Newbie Q - Convert mpg2 to AVI

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Following on from my previous question about Sony MicroMV... (that nobody
had any replies for). Reading that will make this message clearer. I've
included it at the bottom...

OK - I've given up on Pinnacle Studio including sound with the DVD burn. It
seems despite what the box says it simply doesn't do MicroMV. However I
know it works well with the standard AVI format given out by my MiniDV
Camcorder. Therefore the solution is simple - convert the mpg to avi and go
from there. Simple??

I read through a million usenet articles and settled on using Virtualdubmod
to do the task. Slight problem though - the 4gb video file I want to
convert seems to equal a 96gb avi file, which seems weird. Also my hard
drive (the separate one I only use for video) is only 80gb, and is half full
anyway. Why so big?? My minidv avi files are comparable to the micromv mpg
files - so what gives.

Could really use a pointer here - any advice greatefully accepted. I can't
be the only person stupid enough to buy a Sony mmv camcorder. Can I?

Andy

Previous post:

Downloaded large video files from the Sony using Studio. Saved to disk as
big *.mpg files. I can run either in any mpg player (realone player for
example), and it has sound throughout. However, if it's run in Pinnacle
Studio DV (8 or 9) there is no sound in the preview, and if the content is
edited and a DVD is burned it also has no sound whatsoever. I know the
sound is there as the plain mpg players hear it, but why doesn't Studio???

Asked this this question on this NG before, but nobody had any ideas (no
replies). Really stuck on this now - can anyone offer any help???