Join and convert multi-part DV to mp4/x264 - Vegas Pro, Tmpgenc, ...?

[itm2]

I am converting a large number of old VHS tapes to digital - mainly TV recordings from the 80s and 90s, so not great video quality in some cases. I'm capturing to multi-part DV files using a Canopus ADVC-100 and WinDV, but now want to convert the huge multi-part AVI files into mp4/x264. From reading other posts here it sounds like Tmpgenc is a popular way of doing this. I have access to Sony Vegas Pro, but this seems to take an eternity to convert the content.
Can anyone recommend something that could join the multi-part DV files (approx 15Gb per hour of footage) and convert them to mp4/x264, but could do it significantly more quickly than Vegas Pro? Should I be looking at Tmpgenc, or is there a better alternative?

[roma_turok]

HandBrake is the popular way

[itm2]

HandBrake is the popular way

I can see how Handbrake can convert individual clips, but can't can't see how to join the clips before converting them?? (I'm using the Windows version)

[roma_turok]

Mkvmerge GUI can join MP4 to mkv
also you can join mp4 with My MP4Box GUI

or you can join and render to MP4 with Avidemux

[poisondeathray]

Do you have to perform any other operations? such as editing (maybe commercials), adding overlays, denoising, deinterlacing ?

Or are you just appending clips end to end then converting? Encoding interlaced ?

[itm2]

Do you have to perform any other operations? such as editing (maybe commercials), adding overlays, denoising, deinterlacing ?

Or are you just appending clips end to end then converting? Encoding interlaced ?

Some clean-up would also be useful. The source is old VHS recordings, with alot of unwanted artefacts and horizontal lines in the DV output.

[poisondeathray]

How are they named?

e.g if they are sequentially named you can append them automatically in vdub

0001.avi
0002.avi
0003.avi
.
.
.


So is the plan to join them then clean them up, then encode them? are you encoding interlaced ? No editing ?

"horizontal" lines can be normal if it's just interlace

Is speed your primary concern? Because good denoising and clean up can drastically slow down processing depending on what needs to be done. Deniosing can make processing 1-50x slower

Compression ratio is generally better with slower encoding settings, you can choose faster or slower settings. It can be 10x faster or 50x slower depending on how you adjust settings

These are really trade offs and you have to decide what is important to you

(Eitherway, you should archive the original tapes and captures if this content is important to you)

[smrpix]

TMPGenc Video Mastering works is probably the easiest, though not cheapest way to do this.

[itm2]

Yes I'd planned to join them then clean them up. They are numbered sequentially.
Speed is a concern, but not my primary concern. Ideally I'd like a 2-hour clip to be re-rendered in no more than a couple of hours. I just can't decide on the tool. Avidemux seems to offer the options that I need (and can join/convert at the same time), but there's a fearsome selection of filters in there, so it may take a while!

[itm2]

TMPGenc Video Mastering works is probably the easiest, though not cheapest way to do this.

Would you say TMPgENc was a better choice than Avidemux for this job?

[smrpix]

Subjectively, TMPGenc has a friendlier user interface and crashes less frequently. So for me it's a better choice, yes.

Avidemux is free and TMPGenc has a free trial period, so you can try both on a small sample and see which you prefer.