Encoding 4gig DV segments as one continuous file in TMPGEnc

[Beavis]

Alright guys- I've got some finished DV projects that I want to convert to MPEG for DVD / SVCD creation. Problem is that I'm working on a FAT32 system and the DV project is split into multiple 4 gig pieces by my editor (Vegas) during the final render. I would like TMPGenc to start at the beginning of the first AVI file and encode them seemlessly through the end of the last AVI file to make one big MPEG without having to do any manual joining or anything like that at the end. Can this be done from within TMPGEnc alone? Anyone have a good solution otherwise to this problem?

[MYoung]

I'm doing this too. I burned uncompressed RGB24 740x480 AVIs to CD-R. It took 25 CD-Rs for my 9 minute video. My whole video is about 30 minutes long and is all uncompressed AVI. It's 37GB so using a frame server is VERY nice. You can use a frame server called AviSynth to string them all together without actually physically joining them. You install AviSynth, make a script file that adds all your clips together, and load that script in TMpgEnc and you should be good to go. I have been having some problems in my attempt to encode, but I think I'm close to getting it to work correctly.

[ZippyP.]

Use Virtualdub, load the first avi then select append avi as many times as required, then frameserve. Frameserving feeds the video directly to TMPGEnc without saving to an intermediate file that would be too big. Here's a frameserving guide.

edit: Avisynth works too but most people find it more complicated.

[Beavis]

Ah, OK- I have frameserved with VDub before, but that was with segmented AVI files created by its own capture module... so all I had to do was load the first one and it automatically loaded the rest. It doesn't work that way with my DV files, but this "append" function sounds like it would do the trick... or learn to write a simple avisynth script. I'll have to give it a try later and see if that's it. I still can't believe that TMPGEnc wouldn't have the ability to load mutiple AVI's and seemlessly encode them together, but hey- whatever works I guess.

[Beavis]

Ah, OK- I have frameserved with VDub before, but that was with segmented AVI files created by its own capture module... so all I had to do was load the first one and it automatically loaded the rest. It doesn't work that way with my DV files, but this "append" function sounds like it would do the trick... or learn to write a simple avisynth script. I'll have to give it a try later and see if that's it. I still can't believe that TMPGEnc wouldn't have the ability to load mutiple AVI's and seemlessly encode them together, but hey- whatever works I guess.

[MYoung]

I know TMpgEnc Plus can load multiple AVIs and encode them seamlessly. Do you have TMpgEnc Plus or an older free version?

I prefer to use frameserving with AviSynth because my clips are scattered around my hard drives. In addition, changing the order of the clips (for compilation videos), scaling, and other operations are very simple with AviSynth -- just type this and that, cut and paste here and there, and save the script.

Here's a very simple example of a script for joining clips...

clip1 = AviSource("c:\folder1\myclip1.avi")
clip1 = clip1 + AviSource("c:\folder2\myclip2.avi")
clip1 = clip1 + AviSource("c:\folder3\myclip3.avi")
return clip1

That will join myclip1.avi, myclip2.avi, and myclip3.avi.

[Beavis]

I've got Plus version 2.59.... Don't seem to see how I would get it to load multiple AVI's. Do you know?

[bugster]

I know TMpgEnc Plus can load multiple AVIs and encode them seamlessly.

.

Can it, can you explain how to do this as it is not something I was aware of??

[vhelp]

hay Beavis,

I pretty much do all my .avi 's inside vdub too.

If I'm doing Film, then I start w/ vdub and then save as .vdr and then I
load that .vdr inside an .AVS script and then back into vdub again
and finally, frameserve into TMPG. I know this sound all crazy to you (and
the rest of you all :P ) but I have my reasons, and in my case, it does NOT
degrade my source quality (or final encode, for that matter)
.
.
* I first open my main DV .avi file (I use my advc, hence DV) inside vdub.
* Then I click on "File/Append AVI segment..." and grab my next .avi file,
...and repeat for every .avi file I need merged into one source project.
* Then, I will frameserve it into TMPG.
* Now, if you want to make it easier (like, if you have 10 or 15 or more of
...these .avi 's to string together) than I would capture in "incremental" mode,
...using an INDEX to offset the .avi 's. Example BLUESTREAK.AVI
...would become:
.
.

BlueStreak.00.avi
BlueStreak.01.avi
BlueStreak.02.avi
BlueStreak.03.avi

.
.
Check w/ your capturing app to be sure how it INDEX 's your source .avi
files.
* Then, when you bring in your first BLUESTREAK.00.avi file, you would
...then click agian, "File/Append AVI segment..." and select your
...BLUESTREAK.01.avi .. (note the 01 part) and then locate at
...the bottom of that dialog box and check off the [x] Autodetect... option,
...followed by (Open) and you're ready to frameserve into TMPG.

Because I use my advc extensively, I pretty always use INDEX 'ing as my
default for my first .avi filename.. now, it's become a standard practice in
all my capture projects.

If vdub could capture in DV, I'd sure use it, cause than I would be able to
use my ADVC w/ it and capture (firewire) in segmented .avi files. Would
make my life a heck'lot better :P
But, it doesn't support DV. So, don't ask how hehe..

-vhelp

[Beavis]

Thanks for all the help... I ended up using a modified form of myoung's avisynth script and it seems to work fine, although the Vdub appending method worked too.

[BJ_M]

tmpgenc will encode multiple avi to 1 mpeg file -- just enable it in options first , make sure they are all in same directory .. its right in the help file ..

Open sequence files as a movie
If you enable this option, sequence movie files such as DV-0001.avi, DV-0002.AVI... can be loaded/encoded as single movie.