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Basic editing of .ts video files without re-encoding
Alan Thew
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Can anyone recommend any software for very basic editing (topping, tailing and cutting out the adverts) of the transport stream (.ts) video files saved by my free-to-air satellite receiver box?
I don't want to have to re-encode the files, so chopping to the nearest keyframe will be fine. Something that keeps the audio in synch and preferably doesn't strip out the subtitles stream would be brilliant. Running on Linux, if possible -- though I have a Windows machine too. Am I asking too much?
I don't want to have to re-encode the files, so chopping to the nearest keyframe will be fine. Something that keeps the audio in synch and preferably doesn't strip out the subtitles stream would be brilliant. Running on Linux, if possible -- though I have a Windows machine too. Am I asking too much?
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http://www.videoredo.com/en/ProductTVS.htm
Other suggestions:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-video-editor.htm
http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/best-free-software-linux.htm?page=0,3#Video-Editor
If you use up 30 day trials, here's another. Great app, bit of a learning curve. Windows only.
http://www.womble.com/download/index.html
Edit: corrected a duplicate link.
I've not got any un-encrypted .ts files to try at present to check, but I'm sure in the past that I've been able to top/tail them ok.
There is a 'live' DVD version you can download to try it out without installing anything too. Details on "www.openshot.org/"
I've used Openshot and it does indeed handle transport stream files (and I agree that it's very nice for a simple, free timeline-based editor) but I thought it would insist on re-encoding everything? I'll have another look when I've got a moment -- and I'll check out some of the other suggestions.
Oh, and either way you lose the subtitles. And Avidemux seems to make a bit of a blocky mess at the cut frames.
So I might still try MPEG Streamclip and VideoPad running under Wine. Anyone know if either of these lets you keep your subtitles?
You shouldn't need to.
avidemux should read in ts files (at least mpeg2), you have to let it index the file
for av sync, before you do any editing do build vbr map from the audio menu and sync should be fine
also save using copy mode as AVI
Finally dont cut by frame (the single arrow) cut by keyframe (the double arrow) and cuts should be fine
I was still getting blocking in Avidemux even when cutting on keyframes. Also, I don't think the vbr map is relevant, for what it's worth. DVB-S transmissions don't have a variable bitrate; the problem is getting the audio/video delay right from the transport stream. Transport streams are quite different beasts from programme streams or headered media files, even if the actual content contained within is encoded the same way. Anyway, the solution I'll blog doesn't use avidemux, and the a/v synch is fine.
I've nothing in the pipeline at present for editing, but if I get a chance in the next few days, I'll record a .ts stream to edit and see if it works for me.
I completely agree with that! If you do have a go, please leave a comment to say how you got on, or if you need a hand with anything, and I'll try to help. Are you using Windows, by the way? It would be good to hear if someone gets it to work under Windows. I can't see there would be any problem, but I use Linux and haven't tried. I guess a couple of things (flagged in the blog) might be different.
After a bit of faffing around with ProjectX, managed to do a brief edit on a short .ts file, and to convert it - complete with subs - to a vob file following Alan's tutorial blog. This process will definitely come in handy as/if/when I need to work on a 'proper' programme file, so thanks again for your work Alan.
I'm running 32-bit Debian (basically the same as Mint under the bonnet) on nine-year-old hardware -- one of the reasons (besides avoiding quality loss) that I was keen to avoid transcoding! Even on an old PC, no stage of the process takes too long, because it basically boils down to copying files (albeit large ones) around on the disk.
I'll second that! ProjectX is a minefield of esoteric tickboxes and mysterious menu options (some of which seem to appear in multiple locations) with apparently no documentation at all and a user forum written largely in German. But I find it difficult to criticize, as it's free, fast, platform agnostic, uniquely powerful and gets the job done perfectly where no other program I tried succeeds.
Glad to share something useful. Please do comment or post back if it works, or if you get stuck -- I may have stumbled across the answer in the many hours it took me to work out as much as I put in the blog.