Gaming MPEG4 Merger

[suppachipmunk]

Hello,

I recently aquired some episodes of a TV show. The only problem is that each episode is divided into 3 or 4 parts.

like video01.mp4, video02.mp4, and so on.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a program (preferably free) that I can use to merge together two or more mp4 into a single mp4 or avi?

Thanks in advance.

suppachipmunk

EDIT: I am using Windows XP SP3 32-Bit.

 

[FAST6191]

First port of call is to determine what is in the MP4 containers.
Gspot works for this
http://www.headbands.com/gspot/

While you can crowbar most things into the AVI container I really do not recommend it as most of it is a hack of some form and the fallout from different splitters is not worth dealing with.
Most stuff in AVI these days is MPEG4 ASP (or occasionally MPEG4 SP) which is usually called by the encoder names of divx or xvid. Xvid is free and works very well so go with that if you have to encode.
You also need to pay attention to the audio format (MP3 is good, AC3 should also work. MP2 I would consider changing although it should work and anything else I would change).

Truth be told it is far easier to split than to join, your main concern will likely be audio sync.
Next concern is likely overlap. Many apps will give a second or two of overlap between splits for whatever reason.

Easiest way: make a playlist. I suggest this over the others. If making a DVD use something like FAVC and make a menu with a "play all" button.

Next easiest way, as follows:
http://www.dvd-guides.com/content/view/14/59/
AVIdemux can probably be substituted in if virtual dub does not like your setup (virtual dub relies on slightly older methods (VFW) many have stopped supporting properly).

Next way: encode the streams properly. Note it may well turn out worse than simple joining as encoding will encode the noise leaving less space for the picture. Note if you have an unusual format in the MP4 container you will need to do this (or keep it in MP4).

It gets very complex although the initial method is nothing that special (you choose quick recompress instead or direct stream copy and choose your codec of choice).
If it gives you hassle avisynth can sort you out (probably the most complex way but used correctly it will definitely work). A search of this forum and doom9 forums will net you a lot on avisynth and post back if you have issues.

 

[suppachipmunk]

Thanks FAST6191.

That is an excellent and detailed answer.

I have Roxio MYDVD 9. Do you think I should just stick with that, and use the play all button?

If MYDVD 9 would be easiest and make me have to mess with the audio sync, then I may just use it itstead of a merger.

Thanks again for the answer. Very much appreciated. You must have a lot of prior experience with audio/video.

suppachipmunk

 

[FAST6191]

Afraid I have not used the app you speak of (GUIs tend to get in my way)

Audio sync: it may well be fine but I would be remiss not to mention that problems can arise. While it is technically supported in AVI variable bit rate (vbr) audio is usually the cause of this. Most apps should have the option to take care of (it will slow seeking somewhat).

 

[science]

Just use Quicktime. Open the firs one up, and then drag the second one onto the window, and then click save as, and select self contained movie

 

[suppachipmunk]

Thanks for all the replies.

@Fast6191, Roxio MyDVD9 is from the Easy Media Creator Suite 10. Almost like Nero.

@Science, is it quicktime or quicktime pro?

Thanks again.

suppachipmunk

 

[suppachipmunk]

Ok, I think I got it. Just got QuickTime Pro.

Tried it out and it works. Saves primarily as QuickTime Movie File, but you can change the output file to AVI or MPEG-4.

Which would you recommend? AVI, or MPEG-4? and should I keep the compression on H264?

Thanks for all the help.

suppachipmunk

 

[FAST6191]

If it is like nero then I guess it is also like DVDshrink at some level but I am still not confident.

AVI or MP4.
AVI is the most compatible across devices but as things stand that does not matter too much and it looks set to carry on that way. I really do not suggest trying to get H264 into AVI though (you can do it but the fallout is not something you want to deal with).

MP4 is also fairly compatible but I would go with MKV, if it does come to it is a fairly trivial exercise to grab the streams and stick them in MP4.

Conversion: If you have H264 and all you want to view it on can play it then stick with it, conversion will drop quality (I did it already but when you encode you encode the noise too unless you are very very good and spend some time doing it, this noise is essentially random and takes space you could otherwise use).
As it stands if you just do a quick recompress to xvid modern machines and encoders can do it in about a third real time for normal resolutions. A few years from now and I would not be surprised if it is go and get a snack while it does it sort of thing.

 

[suppachipmunk]

Thanks again. You guys are very helpful.

After a long and tedious google search, and your advice, i think I will go with the AVI format, as MKV is not an option in QuickTime Pro.

Size (or HDD space) is not really a problem since I have a few external drives and I plan to burn these to a Data DVD to watch in my Philips DVD Player (this thing plays everything

)

For Video, I think I will use AVI with no compression, (all it gives me is DVD-NTSC), and millions of Colors+.
and for Audio, I will use no compression, 16 bit sound (stereo).

this should be my last question, sorry to keep pestering you.
What is a good audio rate? I assume the higher the number the better. it has the options of 8 - 48 kHz with 22 being the default. Should I bump this up to 48?

thanks once again!

suppachipmunk

 

[FAST6191]

Audio: long story short the generally accepted frequency for transparent reproduction is twice upper hearing limit or about 44KHz, 48KHz is common and anything above is overkill.
Not it is not quite that simple and fluffing the compression will still sound bad regardless of the sample rate.

Regarding MKV, I should have mentioned it but MKVmerge (part of MKVtoolnix: http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/ ) supports many inputs including AVI and MP4. I do such things all the time for subtitles.

AVI with no compression will be huge (hundreds of megs per minute most likely). Likewise uncompressed audio is fairly pointless (it always makes me laugh when the blu ray crowd harp on about it).

Colour. Gets a bit complex as RGB is rarely used in video (they are mathematically abstracted: http://www.fourcc.org/yuv.php ). 24bit RGB is enough for skin tone none the less.
Millions is a weasel word of sorts but it should be what you want (16 bit is 65536 colours, 24 is over a million).