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Merge/Joing M4V Files - Which Software?

wikus

wikus

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 1, 2011
1,795
2
Planet earth.
I have about 190 movie clips from my vacation that need to be merged together. Originally they were in AVCHD but I had to move all the files off the SD Card from my camera from which I kept ONLY the raw MTS files. I can convert these individually with Handbrake to single mp4 files, but that would take ages and the total running time is about 3 hours (more for conversion and such).

So I've been able to convert the files to M4V with ClipGrab and a script file which opens up the doors significantly for batch join.

The question now is:

What software do I use?

I've tried iMove but importing anything takes ages and exporting on top takes equally long and the exported quality is absolute GARBAGE even with uncompressed (my source files are 1920x1080).

MPEG Streamclip doesnt really work as intended, it leaves artifacts all over the video. MP4 tools also has problems.

I really don't understand why there is no SIMPLE application to join a bunch of video files....

Any help??
 
M

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
wikus said:
What software do I use?
Click to expand...

If you have iVI, you can also give it a try. As I've explained at https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=15394130 , just drag the first video in the app, then, double-click it in the list, select the Video Joining tab (fourth) and drag the additional, to-be-joined videos there in the order you want to join them.

If the videos are in the same format + resolution + fps, they will be joined. This means this app is, highly recommended for MP4 joining as well - in addition to MTS remuxing.
 
C

Cecco

macrumors regular
Jun 11, 2008
110
9
Menneisyys2 said:
If you have iVI, you can also give it a try. As I've explained at https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=15394130 , just drag the first video in the app, then, double-click it in the list, select the Video Joining tab (fourth) and drag the additional, to-be-joined videos there in the order you want to join them.

If the videos are in the same format + resolution + fps, they will be joined. This means this app is, highly recommended for MP4 joining as well - in addition to MTS remuxing.
Click to expand...

First, I appreciate your great blog entries in iphonelife.

Since I've switched from DV to AVCHD recorders/cameras a couple of years ago, I'm looking for a solution with the elegance of iMovie to edit (basically trim/join) the clips without intermediate reencoding (as iMovie does).

I already use iVI for remuxing to mp4 and the join feature is definetly welcome, but it is in no ways a substitute for iMovie even for simple hard cuts.

I've looked into the myriads of Aunsoft & Co video apps (final mate, mts converter etc.) but playback of HD content is very slow and the GUI is not very Mac like. Not to speak of the terrible localization (obviously made with a translation program).

I've downloaded the trial of Premiere Elements 10. Unfortunately it cannot handle 1080/p50 or p60 content directly, which means reencoding of the whole video.

Do you have any suggestions for a speedy, light weight app for editing mts, m2ts directly or after remuxing to m4p?
 
Last edited:
M

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Cecco said:
First, I appreciate your great blog entries in iphonelife.

Since I've switched from DV to AVCHD recorders/cameras a couple of years ago, I'm looking for a solution with the elegance of iMovie to edit (basically trim/join) the clips without intermediate reencoding (as iMovie does).

I already use iVI for remuxing to mp4 and the join feature is definetly welcome, but it is in no ways a substitute for iMovie even for simple hard cuts.

I've looked into the myriads of Aunsoft & Co video apps but playback of HD content is very slow and the GUI is not very Mac like. Not to speak about the terrible localization (obviously made with a translation program).

I've downloaded the trial of Premiere Elements 10. Unfortunately it cannot handle 1080/p50 or p60 content directly, which means reencoding of the whole video.

Do you have any suggestions for a speedy, light weight app?
Click to expand...

So, you need to directly edit AVCHD MTS files? That's quite problematic - I always simply remux the AVCHD files to MP4's for much better editor support.
 
C

Cecco

macrumors regular
Jun 11, 2008
110
9
Menneisyys2 said:
So, you need to directly edit AVCHD MTS files? That's quite problematic - I always simply remux the AVCHD files to MP4's for much better editor support.
Click to expand...

No, while directly editing AVCHD MTS files would save me the prior remuxing step, it is not an issue to first batch remux them to MP4s with iVI or Clipwrap. Frankly I do this already to be able to use the clips with quicktime compatible apps.

Still, as far as I know, to edit the remuxed MP4s with iMovie or FCP they are reencoded to AIC on import and then encoded again on export. As I mostly do simple trim/join operations on the clips, I'd prefer an editor that would handle this without reencoding, but with an elegant, solid GUI.

What editor do you use to edit your remuxed mp4s?
 
wikus

wikus

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 1, 2011
1,795
2
Planet earth.
Dave Braine said:
You should be able to do it with Quicktime.
Click to expand...

Doesn't work. I tried combining the videos by dragging and dropping videos from one to the other, while still being edited the video plays back fine, but after being saved as a .MOV file, the sound from the second clip and further cuts out. Converting the same file with Handbrake doesnt help (I've found videos that are buggy get fixed with Handbrake).

