which allows you to decrease the size that a file takes up on your hard drive? I've got a bunch of TV shows and movies on my hard drive and I'm wondering if I can purchase some software that can decrease the amount of space that they take up (without altering the resolution). Thanks.
Is there a computer program
- Thread starter freestuff
- Start date
Have you tried to simply make them into a zipped file? You would need to unzip them to watch again, that is if you are only wanting to save storage space and not have them ready to play immediately. You coud convert them into another format such as flash etc which could be smaller files. What file format are they? Easiest way is trial and error on file types you like if you want to convert them into another format.
Most video/music such as DivX,MP3 are already heavily compressed using optimal algorithms so you will not gain much more compression with something like winzip.
You can, however, reduce the file size by decreasing the quality (video or sound), how much is up to you like my2cents said. Honestly though, this is pain in the ass to do and I would never go this route because once you downsize and delete the original, it's over, you've lost that quality forever and can't go back.
The realistic suggestion is to just get another hard drive (external), they are cheap and you saves the trouble.
You can, however, reduce the file size by decreasing the quality (video or sound), how much is up to you like my2cents said. Honestly though, this is pain in the ass to do and I would never go this route because once you downsize and delete the original, it's over, you've lost that quality forever and can't go back.
The realistic suggestion is to just get another hard drive (external), they are cheap and you saves the trouble.
My techkie friend gave me the same advice. You can get a 1T or 1.5T external HD for around $120 if you shop around. My friend also said that messing around with files might create "unintended negative consequences".I'll go with the external drive route.
This is the best option.The realistic suggestion is to just get another hard drive (external), they are cheap and you save the trouble.
HDDs are cheap. Throw in another large internal HDD or get an external drive.
Yea if your sticking with theAVI format just add more disk space. However it may be worthwhile to experiment with other file formats to see if they meet your needs. Don't delete the originals simply do an A / B comparrison and see if you notice the difference. Antoher optionis to get a networked hard rive that would allow you to stream the videos anywhere in your house. Of course there are a wide range of products to access these files such as a small computer to medai boxes dedicated to streaming media. I know western digital has some options for hard drives and media players. Some of their media players even output HDMI. I prefer the wired network fo this due to bandwidth but wifi can also do it with the right router.
This is really good intention but the problem I see is that it takes a lot of time to re-encode the video, plus you need a large amount of (temporary) HD space (as cache) to make the conversion.However it may be worthwhile to experiment with other file formats to see if they meet your needs.
This idea may work better if the device you use to record these TV shows and movies allow recording in different video formats, and you choose the most efficient (smallest filesize for the best quality) format. I have a feeling that the WMV format is probably the most efficient format currently offered (if offered) in most popular video capture devices.
The newest H.264 format is even more efficient than the older MPEG4 video formats, but it takes a lot of processing power for real-time video encoding (ie. "on-the-fly" encoding as the TV show is running). I guess there are capture cards that use H.264.
I guess if you want to save a few bucks, you can buy the hard drive and the drive enclosure separately. However, I see that nowadays the price of an external HDD (complete unit) is not that much different from buying the components seperately, unless you venture into eBay for the drive enclosures. Another problem with buying enclosures separately is that, you must check and make sure it supports 1TB (or more) HDDs.I'll go with the external drive route.
