Just Want To Trim an AVI File, Nothing Fancy...

[tangeyj]

I must be getting my terms mixed up because all I want to do is take say a 10 minute AVI file, and only use from minute 3 to minute 7....or use from the beginning, to 3 minutes in....etc I'm a total n00b when it comes to video editing and I'm not trying to splice/fade/etc....anything fancy, I just want a simple program that simply cuts off that first 3 minutes and that last 3 minutes. What is the easiest, simplest way to do this? Every program that I've downloaded is so complicated that I'm spending endless amounts of time just trying to figure out which part of it I need, when I'm certain that someone (or everyone) on here knows the easy, fast way to do this. Please???

[aedipuss]

avi is a pretty general term for an interleaved audio/video file. not all tools work with all avis. but if it does handle yours - avidemux is not all that hard to figure out or use.

https://www.videohelp.com/tools/AviDemux

load file/set position sliders on bottom/save.

[tangeyj]

hmmmmm...well I used http://vixy.net/ to download and convert a youtube video into an avi video, and it seems to only save the audio and not the video...??

[dfisher052]

Solveig AVI Trimmer 1.4

[tangeyj]

Solveig AVI Trimmer 1.4

ooooh...so close...but I'm getting an error
COM Object Error
Input file has not been set properly or damaged
(The parameters is incorrect
hr = 0x80070057)

(someone else on the forums is apparently getting it too...but I have the latest version, and it's still doing it)

[daamon]

Hi tangeyj,

Welcome to the forums.

Use the free tool GSpot to open your AVI and identify the audio and video codecs that were used to create it. Post details of the codecs here.

If you're curious what a codec is, it's well explained in the Glossary (top left of this page).

Assuming it works with the video codec you find, VirtualDub is a good tool to do what you want.

[tangeyj]

Hi tangeyj,

Welcome to the forums.

Use the free tool GSpot to open your AVI and identify the audio and video codecs that were used to create it. Post details of the codecs here.

If you're curious what a codec is, it's well explained in the Glossary (top left of this page).

Assuming it works with the video codec you find, VirtualDub is a good tool to do what you want.

Hi daamon and thanks for the welcome....I figured the best way would be to do a screen cap of the gspot findings, so it's attached.

Thanks for the help, I really do appreciate it

[tangeyj]

notin?

[daamon]

Hi tangeyj,

That screenshot tells you:

* The video is encoded using the Divx 4 codec...
* ...that it's installed on your system, and...
* ...that the audio is VBR MP3 (also installed).

Experience of many people on this site is that, although VirtualDub will do the job nicely on the video, it spits its dummy out at VBR audio and doesn't give you the option to tell it to ignore it. End result - out of synch audio.

But there's an alternative: VirtualDubMod. Here's how:

* Download the free VirtualDubMod and set it up on your PC.
* Open the AVI to be trimmed and say "No" to the question around "VBR audio, do you want to change headers?" (can't remember the exact words).
* Click: Video -> Direct Stream Copy
* Play or scroll the time marker to the point where you want to make the first cut. Set that as the "in" point.
* Play or scroll the time marker to the point where you want to make the second cut. Set that as the "out" point.
* Click: File -> Save as AVI... and it'll save everything in between the in and out points.

There are plenty of guides for VirtualDub and it's variants - have a read up for more detail.