Compressing .mpg's

[spleenboy]

Hi all,
I've transferred some very old camcorder footage from VHS to DVD, and subsequently converted the whole thing to an .mpg. The trouble is, the resulting file is just under 4.5gb; I'm trying to edit it into smaller pieces using Windows Movie Maker, but it's just hanging.

Any ideas on how I could compress the whole thing into something that WMM could manage?

Thanks in advance

[VR46]

give virtualdub.com's Virtualdub (free) program a try, great for compressing and splitting big movie files.

[marcus]

I prefer TMPGENC myself, Windows Movie Maker isnt up to that sorta job really.

[vertigo]

How much RAM do you have?
How much virtual RAM have you let Windows use?
It may not be hanging, it might just be processing.

Also, reboot your comp, go into Task Manager and shut down all the unnecessary crap you have running, especially things like Virus Scanners that scan every file every time it's used because it's likely that the huge video file's being scanned constantly, which will cane your resources. Devote as much of your system resource as possible to the project when you're editing video or you end up waiting for half of your life most of the time.

Have you tried using some software that'll convert and write the file to a DVD? That way you can put it into a DVD player or it'll happily run in a Windows DVD app and you won't have to lose even more quality than you already have from coming from VHS format.