Deleting Part Of An AVI

[Startropic1]

I'm not sure why I can't get this to work but I'm hoping someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong. I'm trying to delete part of an avi (some garbage at the very beginning of it.) I've tried to do it in virtualdub and virtualdubmod. I select the portion of the video that I want to keep (using HOME and END keys) and then I save avi with direct stream copy. Alas every attempt fails, and the garbage I'm tryng to delete from the avi is still present in the new, supposedly edited AVI file. Exactly how do I do this supposedly simple task?

[redwudz]

Try deleting the part you don't want and save the rest. And you are aware you can only cut on keyframes (The key icons jump between keyframes.) when you use Direct stream copy? And if the file happens to be a typical Xvid, the keyframes are usually every 300 frames.

[Startropic1]

Ok so how do I delete the frames I don't want? I tried doing that but there seems to be some trouble selecting the 0 frame.

[redwudz]

Your frame indicator should be on zero when you load the file. Click the black 'mark in' arrow to mark the beginning of the edit. Then Click the forward 'Key' and that will take you to the first keyframe. Keep clicking that until you are where you want. Then click the black 'mark out' arrow. Select 'Cut' under the 'Edit' menu. That will cut out the edit.

The next set of keys over to the right of the keyframe keys will take you to the next scene change and will also stop on a keyframe. Works fairly well for moving through commercials. VD is very easy to use once you get the hang of it. I use VD Mod most of the time, but it works about the same for edits.

These edits can all be done on the keyboard, which is a little faster if you have to do a lot of them. You will see the editing keyboard shortcuts in the 'Edit' menu. Then save it out with 'Direct stream processing. If you use a new title for the file, no damage will occur to the original file.

[Startropic1]

Alright, here's the problem. The part I need to delete is prior to the first keyframe. So is there any way to get around this keyframe business? Maybe I need to use a different program.

[guns1inger]

Any attempt to cut before the keyframe will require re-encoding. Some editors support smart encoding for some formats, so only the frames from the edit to the keyframe get re-encoded. I don't know of any editors that support smart encoding for Xvid/Divx, as it isn't a format designed for editing, just playback. If you need to cut between formats you will have to re-encode everything that is left.