Avidemux

[jackdup]

I was looking for an easy way to split or divide a video without re-encoding the video and have seen several threads suggesting Avidemux. I am going through a bunch of videos from camcorders and would like to split the videos and title them on my hard drive so it is easier to find specific videos by date or topic. I downloaded and installed Avidemux however cannot find a way to divide or split the video. I can see how you can edit it and remove sections but not simply split the video so would appreciate if someone could provide instructions on splitting a video.

Or if someone has another suggestion for a simple freeware editor or program to simply split or divide mpg files without having to re-encode that would be great
Thank you

[davexnet]

Use the A and B buttons to select the first section. Save it as new video 1.
Use the A and B buttons again to select the second bit, save it as new video 2

Or do you mean something else more tricky than the obvious things like the above?

[butterw]

How many parts do you want to split into ?

It's possible to automate davexnet suggestion using a script in Avidemux: for custom splits using the GUI preview, it's possible to split in up to 4 parts by using the current position and the Markers as split points.

[jackdup]

Use the A and B buttons to select the first section. Save it as new video 1.
Use the A and B buttons again to select the second bit, save it as new video 2

Or do you mean something else more tricky than the obvious things like the above?

That may give me what I want. I just thought I would be able to select a spot and select divide or split and it would simply divide the video at that spot but this probably accomplishes the same thing other than it converts it to an mkv whereas I had wanted to simply split the mpg file with changing it to an mkv. When it changes it from an mpg to a mkv does it not re-encode or otherwise potentially lose some quality?

I thought this would be a fairly simple thing but after reading several threads it seems it may not be so simple.

Thanks for your help and if someone else has a suggestion so the video is left as an mpg I would appreciate hearing it.

[DB83]

If you are getting a mkv file then you must have selected 'mkv muxer' as the output format.

The full proceedure is select 'Copy' for both Video and Audio Output. Then open the dropdown 'Output Format' list and select 'Mpeg-PS muxer'

[jackdup]

How many parts do you want to split into ?

It's possible to automate davexnet suggestion using a script in Avidemux: for custom splits using the GUI preview, it's possible to split in up to 4 parts by using the current position and the Markers as split points.

It would definitely be more that 4 as I would split it at every new date so it is easy to find events without fast forwarding through a bunch of video.

[butterw]

Doing it manually you can try changing the following preference, which could make it easier to select segments:
Edit > Preferences/User Interface>x Swap markers...
now use only marker A to select.

Using a script to cut in more than 4 different length parts would be a bit troublesome:
You could cut your video in 4 then load each part to cut it in 4 again, then you've cut it in 4*4=16.

[jackdup]

If you are getting a mkv file then you must have selected 'mkv muxer' as the output format.

The full proceedure is select 'Copy' for both Video and Audio Output. Then open the dropdown 'Output Format' list and select 'Mpeg-PS muxer'

Thanks very much I'll given that a try. Any other settings I should check as I have never used this program before? It says Zoom 99% at the top of the screen, is that just the display window or will that actually change the video?

To confirm how to split the video, I make the settings you recommended and then select a and move to the divide point and select b and then go up to the top and select save video button and then move on to the next divide location?

Thanks for your help

[Cryosim]

Hi. I've generate new timestamps with ffmpeg -fflags +genpts -r 25. But Avidemux still say error "Cannot go to next keyframe." where my mistake?