How to join two MPEG-II video files and remove a coding error

[Firewire60]

Great forum for a person like me new to video procedures.

I have Two questions

I have a video in two parts in MPEG-II format and want to join them into the one program. Can someone please advise a procedure for this with an app that is easy to use. I have noted the apps I have below.

Second question is how do I check for and fix some sort of coding error in one of the parts.

Out of curiosity I tried keeping the video in two parts, used Nero Vision to prepare a menu and save the two parts as VOB files which it did OK with the two parts on the menu. However when I tried to shrink the two part compilation to 4.6 GB with DVD Shrink or Nero Recode both reported an error near the end and could not complete the compression.
Strange that VideoRedo Plus will play the two parts OK.

I have Nero 7 with Nero Recode etc, Video Redo Plus, DVD Remake Pro, DVD Fab Platinum and DVD Shrink 3.2 and DVD Rebuilder Prof but I find DVD Remake and DVD rebuilder hard to use.

Could someone advise how to do the above two things the simplest way.

[redwudz]

You may be able to check them with Gspot 2.60, at least for some settings.

I assume you are planning to make a DVD from them? don't join them, then. Just add both into a authoring program and let it do that. Try DVD Authorgui or GUI for dvdauthor.

If they are really too big to fit on a DVD, then you would be better off re-encoding them instead of shrinking them afterwards. That should also fix most problems.

[Firewire60]

redwudz thanx for advice.

I am new to this and do not know what you mean by saying I should re-encode the files. How does this help join the two bits.

Can you suggest one good app that would scan MPEG-II or video stream or VOB files for errors and fix any errors by cutting them out or whatever and would process the two files to one video. My video files do not normally have any such problems.

I know what to do from there on.

Thanks again.

[redwudz]

For MPEGs, there really aren't any programs that will easily fix an unknown problem. I would look at the file with Gspot 2.60 first and see how it's made up. For comparison, look to the upper left on this page for 'WHAT IS' DVD. That will give you the DVD specifications and format that you will need to adhere to. Fixing video problems can get complex. First you have to find the error, then figure out how to fix it.

From there, for easy, probably ConvertXToDVD would be my first choice. You may be able to use the older freeware DivxToDVD as ConvertX leaves a watermark in the trial version. But the pay version is inexpensive and well worth it for future projects. Just load each MPEG in there and let it run. It will re-encode and fix most minor problems or it should warn you of the major ones. When it's done, you can use the freeware ImgBurn to burn the DVD.

You can also re-encode them with a regular MPEG encoder, but you will have to study a little. You need to set the bitrate so that the two files come out to the proper size for a DVD. A bitrate calculator does that and several are available in 'Tools'. You set the bitrate for the running time of both videos combined. After re-encoding each separately, then you author them to the DVD format with DVD Authorgui or similar and burn. There are many ways to do this and a variety of tools that can be used.

But I would try ConvertXToDVD first.

Joining MPEG or even AVIs can be problematic. Sometimes when they are originally split, it's not at a proper location. And when you combine them and play them back, the audio/video sync can be off. This makes them very hard to watch and it's sometimes not so easy to fix without using a fair amount of steps and programs. Avoid simple joining most times.

But a authoring program is made to work with split files. The VOBs on any DVD are split, but play back seamlessly. That why 'joining' with a authoring program works best most of the time. It doesn't really join them at all, just lets them play back properly.