shrinking/trimming

[danielmak]

I have a VIDEO_TS folder that is 4.93GB and the video is 2 hours and 44 minutes long. It's a DVD of a sporting event that was produced by converting an .avi/xvid file with ffmepg. I could cut out the pre-game with MPEG Streamclip and the new VOB file will burn with Toast, but I'm wondering if this process changes the quality of the file. Do I need to select any settings in MPEG Streamclip to keep the quality I had or does that automatically happen? Also, is this the right way to go about fixing a file like the one I have or is there some other freeware/shareware program that would be better for my needs? iMovie, for example, seems beyond what I need to do and would seem to suck up a lot more hard drive space in the short run for a simple trim. Thanks in advance for any help with this.

EDIT: This is my second edit. Just when I think I've got my question reframed....So I edited the pre-grame and Toast told me that would be enough (the bar was green rather than orange) but it couldn't finish multiplexing the VOB because the file was still too large. Provided the quality is not degraded by trimming, how do I trim the half-time and post-game? I've tried to do this but the ins and outs aren't doing what I think is intuitive in terms of providing a block that could just be chopped out in the middle and at the end. Thanks.

[albloom]

You won't lose much quality from a 4.9gb source. The
compression needed is minimal. Heck, most of us don't
notice a quality loss from an 8gb source. But if you're a
purist, shell out $3 for a DVD+R DL (double layer) disc.
It holds 8.5gb.

[Frobozz]

You can trim out segments at any place of the video with MPEG Streamclip. You mark the in point then the out point and choose Cut. (I think you choose Cut instead of Trim, but I always confuse those. If you choose the wrong one just select Undo and choose the other). Then you mark a new in point and out point and cut again until you've removed all the video you want to delete. Next, choose Convert to MPEG (or just choose Save) and the edited MPEG will be written with no change in picture quality.

If the resulting file is still too large for a single-layer disc and you have Toast 7, choose Save as Disc Image in the Toast File menu. When that is complete choose the Image File setting in the Toast Copy window, select the disc image file and click the burn button. Toast's Fit to DVD feature will make adjustments to the video so it will fit the disc. That lowers quality a little, but in your above example it would be almost imperceptible.

You may need to go to the Toast 7 Custom Encoder window and choose Never next to re-encode to prevent Toast from trying to re-encode the edited MPEG.

[danielmak]

You can trim out segments at any place of the video with MPEG Streamclip. You mark the in point then the out point and choose Cut. (I think you choose Cut instead of Trim, but I always confuse those. If you choose the wrong one just select Undo and choose the other). Then you mark a new in point and out point and cut again until you've removed all the video you want to delete. Next, choose Convert to MPEG (or just choose Save) and the edited MPEG will be written with no change in picture quality.

If the resulting file is still too large for a single-layer disc and you have Toast 7, choose Save as Disc Image in the Toast File menu. When that is complete choose the Image File setting in the Toast Copy window, select the disc image file and click the burn button. Toast's Fit to DVD feature will make adjustments to the video so it will fit the disc. That lowers quality a little, but in your above example it would be almost imperceptible.

You may need to go to the Toast 7 Custom Encoder window and choose Never next to re-encode to prevent Toast from trying to re-encode the edited MPEG.

Thanks for the tips. It was cut. I kept trying to use trim and that only works when chopping stuff from the beginning. Cut works, just as you said with the ins and outs, at any point in the file. Thanks again.