Looking for Simple MPEG2 Cutter, please...

[rhuala2]

Hi,

Looking for a small easy to use inexpensive tool for just cutting away sections of an MPEG2 file and then saving it in it's orignal format (i.e. cutting away unwanted entire frames). I want to use this in combo with TMPGEnc but the reason I don't do the the cutting in TMPGEnc (use to) is because I like to run my captures thru my own personal templates and I find that the only way I can cut a section in TMPGEnc is via the wizard, which resets some of my template settings like crop and noise reduction. Thanks

rhuala

[wee haggis]

http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/mpegtool.html

[adam]

The best mpeg2 cutter is bbmpeg. Its free.

[rhuala2]

Thanks but...

http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/downloads/mpegtool.html

This you can't see anything only displays frame numbers, had no idea where I was in the clip. It's close though, it cuts away frames nicely, but it's so hard to tell what ur cutting away... so close...

The best mpeg2 cutter is bbmpeg. Its free.

This RE-ENCODES and only does cropping as far as I can tell. In addition it destroyed the quality and shrunk my cap to 1/3 the original.

All I want to do is take a nice TV capture that I have that's mpeg2 and cut out the commercials without the program RE-ENCODING (TMPGEnc and Premier) it and thus dropping the quality.

rhuala

[sterno]

The best mpeg2 cutter is bbmpeg. Its free.

This RE-ENCODES and only does cropping as far as I can tell. In addition it destroyed the quality and shrunk my cap to 1/3 the original.

You are incorrect. Read the guide to cutting with bbmpeg:
http://www.vcdhelp.com/bbmpegedit.htm

[adam]

As sterno suggested you just used bbmpeg incorrectly. It is also an encoder but its cutting function is the absolute best for mpeg2 in my opinion.

For your particular purposes bbmpeg might not be particulary useful, since I assume you want to remove parts from the movie yet keep the remaining parts as one mpg, which bbmpeg cannot do. Unfortunately, I don't think there are any programs that can do this well, commercial or otherwise. M2 Edit can do it but its cutting ability is worse than bbmpeg in my opinion and can cause any number of problems.

Either cap to avi first or else you may have to live with your movie being spread out over several tracks because editing mpeg2 rarely works well. If you try to join the parts you will most likely get desync.

[energy80s]

Adam, Does BBMPEG edit any tighter than to the nearest second? I would like to use it myself but could only specify a time in whole seconds (not frames). I would like to be able to enter a start point (at say 325 frames) and an end point (say at 123456 frames) and let it only output the file between these two points, throwing away the start and end of an MPEG2 capture. Can this be done with BBMPEG??

[epo]

I'm using MPEG2VCR for cuting out unwanted content. Works well, frame accurate and no sync problems unless transition effects are used.

[rhuala2]

Looks like MPEG2VCR may fit the bill, but the demo won't let me save my edited file so I can't see if it re-encoded it and worsened the quality or grew the file size. The way I check is grab a 1min capture, edit out a couple of frames then save. Some programs will create a save file that is twice as big while other will destroy the quality. If it was a reasonable price I would just buy it so I can see if it saves properly myself but at $249...eek, epo would you please tell me how this product does for saving the file? Does it lessen the quality or grow the file size. Thanks

rhuala

[energy80s]

Yeah, I was looking at Womble yesterday, but they don't have an MPEG2 demo and I don't see any ... eehhm ... cracks around, so I'm looking for something else. Also on the Womble site they even say that it doesn't edit MPEG2 files overly well, so I am open to suggestions.

[fingernailX]

Womble is great for files < 4gb Tmpgenc for files > 4gb (snip) If Mpeg 2 is 15 gop 29.97 fps then accurate cuts will only be on the I frame or up to .5 sec off. 15 gop is not an editing format. Capture I frame only edit then convert to 15 gop for ntsc vcd, svcd, dvd. Or an all I frame avi such as DV or huffyuv.

[epo]

It re-encodes only parts, it must to i.e. some frames around cuts. My files it makes ~2% bigger, which doesn't matter at all as sizes of video and audio streams remain the same and authoring program remuxes anyway with its own overhead. What I haven't tried, is to throw 2 clips with different datarates at it. And it is fast compared to BB or TMPG as it de-re-muxes on the fly, reading and writing a stream only once.

