Hi, all. My daughter's Tivo was used to record some great programs on the History Channel (Modern Marvels, especially). I have no problem transferring them to the computer. A 1-hour program results in a 2GB mpg file. If I burn the mpg file to a DVD blank, the video looks fine. However, if I first edit out the commercials with Avidemux and then burn the resulting mpg file, the video looks blurry. Avidemux is a wonderful program for experts who can take advantage of all its features. But there are too many for a simpleton like me. All I want to do is remove commercials and then burn the cleaned up file. I made a simple setup sheet, which I test your patience to condense here: Run GTK version. Under Video (left side), choose DVD (lavc). Under Filters (left side), choose "Resample fps" and look for 29.97. In Edit > Preferences > Output, set "Split MPEG files over (MB)" to 4600. In Auto > DVD, set Source and Output Aspect ratios to 4:3. In Calculator, set Format to MPEG, and Medium to DVD5. What am I missing? Or might there already be a tutorial for what I'm trying to do that you can point me to? Thanks in advance. -- Steve
You're re-encoding the video. I'd set video to copy, audio to copy and format to MPEG-PS (A+V). You shouldn't need to mess with any filters unless you're going from PAL to NTSC or some such. Beware that you can only cut on 'I' frames, so your resolution is about .5 seconds.
I tried the advice to "set video to Copy," but Copy changes by itself to DVD (lavc) when setting some of the other configurations I mentioned earlier. So still haven't found answer to why the video is not as clear as when it started. Still hoping someone can point me to a good info sheet on the settings. Until then, I'm offering my own, for whatever it's worth: Preparing video in Avidemux 16 April 2009 (to edit MPG files, especially when removing commercials) Run GTK version (not QT4) for easier editing. Choose File > Open; select video to put on DVD. • If asked if want MPEG file to be indexed, choose "Yes." • If asked for "special" mode to process file (as with H.264 videos), choose "Yes". • If want to append additional segments to your video, use File -> Append for each file. In Auto > DVD: • set "Source Aspect Ratio" according to input video o If input video originally intended for playback on computer, aspect ratio usually 1:1. o If captured from TV, aspect ratio usually 4:3. • Set "Destination Aspect Ratio" to 4:3 or 16:9. In Edit > Preferences > Output : • Ensure “Split MPEG files ever (MB)” set to default of 4096. o size of output will be no larger than whatever is set here Next step very important to ensure resulting video will fit on DVD media. Click Calculator button: • Set Format to "MPEG" • Set Medium to "DVD5" (for 4.7 GB Single-Layer DVD Media). • Click Apply button and Close. Click Video > Configure button (left side of screen: • Will see Video Size already set by Calculator. • Change nothing except, if necessary, Aspect Ratio according to "Destination Aspect Ratio" selected at beginning. Then OK. Edit video, ie, cut out commercials. o Use navigation buttons at bottom of screen. Set start with A, end with B, then Delete key. Finally, click File > Save > Save Video and choose proper filename for your video, like "C:\Output.mpg". • Don’t forget to add extension; Avidemux won’t do it automatically. • Wait until encoding process is completed. Extracted from: http://www.avidemux.org/admForum/viewtopic.php?id=3570
At the risk of redundancy, which part of that don't you understand? If you don't screw around using filters, you don't need to re-encode the video. Then take the edited MPG file into your favorite authoring program to make it into a DVD.
Olyteddy, thanks for hanging in with me. You said, "If you don't screw around using filters, you don't need to re-encode the video." But I've looked at my last post, where I describe the procedures I'm using, and don't see the word "filters" anywhere. You also advise "Then take the edited MPG file into your favorite authoring program to make it into a DVD." Thanks, but burning the file to DVD is not the problem. The problem is the unclear, blurred image that results from the mpg file being processed by Avidemux. Is this inherent in Avidemux, or are there settings I need to make? I believe it's the settings, or Avidemux would have fallen by the wayside a long time ago. That's why I'm asking (at the risk of making a pest of myself), WHAT SETTINGS SHOULD BE MADE TO EDIT A 1-HOUR MPG FILE FOR THE HIGHEST QUALITY RESULT? (My daughter's old TiVo recorded some terrific Modern Marvels programs last month. I've looked for them in a box set, but not available. That's why trying so hard to burn the shows onto disc, before the TiVo breaks.)
