splitting wmv and mpg at time codes

[silverbullet69]

I have usually imported my tapes as one large wmv or mpg file but now i want to split each file into smaller files at the points where I hit the stop or pause button on the camcorder. Is there a program that can anaylze my large imported file and create individual files based on the time codes or scene selection? It's going to be very tedidious for me if I have to split all my files manually.

I know windows movie maker can import files based on scene selection but sometimes it doesn't work and it still gives me one large file. Also, I would like to know of any other programs that can import wmv or mpg based on scene selection or time codes.

(I tend not to import avi files due to file size. )

Thanks in advance. , I'm running windows vista 64 ultimate

[Safesurfer]

I don't understand why you don't transfer as DV-AVI, with today's huge, cheap, hard drives, file size is really not a valid reason. All you have done is complicate matters for yourself, this could be done so easily with a DV file.

Anyway, off the soap box, maybe Handysaw DS might be what you are looking for, although it's not free.

[filmboss80]

Just to elaborate further on Safesurfer's post: WMV and MPG use compression schemes that do not assign edit points to individual frames the way that DV-AVI does. If you capture footage to DV-AVI with WinDv (a nice, free utility) you can set it for automatic file splitting at pause points and scene changes.

Once editing is complete, you can encode the finished project to WMV or MPG and remove the raw footage, thus economizing disc file space, if hard drive size is an issue for you.

Frankly, today's drives are cheap and offer a LOT of file space. It may be time for you to upgrade.

[Safesurfer]

Agree with everything Filmboss80 said.

To be honest, I'd bite the bullet and transfer all of the tapes again as DV (using something like WinDV as suggested which lets you save individual scenes by Datecode.), it's probably going to be much less hassle (and cheaper.)

I just noticed your computer specs, 1.5TB should be plenty!

[silverbullet69]

thank you for all the replys. Yes, i have plenty of hard drive space. I video record bands with a number of cameras over the past years and i do resort to "pull out" slave drives. I usually do edit in avi but when it comes to just some home video stuff I'd rather just archive with wmv or mpg as a matter of preference.

I may give Handysaw DS a try. I did try AVS video tools (cutter) but that didn't seem to works so well. AVS tends to make too many cuts even after i tried adjusting the threshold. I don't have too many cuts on each tape so I probably will end up splitting manually. I tried this with Boilsoft Video Splitter and that did work extremely fast without re-encoding.

Will Sony Vegas Pro 8 split without re-encoding? I fear that when I do the rendering process it will take time to re-encode.

again, thanks for the advice.