Joining video files

Gandalf23

I posted a similar question a few weeks ago, but didnt get a solution I was happy with.

Heres the problem. I have a cd containing about five 2 minute clips of video. The video clips play in the default player when inserted in cd drive (in my case this is Nero Showtime), but will also play in virtually any media player as far as I know.

The clips tell the story of the building of a bridge in the US, and all the associated problems from a project management perspective.

I want to put these clips together into ONE movie to show at the start of a class I'm giving in Project Managemnent because it looks very disjointed if I show five 2 minute clips.

Is there any software which can join files like this to make one (reasonably seamless and professional looking) bigger file?

Thanks in advance...

/ btw, I have received all the necessary permissions from the copyright owners to use this material in class... the cd accompanies the course book I am using, but the book is expensive and I know all students wont buy it /

Khannie

Are they mpeg files?

If so, "cat file1.mpg file2.mpg file3.mpg > complete_set.mpg" works just dandy.

dl

A Google search came up with this lot... some are free to download, why not try one of them and see how you get on.

dl

mp3guy

http://fcchandler.home.comcast.net/stable/ tbh

MrVestek

You could always just use Windows Movie Maker that comes as standard with Windows XP, put all the videos in the timeline then re-encode to a wmv file.

Tony H

have a look at afterdawn.com in the guide section

SparrowHawk

I use Avi Mpeg RM WMV Joiner .
Use it on a regular basis & works a treat - not free though!

Sam Vimes

rather than join them just put the in a playlist in winamp or whatever and they'll play one after the other. unless there's bits at the end you want to cut out?

Gandalf23

Thanks folks... I'll give those suggestions a look over the next week and report back in this thread on my success.

Khannie wrote:

Are they mpeg files?

If so, "cat file1.mpg file2.mpg file3.mpg > complete_set.mpg" works just dandy.

Khannie this sounds good but unfortunately I'm too stupid to understand what it means. How do I do this exactly?

mp3guy

i think its for linux

Khannie

Nah, you can do it in windows too....you just need to download "cat". If you get yourself cygwin ( http://www.cygwin.com/ ) it will have cat. What you do then is start->run->cmd (enter)

In the command prompt type:

cd <location of your mpeg files)
<location of cygwin>\cat.exe file1.mpg file2.mpg > joined_file.mpg

Explicit example is:

cd C:\movies\files\
C:\usr\bin\cat.exe file1.mpg file2.mpg > joined_file.mpg

Hope that helps. If it's not clear, shout and I'll revise it.

Khannie

Or in linux, it's similar...open a shell

cd /movies/files/ (or whatever)
cat file1.mpg file2.mpg > joined_files.mpg

Initially I just assumed you were using linux because of your sig.

Gandalf23

Thanks Khannie... good stuff... I'll give it a try before the weekend when I have a spare few minutes.

I use both Windows and Linux on my laptop btw. I just find it easier to do this type of stuff in Windows (although I'd love to experiment properly with video editing in Linux and have a look at what software is available) because I have to transfer my final lectures to other computers and email to students who most likely have never heard of Linux .