Olyteddy, thanks for advice. I tried it. Didn't work. Here's what happened. First, I trimmed the commercials from the program. Before saving the trimmed program, I went to Calculator to set the Target Format to MPEG and the Medium to DVD5. I hit Apply, Close. Before saving, I made sure the left side of the screen buttons were set to Copy, Copy, MPEG-PS(A+V), as you recommended. Trying to save the file, I got this error message: "Incompatible audio ... For DVD, audio must be 48KHz MP2 (stereo), AC3, DTS or LPCM (stereo)." I hit OK, then went to the Audio options. I changed from Copy to each of the options listed (eg, "MP3 LAME, AAC FAAC, etc). I tried each one. None of them worked. Each time I'd get the "Incompatible audio" error message. What else can I try, please. ANYBODY? Anyone out there who's successfully trimming commercials and getting good quality video? What settings are you using? -- Steve
exactly the same as stated above. that's how to do it.. and I do this all the time splitting wedding home movies into separate scenes for re-edit. video - copy audio - copy then make your cuts/edits as and where you want them.. then reload and rebuild the time map and index XD
"...then reload and rebuild the time map and index XD." Varnull, bear with me, I'm a complete novice at this, but can you break this down, please. Reload and rebuild the time map? Index XD? Thanks in advance. -- Steve
get a copy of GSpot and drop one of your source files on it. In the box labeled 'Audio' what do the two boxes say? (Codec and Info)
Olyteddy, you said: "get a copy of GSpot and drop one of your source files on it. In the box labeled 'Audio' what do the two boxes say? (Codec and Info)." CODEC reads: MPEG-1 Layer 2 INFO reads: 0xc0:44100Hz 224 kb/s tot, Stereo What's that telling you? -- Steve
Here's some tips for what I do. I don't have a TIVO, but a mythtv system, maybe it's similar. In my case, the TV recordings are DVB-T streams, which are MPEG files but not quite compatible with normal DVDs. I have seen lots of info on ways to make DVDs, but I find the quickest (and best way to do it is a manual way with a few steps: Firstly, let me say that I cut out my commercials using mythtv, I don't know if TIVO can do that (I assume not), so perhaps avidemux2 can be used for that step (can't see why not). Lets assume that we have a suitably trimmed/edited file opened in avidemux2: 1. choose 'Y' to index the file if it asks you to on opening 2. set video and audio both to 'Copy' in the main left panel 3. set format to MPEG in the main left panel 4. choose file/save/video, give it a name like tvshow.m2v. You are saving the video portion only, splitting it out from the original recorded stream 5. choose audio/save audio (not under the file menu, under the audio menu!), give it a name like tvshow.mp2 6. Now we are done with avidemux2, file/exit 7. cd into the directory where the two files are saved. At the $ prompt, type mplex -f 8 -O 100ms -o tvshow.mpg tvshow.m2v tvshow.mp2 which will join the streams back together audio and video into an mpg file thats DVD compatible. tips: space between f and 8 -O is a capital letter 'oh' (not a zero!) 100ms is audio time synch offset to video, test and adjust to suit! -o is a small letter 'oh' (sets the output file) Not quite done yet... 8. Test the output file using mplayer or similar on the linux box to see if the sound is correct, re-do the mplex step if needed. 9. type dvdauthor -o DVD tvshow.mpg This makes a sub-dir called DVD and puts in VOB files etc from the source mpg file 10. type dvdauthor -T -o DVD This makes an auto-play DVD with default table of contents 11. type mkisofs -dvd-video -udf DVD > disc.iso this makes an ISO file called disc.iso from the DVD sub-dir 12. I then FTP the iso file to a windoze box and use Nero to burn it to DVD, but you can use linux dvd burning software for this if you like. Steps 4,5,7,9,11 take only about 3min each on my slow 1.5GHz P4 and result in good quality output (not blurry or anything) I hope this helps someone!
