batch method of joining MP4s based on filename

[edd1234]

Hi,

I have a load (800+) of MP4s, which are parts of episodes of TV series.


Their filenames follow this structure:
..._S01_E01_P01
..._S01_E01_P02
.....


where S is season, E is episode, and P is part.


They're all the same bitrate, size, codec, etc.

Is there any "smart" software, that will join all the parts of episodes together, based on all the filenames?
So say I had 800 files, and 4 parts per episode, it would give me 200 files, each of which would be one episode?


Failing that, is there any way I can join them together using a command-line tool? Please don't suggest the "Copy /B" method, because there is no chance of this working - this literally just adds the two files, it doesn't combine the video streams.


Many thanks.

[yoda313]

What you want to do is APPEND. That is join two files together.

Avidemux is just one program that can do it. However so far I only see it as a one at a time option.

But there is a "scripting shell" option and you can run a project. I would bet a little bit of time reading up on this forum and others on the internet you can make script to do exactly what you want.

Virtualdub may be more what you want but I don't have it loaded on the computer i'm using right now. SOmebody else might be able to comment on that feature, but virtualdub can append from what I remember. I just don't know if it can be programmed to do it automatically. But you can do avisynth with it and there might be a avisynth command to do what you want. You could search for that.

Edit - also do you have these in folders by shows and seasons? As long as they are numbered like 01, 02, 03 most all video players will play them sequentially. You shouldn't have a need to physically join them together if your ultimate goal is to have them play consecutively. Just be sure to have 01 and 02 etc.. for single digit numbers so they are played in the proper order.

[edd1234]

Found 2 ways that work:

avidemux_cli.exe --load part1.mp4 --append part2.mp4 --output-format MP4 --save final.mp4

and

ffmpeg.exe -f concat -i list.txt -c copy final.mp4

where list.txt looks like:

file 'C:\part1.mp4'
file 'C:\part2.mp4'

thanks for your suggestion of avidemux. I naively presumed from the name it was just for AVIs .

Using Mediainfo to compare the two methods above, they produce identical files which is a good sign.

[yoda313]

Glad to help. Sometimes you just need the right nudge to get going.