Joining Multiple Files in same directory

[viperpiper]

I know about batch joining files etc....the problem I have is a bunch of shows that have been downloaded to the same directory from youtube , each episode is made up of 4 parts. So I have say 30 episodes in one folder and I would like to batch join all these files individually into their individual episodes, how can this be done. I see there are many programs that will batch join a whole bunch of files but then you end up with just one big file. I'd like to perform a batch job but keep the episodes seperate from each other. Maybe that's too much to ask... any help would be appreciated.

thanks
Pete

[Baldrick]

No such program other than writing a custom ffmpeg batch job.

But it shouldn't take that much time to load all 30 folders manually with for example mymp4boxgui to make mp4s or mkvmergegui to make mkvs.

[pandy]

I know about batch joining files etc....

https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/How%20to%20concatenate%20%28join,%20merge%29%20media%20files

[viperpiper]

I know about batch joining files etc....

https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/How%20to%20concatenate%20%28join,%20merge%29%20media%20files

Okay, maybe that was said a little too literally by me.... I have used some simple programs with click and add files to join files before.... now doing a batch job, well I did horrible with computers in high school and college so I don't think I can wrap my head around writing batch jobs..


What I have is a bunch of FLV files from a play list downloaded from youtube.... each show is 50 minutes long broken into 4 flv files. When I downloaded them, they all go to one directory..for example


season1ep1part1.flv
season1ep1part2.flv
season1ep1part3.flv
season1ep1part4.flv


season1ep2part1.flv
season1ep2part2.flv
season1ep2part3.flv


and so on........


these files are are all in the same directory...I would like to join them as individual episodes rather then just one giant flv file. Even if they have to be converted to be able to do this. I can't find any program , out of the box solution, or anything that I'm aware of. If someone has any ideas on how to do this or a batch job solution It would be appreciated.


I also noticed that who ever uploaded these files has used different codecs for different parts sometimes.. I'm not sure why.


thanks in advance
P

[viperpiper]

anyone ??

[vhelp]

season1ep1part1.flv
season1ep1part2.flv
season1ep1part3.flv
season1ep1part4.flv

season1ep2part1.flv
season1ep2part2.flv
season1ep2part3.flv

you may want to rename the files to something a little shorter so that they are more managable. also, use two digits for the episodes (for sorting purposes) since they are probably going past 10, some series are 24 episodes and others are 30 although i don't know what shows are these you are d/l'ing.

i made some examples for starters, that would go a little something like below. you may want to name them after every download rather than wait till your hdd fills up. then, once you figure out on a batch method, incorporate this style into it.

tv series 01 = dwab
tv series 02 = glc
tv series 03 = siu

01.s1ep01p1.flv
01.s1ep01p2.flv
01.s1ep01p3.flv
01.s1ep01p4.flv
02.s1ep02p1.flv
02.s1ep02p2.flv
02.s1ep02p3.flv
02.s1ep02p4.flv
03.s1ep03p1.flv
03.s1ep03p2.flv
03.s1ep03p3.flv
03.s1ep03p4.flv
.
.

[Budman1]

Just so I understand correctly, you have a folder with:
season1ep1part1.flv
season1ep1part2.flv
season1ep1part3.flv
season1ep1part4.flv

season1ep2part1.flv
season1ep2part2.flv
season1ep2part3.flv
season1ep2part4.flv

and possibly

season2ep1part1.flv
season2ep1part2.flv
season2ep1part3.flv
season2ep1part4.flv

... and you wish to run a batch file or a program that will cycle through all the season1ep1, then season1ep2, then season2ep1 and season2ep2 without intervention such as would be necessary with Andy's FLV joiner. Correct?

That's seems like a tough job for a CLI Batch job. It could be done with a program but it would probably have to be written specifically for your task since with multiple seasons in the same folder and multiple episodes and multiple parts, we are talking about a loop within a loop within a loop, each with an unknown number of each, not to mention the actual encoding/joining/converting.

If I may ask, would this be for a one time use on a huge number of files or is there a use for a program of this nature long term and how urgent is this?
Thanks
Budman1

[viperpiper]

Thanks for your reply....this is actually for ongoing shows posted to youtube....Holby City to be exact. It's more then a one time use for sure. I did purchase and use a youtube play list downloader....the format can be changed while downloading to MKV as well.

Every show uploaded is approximately an hour long but broken in too 15 min uploads to youtube....so each show is in 4 parts. All youtube batch downloaders or playlist download programs, grab the entire play list and stuff them into one directory. So that's why I have all of these episodes all in one folder. One season consists of 52 episodes , each episode 4 parts meaning I have 208 flv files in one directory.


I would imagine this is the same story for anyone else that may watch youtube shows but want to download a playlist, where shows are broken up into perhaps 2 or more flv files that make up one episode.


So the renaming scheme is not a big problem it's the joining of all of these into their individual episodes. I also tried Andy's FLV joiner but it had issues since for whatever reason, the person that posted the shows has used different codec's within the same episode.....meaning that part1.flv has a different codec then part2.flv for example. So the files could be converted to make them all the same codec then joined afterwards.


If I was a better person at doing programming I'd give it a shot...but I'd be the first one to tell you I suck at doing batch jobs......I didn't even pass grade 9 BASIC... back when I had a commodore 64.

[fryk]

This example is for mkvmerge. Because of string sorting you can't have more than 9 series, 9 episodes, 9 parts.

@ECHO OFF &SETLOCAL
for /f "delims=" %%a in ('dir /b /a-d *1.flv^|find /i "1.flv"') do (
    set "fname=%%~a"
    setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
    set "base=!fname:1.flv=!"
    for /f "delims=" %%b in ('dir /b /a-d "!base!*.flv"^|find /i "!base!"^|sort') do (
        set "cmdline=!cmdline! + "%%~b""
    )
    mkvmerge -o "!base:~0,-4!.mkv" !cmdline:~2!
    endlocal
)

The code might fail with file names containing characters like !%^