Video Compression, another way?

[Nox13last]

Ok, I'ma get straight to the point.

I make YouTube videos. I use Fraps to do it.

Problem: Fraps doesn't compress the videos it makes (so five minutes ends up being 20GB of space), YouTube won't accept video until it's compressed.

Ideal compression takes said 20GB down to 200MB.

HOWEVER, with compression that drastic, quality takes a turn for the worse. What should be crystal black looks like the tinted windshield of a car that just drove through a swarm of flies. What should be high definition ultra-sharp edges, I have trouble working out. The text at the bottom of Audiosurf's screen appears too blotchy to read.

I use Windows Movie Maker to compress my videos to get this problem.
I've examined the quality settings you can tweak before the video is 'compiled'. Nothing helps.

I acquired VirtualDub, but it won't let me compress with DivX because the video dimensions are "wrong". Using any other compression codec really doesn't help. I need DivX for this.

Fraps' FAQS are wrong. They say to dodge around the problem I have I need to enable a certain setting in the Compression options (one I've never actually seen while following their instructions, mind you). With that said, they expressly mention VirtualDub.

Help, please. I need a way to compress my videos in a way that doesn't severely downgrade quality for the sake of size.

 

[Simalacrum]

if you have a Mac, iMovie does a pretty good job of compressing video's... it has an option specifically for sending created video's to Youtube, afterall...

take what I say with a pinch of salt though, I'm not exactly 'tech savi'...

 

[j0z]

I don't know if youtube will accept it, I would be suprised if it did, but you could try RAD Video tools, it has ridiculous compression with good quality. A lot of game cimatics use the compression ( it is called bink )
I have used DivX rarely, but if it won't compress because the dimensions are wrong, try changing the resolution on audiosurf

 

[Nox13last]

I use Windows Movie Maker to compress my videos to get this problem.

if you have a Mac, iMovie does a pretty good job of compressing video's... it has an option specifically for sending created video's to Youtube, afterall...

take what I say with a pinch of salt though, I'm not exactly 'tech savi'...

I think my quote entirely defeats the object of your quote.

I don't know if youtube will accept it, I would be suprised if it did, but you could try RAD Video tools, it has ridiculous compression with good quality. A lot of game cimatics use the compression ( it is called bink )
I have used DivX rarely, but if it won't compress because the dimensions are wrong, try changing the resolution on audiosurf

RAD... You're referring to Bink and Smacker?
Yeah, I got that, I was going make my own background movie for Left 4 Dead and never got around to it.
The resolution I use for Audiosurf (1280x1074) is used because Audiosurf reccommends it. Any lower, and it stretches, any higher and the maximum viewing area becomes greater than the size of my screeen and I need to use the mouse to pan it.

Well, that's a start, but I'd like more suggestions from other people to, y'know, keep my options open.

 

[jasoncyrus]

It depends a lot on the codex you use aswell. Get the wrong codec and your quality will plummet with greater compression.

I've found however that adobe premier does compression quite well for pc. However be aware that youtube naturally compresses it a bit further when converting it through its flah player which kills the quality RREEAALLLYYY badly.

I put up a crystal clear video from fraps that I had compressed, you could read the chat coming up on the screen. But when i uploaded it, the youtube compression raped the quality so bad it was simply just a smudge line.

 

[ErGo]

Sony Vegas 9! It did wonders for me.

 

[Nox13last]

It depends a lot on the codex you use aswell. Get the wrong codec and your quality will plummet with greater compression.

I put up a crystal clear video from fraps that I had compressed, you could read the chat coming up on the screen. But when i uploaded it, the youtube compression raped the quality so bad it was simply just a smudge line.

That's why YouTube has the HQ [High Quality] and HD [High Definition] buttons respectively. You can, as you'd put it, re-virginise the quality. No matter what video you put up, it's going to suck in quality, but those buttons (or adding &fmt=16 to the URL, or something) to the URL will put the quality back up.

...

Ok, I'm trying the RAD Tools. No Binking [.bik] or Smacking [.smk] it (that sounds a bit on the lewd side) Right now the ETA is too eratic to glean anything, and DivX makes the converter Crash to Desktop (gay, at least VD told me it'd fail). So I'm trying my hand with Ligos.

Add: For the other programs mentioned (Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas). You need to pay for those, right?