like cut and splice scenes without re-encoding with an mkv file.

 

[Samus]

I use VideoReDo to trim most files, but it's not free. YAMB might work, not sure.Could also try MPEG Streamclip.

What is the editor program?

 

[Danoff]

MPEG video wizard: http://www.womble.com/

Actually it's an older version, I wonder if a newer one has mkv support. Some folks are pointing me to MKVExtractGUI.

 

[Samus]

You can just drop the MKV straight into TSMuxer, select TS or M2TS as the output container and it'll be remuxed, no need to demux and remux separately.