A couple of weeks ago I posted a thread on how to shrink the size of an AVI file and joni218 replied with some instructions to install AVIdemux and how to use it. Well I made it through all of her instructions except how to actually start the cropping process! Below is what replied to me. By the way, when you start shrinking movie files, do you lose any quality? Also, what does demux mean? (1/5/09 11:52 PM jony218 – AfterDawn Forum) Open your file, next change the video from "copy" to "mpeg4 asp (xvid)", next open the filters and choose the crop filter, make sure when you do the crop that the finished numbers on top/bottom boxes are "even numbers". Next just save the file, on the name you need to add .avi, example video.avi. The program won't add the type of file automatically.
once you have the video cropped properly press ok, then close the filter box. When your back in the main window make sure your video is set to mpe4 asp, and you can set your audio to mp3 lame, the format needs to be avi. next go up to the floppy icon on top, press that and choose the place to save your avi. Make sure you name your video with the .avi at the end. Example video.avi , if you forget to add the .avi , you can add it to the completed file otherwise it won't play. You can practice on a small video file till you get it right.
joni218, I just wanted to thank you for your patience and help in getting me going with AVIdemux. That's a good little program and I finally was able to get it to work like you instructed! One question though...Before I got into messing around in video I was quite the audio buff in that I always like to have the best sounding and best quality mp3's etc. Sometimes I would even edit them and tweak them some. So with video I kind of bring that along. Having said that, when using AVIdemux, I take it that when you set your audio properties that you are basically changing them to whatever you select? So what would be the optimal audio setting then in AVIdemux and what are the letters in the parenthesis next to things like AC3? And is the audio track of most avi movie files mainly in MP3?
On the audio you can always leave it on "copy" and it won't change any settings. Usually I can't tell any difference between "copy" and mp3 lame. I'm not to sure what ac3 audio does. I always just use "copy" or "mp3 lame" default settings with very good results . One thing you can do, if your trying to convert avi music videos or a movie where the audio is too low. Is to use the free "audacity" program and rip the audio from your avi. In audacity you can edit that audio (reverb/loudness/etc) then save it as an mp3. Next when your ready to convert your avi, just choose to use the edited mp3 as the main audio track. I've done it before as a test and it worked good and kept the video/audio insync. Avidemux is definitely a very versatile program. The more I use it, the more I learn it's power.
