Splitting an MP4 video in half w/o rendering

swa5750 wrote on 11/7/2012, 3:20 PM
I am using VPro 11. I need to split videos of varying formats into pieces without editing. For example, I have a 20 minute MP4 video that I simply want to split into two 10 minute MP4 segments. From all the research I have done, it appears that Vegas only allows splitting if the remaining video segment or segments are re-rendered. So, in the case above, if I want to save the first 10 minute MP4 file segment, it has to be completely re-rendered as new MP4. This takes a lot of time, and even then the resultant MP4 is not viewable in standard video viewing software whereas the original 20 minute MP4 was fully viewable. There are competitive software packages that will do simple video splitting, but I hate to spend the money when I have so much already invested in many years of VPro upgrades, which IMO should be able to do this simple task.

Comments anyone?

Comments

Satevis wrote on 11/7/2012, 6:32 PM
If your MP4 files are in the H.264/AVC format, these streams can only be split correctly on IDR frames. Many streams will contain only a single IDR frame at the start of the stream and thus cannot be split at all. Tools that let you split H.264 streams just about anywhere may work reasonably well in some cases, but in general, this cannot be done without omitting data that may be required to decode future frames. This may be entirely acceptable for home use, but for professional applications, a smart rendering feature that potentially garbles your video is rather pointless.

If the ability to split and/or smart render clips is required, MPEG 2 with closed GOPs of reasonable length is a much more suitable format and will usually allow perfectly lossless splits at least once per second.
Laurence wrote on 11/7/2012, 8:24 PM
I just wanted to mention that a lot of cameras (especially still/video cameras) can trim video clips quickly and losslessly.
musicvid10 wrote on 11/7/2012, 8:29 PM
VideoRedo TVSuite.
It will do frame-accurate splits and reindex all segments for you.
There's a free trial.
Laurence wrote on 11/7/2012, 9:59 PM
I'm just messing around with the free trial now. I am getting a bit of a flash right near the final end point on clips from my Panasonic GF3. Clips from the Nikon D5100 trim without artifacts. Very cool none-the-less.
altarvic wrote on 11/7/2012, 10:12 PM
You might want to take a look at SolveigMM Video Splitter
musicvid10 wrote on 11/7/2012, 11:04 PM
Laurence,
Run the whole file through "Quickstream Fix" in VRD first, and see if that fixes the flashes when you split. Please post back and let us know.
wwaag wrote on 11/7/2012, 11:43 PM
Another option is TMPGEnc's new MPEG Smart Render 4 which includes MPEG-4 AVC. I've used version 3 for MPEG only for years. You can download a trial, but it puts a watermark on the re-rendered portions. I've tried this on combining AVC clips and it works well. Cuts should be simpler.

If any of your footage is from a Sony AVCHD camera, you can use the PMB software.

I also have VideoRedDo which works OK for cuts only editing. It also identified location of the IDR frames.

There are also a few free options. Here is a link. http://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/video-editors-h264-avc

wwaag

AKA the HappyOtter at https://tools4vegas.com/. System 1: Intel i7-8700k with HD 630 graphics plus an Nvidia RTX4070 graphics card. System 2: Intel i7-3770k with HD 4000 graphics plus an AMD RX550 graphics card. System 3: Laptop. Dell Inspiron Plus 16. Intel i7-11800H, Intel Graphics. Current cameras include Panasonic FZ2500, GoPro Hero11 and Hero8 Black plus a myriad of smartPhone, pocket cameras, video cameras and film cameras going back to the original Nikon S.

Byron K wrote on 11/9/2012, 2:15 PM
Reply by: altarvic Date: 11/7/2012 6:12:14 PM
You might want to take a look at SolveigMM Video Splitter

This looks interesting, has anyone used this program?
PeterDuke wrote on 11/10/2012, 5:19 PM
"This looks interesting, has anyone used this program? "

I have. I tried it once but it had some problem, but I forget what now. I have plenty of other cutters, as already mentioned, plus some others, so I didn't follow it up.

I am more interested in editors that smart render H264, so I looked at Magix, Cyberlink and Corel. All had problems. Magix is following it up with Main Concept, Cyberlink has acknowledged the problem and is looking at it. I haven't followed up with Corel yet.
swa5750 wrote on 11/12/2012, 6:10 PM
Thank you, one and all for the information. Fascinating responses and very helpful. I think the bottom line is I will try some of the ideas suggested plus some of my own. If I stumble onto something really great I will post what I discover.
HinaB wrote on 11/14/2012, 5:02 PM
I have found Boilsoft Joiner (& Splitter) works well (no re-render) .... here http://www.boilsoft.com/avi-mpeg-rm-joiner.html .... you can also split a clip into any number of exactly equal elements (useful for uploading v.large mp4 files) ... I have found the joins seamless even with cuts between frames with considerable 'action' although cuts and joins at such points should be avoided
PeterDuke wrote on 11/14/2012, 11:47 PM
I just tried Boilsoft splitter. It doesn't smart split AVCHD and looks like it doesn't support HD at all. Furthermore it seems to not support PAL. Am I wrong?
HinaB wrote on 11/17/2012, 3:37 PM
Works fine for me .... mp4 rendered in Vegas 10 to Mainconcept PAL 720P
PeterDuke wrote on 11/18/2012, 12:47 AM
By HD I meant 1920x1080. Does it support that?
PeterDuke wrote on 11/18/2012, 2:05 AM
Yes, it works with 1920x1080 25fps MP4 files. It was AVCHD I had trouble with.
HinaB wrote on 11/18/2012, 3:50 PM
I tried splitting a AVCHD file .... as you suggest Boilsoft only works with a re-encode .... mmm ... AVCD is part of the H.264 (MPEG-4) video standard? ... could be an issue with the audio stream which is typically dolby AC3 or LPCM rather than say MP4 which is AAC ....