A simple program that will join groups of 4 or so video files?

[Toki_Wartooth]

I have groups of 4 or so files that I'm trying to join to make one movie. I've used Boilsoft Video Joiner and it's great because it doesn't re-encode the files. My problem is that the beginning of each clip has roughly about 3 seconds from the end of the last clip (so when I play back the entire video it looks like it stutters at those points). I've tried a couple programs to trim the beginning off of the next clip but it's been incredibly difficult to match it up with the end of the last clip so it plays back seamlessly.

I would like something simple but a few features I would like to have are; individual frame control with the keyboard, ability to export all frames/still frame from a video into a folder, and most important is the ability to do this without re-encoding so it doesn't cause a reduction in video quality.

Maybe it's asking for too much but it would be awesome if I could drag a clip to one timeline and drop the next clip on the timeline track below it and the program looks for similar frames and splices them together. Then I would really only have to get an approximate location of the time where they overlap!

Please let me know if there's any program out there you think can help me. I would greatly appreciate it!

[aedipuss]

depends on what format the source files are. if it's compressed like mpeg4, mpeg2 etc then frame accurate cutting requires special tools and re-encoding if not cut on an i-frame.

[jagabo]

VirtualDub

[Toki_Wartooth]

depends on what format the source files are. if it's compressed like mpeg4, mpeg2 etc then frame accurate cutting requires special tools and re-encoding if not cut on an i-frame.

They're all WMVs so far so they're compressed. I'm guessing that's why Boilsoft Video Joiner doesn't have any other feature other than joining files directly or it wouldn't be able to do it without re-encoding.

I tried VirtualDub and put the WMV plugin pack in the VirtualDub directory but it wasn't able to open the file. It said ASF are not supported.

[jagabo]

VirtualDub can open WMV files using the DirectShow plugin but you'd have to reencode the videos. What about AsfBin?

[Toki_Wartooth]

I don't know why VirtualDub wouldn't let me open it then. I must haveDirectShow installed!

AsfBin looks like it would work. I still need a way to find the exact time where the frames from each clip overlap. I'm using Media Player Classic Homecinema as my primary viewer. I can move frame by frame when paused but it doesn't tell me what frame I'm on (nor does it look like AsfBin does) so the closest I could get is to the second. It still wouldn't playback smooth. I'm not sure how I would find the exact point where both clips overlap either.

[jagabo]

I don't know why VirtualDub wouldn't let me open it then. I must haveDirectShow installed!

No, you need the DirectShow import plugin specifically for VirtualDub. There's a link to it on the VirtualDub page here. But once again, you will have to reencode if you use VirtualDub. Maybe you can use it just to get the timing or your cut points for AsfBin (I've never used AsfBin, only heard of it).

[redwudz]

Toki_Wartooth, , in the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

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[DarrellS]

You must have an ancient version of Virtualdub because with the WMV plugin, you don't need to use the Directshow input driver. You do need to have ffdshow installed and set to use WMV9 to decode WMV1, WMV2, WMV3 and Libavcodec to decode VC-1.

You'll also want either DivX 3.11 or DivX audio codec installed to decode the wma1 and 2 audio.

I use ASFJoin to join windows media files. It uses ASFbin.

Once you join the files, you can open them in Virtualdub to find out where to make your cuts and use Windows Media File Editor to cut and save. It would be easier to make your cuts first and then join. Just open one file in Virtualdub and the other in MPC to see where the frames overlap.

[jagabo]

I forget there was a WMV plugin too.