Question how to edit several minutes of avi at frame level

[jimdagys]

I have an avi movie and I want to edit out several minutes in the middle of the movie. I have used TMPGEnc DVD Author 3 in the past to edit DVDs and that works very well because you can cut exactly on a frame. TMPGEnc DVD Author 3 also can do this with avi, but I think it wants to recode the entire avi, which I don't want to do. My question is, how can I edit out several minutes and not recode the entire movie?

[gll99]

Virtualdub will let you do 1 or multiple cuts without needing to re-encode an avi. You just have to use "Direct Stream copy" under the "Video" tab.

If you want to apply filters to a small section then cut and save the sections before and after to separate files as part1.avi and part3.avi using Direct Stream Copy and then select the part you want to edit, select "Full Processing mode", activate the filter(s) as needed and then set the same video compressor as the original file. Save the new video as part2.avi. Then Reload part1.avi, append the other parts in order and resave the new video using "Direct Stream copy". This way only the edited section gets recompressed.

[Bully9]

I had a similar problem. I wanted to edit some scenes out of an avi movie and i tried to use the above method to edit 'frame-accurately". But as i did not compile the movie in the first place i could not find the right settings to recompress the bits which needed to be reinserted for a clean edit: VD would not join the files together. despite the same codec being used. And it's a real b*st*rd of a job anyway! Are there no tools that will do the job, like say videoredo will do with mpeg2 files?

[guns1inger]

If you use virtualdub and cut on anything but I frames then you have to use Smart Render. Direct Stream Copy mode is only available for I frame edits. Smart render will only re-encode the GOP that you have edited, which is usually around 300 frames in Xvid/Divx files.

AVI Demux is another option.

The simplest setting it to use a q (or CQ or Qf) value of 2 instead of worrying about the exact settings used in the original.

As you are not joining files you will not have any opf the problems described by Bully9

[CSULB71]

guns1inger: Which AVIDemux (v2.4.3) file should I install for Windows? The direct link to the author's site gets me an .EXE file of about 12 MB, and the "mirror" link to the SourceForge site offers a .ZIP file from the berlios.de site that is about 20 MB, and uncompressed = 55 MB!

[guns1inger]

I use this one, which is generously hosted by Baldrick : https://www.videohelp.com/download/avidemux_2.4.3_win32.exe

[Bully9]

Thanks for the replies guns1inger. I tried avidemux and it does work to frame accuracy, but the resulting saved video pixellates quite badly for several seconds after the cut.

Also, could you possibly tell me a bit more about the smart rendering facility in Virtualdub - it's not a function i'm familiar with?

[CSULB71]

I use this one, which is generously hosted by Baldrick : https://www.videohelp.com/download/avidemux_2.4.3_win32.exe

Yes, that's the one that is 12 MB. The other ZIP file that is 55 MB uncompressed looked like it had a ton of codecs and many plugins, etc. -- wasn't sure which one was the "right" one. Thanks, I'll give the .EXE app a try.
And, I too am wondering about the Smart Render feature you mentioned -- is that a "plug-in" for VirtualDubMod, or is it only in VirtualDub?

[guns1inger]

Smart Rendering is a feature of the newest versions of virtualdub. It isn't vdubmod etc. It allows virtualdub to do what AVI Demxu is doing - re-encode just the GOPs that have been affected by the edits, instead of the entire file, as previous versions did.

As for pixellation in AVI Demux - it's not something I have seen myself.

Bottom line - Divx/Xvid type video is not designed for editing, and there are few tools that will do frame level editing for it. If they don't work for you, then you are pretty much SOOL. You can either convert them to a more edit friendly format, or re-encode the entire file.

[Bully9]

Well, i had some success with avidemux. Instead of deleting the frames i didn't want and then saving the file (which left me with pixellation) i saved the file up to the cut then saved the file after the cut and joined the two files together. It seemed to work fine and gave me a frame-accurate edit.

(I tried in virtualdub with smart rendering option checked, but could not get it to work - ie it just seemed to cut from the nearest keyframe.)

So, mission accomplished and thanks for the help.