Program to join two videos?

[Anicsi]

Okay, I am not sure where this topic belongs, please move it to the right directory if it doesn't suite.

I would like to know if there is any program that is able to add/join two videos WITHOUT having to reencode it again, so without any noticeable quality loss. I am speaking of two videos, 10 minutes each, that are supposed to follow seamlessly after another.

Because mixing those two videos f.e. in wmm would take hours to encode and lead to huge qualityloss, right? I haven't worked with windows for a while so I don't know if there's another method to do this.
I would be really greatful for your help,
if you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask.

[mirkosp]

Load the first one in virtualdub or virtualdubmod, then choose file > append segment and load the continuation. Then you should be able to do a direct stream copy, assuming both videos have the same codec.

[Anicsi]

Okay, thank you very much, I am gonna try that ^^
And is there any way f.e. to cut off the first 2 minutes or so of one video with Virtualdub(mod)? I mean seperately not in the same progress.

[mirkosp]

You can use those buttons to choose the start and end point of the conversion, so you can keep the part of the video besides the initial 2 minutes.

PS: Yeah, I just stole Katie's pic, lazy way FTW. :3

[Anicsi]

Thanks a lot ^^ And I don't have to reencode it, right? Because you said conversion
It is important that it goes without quality loss, that's why I am asking...

[Qyot27]

If it's set on Direct Stream Copy, then the video and audio are passed through unchanged. If you set the edit points using the In and Out buttons, then it will just take the video from those points unchanged. Of course, this only works with AVI, OGM, and MKVs that use VFW codecs, as those are the only things VirtualDubMod can handle as input. The one caveat here is that f you put the In or Out point on something other than a keyframe, then it will adjust the selection to start or end on one. However, I can't remember if it's the closer of the two keyframes or always the one prior/one after the In/Out point, respectively.


Also, if you're using H.264, mp4box and MKVToolNix can both do this, provided the resolution and framerate match (well, the resolution has to; you can finagle the fps to different rates if you use a timecodes file, but there's little usefulness for that).


MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 files can be appended using TMPGEnc, under File->MPEG tools->'Merge & Cut' tab.


Alternately, if this joining is prior to the final encode, you could use AviSynth to splice them together, changing the source loader as necessary if you're not using AVI:

Code: Select all

AVISource("video1.avi") ++ AVISource("video2.avi")

[Anicsi]

Thanks again for that useful post ^^
Well, let me explain the situation to you. I have the first part of the video, my friend has the second one and he will put it together. So I am just going to tell him what you just said.

Only problem I encounter right now is that I am on a Mac which means that my file is most likely going to be .mp4, codec x246 as I've had the best experiences with that. I am not sure what his file is going to be, but we have to use the same codec, right?
Well, then maybe I should use H.246 and tell him to use mp4box or MKVToolNix. What would be the better choice in your opinion?
Thanks for your time.

[Qyot27]

Thanks again for that useful post ^^
Well, let me explain the situation to you. I have the first part of the video, my friend has the second one and he will put it together. So I am just going to tell him what you just said.

Only problem I encounter right now is that I am on a Mac which means that my file is most likely going to be .mp4, codec x246 as I've had the best experiences with that. I am not sure what his file is going to be, but we have to use the same codec, right?
Well, then maybe I should use H.246 and tell him to use mp4box or MKVToolNix. What would be the better choice in your opinion?
Thanks for your time.

If that's what you decide on, then both need to be encoded using the same features. For instance, via Quicktime (or x264, if you can coordinate that).

In MKVToolNix at least, the option needed is the Append button, not the Add button. Using Add will result in a file with multiple video streams, like multiple angles on a DVD. I'm honestly not too up on what has to be done with mp4box, but YAMB and the command-line interface both have options for it to concatenate files, which is what you'd be looking to do. I've just never tried doing that with mp4box before.

[Anicsi]

okay, that is great, thanks ^^ We are going to try it and come back here with our experiences, just for the record