Posted by Stuart on 02/05/07 01:13

"Laphan" <info@PleaseDontSpam.com> wrote in message
news:12scccnmd2r80bf@corp.supernews.com...
>
> "Neck & Red" <neckred@nospam.com> wrote in message
> news:vTnxh.18269$pQ3.15682@newsread4.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>
> "Laphan" <info@PleaseDontSpam.com> wrote in message
> news:12sc1iql98k0o77@corp.supernews.com...
>>
>> Hi All
>>
>> Could somebody please advise me as to which is the best file format for
>> video.
>>
>> I've saved some DVD content as AVI and it created a huge file and the
>> file
>> wouldn't play unless the right codec was installed in my friend's laptop.
>> All very messy.
>>
>> I've tried WMV, which did create a smaller file size, but I thought AVI
>> was
>> the standard? If WMV makes smaller files and no codec issues then why
>> doesn't everybody simply use WMV?
>>
>> Is AVI really MPEG-4?
>>
>> I've seen that I can save a file as MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 and I didn't know if
>> these would be better formats, ie compatibility and file size wise.
>
> DVD is Mpeg2
>
> ----
>
> Hi Neck
>
> Thanks for coming back to me.
>
> If DVD is Mpeg2 then whats the benefit of saving to AVI or WMV?
>
> Once I've done the editing in moviemaker the finished article is going to
> go
> onto a DVD so is it best to save to mpeg2?
>
> Rgds
>
>


" If DVD is Mpeg2 then what's the benefit of saving to AVI or WMV?"

No benefit at all as both are compressed formats (I'm assuming by avi you
mean DivX or Xvid movies you might download) and during the process of DVD
authoring they will be re-encoded to mpeg2 (VOB format). The only benefit
these formats have is they are smaller than mpeg and take less time to
download but at the cost of quality. If your aim is to play back on a PC and
you have a limited hard disk capacity then DivX or Xvid or WMV are
reasonable choices. If you making a DVD then just copy the vob files off
the original assuming they are not protected.

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