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  1. I sent in a VHS tape for capture and transfer to DVD to a professional service. The digital video was returned to me spanned across 2 DVDs. The split between the 2 DVDs occurs right in the middle of a video, and there is a couple seconds of blank blue screen appended on to the end of the first video clip. This must have been added by the service's editing software. The second DVD immediately starts where the first one left off and doesn't have any lead-in blue screen.

    I have ripped these DVDs to my PC and would like to seamlessly merge them into 1 MPEG2 without the blue screen in between.

    My thinking is that if I do a frame accurate cut on the first video to cut out all of the blue screen and none of the video, I can then append the second video and the result should be a seamless video.

    I have been searching for freeware seamless MPEG2 editors and the only one I could find, cuttermaran, says you have to demux the video and the audio before you can do the frame accurate cut. I don't have any problem demuxing and remuxing, but if I demux the video and audio, then make a frame accurate cut off the end of the video stream, how do I know how to edit the audio stream so that it still matches up with the video? If I cut the video, then remux it with the audio as-is, and then append the second video, the audio will be out of sync.

    Or is there a freeware frame accurate MPEG2 editor that doesn't require you to demux first? Based on my searching I couldn't find one.
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  2. If you only have this pair of videos to worry about you can download a free trial of Vidoredo or SolveigMM Video Splitter and get it done before the free trial runs out.
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    VideoReDo TV Suite has a free trial. It has a quickfix feature which fixes any sync issues in your MPEG-2 files and it also supports both MP4 and MKV. Pricy at $100 but worth it if you do a lot of DVD/MPEG or TV captures.

    Mpg2Cut2 is a good free editor.

    Free Video Dub is good for simple cuts but crashes if you try to do too much with it. Just be careful not to install any of the adware while installing.

    It's usually not a big deal cutting off the end of a video, it's making cuts between key frames that can give problems.

    The reason it was advised to demux the audio and video is because DVDs have instructions telling the video and audio where to start. That route usually starts with DGIndex splitting the audio and video and using a AVS script to load the files into Virtualdub where you can fix any sync issue with audio interleaving where the name of the audio file from DGIndex tells you how much one way or the other the audio is off. Sometimes the audio is fine and you can just join the two mpegs without re-encoding in an mpeg editor.

    VideoReDo TV Suite does away with having to demux since it has the quickfix feature which direct stream copies to a new mpeg. It has a joiner feature where you can join the two files after you've cut the blue frames off of the end of the first video.
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    Jagabo, you beat me to the VideoReDo TV Suite free trial
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  5. Oops, but I misspelled it so there's no link.
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  6. Originally Posted by DarrellS View Post
    Mpg2Cut2 is a good free editor.
    This is the one I have been using until now. Is it not frame accurate? What I'm worried about is if I use an editor that doesn't have frame accurate precision, I will end up chopping off the end of the first video along with the blank blue screen I am trying to remove at the very end.
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    "Frame accurate" is not easy with MPEG2. I find MPEG-VCR the most accurate of the tools in my arsenal BUT....you really can't put the words "frame accurate" and "MPEG2" in the same sentence if you are talking about cutting losslessly. You can do it up to a certain point then you run into the Key Frames issue.
    Many of the tools mentioned by others (I imagine) only re-encode at the cuts....which is GOOD, but you may need to convert the MPEG2 to some sort of lossless AVI to get total frame accuracy, then re-encode back to MPEG2. Not the ideal situation but you do what you gotta do I'm afraid.
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  8. but you may need to convert the MPEG2 to some sort of lossless AVI to get total frame accuracy
    Why should reencoding the affected GOPs not be enough?
    (personally I use ProjectX, to fix stream errors, and then Cuttermaran, to do the cutting, when cutting MPEG2 files. Confused why the topic starter doesn't cut audio&video in one go with it.)
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  9. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Selur View Post
    but you may need to convert the MPEG2 to some sort of lossless AVI to get total frame accuracy
    Why should reencoding the affected GOPs not be enough?
    (personally I use ProjectX, to fix stream errors, and then Cuttermaran, to do the cutting, when cutting MPEG2 files. Confused why the topic starter doesn't cut audio&video in one go with it.)
    You are talking about "smart encoding" right?
    Which softwares allow you to view/choose individual MPEG2 frames to cut on.....and then only re-encode to the previous or next key frame?
    No matter how he joins these two together, he is going to need to get rid of that brief split second of blue screen/frames if indeed that blue stuff carries over during the join.
    I've never used Cuttermaran, and have only used ProjectX to fix files from my old, dead Telefunken PVR, and even then the resulting file(s) had horrible audio offset problems.
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  10. You are talking about "smart encoding" right?
    Sure, only other option to cut non-i-frame-only based streams would be a full reencode.
    Cuttermaran let's you choose the cut points you want and will reencode only the GOP(s) that are affected by the cut.
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    Originally Posted by Selur View Post
    You are talking about "smart encoding" right?
    Sure, only other option to cut non-i-frame-only based streams would be a full reencode.
    Cuttermaran let's you choose the cut points you want and will reencode only the GOP(s) that are affected by the cut.
    Demuxed though.....not "audio&video in one go"?
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  12. yes, cuttermaran expects audio&video raw streams.
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  13. Member hech54's Avatar
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    I'm just trying to get an understanding.....is there software that will allow you to cut ANYWHERE you want, frame by frame in an MPEG2 file, without the need to re-encode the entire video? Maybe I've been using the term "key frame" wrong....I'm not sure.

