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I bought a decent camera (Sony XDCAM) however I have a problem with the output file size. The .MTS files it makes work fine in my editor, and they create the quality I need, but the 2 gig per 10 minute of footage file size is killing our transfer time.

The quality of my end product is nowhere near this so I know I am shooting way way over the top for what I need to achieve my desired end product.

I look at the settings and I see 1080/50p PS, FX and FH or /25p of the same as above FX and FH or 720/50p FX, FS and HQ

I want to film seminars from the back of the room using the zoom ring on the lens.

All works ok, but the 2 gig per 10mins is killing us. How can I reduce the file sizes to a more workable size?

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  • I tried to change the REC/OUT SET to 720/50p FX and it still is 2 gig per 10 mins or so.
    – Glenn Twiddle
    Oct 4, 2015 at 8:08
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    What's the model #?
    – Gyan
    Oct 4, 2015 at 9:28
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    Also, 2 GB per 10 minutes is ~27Mbps. More or less DV-SD bitrates but for HD capture. I doubt a prosumer series camera will have much lower modes available. I would transcode the footage to, maybe, half the size using ffmpeg..etc
    – Gyan
    Oct 4, 2015 at 9:34
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    One thing I wasn't sure about from the question. At what point is the size of the video a problem for you? In general, you want source files to be much larger than your final output. When you edit and then re-encode video for your final product, the quality will drop. The higher quality the source footage, the less you lose in the render. Can you clarify what you meant by "re transfer". Were you talking about the size of the final video or the time it takes to get the files to someone during your editing process (or something else entirely)?
    – AJ Henderson ♦
    Oct 5, 2015 at 13:39
  • Fairly clear that the OP is talking about the source footage - "The quality of my end product is nowhere near this" and " 2 gig per 10 minute of footage file size is killing our transfer time"
    – Gyan
    Oct 5, 2015 at 13:52

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For $495 you can cut things down to 500MB/10 minutes (or perhaps even less, depending on compression parameters): https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/h264prorecorder

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