[Xtasy2002]

So.. No one has any real solution for this guy? I'm looking for something similar.

All of the good Mpg editors I've seen so far are pretty expensive. Pinnacle Studio Deluxe latest version looks like a good mpg editor though?

PS: He said 'simple' cutter. I don't think linking to a tool that needs like 20 different steps and a bunch of demuxing is simple.. Simple to me means loading the file directly, making some quick cuts visually with start/stop markers, and clicking on save.

I'd also like something that is free if possible, but I highly doubt anything like that exists.

[energy80s]

Xtasy2002, you get my vote!

Just a simple app to top and tail a VBR MPEG2 file accurately ... that's all we ask!

[vhelp]

hello faulks.

Gosh, Woomble. I haven't used it for the longest of time since my
days w/ WinTV PVR SVCD capture via my .reg mod file for other bitates
ie 2520, etc (was and still is on my website) Anyhows, I use to use
it like an assembly line. And, about the only issue I had w/ it
was that it re-encoded parts, if not all the clip (though on the
fly) and cause the video to look ugly - well, till I found out how
to cut w/ it but W/OUT loosing any quality. But, their is this .5
second lag that I did notice, whenever I made say, cut a few, and then
burned them to CDR. But, I think that was because of the way the WTVPVR
created its MPEG-2 files. It was an odd MPEG-2 format, and gave me some
minor troubles, like like not being compliant for NERO, unless I used
bbMPEG or Womble. But, I can't see it doing any harm if you are trying
to cut into TWO so you can split equally onto two CDRs.
Yes, also, it was fast. Like, on the fly. And, you can SEE the
actual video in the time-line, and as you cut it, you are actually
placing it onto the clipboard (Woomble's clipboard) Then, when you
are all ready, you just pick each clip you want and Save AS a
separate MPEG-2 file. Also, you can merge what you cutted from the
clipboard. However, I don't recommend using the filters, ie the
faides and stuff like that, cause then Woomble will re-encode those
parts, but I never really did like them with transitions & stuff like
that. I only used Woomble for cutting out my Star Trek Voyager
commercials, and then save all the 10 minute clip, and finally burned
them to CDR. Those were the days of my WTVPVR usb, which I still
have, but don't use any more (for obvious reasons)
Personally, I don't like using an editor if I can't SEE the video
what I'm applying filters or cuts or whatever too. You need to SEE
the video and changes that you apply! And, as for that little or
minor 1 second pause, that could have ben due to the way my WTVPVR
create those MPEG-2 files, hence causing those 1 or less second
pause. I haven't used it since though. So, I don't know about any
other issues, if there are any. Anyways.

Womble can be a pain, if at first for a while, till you get used to it
odd behavior. It's user interface leaves me wishing for more.

And, as far as how I got Woomble, I got from a friend, a year 1/2
or so ago on a floppy disket, filled to the hilts, but I believe I may
have archieved it on CDR along w/ other useful tools, but couldn't
begin to know where to look, as I have hundreds of CDRs laying around
in varous piles (w/out lables, sheesh)

What I like about Woomble is it's speed. It's FAST!!

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Maybe off topic here, (if need be, i'll start an new one pending)
but just how hard is it to create an application that would funciton as such:
1, opens an MPEG-2 file
2, reads it, and gathers info, ie, GOPS, bitrate, etc.
3, at very minimal, provides a user w/ 3 fields, [Start], [End], [Filename]
4, click the [Start} button, and in a matter of seconds/minutes, you new
.. MPEGD-2 file is ready!

How hard would it be? I would love to take on this idea using Delphi, but if
only I had some good building blocks (templates) or sample code to go on!!
This has got to be the easiest piece of code to build, for this FORUM's
peoples looking for an MPEG-2 cutter (freeware)'wise
Common... How hard is it?????? ?? ??
So, how about it faulks... Anybody have any good links (delphi) to get
someone moving on this. I'd be more than happy to take on this project!!
I'm ready to give it a go right now, as I have Delphi crying out for a good
challenge!! he, he... and, report back w/ an actual CUTTER !!

Have a good evening all.
-vhelp

[rhuala2]

Well I found a solution for my problem, in the most unlikely place. After trying umpteen programs I was able to accomplish what I set out to do in PowerVCR II. If you go into the editor portion of this, which is quite crude, and select the section you want to keep, this can be done visually, then select 'trim selected item' it will save the selected section efficiently.

I did some tests where I took a 1 min capture and selected all but the first few frames. It saved the file FAST, 3s, and the file size was just less then the original. I'm sure it's not re-encoding anything! Just what I want. It's an editor that's a bit difficult to work with in that when I went to edit a 1hr clip its difficult to find the exact point to trim because moving by the slider via mouse moves in too great of increments (larger the file the larger the increments). A fine movement can be used by the little arrows on either side of the selected portions, unforunately you can't just hold them down you have to press and unpress several times... oh well it's the closest I've come so far.

My capture and edit technique is getting quite good now without taking up hordes of HD space. I've tried IuVCR, Virtual VCR, Adobe Premier 6.5, VirtualDub, AVIIO, BaoTV, Uleads Movie/Work Factory, Power VCR2, WinDVR 2, WinProducer... in combination with a whole whack of editing programs and whole whack of codec (which I liked Morgen probably the best). My best results are derived from:

1. Customized capture from WinDVR 2, using high bitrate at 1/2 DVD, CVD format (DVD compliant)
2. Edit with PowerVCR 2 (crude but useable, no re-encoding, DVD compliant)
3. Burn to DVD-R using DVDit! PE (nicely layed out nice structure, easy to use, no PCM audio issue)

Simple with as little encoding as possible. I find this beats capturing to raw .avi file and compressing with TMPGEnc, which I'm real limited to file length with an 80GB hard drive, plus the encoding and editing takes forever. Also better than using Virtual VCR or Virtual dub with Morgan codec and editing and encoding with TMPGEnc.

WinProducer almost got my nod in conjunction with WinDVR 2, but it wouldn't save in a DVD compliant format even though it said it would (bitrate issues)! That was an area where alot of programs also broke down, was in saving to a DVD compliant format. I could have burned my DVD-R's by forcing non-compliant formats but as I stated above I feared incomptibility with other stand alone DVD players.

The one thing I could still use is having the editor crop, PowerVCR II will not crop the file. Although I find when I capture a TV signal and play it on my monitor I get a flicker at the top and bottom due to overscan. Yet if I burn to CD/DVD and play it in a stand alone player the flicker isn't visible so I ignore it in the capture. If I wanted to get rid of the flicker for PC use only, I would then replace step 2 with TMPGEnc and suffer through one more encode which I find will drop the quality slightly (CVD template with matching CQ bitrate).

rhuala

ps. Well if anyone can make a simple program that can visually cut and crop and save without encoding I'll buy it! $20.00us sound reasonable... Make it so it can cut in 2 ways, 1. will save selected section 2. will trim selected section and save remaining image on command.

[energy80s]

Make it so it can cut in 2 ways, 1. will save selected section 2. will trim selected section and save remaining image on command.

Yes, just like the basic edit/trim function in the latest versions of TMPGenc's source range function ... without the re-encoding!!

[BJ_M]

MPEG2VCR (wobble) often displays wrong times or frame numbers on some mpeg2 -- its not working right everytime ..

mpeg2 pro has still a lot of problems and IMO the prev. version did a better job and was able to import better .. though it crashed more ..


for non re-rendered editing Vitek DVD tools works great .. very stable ..

[icon]

Nice thread guys. I am in the same boat. I tried M2-edit pro and MPEG2VCR. I can't remember exactly why, but both failed to cut successfully. I think one appeared to re-encode the video and the other file size was bigger than the original. Lately I have been using TMPG. I don't see why that can't be used. The mux, cut, join and demux all works well with my MPEG2 files and no re-encoding. If I find anything better out there, I will post. Thanks,

icon

MPEG2VCR (wobble) often displays wrong times or frame numbers on some mpeg2 -- its not working right everytime ..

mpeg2 pro has still a lot of problems and IMO the prev. version did a better job and was able to import better .. though it crashed more ..


for non re-rendered editing Vitek DVD tools works great .. very stable ..

[energy80s]

Unfortunately, TMPGenc editing isn't frame accurate but only GOP accurate. Therfore you end up cutting up to a second out. For home sourced material that may not be a problem, but for TV sourced shows you usually only have 2 or 3 frames of clean material to perform a cut on.

I agree that if TMPGenc was frame accurate then you wouldn't need any other app.

[rhuala2]

for non re-rendered editing Vitek DVD tools works great .. very stable ..

Would you please post a URL for this? I can't find it searching Google, this website or Download.com. Thanks.

rhuala

[icon]

I believe that TMPG only cuts on an I frame, which I agree is not frame acurate. It depends on how many I frames that the source has. I was also in the understanding that if you do not cut on an I frame (frame accurate cutting), that your mpeg2 would either need re-encoding or suffer possible hiccups when played back. Please correct me if I am wrong. Thanks,

icon

[energy80s]

Yes, frame accurate cutters usually re-encode the remaining frames either side of the cut into a new GOP. Although this means that the quality suffers, as it is only for a split second it isn't really noticable.

[BJ_M]

for non re-rendered editing Vitek DVD tools works great .. very stable ..

Would you please post a URL for this? I can't find it searching Google, this website or Download.com. Thanks.

rhuala

helps if i spell it right -- sorry .. ViteC DVD tools http://www.vitecmm.com

very good mpeg apps ...

[basser]

i have a version of moviestar ver 4.25...it may work without the encoder card installed...its 64 megs..so email spambasser@btinternet.com of course remove spam to contact me

[vhelp]

basser,

Sorry, but moviStar requires that the card be their (connected)
I had tried this out a long time ago w/ the Dazzle DVC I and DVC II.
And in both exierience, they wanted either the USB device or the
PCI device to be connected else app would start to load and then
exit out - at least on my machines.

-vhelp

[rhuala2]

Dam dam dam!

PowerVCR 2, just wasted me about 2 days work leading me down the wrong path. It looked like it edited fine, everything played back fine on the PC... buuut when I actual went to burn my caps, the audio sync was way off, so much so it made the caps unwatchable. It seemed real strange so I went back and checked the edited versions on my PC, everything checked out fine the audio was sync'd. So I tried Ulead Movie Factory demo instead of DVDit! PE. Sure enough burn again was off sync in audio.

I still couldn't believe it so I did 4 test caps of 1 min each, edited each with TMPGEnc, and PowerVCR2. For a total of 12 clips, burned all to DVD-R. Sure enough ALL the ones that were edited with PowerVCR 2 had audio sync problems where as the other 8 were completely fine!!!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, that puts me back to square ONE trying to find a decent simple editing program that won't re-encode. I hope I didn't lead anyone down this past and waste their time, if so I'm sorry... I'm pretty pissed right now!!!

rhuala

[Xtasy2002]

I THINK I FOUND IT!: http://www.honestech.com

Check this out, the Mpeg Editor 4.0.
http://www.honestech.com/product02.html

I just installed the demo and am now messing around with it, but it SEEMS TO BE exactly the tool we have all been searching for! Under 'features' it says 8) honestech's smart merging technology "stitches" clips together much faster than other editors that require rendering of the entire video clips.

It is also a very simple to use visual editor, and seems really fast and easy to cut out segments fast from Mpg clips. What I don't know yet is how well does it keep audio sync? Anyone tested this extensively?

[BJ_M]

i tried it out awhile ago and it didnt work to well .. maybe its new version does ..

[OldJoker]

I'm looking for the same simple tool: a good MPEG (1/2) cutter...

I tried to use TMPGEnc to cut commercials on a MPEG-1 file captured with an ATI TV Wonder card. The result was disappointing: the audio sync was way off.

Using VCD Cutter I obtained better results, but this program doesn't work for MPEG-2 files and I intend to capture something in this format for a better quality.

Finally, I tried Ulead Media Studio 6.5 (its Video Editor). Again I had problems with the audio sync. It looks that it is almost impossible to solve this apparently simple problem: cut some pieces from an MPEG (1/2) file without losing the synchronization between audio and video streams.

I'm not even asking for frame resolution; GOP resolution will be acceptable, but I want to keep audio and video in sync. Any tips?

OldJoker