Expert: Andre Hickman - 8/8/2009

Question
i have videos that are almost 30 min long.i want to convert them to a file size under 50 mb but i dont want the videos quality to be messed with when i convert it back to flv. i have them in flv right now. i tryed converting one with cobymp3 705 video converter to make it smaller and when i converted to back to flv the video was all blury and it wasnt good quality. do you know the smallest format that when i convert it back to flv later, it wont make the video blury.

Thanks

Answer
Sorry, but .flv is really about the best that you are going to get, and retain the quality that you are trying to keep, with the smallest file size.  Trying anything else to make it smaller is going to do exactly what it did...make you lose quality. Compressing it more is losing image information, then when you try to convert back to .flv, that image information (pixel-wise) is just not there anymore, so it can't make the images clear. It can only work with the data that is there.

You can try Divx compression www.divx.com, but I really think that you have it compressed as best as you can.  That is a lot of video time, and it is ultimately going to have to take up some space.

Sorry if I didn't give you the magical solution that you thought I might have.  I've talked with Turner Studios media personnel (TNT, Cartoon Network, etc.) that specialize in compressions. You are pretty much using the best compressions out there.  You may want to try to tweak the bitrates on the audio and video settings during your compression, and see if you can get it smaller.

Cheers,
Andre