software to join videos .... first two failed ...

[xtal_01]

OK, sometimes I realize you get what you pay for but all I want is to simply join videos.

I don't need affects or anything else.

Most of the videos I have are mp4's.

Many are ones I have pulled from the web that are part 1 of 2, 2 of 2, ect.

I have just tried 2 different ones. One did not work at all and the other joined 4 files but I only got audio on the output and no video ( and I saw their support forum others had this problem ).

I was going to just keep downloading programs and trying them ( there are dozens out there ) but I am always afraid of all the junk that comes with them ( I keep hitting advanced on the installation and declining all the little extra's they put in the programs ).

Is there any free software out there that will simply join a few video files together for me.

Thanks so much ..... Mike

[Kerry56]

If the files are made using the same specifications, you can use AviDemux for this using the Append function.

Import the first video, then click File-->Append to bring in the next. Make certain the video and audio are set on Copy, set the output format to MP4 muxer, and name the new file you're saving with the appropriate extension, in this case, .mp4.

[Bjs]

Before any recommending of an application to perform video joining.

Rule 1 :

Use mediainfo determine internal specs of each clip ... any differences will cause issues when joining clips.

Most programs are unsuitable for joining where clips use different audio sampling or stero vs 5.1, etc ... audio ends up out of alignment or dumped.

Video frame rate / scale / bitrate must all match ... differences here require re-encoding ... no luck in just simply joining clips here.

Once these problems are corrected the majority of applications with appending function should complete the task without issue.

[xtal_01]

I will check but I would be surprised if there is any difference in the clips.

As I said, most of what I want to "put back together" are youtube clips that someone has split apart ...part 1 of 6 ... with part 2 of 6 ... with part 3 of 6 .....

I really thought this would be simple but was taken back when the first two programs failed to work correctly.

The one for example was mp4joiner ... it took my 4 clips, it joined them but when I went to play them I had audio but no video. I tried their support forum and found others had the same problem.

Anyway, I will give this a try.

Thanks so much .... Mike

[MaverickTse]

Note that MP4 from youtube are MP4-DASH format, in other words, they are "fragmented" internally and not suitable for direct concatenation.
Try DL the videos again using ChrisPC Free VideoTube Downloader AND choose the conversion option(s) without the "DASH" label.

Since these are MP4, not AVI, re-encoding on concatenation is required (otherwise you're asking for trouble)

[xtal_01]

Hmmmm ....

OK, so I have reached my limit of knowledge. When you say dashed, is this why when downloading certain video's from the web you need ffmpeg?

I just downloaded one of the videos again ( had problems with part 4 of 4 ). I am using Firefox with "Flash Video Downloader" add on. I noticed for the first time there was an option for "full HD" ( probably just missed this but did not see it before ). When I clicked on it, it gave me a message saying "ffmpeg required". Since I had ffmpeg loaded ( still don't know to use it ... but that is another story ), I went a head and downloaded all 4 parts in full HD.

When each of the downloads was complete a window popped up and I saw ffmpeg do it's thing.

I then used Avidemux to join the 4 mp4 HD video clips .... it worked!

Is this an OK way of doing this or should I use that other downloader you mentioned?????

Thanks so much for all the advice !!!!!!!!!!!

Mike

[MaverickTse]

As long as you checked your output video and plays fine all the ways, you can keep your workflow.

Just bare in mind that the DASH format needs extra processing and the raw DL is not suitable for any direct editing.