Hi, Could anyone recommend software that will give me precision editing of an .mpg file? I've tried a couple of programs such as VCDCutter and iFilmEdit but after you have made a movie the mark in and, more noticeably, the mark out commands have moved by a number of frames in the final edit. I want to be able to split and edit precisely to the frame I chose, not several frames on or back. I know i can do this in Adobe Premiere but as the files have already been encoded I don't know how to get them out of Premiere unless I want them encoded again (via Panasonic Plugin). Am I right in assuming this, or can I edit .mpg in Premiere with the precision I require and save them as is? Finally, when I burn VCD I always seem to lose a few seconds of my original .mpg at the end of playback. Is this normal? Thanks for your help with this. Lee.

-- Lee.L (napalmgod@supanet.com), December 16, 2000

Answers

It is not possible to be right on a frame mark every time working with an mpeg file. You will be 1 or 2, off here, there, etc. (By the way, do NOT use Webflix Pro for editing. It will do some nasty things to your mpeg.) If you want (or) need prescise "spot on" cuts, it must be done when your mpeg is still an avi. But if you must (as you may only have mpegs) I suggest tmpgenc. It is easy, free, and will cut where you want it (+ or - 1 or 2). It can be found at www.tmpgenc.com
As far as the "few seconds lost" at the end of your mpeg. It sounds like you are using windows media player. If you are trying to cut-up your mpeg to make it play with "index points/chapter points" cutting it up isn't the proper way. You need Videopack 4, or WinOnCD PE to make the entry points into a single mpeg file.

-- Bada (bing_bada_bom@5th.net), December 16, 2000.

This is true. You cannot orecisely cut an MPEG file. This is because a MPG file is not made up of frames but a combination of frames. The way mpg's are made is by not recording 30 frames per second but by recording the first frame and then only what changes in the next 29 frames.

-- Al McCraw (almccraw@ix.netcom.com), December 16, 2000.

Actually there are frame accurate Mpeg editors. But they are quite expensive. I believe they mark your cut exactly where you want in the playback and the "re-render" the mpeg to re-construct the GOP sequences. Actually it's not every 30 frames but typically every 15 frames. That's where the I-Frame is inserted. IfilmEdit get's it's name because it's "I-frame" accurate only. Thus I-filmedit. It will sort of "round off" to the nearest I frame to your cut. As the other posters have noted, this needs to be done to keep the GOP sequence and other things intact. This is also why those I-frame editors are so fast. They don't have to "render" the video. Because the "cut" and "join" are at only I-frames, the video can be just "copied" instead of rendered. I've been using IflimEdit for some time now and mostly for cutting commercials from captured favorite TV shows. There are tricks you can use to get "closer" to where you want. For example, when you mark your "in" cut move your cut point frame by frame to a few frames further IN than you really want. For example if it's a point where the commercial ends and the show starts, move slightly into the show. Set your mark in spot. Then for the mark out, move your cut a little back into the show by just a few frames. You'll find the when it re-positions those marks to make the actual cut, it will be "closer" to where you wanted it. This works great for shows where there is some "fade to black" which gives you a little bit of black frames to work with. But sorry to say almost impossible if they do a straight cut from scene to scene. I've gotten pretty good at "guestimatting" where and how much to "pad" my cuts. (I have several hundred VCDs under my belt) The result is very nice and in 95 percent of the cuts, they are nice transitions. A typical full editing of a one hour TV show takes me about 10 minutes. But I go crazy too, when there is no "black" between the scenes I need to separate. I've tried some other supposeded frame accurate editors, like from Darim and such, but the high end editors are over-kill for the simple cut and paste I need. Now I'm looking for something like IFilmEdit that will work with SVCD frame sized Mpeg-2. In my case I don't need frame accuracy .. but I haven't found anything like that for Mpeg-2 video.

-- Rich (richa@pcphotovideo.com), December 17, 2000.

Try M1-Edit Pro for MPEG-1 frame accurate editing. M2-Edit Pro for MPEG1/2 frame accurate editing. Yes, save a lot of mula first b4 u go shopping. Also, do not just use the s/w as it. Go to their web-site for latest patch (if any). Mostly patches are issued to correct A-V sync issues.

Beware: MyFlix Pro is a scaled down version of M1/2-Edit, ie. same vendor. Edited scene change/cuts & burnt 200+ VCDs this way - perfect A-V sync & accepted by Nero as VCD 2.0 compliant. Finally junked my ole faithful iFilmEdit after 2 yrs.

Re-encodes I-frame for the newly cut movies and copies the rest "as-is" to make new GOPs, quality loss, theoretically is present (re-encode) but I shd say <1% (maybe my dog can differentiate it).

Encode using TMPGEnc with "closed GOP"? Mayhaps u can do yr cut more accurately? That's what closed-GOP is for - post-editing.

My 3 cents. :-)

-- XEQtor (xeqtor@newsguy.com), March 16, 2001.