Very basic question...... how can I merge mpeg files and make a movie

[True Colors]

Hello there. Just wanted to see if I could get a couple of recommendations.

I have a USB capture card on my computer. It is a Diamond One Touch VC500. I have used it to create a few clips from a basketball game that I recorded with my TIVO. The clips that I made are mpeg files(I cannot tell if it is mp1, mp2, or mp4). The size of each clip is small...... approximately 15 megs each and I have a total of about 20 of them.

I would like to merge the clips into one single file. In between each clip I would like to insert a few seconds of a blank screen so that the viewer will know that one highlight play has ended and a new one is about to start.

I have windows XP(32 bit) so I tried using windows movie maker but that did not work. WMM recognized the audio portion of my clips but it could not pick up the video.

Any recommendations? Somet type of video editor which is free and easy to use would be appreciated. Something with a GUI interface. I do not need anything fancy. This is not high def, there will be no special effects added other than the blank screen inserts in between each clip.

Thanks in advance.

TC

[Baldrick]

Can you play the mpg files in windows media player? If not try install ffdshow and then try wmm or try windows live movie maker.


THere aren't that many free and simple editors that can join and add a black screen.

[True Colors]

Windows Media player does play the clips just fine.

However, WMM does not recognize the video. I think I saw some documentation that WMM does not automatically support all file types or encoding types. I have no idea how to tell what encoding format is being used by my USB capture device(perhaps someone could educate me on how to check?)

Also, can you tell me if WMM is capable of inserting a few seconds of blank screens in between each clip.

Also, is there some simple way for me to convert these mpeg files to AVI? I am extremely confident that WMM would have no problem editing files in AVI format(obviously).

Thanks,

TC

[redwudz]

If you convert them to a different format, then back to MPEG-2, you will lose a lot of quality. XP didn't come with a MPEG codec, it has to be installed. Usually just a MPEG player does that.

ffdshow should allow you to open the video in WMM.

If you want to know what format and specs your videos are, try MediaInfo.

Sorry, don't know much of anything about WMM.

And welcome to our forums.

[True Colors]

How do I get the ffdshow program to cause WMM to recognize mpeg files? I downloaded and installed ffdshow but it did not resolve the issue of WMM failing to pick up the video portion of my files.

Just so you know, the quality is not of extreme importance in this particular case. After I get done producing this movie it is going to be uploaded to youtube.

I went to cnet and I found a free converter program which does an assortment of things--including switching mpeg files to avi. I have already used this program for this particular project and it was very simple and fast to use.

In case anyone would like a copy of it you can download it here. The pro version costs $$ but the basic version is free.

http://download.cnet.com/Any-Video-Converter/3000-2194_4-10661456.html

If anyone knows of a superior program than that which is free please let me know.

Anyway...... after I got the files switched to AVI format then Windows Media Maker did recognize them just fine. So I am going to try to go ahead and forge ahead with WMM at this point. I am still having a bit of difficulty in figuring out how to add a few seconds of blank screens in between each clip so if anyone here can tell me how to do that it would be much appreciated.

TC

[redwudz]

Any Video Converter Free Version is a good program. I use it myself. It's in our 'Tools' section. It also has the option of converting to a lossless codec, HuffyUV, for minimal quality loss, but probably not needed for what you want to do. If you're not aware of the advanced settings, you might look to the 'Profile>Commonly Used Video Formats>Customized AVI Movie' for more adjustments on output settings and quality.

For ffdshow, it should install the MPEG-2 codec by default. Maybe some other problems.