MPEG 2 editing tool

[romeoted]

I am looking for a suitable mpeg 2 editing tool to remove commercial from recorded files. Currently the edited file (was 30 min. edited to 20 min.) is converted to AVI, takes over 3 hours and is 3 X bigger.

There has to be a better way.

[ruel]

Nero 6 Ultra includes NeroVision which is a MPEG2 editor. It has some quirks like at least for me where I have to open a new directory in Explorer and do a drag-and-drop of of a MPEG2 file into NeroVision to get the file into the program. Also, it could use a horizontal scroll bar on the video track for when you are going through the whole video looking for commercials to cut out. So you have to do a bunch of maximizes and minimizes on the video track to find the exact places where you want to cut. It takes some getting used to and I'm happy with it. If you have ever used Windows Movie Maker for editing WMV files then it is somewhat similar to that but not quite because there's no horizontal scroll bar on the video track. But if you want to update the burning software for your DVD burner or CD burner, then look at Nero 6 Ultra and you'll get NeroVision bundled with that.

FYI, I would primarily use NeroVision if I'm having a problem with a MPEG2 file. I haven't actually used NeroVision with MPEG2 files made by BeyondTV because I actually have BeyondTV recording to WMV files using my ATI TV Wonder PCI card. Recording to WMV gives me a compressed file already that I can edit right away with Windows Movie Maker. But I've used NeroVision for editing MPEG2 files made by SageTV and also for editing MPEG2 files made by Videoblaster DVCR for my Creative card. NeroVision is the only MPEG2 editor that I found that can consistently handle the MPEG2 files made by Videoblaster DVCR and which is why I'm mentioning NeroVision although others I'm sure will have their own suggestions for MPEG2 editors. I would use my Creative card which does have a built-in hardware encoder with BeyondTV but BeyondTV doesn't support the card. So I devote my ATI TV Wonder PCI card to BeyondTV for recording to WMV files particularly since ATI cards (at least my ATI card) stutter too much during live TV when BeyondTV is set to MPEG2.

Anyways, for MPEG2 files, I would normally convert a MPEG2 file to DivX (named as an .AVI file) using Vidomi with DivX Pro 5.1.1 and then edit out the commercials using VirtualDub. But if there is a bad sound sync problem caused by a glitch in the recording which really shows up when you convert to DivX, then I resort to using NeroVision with which I edit the MPEG2 and when NeroVision exports to a new MPEG2 file then the sound is okay and then I can DivX the file with no sound glitch sync problems. NeroVision does come with DivX 5.0.2 but I haven't tried using that feature since I'm using DivX Pro 5.1.1 using the other procedures that I mentioned.

ruel

[Terminal]

There have been many threads about this here is search of this forum for the word commercial.

[trevorst]

The only tool I have found to cut commercials is Womble Mpeg-Vcr.. I can cut the commercials from a 30 min show and save the now 20min file in less than 5 mins. It does not re-encode the mpeg data (as long as you don't add transitions) so the file does not loose quality. I found that recording in a lower resolution then cutting the commercials is a much better solution than recording in higher rez then using divx/xvid etc to compress. I never have been able to get a satisfactory result using any of the Mpeg 4 compession tools.

[romeoted]

Originally Posted by trevorst

The only tool I have found to cut commercials is Womble Mpeg-Vcr.. I can cut the commercials from a 30 min show and save the now 20min file in less than 5 mins. It does not re-encode the mpeg data (as long as you don't add transitions) so the file does not loose quality. I found that recording in a lower resolution then cutting the commercials is a much better solution than recording in higher rez then using divx/xvid etc to compress. I never have been able to get a satisfactory result using any of the Mpeg 4 compession tools.

Thank you for your advise. I have followed through with your suggestion and it's exactly what I wanted.

Much appreciated.

Romeo.

[queonda]

Yeah, This is cool without re-coding. Does it edit out commercial automatic or manually?

[trevorst]

There is no automatic commercial detection, but I wouldn't want that anyway when you are cutting out video, they just don't work well enough. Manual cutting is so fast in Womble it takes me about 10 seconds to do a frame perfect cut on a commercial break.

Merrypig,
I do use DVD-Shrink on movies and other stuff I want to save to DVD. I use the lower rez recording on my wifes hobbie shows from HGTV, FoodTV etc. that she wants to keep available on the server. She has quite a large library now and recording them at my normal quality resulted in 1.2 Gig files per 1/2 hr, taking the commercials out brought them down to 800meg or so. By recording at a lower rez then taking the commercials out I have them down to 300 meg. She can't tell the difference and she can store more that's all she cares about.

[queonda]

Originally Posted by trevorst

There is no automatic commercial detection, but I wouldn't want that anyway when you are cutting out video, they just don't work well enough. Manual cutting is so fast in Womble it takes me about 10 seconds to do a frame perfect cut on a commercial break..

Thanks, I'll give it a try. sounds great

[trevorst]

Hey Merrypig,
Want to share your recording settings... I have fine tuned my Hi Rez setting but just started with the lower rez for my wife. If I can optimize the settings without a lot of trial and error that would be great.

p.s Have you tried Womble yet !!!! Let me know if you need help by PM .

[queonda]

Originally Posted by merrypig

I tried womble, didn't like it. I use TMPGEnc's DVD Author with AC3 plugin

Why didn't you like about womble? Also, do you need to re-encode using TMPGenc?

[trevorst]

Merrypig,
I had the same thoughts the first couple of times I used Womble, until I figured out the shortcut keys. As I said I can fly through an edit now.
Understand if you are making DVD's your solution is a better choice for you.
Thanks for the settings, what kind of file size are you getting from the cartoon setting ??