Cut or Condense an MPEG file

[lorentoomsen]

I am very new -- and can not find an answer to this.

I need to put a 1,192,636 KB MPEG Video onto a CD. Obviously that is too big to fit.

Is there a program I can access that will "compress" that file down so it will fit on the CD and yet play on any MPEG player?

Or, would it be better to divide the file across two CD's?

I'm certain this software must exist. I don't know where to find it!

[Mxjshaf69]

Use TMPGenc to reencode it to xvcd with a lower bitrate.

[mark_lumley]

Hi, you can use the program TMPGEnc to split the MPEG file:

File, MPEG Tools, Merge & Cut.

In the drop-down box 'Type', select MPEG-1 Video-CD.

Click the Add button, navigate to where your large MPEG is stored, and select it (double click its name, or click Open).

Now, you'll see that filename added to the empty white box in the Merge & Cut dialog; double-click the name, and you will have a video preview window, with a slider at the bottom.

Move the slider to half way along, and see in the preview window if you can find a scene change nearby, a fade to black is ideal. When you find it, click the right-most curly-bracket button, the one that looks like:

}

which places and end-marker at the point you selected. The two buttons above this, < and > , move you back and forward by one frame, so you can be fairly precise where you want the file to end. I myself don't mind having a longer first disc and shorter second, if it means that the first disc ends at a scene change/fade to black.

In theory, you would simply place the end marker where you want, and click OK, then give the name and location for an output file (your original MPEG will be untouched), and click Run.

However, TMPGEnc tends to add a 'click' to the end of split or joined MPEGs, so I suggest leaving a few frames - 10 or 20 say - at the end of your split file, and leaving the TMPGEnc program running, so you can simply nibble a few frames off the end of the selection if you find that it clicks when you play back the first file.

That will do 'part one' of your MPEG; for part two, you can go back to the same dialog, which you hopefully left untouched, and simply use the < and > buttons to find the exact start point you want for the second MPEG.

Once you've found it, click the ' { ' button, to select that as the start point, then move the slider all the way to the right and click the ' } ' button to select the new end point. Then finish off as per part one, but save as a new name.

Because your 'part two' file won't have any run-off at the end, you may end up with a click at the end. If you've got end credits at the end of your MPEG, it won't matter if you nibble away at the end to get rid of the click. What I normally do these days is to allow a few frames after the end of files that I convert to MPEG, so that I can nibble away if there is a click.

You can also try clicking the 'Audio effect' box in the Setting, Advanced dialog when first converting to MPEG with TMPGEnc, if you use it to convert your films, and then select 'Fade Out'; this can help minimise the click.

It may sound complex, but it quickly becomes routine. One thing, though; it might seem like the PC has frozen whilst splitting or joining; it hasn't, it's just searching through the MPEG file for the point you have specified before writing the new file.

Hope this helps!