Joining mpgs

[Jon.G]

What is the best way to join multiple mpgs?

I tried doing this using mpeg streamclip. But I found that the video would have problems at the points where the mpgs were joined. If I lay out the original clips in vegas, they are fine, but the joined video has blockiness at the points where joined. I'm not sure what went wrong there.

I'm trying to avoid re-encoding the video.

How can I join these without any corruption being caused.


Sound isn't important here, once the video clips are joined, I'll be adding a different soundtrack to the final video.

[fatbloke88]

give VideoReDo a try its not free but works well

[Richard_G]

You need to be placing the joins at the I frames and not in between or you will get the blockiness. Not sure about Vegas but some NLE software will only allow you to do joins at I frames, if Vegas allows frame by frame editing, that's where your problem is occurring. mpg is a final output format and not an editing format.

[manono]

MPEG2Cut2. File->Open, File->Append File.

If you're opening something that begins in the middle of a GOP, it'll offer to skip to the next I-Frame.

[sanlyn]

TMPGEnc Smart Renderer

[flocus01]

Viltualdub

https://www.videohelp.com/tools/Virtualdub-MPEG2

[Jon.G]

Ok, so I'm trying to use mpg2cut2 so I can make sure I cut my files on iframes, and then join them without issue. The problem I have is, while I'm looking for a place to cut, and end up with files that will all align properly, I'm laying things out in vegas to see things and find where I want to cut, and then using mpg2cut2 to see where I can cut, and then adjust in vegas, so I can get 3 clips timed right and that will join nicely.

The problem I have is, the times are not lining up. There's a spot in the clip that fades to black. On vegas, it has gone to black at 01:28:34 and 26 frames. In mpg2cut2, it is black at 01:28:36 and 10 frames. A difference of over a second. This isn't a drop frame/non drop frame thing either, I've tried both on vegas, but I can't get consistent time. I don't understand how 2 different programs can read the same file with different timings and frame counts. This leads me to think that one of the programs is buggy in it's timing. I need some consistency here....any suggestions? And yes, I realize mpg is not meant to be a format for editing, but my source is mpg, and I just need to make a few simple edits, and think I could pull this off without re-encoding if I could just get some consistent reads here so I know what is what, and where I can edit.

[smrpix]

TMPGEnc Smart Renderer

Totally agree. And it should make the "wrong time" issues irrelevant.

[Jon.G]

I'll look into that. Although, going through the video frame by frame in mpg2cut2, the frame and time seems to be funky. I think the file is off. The mpg was ripped from a dvd that was burned from a dvr by a friend, and was used at a format that allowed nearly 4 hours to fit on a single layer dvd. Which is why I'm trying to avoid anything that will further degrade the quality, but without turning it into a much bigger file. The thing is, I went back to my original mpg rip from the dvd, and it doesn't open right in mpg2cut2, just a black screen. What I was using in mpg2cut2 was a silent mpg that I saved using mpeg_streamclip. So, I think something is off in the original dvd in timing, and I think that when I save a version with no audio in streamclip, it fixes it enough to work in mpg2cut2, but is still off. Maybe there's a mpg repair tool that will fix the time code, without altering the video?

[Jon.G]

tmpgenc smart renderer is still not enough. I NEED consistent timing. I need to make cuts to my video before joining them, and I need some level of alignment, so I need to find precise points to cut my video. This requires an editing program like vegas where I can lay things out to find the right timing, and tmpgenc smart renderer just lets me look at the one clip. I found my point in vegas, and found the time. I go to that time in tmpgenc, and it's wrong, off by a second or so.

Arrrggghhhh.....this is what I hate about video editing. It wouldn't be so bad if people could PROGRAM DAMN PROGRAMS TO WORK PROPERLY!!!!! WHY DO THESE IDIOTS MAKE CRAP?

It shouldn't be so much to expect the time code to be read consistently and the same on the same files in all programs.



I need something that is going to have the right time.

[manono]

I thought the subject of this thread was how to join MPEG files.

Editing is something else again, and I, for one, wouldn't much care if what I used to cut out parts didn't agree with Vegas, as long as the cuts wound up being where I wanted them. Why can't you play the MPG to find the places where you want to cut?

Although it's probably not necessary, I think I'd do all the joining first and then do the cutting in a separate operation. Personally I think this is much ado over nothing and any problems are of your own making. Either that or you're using funky sources to begin with.

Maybe the times are off because the MPEGs aren't cut on a GOP boundary originally - they don't start and/or end on an I-Frame? Vegas ignores that while a decent cutter can't? You mentioned all the corruption at the joins so it's a possible explanation. All those little slices that get made so the videos can be joined properly add up to seconds after a while.

Why not join them first in MPEG2Cut2 and then open the result in Vegas? See if the times don't match better doing it that way.

[sanlyn]

Judging from previous posts, I'd leave the O.P. to his own devices. Apparently no one has created software that works for this guy on planet Earth. He might want to join back up with Klaatu and try another planet.

[manono]

Hehe, I was wondering if this was the same person that had that idiot thread before about bad programming. After seeing your post I decided to check, and sure enough...

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/360012-Why-are-programmers-incompetent-pieces-of-cr...57#post2278957

[Jon.G]

....

I have one nearly 4 hour video clip of a fireplace loop. The program is supposed to start with a fade in from black, wide angle shot, which then zooms into the fireplace. It then loops about 5-6 minutes of the log burning, cross fading to keep the loop going, which you can notice the fade of the log going to a previously burnt phase. Every 15 minutes, the camera pans out to the wide angle shot, crossfades back to the start and zooms back in to the log. At the 90 minute and 3 hour mark, it breaks for a station ID. The audio consists of Christmas music, but the brief station IDs has it's own sound.....it is this that is causing the precision to be important, I need the station ID animation to match the audio.

The 4 hour recording off of TV missed the beginning and end. I was able to obtain the music that would have gone with this, and make a full soundtrack. So, since this is a loop, I can patch the beginning and end by going to the point after the first station ID, because that also contains the starting point of this loop, fade in from black to the wide angle shot that then zooms in to the 5/6 minute loop. I then need to make a new ending by using a part of before the first station ID, because that zooms out and fades to black before the station ID as well.

But, to keep the station IDs lining up right, I need my new beginning and ending clips to be timed right, or within a few frames. So, that's why I've been using vegas, to make my cut, shift drag, and then figure out how much I need for each new beginning and end, and have it be the right time. I was hoping to use vegas only to determine where the cuts need to be made, and then mpg2cut2 to figure out what frames I can cut on, and have it still time out right. I could re-encode with vegas, but I don't want to re-encode, which is why I'm trying to create 3 clips out of the same clip, and then join them. My original 3 clips I had, due to the blockiness issue, I deleted them. I really don't want to do any re-encoding at all. I should be able to use mpg2cut2 to edit the original clip into new beginnings and endings that time out right, but.....since the time readout in vegas doesn't match the time readout in mpg2cut2, I can't make accurate edits in mpg2cut2.



Ugh....no one can just answer questions. I just want to get a program that gives accurate time. I really don't understand why my clip is reading time differently in different programs. Wouldn't that suggest buggy software? I mean, you take one video file, open it up in multiple programs, and when you go to the same time and frame in them and get different frames......clearly something is reading it wrong.


Now, that I've gone into detail as to what exactly I'm doing, could someone please suggest a way to do as I'm trying to do?

[kevinshere]

I use Windows movie maker , you can put several downloads from utube in as you go, some movies I have came in up to 10 parts and have put the movie together