What format for recordings which I want to keep?

[rob11252]

I am looking for advice.
99% of recordings I make are deleted in a few days - after anybody interested has seen it. But occasionally you want to save it for the future.
For example, a few weeks ago I recorded Tennis Wimbledon Final in HD (1080i). It lasted (with all the rain delays) 7 hours and the file had about 50Gb in dvr-ms format. I cut it down to 2 hours, converted to 720p (that's my TV resolution), but even now in mpg format it takes 12GB of disk space.
I'd like to reduce it further, without reducing resolution or loosing quality and of course I want to watch it using GBPVR.

What format do you use for recordings/movies you want to keep?

[JonnyCam]

I'd like to reduce it further, without reducing resolution or loosing quality and of course I want to watch it using GBPVR.

What you are asking is possibly unattainable.
Every time you re-encode something there has to be a quality loss, and if you are wanting to reduce the size - even more so.

You could try and see about converting it to MKV using the X264 codec to see if you get better results, or even try XVID / DIVX and see if the quality is acceptable to you (you can download an auto MKV maker)

I reduce quality enough to get onto a DVD, or in your case, you could split into a couple of DVD's (oh, will a DVD player play 720p? - possible not as it's not in spec)

[Deusxmachina]

x264 video, AAC audio. Your choice of resolution. If it's 30 frames per second, (29.97), you can lower frames per second down to 24 too if you want to get more crafty with it.

Might want to scratch the AAC audio, though. If it's already 5.1 AC3, may want to keep that for compatibility reasons.

Normally, I put archive stuff into .mp4 for slightly better compatibility reasons, and if it's in stereo. .mp4 isn't made for 5.1 AC3 audio, it can do it but it's a hack, so best to use .mkv if it's AC3 5.1.

Also, if you haven't done it before, you might be surprised at how good a downconvert to 480 resolution can look to then put on a DVD. Having the source be HD can be a big deal for downconverting quality. And then put it on a disc for keeps and pass it around if wanted.

Also, can use 576 (PAL) resolution for a regular DVD. Not all DVD players will play the disc, so it's not the best for compatibility if loaning the disc to someone, but it will play through your PC fine. Even though I'm in NTSC land of 480, I generally use 576 resolution when putting stuff on DVD for me or for people I know who have standalones that will play PAL. And 576 is only about 20% less res than 720, so you're not losing a huge amount of detail. 1080 down to 576 hurts, but 720 down to 576 isn't too big a deal imo.

edit: or just get another hard drive. 500gb is about $80 on sale now, and 750s have hit $100. A 12gb file of something you want to keep in HD sounds like a good deal to me.

[rob11252]

Buying a 750GB HD is definitely in my plans this year.
In addition, the only combination I think is worth trying is x246 video codec and mkv container.
I am surprised than only 2 people responded (thank you for the info); until now I thought that everybody but me here is very active in conversion processes and benefits. Now I think that I am in "watch and throw away" majority.

[HtV]

Now I think that I am in "watch and throw away" majority.

That sounds like me.
We only watch through an mvp, so there's no good reason for compressing.
I hardly ever see something that I would want to keep.

Hans

[martint123]

I'm a "watch and keep" for some things, but I mainly keep things in MPG as they need no transcoding to view with gbpvr - so skip fwd/back works fine. Drives are cheap now

[Deusxmachina]

I think most people who do convert things tend to just convert to xvid with lower resolution, and posts about that wouldn't be in line with your original questions, hence the few responses.

For best quality and ease of use, yeah, just have to keep adding hard drives. Black Friday isn't all that far off if you can hold out for maybe a great deal.

[agh!]

I use MediaMVP for viewing on the TV downstairs which only supports .mpg.
For simplicity I prefer not to convert stuff to DivX and have GB-PVR transcode on the fly so I just record everything in .mpg, delete stuff I've watched and don't want to keep and then buy cheap big disk drives and also trim recordings I want to keep using VideoRedo - which doesn't support DivX yet either. Cutting out adverts usually knocks up to 20% off the file size.

That said, I'm not into HD recordings yet and in no rush to because I'm not buying a HD TV until the one we have breaks, then I'll be buying something like PCH to replace and MediaMVP and even bigger disks and / or starting to keep stuff as DivX's.

[ilovejedd]

For the stuff I want to keep, I encode to x264 (video). For 480p, I use .mp4 container and convert audio to AAC (PSP and PS3). For 720p and 1080i (deinterlaced to 1080p) HD, I use .m2ts and keep the original AC3 audio (PS3). Everything else, watch and delete.

[rob11252]

For the stuff I want to keep, I encode to x264 (video). For 480p, I use .mp4 container and convert audio to AAC (PSP and PS3). For 720p and 1080i (deinterlaced to 1080p) HD, I use .m2ts and keep the original AC3 audio (PS3). Everything else, watch and delete.

ilovejedd, can you provide more information?
I am interested in HD only. I am assuming that you are recording to dvr-ms, watch it and decide if you want to keep it. I am assuming that the x264 you mentioned is open-source h264 encoder, but what is .m2ts? An application used to convert? And how much hard drive space are you gaining? Just removing commercials can shave off up to 30%. And conversion?
Thanks.