    MPEG-VCR says it does in it's description and indeed it does seem to me that it does give me more choices(for places to cut), but I often find myself reaching for other software like AviDemux and VDub to get a completely accurate cut, then of course the need to re-encode afterwards.
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  14. I'm just trying to get an understanding.....is there software that will allow you to cut ANYWHERE you want, frame by frame in an MPEG2 file, without the need to re-encode the entire video?
    Cuttermaran will only reencode the affected GOPs.

    Maybe I've been using the term "key frame" wrong....I'm not sure.
    for MPEG-2 key and I-frames are identical.
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  15. Originally Posted by hech54 View Post
    I'm just trying to get an understanding.....is there software that will allow you to cut ANYWHERE you want, frame by frame in an MPEG2 file, without the need to re-encode the entire video? Maybe I've been using the term "key frame" wrong....I'm not sure.
    Yes, the afforementioned "smart" editors all allow that. They only reencode cut GOPs. I use VideoRedo for this personally. As I understand it Solveig works similarly (though I've never used it personally). I know Sony Vegas has this ability too.
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  16. Member hech54's Avatar
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    I'm still not understanding why many times I could not get accurate enough with MPEG-VCR, only to turn around and get exactly the correct cut in Avidemux or VDub (knowing of course I will need to re-encode).
    What I'm trying to say is that I see more frames(opportunities to cut more accurately) in some software than others, but it's not consistent.
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  17. never used MPEG-VCR and from the sound of it I didn't miss anything
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  18. I've had excellent results with TMPGenc MPEG Smart Renderer.
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  19. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Selur View Post
    never used MPEG-VCR and from the sound of it I didn't miss anything
    As I said.....my results are not consistent. Half of the time it's MPEG-VCR that gives me more accurate cuts.
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  20. gives me more accurate cuts.
    compared to ???
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    Originally Posted by smrpix View Post
    I've had excellent results with TMPGenc MPEG Smart Renderer.
    I'll second that. Not free. There's a trial, but I don't know if puts a logo out there, has limits, etc. Good tool to have, and it works with other encodes including BluRay/AVCHD.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 19th Mar 2014 at 02:53.
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  22. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Selur View Post
    gives me more accurate cuts.
    compared to ???
    AviDemux, TDA , Magix Movie Edit , MPEG Video Wizard.....all assuming we are talking lossless cuts on key frames.
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    Originally Posted by hech54 View Post
    Originally Posted by Selur View Post
    gives me more accurate cuts.
    compared to ???
    AviDemux, TDA , Magix Movie Edit , MPEG Video Wizard.....all assuming we are talking lossless cuts on key frames.
    We are talking smart-rendering on specific frames, not key frames only.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 19th Mar 2014 at 02:53.
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  24. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by sanlyn View Post
    We are talking smart-rendering on specific frames, not key frames only.
    Like MPEG-VCR ?
    The Womble MPEG2VCR is a software video editor that performs all editing on MPEG data with frame accuracy. It supports all MPEG-1(VCD) and MPEG-2(SVCD,DVD) bit streams, including MPEG-2 Transport streams for HDTV. Frame accurate editing: step forward and backward through your video, frame-by-frame, to find exactly the scene you want, or to cut out the ones you don't.
