Video File Formats -- smaller footprint?

[Woodcycl]

I'm a noob when it comes to capturing video. I just captured 17 minutes from my digital video camera into MGI VideoWave. It appears the format is AVI which is fine. However, the files are HUGE!! I have 2ea 5minute files and one 7 minute file .... I broke it up into 3 files while capturing. However, each file is between a 1GB and 1.5GB in size. A couple of questions:

1. What file formats (i.e. MPEG) can I have video and sound that have a smaller footprint -- smaller file sizes?

2. What types of programs will I need to convert my current AVI file to one of these other programs? My father has a couple $250 to $500 software apps for this kind of thing (Vegas, etc.) but I don't know how to use them.

3. Which of these video/audio file formats can be burned to DVD so that when it is placed into a regular DVD player it will play on a television?

Thanks for the help! :D

[Johnny Fist]

Well, the avi format isn't necessarily bad. Its the codec that you use that you want to be carefull with. If you were just capturing with the sole intent of keeping the video on a computer I'd tell you to google for the dixv codec and send you on your merry way. However, seeing that you're into turning the video into a DVD then you're going to have to stick with MPEG-2, DVD's native video format. Quality comes at a price, and in this case the price you pay is in hard drive space. The only thing you can do about that is get a bigger hard drive if you don't have the room. As far as what software you'll need and how to go about doing it, Doom9 (http://www.doom9.org/) is pretty much an authority on anything related to DVDs and DVD authoring. The majority of the applications that are used at that site are freeware. Don't go out and waste all that money the way your uncle did.

[Woodcycl]

Thanks for the info JohnnyFist!

Actually, I have several formats/contexts I need to consider for my captured video. One of them is authoring to DVD so I can provide the video to those folks who don't have high-speed access. But, I'd also like a format that can be emailed or FTP'd to folks for re-play. And, yet, another kind is for streaming via a link from my FTP server.

For example, posting a link to my video so that people could view it as streaming video. But, 1GB files are WAY too big compared to what I've seen others use.

Any more details are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brian

[Johnny Fist]

For authoring DVDs it must be in MPEG-2. For emailing/ftp'ing go with divx, xvid, or hell, you could even go with WMV. For streaming purposes MPEG-1 or WMV.