help with h264

[lancer]

hi all, i use autodesk cleaner xl to batch encode hundreds of avi's to h.264 within the .mov enviroment.

right now i've got it so i can compress about 10 mins into 100mbs.

But this seems way hi, the resolution is 640x480 it is progressive and i am currently limiting the data rate to 900kps. the key frame is at 50. it is ntsc 29.97 fps using a standard 44.1khz mpg4 audio codec.

Two questions anyone know how i can get the files smaller, but retaining or even increasing the quality, and two if not. is there a better program out there that can batch convert hundreds of avi's into the h264 codec?
also preferrably one that supports a quad core machine.

I used sorenson once, but it will not put watermarks on the movies as it processes them, i use a pc under xp.

thanks a lot.

 

[Petros]

You can save space by reducing frames. If your source videos are lower than 29.97 you could save a lot of space or increase a lot of quality by picking a matching framerate. I'm sure with hundreds, though, it would be a pain to examine them all.

 

[Dark Atheist]

if its 29.97 convert them to 23fps, this can be a pain though, although you will have to mess about with the audio or you will get audio and video out of sync