Need Help - Can I put together one large AVI file?

[BruceN]

I am capturing from VHS many small partially edited AVI files (presently about 65) using Nero and was hoping to encode them in Tmpge to MPEG-2 and then editing and burning them in Nero but I never got that far. The problem is that my batch encoding doesn't work with TMPGE. I have done searches and sent e-mails to Pegasys but to no avail so I have decided there must be a different way to do this. What I was thinking of doing now is to edit the captured AVI files in Nero and save as one large AVI file and then encode that in TMPGE (I wont need a batch encoder this way). However, when I edit in Nero it gives the option of saving project. The saved project isn't an AVI file and doesn't encode in TMPGE. However, there is an option in Nero to export the project and, I believe, it can then be saved as an AVI. Could I please have your input on all this? There must be some Nero users out there who can give me a few pointers. I have been farting around with this project off and on for over a month and I do not yet have one DVD I am satisified with. This site has been a great resource, however, and I have come a long way from having absolutely no knowledge about this a few weeks ago.
Thanks in advance,
Bruce

[Hardcoreruss]

Nero will need to convert all of the files into mpg for you before it burns. What is your final destination for the files dvd ? or svcd ?. Nero's encoder is not very good so I would advise against using it.

You say that the batch encoder does not work, what do you mean by this and by what method are you adding to the batch encode.

If tmpgenc does not work you will need to convert to mpeg2 using a different encoder such as CCE I am not that clued up on CCE so I am not aware whether it has a batch encode function.

You say 65 clips how long is each one and what file size ?

Post back

Russell

[bugster]

If all the clips are the same spec (framerate, resolution, bitrate, codec etc), then you can join them using virtualdub.

[BruceN]

Hardcoreruss:
I don't plan on using Nero to encode. That is why I was trying to use TMPGE. Final destination is DVD. The batch encoder in TMPGE stops after encoding the first file even when there are numerous more files in the batch. I have seen this problem often in my searches without seeing any fixes for it. There is no error message. It just stops after the first file. I have tried a couple different methods adding to the batch encode (after reading different ways to do it) and neither work. Sometimes I have seen explanations that the computer is not fast enough but mine is a Pentium 4, 2.4 with 512 memory. TMPGE does work on individual files so I am going to try to convert my 64 AVI files to 1 AVI file and then encode in TMPGE to MPEG-2 then burn a DVD in Nero. I think my main question is -can I do this in Nero? I guess I can try Virtualdub per bugster's suggestion above. Any other help would be appreciated. I have used Nero from start to finish and the 65 clips just barely fit on one DVD but I didn't think that the quality was very good so that is why I am exploring using TMPGE.
Thanks,
Bruce

[BruceN]

To simplify my question, I want to take the 64 individual captured AVI files and, in Nero, put fade-outs between the files and save as one avi. I then want to have TMPGE encode that one AVI file over 8 to 10 hours or whatever it takes and then burn a DVD in Nero. Is this do-able? Does what I am trying to do make sense?

[housepig]

Is your batch encode failing on the same file, or just fails after the first file is completed? (i.e. do you always have movie B follwing movie A in the batch list, or will it fail if movie C, D, E, etc.. is in the #2 slot?)

I just had some encodes fail for the first time, and it turned out to be something with the file, not with TMPG... once I removed those files from the batch list, the rest of the files encoded fine. You might try skipping the file and see if TMPG is choking on something in that file specifically.

[BruceN]

housepig:
It is not failing on any file. It always completes encoding the first file then it shuts down. It never begins encoding the second file and I have had different files as the second movie. The first file encodes fine. The rest in the batch are never done. This seems to be a common problem with TMPGE from my internet searches.