Cutting videos without re-encoding?

[TYLER08027]

Hi Guys,

I currently use "Boilsoft Video Splitter", but I find there is little control over accurate cuts (I really wish it could maximize to my screen size but it's disabled). I've also manually inputed times, but it's still not cutting 100% where I want.

Are there any other tools I can use, that cuts video files at various times I want without RE-encoding the video? Anything that you can recommend?

Thanks for any info

- Tyler

EDIT: general file types are AVI, Mp4, Mkv, Mov

[redwudz]

Highly compressed formats (Like the ones you mentioned) are more difficult to accurately cut as they need to be cut on keyframes (I frames) to avoid re-encoding or video artifacts. Most editors will only give you that option.

Formats like Divx use about a 300 frame keyframe spacing by default, so accurate cuts are very difficult. You could use a editor like VirtualDub that can re-encode just at the cut point and that may work for you. It's called 'Smart rendering' in VD, under the 'Video' tab.

[TYLER08027]

Hey Redwudz, yeah that sounds like what's going on. as it seemed to jump to a time before or after my edit points. Thanks for that valuable info! Appreciated. Gonna give VD a blast, but I'd prefer avoiding re-encoding where possible. I suppose for the picky clips that's what I'll have to do to get the cuts where I prefer.

[redwudz]

There are other alternatives, mainly re-encoding the original video to a lossless format like Lagarith or HuffyUV, but you will have huge file sizes. Not a problem if you have lots of hard drive space. Then, after the frame accurate edit, you encode again to the desired format. Not much quality loss this way, but it takes more time and uses a lot of hard drive space. VDs smart rendering is easier for a quick edit, as in removing commercials, etc. Try both ways and see it the quality is good enough for your purposes.