fastest/best way to crop video?

[jt1583]

ive been converting vhs to dvd and capturing the vhs's as mpeg4 files, but often times i want to cut out sections of fuzziness or stuff not related to what im trying to copy. I dont care about being able to put it back together as I can do that when burning the dvd, but is there a quick way to easily crop sections hopefully without rendering(time)?

[thecoalman]

Cropping refers to removing part of the frame not removing frames so depending on what you mean...

A. If you want to crop the frame

Unless your cropping stictly for computer playback leave it alone. The fuzziness around the edges is overscan and will not be viewable on regular TV. When you crop the video you are creating a non-compliant size which either has to then be downsized (assuming you're capturing at 720x480) which although not entirely bad is something I try to avoid or upsize which is one of the worst thing you can do.

In general with video the less you do to it the better off the end product... I'm not aware of any device or software that crop on the fly... most computers have enough trouble encoding on the fly.


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B. If you want to remove frames, removing frames is not cropping...

First I would suggest not using mpeg4 as a capture format unless your trying to cram a whole bunch of video onto a single disc. Capture using a DVD compliant MPEG2 which matches the specs you intend to use for your final video.

Once captured use a editor that will only renecode the parts you edit. (e.g where you have edited out the trash and added transitions) This will significantly increase the speed since you only have to reencode the parts you edited, which if it's just to cut out crap isn't much.

[akito8]

actually i am curious about this too. i have some divx files i want to crop; about 10 lines from the bottom - yes, this is for computer playback only. Is there a way to crop without re-encoding. I do not want to recode at all.

[zoobie]

most cropping isn't...it just adds black bars so it looks cropped

if you want to get rid of tears or noise on the top, sides, or bottom, one solution for online video is to slightly...SLIGHTLY...zoom in just a fraction...enough to get rid of the tears

[thecoalman]

. Is there a way to crop without re-encoding. I do not want to recode at all.

Whether you crop or add black bars it has to be renecoded. If you cahnge any part of a video it as to be reencoded. The only time renecoding isn't necessary is if you're using a editor that supports only reencoding frames that you have changed... this makes no difference in this case since every frame has been changed.