Need help converting family VHS tapes to digital

[dbsoccer]

I am converting family VHS tapes to digital. Each tape can have videos of several different events - a birthday, first day of school, Easter Egg hunt, etc.
Using a tool called Elgato Video Capture I have created files on my PC's HDD of the contents of these tapes. I'd now like to split up these digital files in to separate smaller files for each event. I have found several programs that seem to do this but it is never clear how I save and name the piece that I split off.

This should be one of the easiest things to do in video editing yet I've spent way too many hours trying to figure it out. Any help would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

[Alwyn]

Yes, this is easy, but you need to tell us what program/s you have.

[dbsoccer]

Photos and Movie Maker. Photos was part of Windows 10 and I just recently downloaded Movie Maker with caution as I read on a MS site that MM was no longer available for W10 and that anything downloaded is not reliable.

I didn't say what programs I have because I was thinking part of the answer may include 'download this free program and do this.'

Using Photos I was able to split the larger file into two parts that ended up on the 'Story Board' but didn't see a way to save the pieces I created to new stand-alone video files.

Maybe using Photos will work with some guidance on how to complete the last step I'm wondering about.

Thanks.

[Alwyn]

Another question! Sorry. What format are your captured video files in? MP4?

[dbsoccer]

No problem! Happy for the help. Yes, they are .mp4. Thanks!

[Alwyn]

A simple program for lossless cutting of MP4s is AVIDemux.

-Open your file

-Position the Play marker (blue rectangle on the timeline above the lower buttons) where you want your new clip to start, then click A (you can use the arrow keys to fine-adjust the Play marker).

-Position the Play marker where you want the new clip to end, then click B

The boxed area will be what your new clip will be; your original clip will remain unchanged.

-Under Output Format, from the dropdown list, choose MP4 Muxer (there is a MP4v2 as well; I don't know what that's for)

-Now save the new file: File>Save. Give it a new name and away you go.

Alternatively, you can select an area on the timeline, as above, but then delete it by hitting the Delete key (or clicking the red cross).

We don't know what your source files are like; there is a plethora of adjustments that you may like/need to make such as de-interlacing, cropping black bits off the sides, resizing, colour adjustments and so on, but they are more complex/require different programs. AVIDemux is a good start though to help you get a feel for what's possible. You may well be happy with that.

[dbsoccer]

This is perfect!! Thanks!

[Alwyn]

My pleasure.

[Eric-jan]

Did not know AVIdemux could do this, thought MPEG Streamclip was more suitable, i have problems with many settings you have to do in AVIdemux

[johns0]

Changed your title so you can can get more help.

[Eric-jan]

some extra info for the OP, MP4 is already a compressed format, the two mentioned programes will let you cut, or join the parts you choose, without quality loss, you can't add special effects to the compilation you make this way, an (NLE) a non-linear video editing (NLVE) program can, but then the MP4 "footage" will be re-encoded, which will give quality loss.

[Xhumeka]

MP4 Splitter/Joiner is another decent tool for simple splits and joins - GUI interface and very user-friendly. I've used it with Elgato .mp4 files and it works fine:

https://www.mp4joiner.org/en/

If you are capturing long segments (3 hours or more) straight from your VCR to the Elgato with no passthrough device like a DMR-ES10 to correct time base issues, you may experience audio drift on your captures, and in that case you'll need to use NLE software or another tool to correct.