I have an avi file (with the following codec info: Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family - Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm:ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4) which amounts to about a bit over 700 MBs, making it impossible to burn it on 700MB CD-r.

I know there are plenty of manuals and how-to's out there to encode avi files and make DVD-backups. Before I go through the back-breaking process of learning how to do this (i am new to linux and i dont suppose using a GUI Dr. divX/Gordian Knot software to do this kinda thinig would help me now), I would like an expert opinion on the easiest way to do this- and above everything else, whether it would be possible to do this using mencoder.

This would save me alot of time- thanks

If your goal is to get the video onto CD-R, then might I suggest tovid? It's designed for creating video discs such as DVD, as well as VCD and SVCD (burned to normal CDs); you will likely need to split the video into two discs, but they will be playable in most standard DVD players, and you have the advantage of a fairly easy interface, and a GUI if you so desire.

Thanks for your suggestion- this is indeed one way of getting this solved.

I looked through some other threads and installed kmenc15 too. Although the GUI is very similar to software found on XP-based encoding softwares, when I hit the encode button it crashes

In the meantime I will try and see if this works. Besides "menc" and kmenc, are there any other encoding software that just works (p.s. I am aware of how interesting many of us here find it to take our time to learn how things work, making it work and get the satisfaction out of it. It is enjoyable. but for the moment, I am looking for something that just works )

use mencoder, i don't think you want to use vcd or such, the codecs needed for those are, kinda crappy (when it comes to the size).

how much will you need to trim off the movie?

when i backup DVD's, i trim off all the borders (all DVD's usually have a black border around the video), then resized the picture (sheded about 1-50 pixels off the sides), then compressed the audio (about 80 MB for 90 minutes), then compressed the video

if your looking for a fast 10 MB or so file size shrink, the audio is what you want to pay attention to.