38 replies to this topic

[DaDude]

I use a DVD recorder to record shows from TV and I'm trying to edit out the commercials. I have many softwares that can snip out parts of the video and I use it to snip out the parts of the videos that I want and I would like to piece it together to make it commercial-free.

So let's say I record an episode of a TV show and the half-hour show goes something like this...

Beginning
Commercial Break
Middle
Commercial Break
End

So, I have many softwares that will clip the parts that I want. So, I clip the parts that I want, i.e. Beginning, Middle and End, because I don't want the commercials. However, I have three separate clips (Beg, Mid, End) and would now like to simply piece them together without re-encoding since it results in quality loss. I have tried many softwares, such as Mpeg2Cut2, and many of these softwares just screw up the video. It does a horrendous job! It will not piece together a video without causing any sort of weird side effect.

I don't understand. It's a simple thing.... I just want to join these mpeg videos together and make it one mpeg video! That's it!!

Is there any free software out there than can perform this simple thing without any problems?

Thanks!

[1941]

http://www.majorgeek...ter__d5680.html
You can the Kate's.

[giantpotato]

Never tried it myself, but Comskip http://www.kaashoek.com/comskip/ might be what you're looking for.

[xorangekiller]

There is a thread on a similar topic here, but there is no polished solution posted. However, you could probably create your own script without too much hassle based on the information posted in the aforementioned thread, if you're so inclined.

[LUTZIFER]

Ultra Video Joiner. Been using it for many years.

[Javik]

I think you can do it with Virtualdub as well

[+BudMan]

Im pretty sure you can copy them into one file copy /b this how I recall doing it in the past

copy /b snip1.mpg+snip2.mpg+snip3.mpg newfile.mpg

When I get a chance I can verify that -- but I thought you were going to go the digital route.. Converting the files to h.264 should not in any way degrade the quality, if it is - your doing it wrong

[DaDude]

BudMan, on 24 January 2013 - 17:35, said:

When I get a chance I can verify that -- but I thought you were going to go the digital route.. Converting the files to h.264 should not in any way degrade the quality, if it is - your doing it wrong

It is.

And the digital route is WAY too time consuming. Takes over an hour to convert a 45 minute show to h.264. Formatting to DVD and burning will take less than 20 minutes....

And is this what you're talking about?
http://txpress.blogs...g-files-in.html

I just googled it now and saw that link. I can try it when I get home. I hope it's that simple.

[+BudMan]

Well let me fire up my dvd recorder tonight and to a little testing of my own. So I can get mpeg2 file to work with.

But you could also just use the mpg files as your digital copy - burning it to DVD is the part I don't understand.

So did you try out the copy /b command..

edit: I have some titus and seinfeld dvd's -- might just grab an episode off those to do the test with so I don't have to bother spending the recording time on dvd recorder to get a file to work with. I doubt the older dvds are encrypted? So should be able to just copy the vob off and change convert it to h264.

[DaDude]

BudMan, on 24 January 2013 - 21:55, said:

Well let me fire up my dvd recorder tonight and to a little testing of my own. So I can get mpeg2 file to work with.

But you could also just use the mpg files as your digital copy - burning it to DVD is the part I don't understand.

So did you try out the copy /b command..

I'm not at home now. I'll try tonight.

I burn to DVD so I don't have to store on my hard drive and also, I can play the files on a DVD player. Extracting mpg files from formatted DVDs is very easy. So, I can always take the DVDs I burn and turn them back into video files in no time.

[+BudMan]

Ok I just grabbed a vob off one of my titus dvds

Complete name : D:\testmpeg2\VTS_01_2.VOB
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 1 024 MiB
Overall bit rate mode : Variable

Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=15
Bit rate mode : Variable
Maximum bit rate : 8 802 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy


Fired up handbrake - picked normal as the preset and 2 minutes later



Now have MUCH smaller file only 325MB vs 1024 MB of the VOB

Complete name : D:\testmpeg2\test.m4v
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
File size : 318 MiB
Duration : 21mn 15s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 2 092 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2013-01-25 11:53:03
Tagged date : UTC 2013-01-25 11:55:25
Writing application : HandBrake 0.9.8 2012071700

