Joining MPEG2 files question

[dazed women]

I have the Canopus ADVC-100. I used ScenAlyzer to capture a 2 hour video and even though I checked the unlimited box, (my drive is NTFS) it broke up the video into 9 minute files. Whoops! I noticed later that there is a place I can change the way it breaks the files up but am not sure where that is yet.

Anyway, using TMPGec I converted the files to MPEG-2s. Now I want to join them together and burn them to SVCD's using Nero.

I have VideoWave 4 that came with my firewire card but cannot figure out how to make the "storyboard" one file.

I know the files I have do not work with VirtualDub. Please help. Thanks.

[Morloc]

Any reason why you didn't use the Merge and Cut feature under Tools in TMPG while you were in there?

Morloc

[dazed women]

Any reason why you didn't use the Merge and Cut feature under Tools in TMPG while you were in there?

Maybe because I didn't see this in the program. It took quite a bit of looking for me to find it even with you pointing it out.

I have to admit I do not find this program very easy to understand. I am just pointing and clicking using the guides on this forum.

Guess I will go back, add the files, and try this and see how it goes. Thanks for the suggestion!

[The village idiot]

It would be best to combine the files while it is still in DV format. With mpeg you can only get clean cuts/merges on an "I" frame. When the GOP (Group Of Pictures) is disturbed, the player must push through until it hits another "I" frame. Sometimes you get lucky and your player will work when it hits a "P" frame (predicted). But "I" frames are the only ones to be 100% encoded. If I wasn't so lazy, I would post some links about mpeg. It's pretty deep reading, and I can't say as I've really read all the really complete ones all the way through. OK, you win here is a really deep one: http://www.tek.com/Measurement/App_Notes/mpegfund/25W_11418_3.pdf

[dazed women]

Wow! Great document to read. Thanks. I like how it assumes you are not an expert. Great for beginners.

OK, I give, at the risk of sounding any stupider, how do you join the files together in DV format? Thanks.

Dazed-er

[The village idiot]

I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with any of the software you are using.

If you are looking for a mid-cheap price editor, I would suggest EditStudio from http://www.puremotion.com . It is pretty easy to use, and the mpeg encoder (mpegXS) looks really good. They have a free 30 day demo, the editor leaves no watermarks, but the mpeg encoder does leave a watermark in demo mode. VCD's from high quality sources look great, DVD's from same source look great too. For mostly simple edits this is a great package. You will, however; still need something to author menus and burn to disk. It also captures/transfers well to.

You could try using the cut/merge tool in TMPGEnc. File->tools->cut/merge I think. Then just add all the mpeg sections in order and hit merge. But it might produce a "pop" at all of the edits. I'm surprised that no one has offered help with videowave.

As far as your captures, you might want to get DVio. It's free, and uses very little system resources to run. If you are using win2000 or XP it is a good backup capture utility. Just remember to capture to DV type2 (default).

[dazed women]

I downloaded Edit Studio but it looked similar to VideoWave. Then I finally found the vernacular to use for help? in VideoWave. It is called "produce" the storyline. Now I think I have it covered. There is a way to join avi files in VideoWave. So here I go...

Thanks for the information.
Not so Dazed anymore.