I'm going to try iVI later on and see if it helps at all. Otherwise I'm gonna boot into Windows... Mac is proving to be a joke for such simple tasks.
 
M

Menneisyys2

macrumors 603
Jun 7, 2011
5,997
1,101
Cecco said:
No, while directly editing AVCHD MTS files would save me the prior remuxing step, it is not an issue to first batch remux them to MP4s with iVI or Clipwrap. Frankly I do this already to be able to use the clips with quicktime compatible apps.

Still, as far as I know, to edit the remuxed MP4s with iMovie or FCP they are reencoded to AIC on import and then encoded again on export. As I mostly do simple trim/join operations on the clips, I'd prefer an editor that would handle this without reencoding, but with an elegant, solid GUI.

What editor do you use to edit your remuxed mp4s?
Click to expand...

I personally use SimpleMovieX ( http://simplemoviex.com/ ) and Streamclip ( http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html ) on my Mac for this.

Both are capable of losslessly editing / trimming even 1080p50/60 video files around keyframes (only). (If you do need frame-level cutting with reencoding the non-keyframes, go for FameRing Co. Ltd's ( http://www.fame-ring.com/without.re-encoding.html ) commercial products. I haven't tested them as they're Windows-only). The differences:

Streamclip is totally free, unlike SimpleMovieX. Nevertheless, the latter can be used in the free mode if you can put up with the artificially slowed-down saving.

Streamclip slower to render 1080p while playback from inside the app itself; it doesn't show keyframes while navigating the file; it doesn't preserve subtitle or chapter info tracks if present – all unlike SimpleMovieX.

All in all, check out SimpleMovieX first and don't forget – the free mode is pretty much usable, should you not want to shell out $39 for the license.
 
wikus

wikus

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 1, 2011
1,795
2
Planet earth.
Menneisyys2 said:
If you have iVI, you can also give it a try. As I've explained at https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=15394130 , just drag the first video in the app, then, double-click it in the list, select the Video Joining tab (fourth) and drag the additional, to-be-joined videos there in the order you want to join them.

If the videos are in the same format + resolution + fps, they will be joined. This means this app is, highly recommended for MP4 joining as well - in addition to MTS remuxing.
Click to expand...

Well, iVI seems to be just as useless as every other piece of software. Double clicking on the video in the list and then adding other videos to it to join works, but when it comes to 'converting' it *nothing* happens... there is no file that is outputted.

Seriously, how the hell can such a simple task be made so incredibly difficult?
 
C

Cecco

macrumors regular
Jun 11, 2008
110
9
Menneisyys2 said:
I personally use SimpleMovieX ( http://simplemoviex.com/ ) and Streamclip ( http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html ) on my Mac for this.
Click to expand...

Many thanks.

Frankly I've used both a few years ago to cut out commercials from TV recordings. Later on I relied on less perfect but less time consuming automatic detection of commercials and almost forgot about these programs.

Downloaded the current version of SimpleMovieX and it seems to be the best solution I've came across so far.

I've disabled the cut on nearest keyframe option, did a cut and join outside of keyframes and saved the result to mov and mp4 containers. To my surprise, the resulting movie played without any errors around the joins. The manual says, you can do frame-level cuttings, if you save the movie as mov or mp4.

I'm wondering how this works, if SimplemovieX isn't reencoding the non-keyframes. Any idea?
 
G

Guzaking

macrumors member
Mar 4, 2015
82
0
wikus said:
MPEG Streamclip doesnt really work as intended, I really don't understand why there is no SIMPLE application to join a bunch of video files....
Click to expand...

ditto...why isn't there a good, solid, simple software program out there (that doesn't have a ton of reviews saying they are infected with malware) to simply string a few mp4's together into 1 single mp4 file. It's not rocket-science. I have wasted hours now still trying to find a good program but to no avail?
 
MacUser2525

MacUser2525

Suspended
Mar 17, 2007
2,097
377
Canada
Guzaking said:
ditto...why isn't there a good, solid, simple software program out there (that doesn't have a ton of reviews saying they are infected with malware) to simply string a few mp4's together into 1 single mp4 file. It's not rocket-science. I have wasted hours now still trying to find a good program but to no avail?
Click to expand...

Avidmux using its append function with copy set for the video and audio codecs.
 
G

Guzaking

macrumors member
Mar 4, 2015
82
0
I've found the easiest way of doing it, just use an older version of the regular free QuickTime 7.0+ which gives you the ability to just drag and drop files on top of each other in sequence and it creates a perfect, merged video for you. Ofcourse Apple took this feature away on their later updates as usual to force people to buy the Pro version, but you don't need to buy it. QuickTime 7.0+ also gives alot of other useful features too, all taken away from users in upgrades! upgrades! upgrades!

http://www.macyourself.com/2009/03/...eo-files-using-the-free-version-of-quicktime/
 
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