rejoin a split svcd

[goldseal]

ello if anyone can help all i need is to know what prog i use to join 2 svcd files thanks , i have looked thru 3 pages on the forum so i thought this has to b quicker:)

[LeonMcNichol]

TMPGEnc has a nice joiner.

[Holomatrix]

I use a program called Split '&' Join, (it's free to:)) it does a fantastic job cutting and joining. Two problems I have with TMPEG;
1) does not cut exactly, meaning, you can cut the first half of the movie then when you cut the second half, even putting in the exact frame number were the first one ends, the second file could be like 20 - 100 frames out. Which now causes problems if you ever want to join them again.
2) when joining 2 parts of a SVCD's you can run into the problem that right were the second part starts after joining, there is a chunk of audio missing then the whole second part is not in sync.
Just my 2 cents :)

[mordant]

Could you post a link for Split & Join? I can't seem to find it.

Thanks.

[Holomatrix]

Hi, it's at ZDNET downloads.
h**p://downloads-zdnet.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=split+and+join&tg=dl-2001

When splitting you can manually type in the amount of KB you want and when the program is working it seems like it is frozen but just let it finish.

[Amit]

@Holomatrix
The program you have specified is a simple FILE SPLITTER/JOINING program used to split/join the DATA files and not for VIDEO files like mpg etc.

I can be totally wrong and will be glad if someone corrects me. But here's my understanding. TMPGEnc's Splitter/Joiner works on the concept that when it has to cut the file, it looks for the nearest I frame and makes a cut there. On the other hand, a simple data file splitter cuts the files at any point you specify. The advantage of a simple data file splitter is that you can specify the size of the file you want to cut but it will actually spoil your mpeg stream. Lets take an example

Let's assume you have a mpeg stream that goes like this

IBBBPBBBBPBBBBPIBBBPBBBBPBBBBPIBBBPBBBBPBBBBP

If you see IBBBPBBBBPBBBBP pattern is repeated. Now every I contains all the information about the video so if you make a cut here you are safe but if you cut at B or P then you loose the information till you get the next I frame. Other thing to NOTE is that you may or may not get I frames at regular intervals. I frames are put whenever the encoder thinks that it will be advantages to put an I frame (keeping the idea to keep the file size less). So you may get the next I frame after 1-100 frames or so.

Now what will happen if you make a cut at any point other than I frame. The first file will Play OK all the way to the end since it starts from the I frame and ends at say B or P frame. See Below

IBBBPBBBBPBBBBPIBB... cut here ...BPBBBBPBBBBPIBBBPBBBBPBBBBP
1st File 2nd File

Now the second file starts at B frame in the above case. The decoder will not abe able to decode the rest of the frames till it reaches the I frame and my result in an error and stop decoding (depends on the decoder).

When the join the file again with a simple Data File Joiner you are safe since you get the original mpeg stream

IBBBPBBBBPBBBBPIBBBPBBBBPBBBBPIBBBPBBBBPBBBBP

So, it upto you what you want to do for cutting. I don't remember that name of the program but it used to tell me the frame numbers of I frame and you can try specifying the I frame number to cut and join and see what happens

-Amit

[Holomatrix]

You could be right. I have had no noticeable problems when watching the separate files or burning the SVCD files in NERO. If you could find a program that can do frame by frame cutting on MPEG2 files like VirtualDub does with MPEG1 files, please let me know. Thanks