Splitting a large mpeg file

Berzelius · Post by **Berzelius** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:31 pm

I have a TV film that I recorded as a mpeg file on my PC using my USB TV stick. Including all the adverts and bits at the beginning and end, it is 4 hours long and 500MB in size. Unfortunately, because of this size, my PC has proved itself incapable of handling this in VideoStudio 11. I did try splitting it in VideoStudio this but this did not help - I understand that this is because this does not physically divide the file. So, is there any way that I could physically divide the file into, say, four smaller files that my PC would then be capable of handling.

DVDDoug · Post by **DVDDoug** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:14 pm

I don't think the file size is your problem. 500MB is small for a video file.

And, 4 hours squeezed into 500MB is very compressed... Four hours is "pushing it" for a 4.35GB DVD! Is this MPEG-4? Some MPEG-2 files cause trouble, and MPEG-4 files frequently cause trouble. (The more compressed formats tend to cause the most trouble when you try to edit or convert them.)

If you want to try splitting the file, here are some FREE file splitters/joiners.

If you want to create fragments/segments that you can play and edit, then you might need something like VideoReDo ($50 - $75 USD).

And, if you need a full-featured MPEG editor, try Womble ($70 - $100 USD). I had trouble ediing MPEG-2 files with Video Studio 8, so I tried Womble and I still use it for MPEG editing.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:09 pm

Please right click on the file within Video Studio and copy down all its Properties here... I have to agree with Doug that 500 MB is an incredibly small file for 4 hours of video So I too am interested in exactly what format it is, though like Doug, I suspect a very highly compressed mpeg-4 format.

Berzelius · Post by **Berzelius** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:34 pm

As requested, here are the properties of the file. It was recorded on my PC using a Hauppauge WinTV-Nova-T-Stick.

File name: G:\WinTV Recording\Channel5.mpg
File format: MPEG-2
File size: 503,606 KB
Duration: 14569.040 seconds

Video type: MPEG-2 Video, Upper field first
Total frames: 364,226 frames
Attributes: 24 bits, 720x576, 16:9
Frame rate: 25.000 frames/sec
Data rate: Variable bit rate (Max 200kbps)

Audio type: MPEG Audio Layer 2 Files
Total samples: 699,313,920 Samples
Attributes: 48000 Hz, 16 Bit, Stereo
Layer: 2
Bit rate: 192 kbps

Post by **Ken Berry** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:57 pm

Well, it is now clear why you fit so much video into such an incredibly small file.

The bitrate you used (200 kbps) is so abysmally low, the end quality will be appalling. Sorry but I have no other word for it. Average quality DVDs will use a bitrate of around 4000 kbps, good quality will be 6000 kbps and 8000 kbps will produce excellent quality (dependent, of course, on the quality of the original material).

But of course, the higher the bitrate, the less video you can fit on a DVD. To fit 4 hours of mpeg-2 onto one single layer DVD, the bitrate would definitely have to go well below 4000, probably to around 2000 kbps. But the quality at even that rate would be pretty poor. Your setting is notionally ten times worse at just 200 kbps.

And I suspect that the reason VS has had trouble handling this video is not because of its size -- as both Doug and I have already said, 500 MB is almost nothing in video editing terms and VS can handle files like that more than easily enough. Instead, it is most likely because of the appallingly low bitrate.

I should have noted earlier, that apart from the bitrate, all the other settings are standard DVD format settings.

Berzelius · Post by **Berzelius** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:49 pm

Thanks for the reply. All of the settings are those put in place by the Hauppauge software. It looks like I need to go to the Hauppauge forum and start asking a few questions there.

sl2008 · Post by **sl2008** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:53 pm

I edited a 385 GB AVI video (non compressed!) without any glitch last week.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:59 pm

I know nothing about the Hauppage software, so hopefully Steve Jones might jump in here. However, it seems to me you may have chosen a setting which tells the program you want to record several hours of video in one go. It thus reduces the bitrate accordingly, though why it goes as low as it does, I have no idea.

Again with no idea of how you adjust the Hauppage software, I would be looking for a setting which would allow me to choose, say, an average quality setting or even Good. I would then ignore any messages from the software which would tell me that the setting is too high to be able to fit that much video on a single DVD.

I would then edit the captured video using the same settings in VS, and in the burning module, instead of trying to burn a DVD, I would choose the option of burning a DVD Folder (Video_TS). Then when that is done, I would use a third party program like DVD Shrink or Nero Recode to reduce that Video_TS folder to a size which will fit onto a single DVD. Those programs are specially designed to reduce the size of a video without much affecting the quality.

Berzelius · Post by **Berzelius** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:34 pm

Thanks for the further reply. I have a sneaking suspicion that there is only one, set, recording quality option but I shall look into it further.

Last night I tried burning an iso file of the whole mpg file overnight. 9 hours later it had still only reached about 20% in the conversion process, at which point I abandoned it!

I thought that I might have a sort of workaround for future recordings by using a succession of successive 1 hour recordings to produce files that might be easier to work with. So, I tried it for three successive 1 hour sessions of a 3 hour recording. And what happens? My firewall kicks in after 2 successful sessions and, at the start of the third, asks if I wished to allow the recording program to launch! As I was fast asleep at the time it just remained stuck there. You can't win, can you?

However, I shall persevere. Fortunately, I normally record TV programs on my DVD recorder. I only use the TV recording occasionally if 2 programs clash.

Black Lab · Post by **Black Lab** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:21 pm

I thought that I might have a sort of workaround for future recordings by using a succession of successive 1 hour recordings to produce files that might be easier to work with. So, I tried it for three successive 1 hour sessions of a 3 hour recording. And what happens? My firewall kicks in after 2 successful sessions and, at the start of the third, asks if I wished to allow the recording program to launch! As I was fast asleep at the time it just remained stuck there. You can't win, can you?

That's why the Suggested Workflow, editing profile, and shutting down of background apps are recommended for people who have problems.