What do you use to convert .flv files?

sine wrote on 10/16/2013, 9:35 AM

Free would be appreciated, but I could pay if I had to.

I have about a dozen .flv videos that need to be edited and there will be more. The editing should be simple. I just need to cut off the introduction, some from the end, and a few ads from the middle. There are no copyright or protected content issues with these videos.

I understand I have to convert them to something else, and that maybe mpeg-2 would be good? I'm new at this. Please feel free to suggest any adjustments or changes to my ideas.

Also I'm not even sure if this would be done with Vegas Pro video, or with DVD Architect. I have used Sony Sound Forge to do this type of stuff with audio files, and it was simple.

Comments

Gary James wrote on 10/16/2013, 10:14 AM

I've been using the freeware version of Any Video Converter, and it's converted everything I've thrown at it.

musicvid10 wrote on 10/16/2013, 10:28 AM

You didn't say if they are FLV1 or FLV2/AVC.
There are plenty of free converters for the first, relatively fewer for the second.

However, if you dig around the video sites, you "should" be able to find a muxer that will rewrap FLV2/AVC to MP4 or MOV, without converting it. That is your ideal workflow.

Let us know what you come up with.

jerald wrote on 10/19/2013, 11:24 AM

My workflow, when I need to edit .flv, is to use Handbrake (free, open source) to convert to .mp4, then edit in Vegas Pro, which, for me, has always imported .mp4 from Handbrake without issue.

j

musicvid10 wrote on 10/19/2013, 1:24 PM

Yes, when conversion is necessary, Handbrake is a no-brainer.
However remuxing saves the encoding step and should always be first choice.

sine wrote on 10/19/2013, 1:49 PM

Thank you Gary. that looks like it should do the job. I had seen it while searching, but it's always nice to get an opinion too.

I was expecting to get an email when there were replies to the topic. Does that not happen here, or do I have to change my forum settings or something?

musicvid10 wrote on 10/19/2013, 3:27 PM

Unfortunately, this forum doesn't have email notifications.

Gyan wrote on 10/20/2013, 10:17 AM

I use ffmpeg for most of my rewrapping or conversion needs. Avanti is a nice GUI frontend for ffmpeg.

For rewrapping, just select 'Copy Audio' and 'Copy Video' in the codec dropdowns of the audio and video section of Avanti. Select mov/avi as the container from the video section. You can then 'start process'.