I often record videos with my phone that are 30 to 1hour 30 minutes long. However, the file sizes that result are ridiculously large. I want a way to still be able to record videos of that length and reduce the size a lot. If quality of the video has to be sacrificed, so be it.
The only way I could think of solving this is by downloading some kind of app that does that.
To tailor answer to my specific use case, consider a description of the type of things I record:
I will use it to record talks, presentations, lectures, etc. I don't need anything that is too crazy.
However, I do have some minimum requirements I expect from the app.
- I want to be able to control the quality of the video. If I record 30 minutes to 1 hour 30 minute talks, I don't need it to be HD. Just enough so that I can record the slides or the whiteboard/blackboard. This requirement is to control the SIZE of the video. Videos that are 8 GBs of size or more than 5 GB of size are useless to me.
- I need to be able to control how I zoom in and out of my videos. For example, if I can't control very granularly how I close my video is, then it might not be useful.
- I also need to be able to send these videos to my actual macbook computer somehow. Connecting it and then downloading it to the macbook pro is a great option.
Using the built in app is terrible for me because the videos are of ridiculous sizes (ranging from 5 to 10 GB size). I just need them to be much smaller and still be able to save them on my computer (and potentially upload them to youtube).
I also downloaded the app VideoCamara+ and its great that it lets me control the quality, but it seems limited in its ability to zoom (it only has two modes of closeness as far as I know).
I have also tried moviePro8 but it seems that its low resolutions results in really bad videos (as far as I can tell). VideoCamara+ has the same setting for low resolutions and its videos are not as bad.
Best Answer
This is what I do.
I use the VLC player almost exclusively since it can play anything.
Since you want to save space and eventually download to youtube I would recommend a 2 step process.
First record it in high quality.
Then use a small app called Flv Crunch to convert "any" file format to flv type that is enormous size reduction and compatible with youtube.
It is very easy to use and control the settings.
Convert files between flv, mpeg 1/2/4, 3gp, mp3, m4a, wmv, wma, avi, mkv, aiff, and others.
Then delete the original (ok that was 3 steps :)
why do it this way?
I learned the hard way that once the event is over you are stuck with what ever quality you used to record. Thus I recommend you always record in high quality, since it is easy to reduce the file size to quality you want as end product.
For example you recorded something that needs to be magnified or altered for clarity, that would not be possible any more if recording in low quality.
About Flash Video Format: