Cutting mkv question

[blinkmadden]

I have a .mkv file (AVC/MPEG4 video with aac) total runtime is 25:15. Basically I want to extract 0:15-25:13 clip without re encoding.

Programs I have tried so far are tsmuxer, mkvmerge and avidemux.

tsmuxer - I went to "cut option" and used 15s - 1513s (25:13 minutes). However, the resulting file was not right starting the video from 0:20-25:05. I tried to change the "cut option" again and used 0.10 minutes - 25.13 minutes then again the resulting video was 0:20-25:13. The timecodes are not exact to what I wanted.

mkvmerge - Well there's only split option and cutting was not possible. Tried to split starting from 15s then it gave me lots of files starting with a 19s from the beginning and the rest were 15s until the end of the video.

avidemux - used 0:15-25:13 for frame A and frame B although not exact because it doesn't let me type in the timecodes. Resulting file was not the one I wanted giving me a video 0:00-25:13.


Avidemux was the closest one I could've achieved. Frame A didn't start from 0:15 but instead started from the beginning. Is there something I missed? Any suggestions or other programs to try?

[redwudz]

The problem isn't the programs, it's the video format. Highly compressed formats like H.264, Divx, Xvid and others aren't made to be edited. Most times you need to cut them on keyframes or you risk sync problems or picture breakup.

But with a format like Xvid for example, keyframes are about every 300 frames by default. Not so good for frame accurate editing. Some editors can just encode around the cut area to restore the sync. Others will just jump to the nearest keyframe. But if you were planning to do extensive editing, better to use a different format.

I'll let other suggest better programs to use.

[videobruger]

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/354976-How-to-cut-any-video-with-the-free-Video-to-...ideo-Converter

but again - notice what it says at the bottom:

Problems:
It might not be possible to cut exactly in all kinds of video.

A "smart" trimmer with frame accuracy could be SolveigMM Video Trimmer. It re-encode around your cuts.

[hello_hello]

mkvmerge - Well there's only split option and cutting was not possible. Tried to split starting from 15s then it gave me lots of files starting with a 19s from the beginning and the rest were 15s until the end of the video.

MKVMergeGUI has several splitting options, but if you select "split after duration" and only want it to split once, you need to specify "2" as the maximum number of files in the area below.

Like most programs capable of splitting, if you specify a split point it'll actually split on the next keyframe after the point you specify, so If you want it to split at the 15 second mark (for example) it'd probably pay to try specifying 13s or 14s instead to see how close it can get.

Try Video To Video Converter. It has a "commercial cutter" under the Tools menu. Open the cutter, then open a video and it'll let you specify edits/cuts with a preview. The navigation bar will only stop on keyframes (default ffmpeg input method), but you can at least see where the cuts will be. Once you've done that, select okay and then "direct stream copy" in the window which opens for choosing conversion options.
It also has a splitter if you want to split files into individual parts.