How can I make video smaller?

How do I make the video files smaller on the Sony Handycam DCR-SR40?

• I have a Sony Handycam DCR-SR40, which has a 30GB harddrive to store the videos in. I noticed the video files are very very big. A minute of video might be 20 or 30mb's or something like that. In any case, they are very large. I suppose it's because the format they are recorded in. My friends Sony Handycam, which is similar to mine also is the same with the video files. Is there a program I can use to compress the video files or make them smaller in size? I know this will decrease audio and video quality but I don't want to compress them that much, just a bit to make them seem smaller. I don't have a DVD burner yet (going to get one soon), but is that the size that the videos should be when they are burned onto the disks? I know they are 7.4GB's or something with dual layers so that should store quite a bit of video right? Also I record in HQ mode (highest quality) but even at the lowest quality the files are quite big. Thanks

• Answer:

  This is the great problem with video files. They are big. 20 to 30MB for a mintue of HiDef footage is actually very good. In pure DV (uncompressed) it would equate to around 6-800 MB! If you're keeping your files on the camcorder, I highly recommend taking them off and storing them on your computer first. This will give you more space to record and you can further process the files you've already made (theres not much more you can do on the camcorder). The trick with compression is that its a balancing act. On one side you've got file size and on the other you've got quality and they are proportional. So if you decrease filesize you will decrease quality. Im guessing the camcorder is storing the files as mpg files (or MPEG2) which is the same format thats used in retail DVDs. The trouble with this is that you've already lost a certain amount of definition. You can use may different programs to convert between file types and compression settings. A few include the fantastic free VirtualDub and even Windows Movie Maker. Microsoft also has its own WMV encoder (downloadable from the MS website) which *may* be able to squeeze a bit more space out of the file but not without loosing quality. I would recommend you get a DVD burner as soon as possible. Single layer discs are far cheaper and hold 4.7 Gb each which should be fine for your purposes. You can also make use of external USB hard drives to store you video (which go up to 1 TB!). Hope that helps.