Frame Accurate XviD Editing + VBR Warning

[Rinka_CA]

Greetings.

I wish to edit some XviD clips (in AVI). Here are my questions:

1. Is there a frame-accurate way? VirtualDub and Avidemux insist on cutting on key frames only. Is there a program/filter that does a smart-render type of cut, losing only a bit of quality at the cut points? (ie: A program like TMPGEnc MPEG Smart Renderer would be great. But it does not do XviD video.)

2. I have had no problem joining two clips with VirtualDub's Append when they have the same properties. Is it really that easy? No issues doing this?

3. Sometimes VirtualDub gives me the VBR Warning. (Posted below.) What can I do about this when it comes to edits?


[Attachment 85409 - Click to enlarge]

Thank you so kindly in advance.

[davexnet]

Try vdub2 - it may handle vbr a little better.
For frame accurate cutting with xvid, you may have to reencode the video

[Rinka_CA]

Try vdub2 - it may handle vbr a little better.

It would be nice if it handled VBR better, but VDub2 doesn't even want the stream to begin with. It gives the error: "Direct stream copy cannot be used with this video stream. You may want to select different Input Driver.", so that would entail re-encoding.

For frame accurate cutting with xvid, you may have to reencode the video

Ah, alas, looks like I may have to - lose some quality, put it in much larger formats like lossless, or leave as is. However, I do point out that it was super simple to "append", which then makes me suspicious.

Xvid's been around longer than H.264, and should be easier to edit, so I find it strange that there are several tools for the latter, but not Xvid. I guess H.264 is more popular.

[davexnet]

(dup post)

[davexnet]

yeah, xvid/divx is out of favour, mostly abandoned, and has been so for many years.

More likely a much older software might have the functionality.

Try this version of Avidemux, install the gtk version, it seems to work
https://www.videohelp.com/download/avidemux_2.4.4_win32.exe

[Rinka_CA]

Finally, an update.

I installed AviDemux 2.4.4, and it cut exactly on the frame I wanted, but the resulting video was buggy. It would jitter in applications like VirtualDub after, or have errors with VirtualDub2. (Maybe something to do with it being a packed stream.)

Tried something else. Remuxed the AVI into an MP4, and the stream played fine, and cut frame-accurate in AviDemux 2.4.4 and AviDemux 2.8.1.

It all worked, but too easy. Now I'm suspicious of the edited MP4s since they were not cut on a key frame.

Is there any way to test their legitimacy? I wouldn't want problems in the future.

(*EDIT: The streams contain Xvid video and MP3 audio.)

[davexnet]

If you want to start at a source frame that's not a I frame, either use smart render, (if the app has it), or re-encode the video
Otherwise Avidemux will start the clip at the previous keyframe

[Rinka_CA]

Unfortunately, I have yet to find an app that smart-renders with Xvid. And, in 2025, I'm not expecting any new app for this seriously outdated format.

Even muxing from AVI -> MP4, like in my last post, was not perfect. Looks like I have to re-encode if I want perfect edits for a playback method.

My solution right now is just to archive the Source as is, with scripts ready for a re-encode. Whatever I re-encode to I will still retain the Source and scripts. It's at least a consolation solution.