Video cutting freeware?

Malte279 · **on:** March 12, 2008, 05:57:37 AM

Hi!
Right now the LBT TV-series is aired over here and I mean to record all of the episodes. However, I cannot always be at home at the time the episodes are aired so I have to record them with a timer program. In order to get the episode completely I set the time a few minutes early and let it run a few minutes longer than the episode would take. Consequently I will get minutes from other shows I am not interested in. Is there any simple freeware program that I can use to cut the initial and the final minutes from those recordings? Is there anything you can recommend me?

Chikara · **Reply #1 on:** March 12, 2008, 06:17:13 AM

I use Virtualdub:

http://www.virtualdub.org/

Petrie. · **Reply #2 on:** March 12, 2008, 08:22:29 AM

virtualdub will only work if you are recording in the mpeg format (mpg). If you're recording in avi, then you might want to see if Windows Movie Maker will work.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #3 on:** March 12, 2008, 08:39:12 AM

Windows Movie Maker can import just about any type of video file. You just have to have the right codecs installed. The DIVX codec will allow you to import mpeg and avi files into WMM. Codec packs such as K-lite will allow you to import many other types of files.

Chikara · **Reply #4 on:** March 13, 2008, 04:55:55 AM

Quote from: Petrie,Mar 12 2008 on 01:22 PM

virtualdub will only work if you are recording in the mpeg format (mpg). If you're recording in avi, then you might want to see if Windows Movie Maker will work.

Not so. I have often used Virtualdub on avi format. The only formats it doesn't work with in my experience are wmv (because of copyright), mov (same), mp4 and mkv (because mp4 and mkv are weird).

Malte279 · **Reply #5 on:** March 13, 2008, 05:08:55 AM

The recordings on my computer are in mpg. format. I tried the windows movie maker yesterday (simply because I had in on my computer already but had not thought of it as I never before worked with the program). It worked out alright, but apart from the cutting of a few minutes it also reduced the size of the video by three quarters which would be a good thing if it wasn't for the loss of quality that came along with it (of course I hadn't changed the setting on compressing the movie and of course I have the original uncut file still saved) I will try virtualdub. I think I even used that program a long time ago (cutting soundfiles) and was very happy with it. I'm not sure though if it will work under windows vista.

Thank you all for your help! I appreciate it very much

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #6 on:** March 13, 2008, 06:04:50 AM

Vdub is unnecessarily complex when it comes to specifying output for video for what you want to do. I suggest using WMM to split the file. Make the file HUGE. The size of it doesn't matter. Make a 5 minute clip 200mb if you want. Then you can use Vdub to compress the video.

Petrie. · **Reply #7 on:** March 13, 2008, 07:35:41 AM

WMM will accept mpeg-1 files and will get an error on mpeg-2 files. Always has for me.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #8 on:** March 13, 2008, 08:12:08 AM

Getting the divx codec will solve that. Also, you must have the latest version of WMM that's compatible with windows xp. Malte undoubtedly has the newest WMM version 2.6, which is only compatible with windows vista. It should work fine. He already said that he could import them, but they came out very small.

Malte279 · **Reply #9 on:** March 17, 2008, 01:54:28 PM

My computer records in mpeg-2 format which really doesn't seem to work with virtualdub.
Strangely it seems to be impossible to cut the videos windows movie maker without seriously cutting down the size (which wouldn't be a problem) and the quality of the video files. There is the option to enter the Kb size to which you want the video to be reduced, but sadly the program seems to ignore that entry and reduce the size of the file more than you want it to be reduced. Is there any way to prevent any change in size and quality and just cut away parts of the recording without any further change?

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #10 on:** March 17, 2008, 05:47:44 PM

I haven't used WMM in about 6 months now, but I believe there was a video size function. I would just set the quality to as large as possible, even if the video takes up 2gb. You can always compress it later. How large is this project? This is getting absurd. I could do it for you. It would take 5 minutes in ulead multimedia studio. I can totally cut out all the commercials and extra crap in a tv episode in minutes using that program. I have many codecs so I can save it in just about any format you wish except for RVMB. Honestly, there's no free way to easily split movies and get them to the exact quality you want.

Chikara · **Reply #11 on:** March 18, 2008, 05:15:05 AM

Maybe Avidemux?

www.avidemux.org

action9000 · **Reply #12 on:** March 18, 2008, 03:45:36 PM

Quote

My computer records in mpeg-2 format which really doesn't seem to work with virtualdub.

In that case, I have something of interest for you:
VirtualDub with MPEG-2 support.
Click the link, "VirtualDub-MPEG2.zip"
Enjoy.

If you have any questions about VirtualDub, feel free to ask. I've used it for a variety of projects in the past, including the commercial cutting and conversion of some LBT TV episodes.