Free Program to Cut Recorded VHS Video?

[bigbadben]

I need to cut the beginning and end of my video. Specifically the blue screen of my video recorder before the video starts and the static at the end. The problem is LosslessCut, a program I tried cannot cut the beginning, only the end. I tried recording the video exactly when the video starts but it's an exercise in frustration. Just now I accidentally recorded the blue screen again. If I wait too long after the video starts, then I am losing video. What should someone do in this situation?

[pchan]

This thread is for reference only. Please don't post there as it's an old thread.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/290304-Direct-Stream-Copy-for-All-Formats

[Alwyn]

What are your source files? AVIs?

[jagabo]

Read this post: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/407702-How-to-Accurately-Extract-Portions-of-mp4-F...es#post2673497

[bigbadben]

What are your source files? AVIs?

Yes .AVI H264 lossless.

[Alwyn]

Hmm, I have no experience with "lossless" H264. I use the more conventional lossless AVI codecs such as Lagarith, UT and Magic. They can be edited to frame-accuracy, without re-encoding, with Virtual Dub, using Direct Stream Copy" video mode, but that can't be used with "normal" H264s so I'm not sure if it will work with your Lossless H264.

Give AVIDemux a go, it will only cut on I-Frames (I think that's it) if you want to avoid a re-encode.

Try Video>Copy

Audio>Copy

Output Format>MP4

[jagabo]

Lossless x264 can be cut with frame accuracy if you set the GOP size (keyint) to 1.

[Alwyn]

Lossless x264 can be cut with frame accuracy if you set the GOP size (keyint) to 1.

Is that at the capture stage?

[jagabo]

Lossless x264 can be cut with frame accuracy if you set the GOP size (keyint) to 1.

Is that at the capture stage?

Yes.

[bigbadben]

For those that have recorded VHS tapes, where do you prefer to cut videos? At the first sign of picture, at the first sign of a whole complete image (even if it's black and white), or at the whole complete image in colour? What about at the end of the video? Do you cut before the video begins to get scrambled or at the last visible image on screen, even if it has noise, black and white, or is in pieces?

VirtualDub cut the video just fine. I just chose to encode it again in lossless h264 when saving the file. It should still be in lossless.

[Alwyn]

I like to make it the same as a TV show, nice and neat. Unless there's important material in the rough bits at the start and end, edit all the non-perfect stuff out. Unless, of course, you want to leave it there for artistic effect.

Good to hear re VDub editing.

[bigbadben]

If you leave a VCR on all night, doing nothing, and then record a VHS tape, will the recording be worse quality than if it was off before you started recording? If you record many VHS tapes in a row, will the recording quality be worse than if you did one tape per day? Do VCR's fatigue because it's an analog and mechanical playing process? If the temperature is 30 degrees celsius on one day and 21 degrees on the other, will your recording quality be better on the cooler day?

[Alwyn]

Interesting questions for which I don't know the answers. I suspect though that VCRs are robust enough not to be affected in those scenarios.

Video heads do get dirty after playing lots of tapes, so they would need a clean at some point.

[black-dvd-archiver]

My open source project can do that....assuming your video is PAL/NTSC specs and you have closed GOPS: https://github.com/David-Worboys/Black-DVD-Archiver

[black-dvd-archiver]

If you leave a VCR on all night, doing nothing, and then record a VHS tape, will the recording be worse quality than if it was off before you started recording? If you record many VHS tapes in a row, will the recording quality be worse than if you did one tape per day? Do VCR's fatigue because it's an analog and mechanical playing process? If the temperature is 30 degrees celsius on one day and 21 degrees on the other, will your recording quality be better on the cooler day?

I have used VHS porta-paks in the field and this has a bearing on these questions.

On a good quality deck with no tech issues temp makes no difference to recording quality from minus 20 to plus 40 C
A good quality deck with no tech issues does not care if it is on all night before use or if it has been off
VCR's degrade with use, they are complex electro-mechanical beasts and after much use image quality can degrade - particularly with head wear

[Sharc]

If you leave a VCR on all night, doing nothing, and then record a VHS tape, will the recording be worse quality than if it was off before you started recording? If you record many VHS tapes in a row, will the recording quality be worse than if you did one tape per day? Do VCR's fatigue because it's an analog and mechanical playing process? If the temperature is 30 degrees celsius on one day and 21 degrees on the other, will your recording quality be better on the cooler day?

You can leave it on but release any tension on the tape if one is inserted. Don't just press the PAUSE button.
Leaving it on (in stand-by mode) stabilizes the internal temperature which prevents or reduces the effects of the warm-up phase with its extra mechanical stress on the mechanics (talking about consumer gear).
Constant temperature during capturing is more relevant than the absolute temperature, as long as it is within stated limits. Same applies to tapes. Inserting cold cassettes into a "hot" player or vice versa is to be avoided. Condensation is to be strictly avoided, of course.

[bigbadben]

How much of a sync error is acceptable? Mine goes from -200ms to +200ms. What is this affected by? I have zero dropped frames and my CPU usage is only 9%.