I have been using AnyVideoConverter to convert MKV, MP4, and FLV files to AVI so that they are playable in a DivXdvd player. I want to convert the files without losing any quality, but I am saving these files to my HDD and don't want to waste space if i'm not getting better video quality.
I've been trying to figure out exactly how the video bitrate setting works. I know that it uses a variabe bitrate, so it's not as simple as just setting your bitrate and determining how large the file will be depending on the length of the video.
If I set the bitrate too high, will I end up with a larger file and the same quality video? I did some testing on a bunch of 30 sec clips and noticed that if I set the bitrate to say 2000 kbps, I will get a certain file size. Then the same clip on 6000 kbps will be a larger file. But then if I go up to 8000 or 12000 kbps the file doesn't get any bigger than the 6000 kbps convert.
I'm asking this because I have an FLV video that is 1 hour 31 min, overall bitrate 1011 kbps, 720x400, 24fps, file size 661MB. I converted it to AVI and it is: overall bitrate 2932 kbps, 720x400, 24fps, file size 1.87GB.
The file almost trippled in size. This is probably because there is a lot of movement in the movie (ocean waves and jungle).
So my question is, if I set the bitrate really high, does the program waste space and I end up with a large file, or does the program just convert the video and keep the original quality?