ICE_BM -- Many thanks, but your method is way over my limited-ability-level head. (Maybe I shouldn't even be on this forum.) And maybe I'm asking too much, for a program to make it easy to trim commercials without fuss or muss. I'm sure many such programs are out there. Which is best? -- Steve
the best are the hardest to use.. check the avidemux tutorials.. they have a whole section on editing. to rebuild the index and time map just save the file.. exit the program and reload it again... though it usually does it anyway... occasionally I have to use that function from vlc. Don't know why this is turning into an epic.. set audio and video to copy.. just cut the file into the sections you want and save them (no need for worrying about iframes.. avidemux is a frame editor) then stick them back together again into one big file without the ads.. THEN if you want to convert them to a different format investigate what output format you require (if intended mpeg2-dvd use the AUTO>DVD from the menus) which will set it up into a dvd compatible mpeg2 file... then just save.. put the kettle on XD
avidemux is a hard way to edit mpegs. I've tried it before, and tried it again just last week to edit some mpeg2 from my sagetv recordings. The number one problems is the accuracy of the cuts. I like to convert my mpegs2 to avi, and was hoping to edit and convert at the same time with avidemux but it was harder than expected. I'm back to using videredotvsuite to edit my mpeg2s. It will cut out the commercials "with frame accuracy" without reencoding (no loss of quality). It's not free, but it is the only software I found that can edit mpegs. It's the easy way to cutout commercials.
what are you on about.. "accuracy of the cuts"? .. it's a frame editor by design.. pick the frame you want to cut at and cut.. simple as that.. I use it every couple of days on home movies of peoples weddings converted from all kinds of camcorder formats.. doesn't give me any problems at all... every cut is where I want it, and as far as a video editing system goes it';s as good as any other (and a hell of a lot better than most until you get up into the real pro tools that are impossible to use) I guess using a great tool takes a little skill.. I spent 2 years learning to do frame edit on u-matic tape.. and avidemux is about the same in functionality and quality as any hardware built video editing suite... including the audio remix functions... Built to work first and be pretty and easy second.. like any open source application... Don't come spouting paywaye.. that's just spamming IMHO I use avidemux in a professional environment.. and it works flawlessly. All people need to do is spent 10 minutes reading the wiki (sheeeesh.. it's even linked from the program gui under "help" ffs!) and trying a couple of the example tutorials.. or is that too hard for you windoze noobs?
Hi Steve_k, Don't be put off by the large amount of text I wrote, there are actually only a few steps, and the results are worth it... You have more than one problem to solve (edit TIVO file, make DVD compatible, burn image to DVD), and I think avidemux2 may well be the tool for you. To see if you have the ability, check this list: Can use linux? I assume so since you've run avidemux2, or is there a windoze version? Can open a terminal window in linux to type commands? Can navigate through directories using linux cd command? Can press A and B on the keyboard to remove sections from the raw file in avidemux2? Have access to a DVD burner and know how to burn an iso image to disk rather than just the file? What can I say, but have a go at it...I recall the first time I used MS-word and thought it was a typewriter, pressed Enter at the end of each line ;-) ... any software takes time to learn. You may also have success with Auto/DVD in avidemux2, even if the commercials are still in there you can always skip them with the DVD player... Anyway, rather than say 'it's too hard', try out some steps and let us know where you're getting stuck, then the users here can offer some real help to guide you through. Good luck.
ICE_BM, you're a prince, but this will have to wait a year. I leave for a job in Afghanistan next week. Too much to do between now and then that's lot more important.