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    I haven't tried it. Been using TMPGEnc smart editors for years and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. Not free, though.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 19th Mar 2014 at 02:53.
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  26. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Even WAY back then....MPEG-VCR was the best $19 I ever spent.
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  27. Originally Posted by Selur View Post
    yes, cuttermaran expects audio&video raw streams.
    But if I make a cut in the video stream, does cutterman make the corresponding cut to the audio stream so the two remain in sync? If not, then I don't see how this tool would be useful, because any cut you would make to the demuxed video stream would result in it being out of sync with respect to the audio.
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  28. Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    Originally Posted by hech54 View Post
    I'm just trying to get an understanding.....is there software that will allow you to cut ANYWHERE you want, frame by frame in an MPEG2 file, without the need to re-encode the entire video? Maybe I've been using the term "key frame" wrong....I'm not sure.
    Yes, the afforementioned "smart" editors all allow that. They only reencode cut GOPs. I use VideoRedo for this personally. As I understand it Solveig works similarly (though I've never used it personally). I know Sony Vegas has this ability too.
    I'm a little confused now. If I make a cut using MPG2CUT2, specifically cutting off some of the end of the video, are you saying that MPG2CUT2 must reencode the entire video, whereas VideoReDo, Solveig, and Sony Vegas would not need to reencode the entire video?
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  29. Originally Posted by Special K View Post
    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    Originally Posted by hech54 View Post
    I'm just trying to get an understanding.....is there software that will allow you to cut ANYWHERE you want, frame by frame in an MPEG2 file, without the need to re-encode the entire video? Maybe I've been using the term "key frame" wrong....I'm not sure.
    Yes, the afforementioned "smart" editors all allow that. They only reencode cut GOPs. I use VideoRedo for this personally. As I understand it Solveig works similarly (though I've never used it personally). I know Sony Vegas has this ability too.
    I'm a little confused now. If I make a cut using MPG2CUT2, specifically cutting off some of the end of the video, are you saying that MPG2CUT2 must reencode the entire video, whereas VideoReDo, Solveig, and Sony Vegas would not need to reencode the entire video?

    No.

    mpeg2cut cuts on GOP boundaries only. It's not frame accurate. It does not, cannot, re-encode

    videoredo, solveigmm etc... when smart rendering, are frame accurate and will re-encode the few frames within the affected GOP. All other segments pass through untouched . GOP length for MPEG2 is typically around 12-15 frames. So those frames are re-encoded around every cut, unless the cut is right on the GOP boundary
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    Originally Posted by Special K View Post
    Originally Posted by Selur View Post
    yes, cuttermaran expects audio&video raw streams.
    But if I make a cut in the video stream, does cutterman make the corresponding cut to the audio stream so the two remain in sync? If not, then I don't see how this tool would be useful, because any cut you would make to the demuxed video stream would result in it being out of sync with respect to the audio.
    Audio and video normally remain in sync after editing with Cuttermaran. There are only 2 things I know of which cause them to go out of sync: (a) errors in one or both of the streams, and (b) the audio delay in the audio stream header is wrong. Problem (b) is relatively easy to fix. Problem (a) is virtually impossible to fix and you'd have the same problem with most other MPEG-2 editors. VideoReDo is the only MPEG-2 editor I have tried that is good at dealing with errors in audio and video streams, and it isn't free.
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 26th Mar 2014 at 23:59.
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