Which tool to cut a clip?

[denarok]

I am trying to take say a 1 hour show, and just keep maybe 5 minutes, basically I want to make a clip of certain parts.

I bought Cyberlink Powerdirector and seems to do the job, but makes the file size so huge?

Is there a better tool that can do this without reencoding to make it a different size? For example original file is 1.5 GB for 1 hour, and the clip I made which is only 5 minutes, is 500 MB, using MP4 format.

[Guest34343]

It depends on the format of your source file and what kind of output file you want to create. So give us details on that.

[denarok]

Thanks for getting back to me.

Most of my sources are either MPEG or MKV, using h.264 I think

I usually try to output as an mp4 because from what I understand that is a high quality format without losing too much and still giving decent file size.

When I select it in Powerdirector I usually try to keep it same as source: 1280x720.

What I don't understand is I have an mp4 file here that is 45 minutes long, 1280x720, and HD quality 720p and is only 1.3 GB, if I just take 5 minutes of the video cut it, and then paste as a new video and then produce it will be 300 MB, that is too big? Is there a way I can get it smaller?

[videobruger]

Free Video Dub (Part of FreeStudio) will allow you to make a clip without reencoding (quality out same as quality in)

I usually try to output as an mp4 because from what I understand that is a high quality format without losing too much and still giving decent file size.

Mp4/MKV is merely container format. Quality depends on what's in these containers, ie codes/bitrates used for video/audio, resolution of video on so on. There are tools to change container format without changing the content.

What I don't understand is I have an mp4 file here that is 45 minutes long, 1280x720, and HD quality 720p and is only 1.3 GB, if I just take 5 minutes of the video cut it, and then paste as a new video and then produce it will be 300 MB, that is too big? Is there a way I can get it smaller?

Without reencoding you would get a filesize for your 5 min clip of 5/45 * 1.3 GB = 0.15 GB
You could reencode this to get it smaller with a loss in quality.

Use MediaInfo (in text mode) to get info about your files.

[V Bot]

Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD.

[denarok]

Free Video Dub (Part of FreeStudio) will allow you to make a clip without reencoding (quality out same as quality in)

I usually try to output as an mp4 because from what I understand that is a high quality format without losing too much and still giving decent file size.

Mp4/MKV is merely container format. Quality depends on what's in these containers, ie codes/bitrates used for video/audio, resolution of video on so on. There are tools to change container format without changing the content.

What I don't understand is I have an mp4 file here that is 45 minutes long, 1280x720, and HD quality 720p and is only 1.3 GB, if I just take 5 minutes of the video cut it, and then paste as a new video and then produce it will be 300 MB, that is too big? Is there a way I can get it smaller?

Without reencoding you would get a filesize for your 5 min clip of 5/45 * 1.3 GB = 0.15 GB
You could reencode this to get it smaller with a loss in quality.

Use MediaInfo (in text mode) to get info about your files.

Thanks for the help I am going to take a look at the link you posted, I downloaded mediainfo and see this about my 1 hour show:

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 41mn 57s
Bit rate : 4 332 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 21.2 Mbps
Width : 1 276 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.197
Stream size : 1.27 GiB (96%)
Title : Imported with GPAC 0.4.6-DEV (internal rev. 5)
Writing library : x264 core 125 r2208 d9d2288
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=18 / lookahead_threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2012-09-04 02:12:29
Tagged date : UTC 2012-09-04 02:12:36


Now in powerdirector when i choose mp4 and do a custom profile the lowest it will allow me is to set it to 6000 Average Bitrate, I assume if I can lower this more I would get a smaller file size right?

Is that why my files are much bigger then the source?

[poisondeathray]

You're re-encoding it. That's why it's larger and worse quality, and takes longer

You wan't to cut it without re-encoding it, or "stream copy". Same quality, much faster

Another option is avidemux 2.6

Load your video
Mark in/out your spots, using the "<<" and ">>" to snap to keyframes
video=>copy
audio=>copy
format=>mp4
CTRL+S to save, remembering to enter extension (eg. "myfile.mp4")