Joining/combining/merging WMV etc. files?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Phred
  • Start date Start date
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Phred

G'day mates,

The other day I was playing around with joining files in various
formats by simply using the DOS COPY /B command to append the things.

Obviously, there was no problem in subsequently reading simple TXT
files appended that way (even COPY /A should work in most cases for
those :).

However, as expected, the more complex formats couldn't be combined
usefully with such a simplistic approach.

Surprisingly, MPEG files could be! But not other graphic formats such
as the common GIF, JPG and PNG types. WMV didn't work either.

So this led me to wonder if there are ways (programs?) to simply join
a bunch of such files into a single file that can be "played" with
something such as IrfanView (or even Windows Media Player).

I presume such programs would actually be an editor of sorts at the
very minimum and would work a bit like inserting stuff in a Word
processing document; rather than by simply copying files and suitably
modifying the header info on the fly?

Can anyone suggest a cheap (i.e. free :) program of this sort that I
could play with, please? Not looking for lots of features and
consequent large download as it wouldn't be worth the effort.

Thanks.


Cheers, Phred.
 
sabresonic said:
AsfTools should work for you (400KB)

http://www.geocities.com/myasftools/
Click to expand...

Thanks for that suggestion. I've downloaded it and now given it a
try. Seems to work up to a point with WMV files at least. But that
point is not perfect.

I've noticed at least two common defects:
1. "Frames" tend to freeze at joins, or sometimes at other places; and
2. Much more commonly, the images are distorted at joins and don't
seem to become coordinated again until some time later in the added
section. God knows what is causing this!

Mind you, the program doesn't have a manual as such, but does seem to
have a wealth of options under the various standard menus. So there
could be some solutions to the "problems" I've encountered buried in
there somewhere! If I ever get round to testing further, and get it
to work properly, I'll let you know.


Cheers, Phred.
 
Thanks for that suggestion. I've downloaded it and now given it a
try. Seems to work up to a point with WMV files at least. But that
point is not perfect.

I've noticed at least two common defects:
1. "Frames" tend to freeze at joins, or sometimes at other places; and
2. Much more commonly, the images are distorted at joins and don't
seem to become coordinated again until some time later in the added
section. God knows what is causing this!

Mind you, the program doesn't have a manual as such, but does seem to
have a wealth of options under the various standard menus. So there
could be some solutions to the "problems" I've encountered buried in
there somewhere! If I ever get round to testing further, and get it
to work properly, I'll let you know.



Cheers, Phred.
Click to expand...

try videoedit converter pro
http://www.viscomsoft.com/products/videoeditconverterpro/
 
(e-mail address removed) (Phred) wrote in message


try videoedit converter pro
http://www.viscomsoft.com/products/videoeditconverterpro/
Click to expand...

Well I guess USD25, even at AUD33, is fairly cheap (but not free :)
but the 6+ MB download is not exactly small -- though that depends
on who's standards we adopt in the bloatware age. :-)

But thanks for the suggestion, I might at least try the demo if I get
more enthusiastic about it all (i.e. if it gets to the point where I
actually *need* to do these things rather than just play around with
them).


Cheers, Phred.
 
G'day mates,

The other day I was playing around with joining files in various
formats by simply using the DOS COPY /B command to append the things.
Click to expand...
So this led me to wonder if there are ways (programs?) to simply join
a bunch of such files into a single file that can be "played" with
something such as IrfanView (or even Windows Media Player).
Click to expand...
<Snip>

Excerpts from the first few hits returned from ACF Google Archive
using "file" and "join". You'll have to determine your download size
threshold.

-----
Recommendations for freeware mpeg/AVI joiner please?
Click to expand...

mpg: filemerger:
http://home.planet.nl/~doesw008/filemerger.html
and : Camel's mpg joiner
http://freepctech.com/pc/002/files011.shtml

(there is an avi joiner here also)

avi: peck's power join:
http://www.divx-digest.com/software/pp_join.html

-----
Have you considered using Windows Movie Maker which comes with XP?

However, movie maker will convert it into a wmv file.
Click to expand...

MovieMaker2 is an excellent choice for concatenating and splitting avi
files. The freeware TMPGenc can convert the wmv to avi. First, rename
the wmv extension to asf and use that as the system audio+video
source, then save the stream as an AVI file (File->Output to file->AVI
file).

OTOH, if they all use Windows perhaps the files should remain in the
wmv format since it is a high-quality compressed file type that can be
viewed with Windows Media Player or Irfanview (with plugin).

-----

Virtual Dub is very good http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net/
It does a good job and has the capability to add audio background
files.
Looks a bit daunting at first but is remarkably simple to join avi
clips and
add background music or whatever audio.

There is a very comprehensive "how to" website for Virtual Dub at
http://nickyguides.digital-digest.com/join-split-avi.htm

-----
 
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