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 21mn 15s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 927 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Original display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Minimum frame rate : 9.785 fps
Maximum frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.186
Stream size : 293 MiB (92%)
Writing library : x264 core 120
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=hex / subme=2 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=300 / keyint_min=30 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=10 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=20.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=3 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2013-01-25 11:53:03
Tagged date : UTC 2013-01-25 11:55:25
Color primaries : BT.601 NTSC
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.601

As to quality - I am not seeing any loss in it.. Maybe I am not as tuned to video quality of DVD video at max 720x480 from the source resolution on my HD TV or my computer monitor that runs at 1280x1024 resolution?

Lets say there some loss in quality - at only 1/3 of the size.. I can live with it

edit: BTW got me wanting my titus on my server - not sure why I had never bothered to rip it before. So fired up makemkv - which is using mpeg2 in the mkv container so they are HUGE.. But makes it real easy to pull off the episodes as titles and only grab the audio you want if there is other lang, commentary, tracks.

Then just popped those files into a handbrake queue. First 2 disks done without even really thinking about it. Just click a few buttons when I think about it as I go about my morning surfing, etc. Takes longer to copy the video off the dvd then it does for handbrake to convert them to smaller size and better format. I will get a few more of the dvds copied over before I head out to work - and then just let handbrake convert them while gone.

My point of this - is who really cares if takes 2 minutes or 20? Just queue it up and let run when your sleeping or away from the house, etc.

[DaDude]

BudMan, on 24 January 2013 - 17:35, said:

Im pretty sure you can copy them into one file copy /b this how I recall doing it in the past

copy /b snip1.mpg+snip2.mpg+snip3.mpg newfile.mpg

Ok, just tested it. The good news is, it joined the files. The bad news is that it had the same side effect as the other softwares I tried. I tried to remove the commercials from a 60 minute show. After I snipped the videos and joined them, the commercials that I removed are gone (which is what I wanted, of course), but the timer still clocks at 60 minutes!!! When I formatted it to DVD, it still clocks at 60 minutes. When I tried playing the DVD file on the computer, it plays fine but the timer just gets messed up because the video is less than 60 minutes, but the timer on the video is insisting it's 60 minutes. Now, when I tried playing on a DVD player, the player gets stuck on the edited parts. I hope I'm not confusing anyone, but I can't help it because it is a very confusing problem.

But long story short, this did not merge successfully. It merged, but it's obviously badly merged together since the timer got messed up and the DVD players freak out at the edited parts. Sigh! It doesn't look like this simple thing can be done. I'm just going to give up, leave the videos the way they are, and just add chapter stops after the commercial breaks. That way I can just press "skip" on the remote to easily bypass the commercials when I rewatch these videos.

[+BudMan]

If the time is messed up - hmmm idx for mpeg is at the end of the file? So ok its possible that some stand alone player that does not reindex the file on load might have issues. You would have to reindex the file I would think

Stand alone players for DVD are old school

I would think avidemux could prob reindex the file for you. Or prob mencoder -forceidx

[p1p3]

If you can live with mkv files mkvtoolnix can mux mpeg files and have a nice gui. Just add the first file and append the rest and they should play without issue. I didn't try with split files but i downloaded samples from here and they played fine in mpc-hc when joined.
You should also have a look at ffmpeg if you are not afraid to use the command line . Here are instructions for splitting and joining.

[+BudMan]

He doesn't want to use any sort of modern container for his files, nor does he want to use a modern codec. He wants to write the files to DVD so he can play them in his dvd player.

Think of it of 1999, and he is partying there

He says that converting the files to h264 messes up the quality of his recorded to a dvd files which then pulls off creates a menu for and then reburns to dvd. Problem he is having now if he edits the file to pull out the commercials he is left with 3 or 4 snips of video that he wants to rejoin. But the index would be off when done this way and standalone players are not going to reindex on the fly like many software players do to forgive the issues in the file.

So he needs to join them back together and create a new index for the now shorter file. I would assume ffmpeg would do that - but he doesn't want to spend any processing time on the file