compression...

[lowfront]

alright.......I need to know best way to compress...should I

what quality should I record at?

should I record on high and convert to divx
med and convert
low and convert


or just record on low and keep that file?........

[-stattik-]

This is going to be one of those "it depends" type answers.

Video quality is subjective so it depends on what you think is good. As far as the recording quality to record at, the cleaner the original picture, the better the compression is going to be. If you're going to be transcoding everything, it might be best to record on high if the picture is the best.

Time is another factor to consider. A higher quality transcode will take longer. If you have the CPU cycles to spare it may be the best bet. Xvid is probably the best codec to use IMO.

[reboot]

No, there is no "depends".
To get the highest quality, record at the highest quality, then convert.
DivX/XviD compression has nothing to do with mpeg-2 compression.
If you start with a lower quality source, you'll get a lower quality avi.