Anybody used DV-Tool? A great video splitter, but?

[joeAgain------]

This is an awesomely simple and fast file splitting(etc.)program:

http://www.musclesoft.de/combatman/start.php?page=software/dvtool.html&lang=e

But no matter how many times I try it(in varying combinations of splits..eg. 2, 3 4 pieces), it creates splits that only the 1st one is playable.

Has anybody used it and gotten it to work right for other than the 1st split portion?

The one thing I noticed was that in the HELP advice area it said if Mpegs did not play to make sure "Append Header" is checked. But I never saw anywhere to check it(except a greyed-out box with a header item, but not "Append". Does anyone know what that is? Or know how to make the program works right?

[joeAgain------]

I really was hoping to get a responce to these questions about that program, but I guess nobody has even heard of it here...(?)

Anyway, the website indicates the creator is in Germany. Is there a kind "video capturer" here that speaks German and would be willing to help me communicate with "CM"(the program creator, according to the website)...? I've not even gotten a responce to my polite emails about how much I'd like to use his program, but have this basic problem with it.

The program appears to have so much potential without this fatal flaw. I've searched for a very easy(freeware)Mpeg video file slitting tool, and not found anything but this. I've looked in the "EDIT" help area of this site and found some, but they cost money for this simple process(except TMPGenc which says is Bugy...and I assume you'd have to go thru the encoding process to use it....I don't want to encode, just slip).

Or, are there any others that I could use that are simple and free?

thanks very much, I hope someone answers

[Truman]

I will do some tests. Which version did you use?

[fingernailX]

I have tried mpeg scissors, m1 edit, m2 edit dv-tool and several others.
The only 2 tools I've ever had not let me down are tmpgenc and Womble MPEGIIVCR. Womble is great but won't cut mpg files larger than 4 gb. The only thing that cuts those is tmpgenc. And I have to manually enter the time in seconds. Cutting a mpeg that is not i-frame is difficult because of the structure of the GOP. at a 15 GOP (std) you only have a keyframe 1 in every 15. Cutting on any other frame screws up the resulting header of the second part thus Dv tool only working for the first part.

[Truman]

I also did not find that "append header" option. Maybe it means "sys header" or it is only an option of the "VIP release", I use v.031 only.
However, if I select the funktion Split File I can un/check "sys header".
Also I remember,that I have read once (long long time ago), that one should try the Clone function instead of Split, if the 2nd part is not playable.
Another very easy to use MPEG splitter is bbMPEG.
But DVtool can do a lot more than only splitting, so it seems to be worth to try it.

[joeAgain------]

thanks guys,
I very much appreciate your advice and help.

It is the latest version(0.31)that I'm trying. And I agree, there are a number of other cool things it says it will do besides split. But at this point splitting is the one I'm interested in.

I tried bbMPEG and please tell me how to split a file into pieces. I must not have seen that option and I was only able to split(seperate) the video from the audio into seperate files. That isn't what I want to do. Can you explain how to do it with bbMPEG? (please).

thank you for your help....I'm looking forward to hearing from you again on all this.

[Truman]

How to cut with bbMPEG: http://www.vcdhelp.com/bbmpegedit.htm

[joeAgain------]

thanks Truman,
I'm looking at the instructions on the link and will try them. But that requires using TMPG Enc. before even opening the bbMPEG program. And going thru all those settings in each program in order to do the split.

That makes me want a fix to the DV-Tool program even more(HaHa), because it is so incredably simple. Just tell it what file you want to split, then how many Megabytes to make each part....and execute.

Too bad I can't get it to work. That is SO simple.

[Truman]

DVtool split the video by filesize. Mpeg splitting is not that easy. It is necessary to cut before a I-frame. It is easy to figure out which frame number is a I-frame, but obviously there is no way to cut frame accurate with DVtool unless you use the trial and error method.
So I think, TMPG is still the best freeware solution.
As usual I recommend to split the file before conversion to avoid that trouble.

[joeAgain------]

I emailed Dirk ("CM"), the creator of DV-Tools, who has asked for input on improving his program. His email address is cm@musclesoft.de

He told me he is on vacation but will read everyone's email on his program with interest on the 20th when he returns and answer.

Anyone else wishing to encourage him(or give him helpful advise) can email him there.

I hope we can help him to somehow get that major bug out of that portion of his program. It is SO very simple, It would be great to use it.

thanks

[Truman]

Actually it is not a bug, simply DVtool splits the file by bytes not by frames. That's my problem. I am not a programmer, I have no clue how to fix it.