I have a Sony DCR-SR42 camcorder. I recorded a bunch of videos from a trip I went on this summer. I wanted to turn it into a DVD, but didn't want a hundred separate video clips on the menu, so I was going to join all of them into a large MPG. I figured there would be a way to simply add chapters during the process of making the DVD. However, I have run into a problem just trying to merge the videos. None of them show a timeline. I was able to manually join them using the DOS prompt and a copy command that I found here (which was a major headache since I have so many clips to merge). The resulting file DOES play, but the timeline shows it is only as long as the first clip. I then tried to use BlazeMP, which seems to be just what I wanted, but whenever I try to merge them, it tells me "timeline for the current video operation is empty" and will not convert it. I assume the MPG's are the correct format though, because if I do just add each individual clip to my DVD project in Nero, they work fine, and it doesn't do any transcoding. It is only when I want to merge them that I have a problem. Sony's support site is crap, as is BlazeMP's, so I thought I would see if anyone here had any ideas. I am not stuck on using Nero, or BlazeMP. Any tools you guys can suggest would be great, although I would prefer it if they were free.
I use VideoWave, in Roxio Creator 2009, and have no problems joining video clips at all. You don't capture, from your Sony, as Mpeg, though. You capture as DV-AVI for lossless capture. Mpeg is lossless, althought not bad. It does however, take a long time to do any editing Mpeg files.
Odd, because the default on this Sony was Mpeg-2. I will have to see if it has a different option in the camera settings. Regardless, it doesn't fix the initial problem. I will put Roxio on here and see if that helps any. Thanks.
Ahhhh, sorry about that. I just saw that your camcorder is a hard drive camcorder. It will be Mpeg-2 video.
The Sony DCR-SR42 camcorder records in the MPEG2 format. There are a variety of software and software packages which will allow you to edit your video and author and burn a standard DVD. I would recommend Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum. Others will recommend various other solutions and recommendations. Rich
Thank you for another package I will try. I'm not sure that I am making myself clear though as to what my problem is. None of the packages I have used to try to merge the files are capable of doing it, because the files themselves do not appear to have been created properly from the camera. There is no time index in the files. The ONLY way I have been able to merge them is by simply using the copy /b +filename1 +filename2 etc. Although that WORKS, if I play the resulting video in ANY player, it shows a timeline only for the length of the first clip, although it continues playing all the way through. I believe AVIDemux might be able to fix the files, but I have not had a chance to try it yet. It DID at least load up the files and reported that the index was bad. It created a new file, but again, I have not had a chance yet to see if I can successfully merge the files. I do appreciate the responses though.
I have a pretty good idea what your problem is. I have edited MPEG2 files a few times over the past few years. I don't know what you have tried. But if it was not designed to handle MPEG2 properly then it most likely will not work. MPEG2 video does not contain time/date information in the data stream like DV-AVI does. So I'm not sure what you are looking for. That is a Microsoft DOS command which is not designed to properly merge MPEG2 files where they will be playable. You do not need to fix the files. You need to handle them properly to begin with. I have never used AVIDemux. If you wanted something free, I would recommend VirtualDubMod. It is designed to edit MPEG2 files. But I think in the end you might just buy an inexpensive NLE package. Rich
