Splitting an M2T file
 

Anyone know of any tools that I can take a very large M2T file (10GB+) and split it into chunks so that I could burn them seperatly onto a DVD-R? I've been trying to archive my M2T's since my HD is filling up, but most are too large to fit onto a single disc.

Let me say I'm not wanting a scene detection utility or anything like that, I just want something to split it so the files could then be placed back to back on the timeline and fit together just like they had been as one large file (i.e. no skips, drop outs, etc.).

Thanks,
mike

span....
 

Most any backup software and even many of the disc burning packages will span multiple disks. I have Nero 6 and have seen the option for it though I have never had cause to use it.

Randy

Yea I had thought about spanning, but did not want to do that since you basically have to un-span back to HD in order to even review the file. If I can split the files, I'd be able to put the DVD in, load the clip and review and if its the one I need, pull it off and work with it.

Thanks for the idea though, I think I have Nero 7 if push comes to shove.


Thanks,
mike

I don't know any first hand, aside from TMPGEnc maybe, but you can find tools to split MPEG files cleanly. A good place to look is videohelp.com. I have TMPGEnc 2.5 which I think literally could do the split, but it's sure not set up for it, and the resulting files would be program stream files (not transport stream).

There is a free tool for splitting MPEG-2 TS files (HDV)


HDVSplit version 0.7


http://strony.aster.pl/paviko/hdvsplit.htm


Des-it do the job for you ???


Best regards

Germain

I've talked to the guy who does HDVSplit and right now all it does it automatic scene splitting, which is not what I need. He has an item on his todo list where you'll be able to load up a M2T file and choose the split location and it will break it into two M2T files.

I already have used HDVSplit to capture live HDV video from my HC1 though, from what I can tell, it worked pretyt good. Prior I had used VLC, but it was a lot more cumbersome to set up to capture the video.


Thanks,
mike

Michael,

I just use the editor that came with the JVC to edit portions of a completed pgm into small enough chunks. There's no re-rendering, and it's quite fast - about half the running time. Also, dual layer burners and discs are getting quite cheap now - minimizes the problem.

MPEG EDIT from womble.com will do exactly what you need: split files at the places of your choosing without rerendering.

You just select your new in and out points and hit the red button, give the split file a new name and hit enter. You can even batch file your output so you don't have to wait for each file to copy before moving on to the next. I highly recommend it.

Laurence, I just tried out both the March'05 and Dec'05 versions of Womble's MPEG Video Wizard.

I made various copies and splits of an .m2t file I'd captured via Premiere2.0/AspectHD. The resulting file appears to be identical in all it's file properties to the original...but it is about 5% smaller.

But unlike the original, it won't play in my installation of Windows Mediaplayer 10 (with the Nvidia purevideo decoder installed). And it also won't export back to my HC1 via HDLink.

I certainly prepared to believe this must be a quirk of my system - you don't have these issues, right?

The new file did load happily into Procoder, and back into PPro2, so its not like the footage is getting badly corrupted or anything. Nevertheless, these subtle glitches in Mpeg transport streams are a real pain in the butt when it comes to pondering good archive solutions!

That is exactly why I recommended MPEG VCR instead of MPEG Wizard. They are at the same web site and when you buy MPEG WIZARD you also own a licence for MPEG VCR. Anyway, if you split m2t files back with MPEG Wizard, the Purevideo decoder can't read them but if you split them with MPEG VCR it can. MPEG VCR is better for this anyway because you can batch file the output files so that you can split a bunch of files more efficiently.

I'm sure this has something to do with the irregular GOP sequence that MPEG Wizard generates. I don't know if you can copy MPEG VCR split files back to the camera. I haven't tried that but I'll bet it works just fine.

Thanks! You mentioned MPEG EDIT in the earlier post and so I dithered between whether that meant MPEGVideoWizard or MPEG2VCR on the Womble site - looks like I picked the wrong one!

I'll try MPEG2VCR now and report back.

Partial success.

As Laurence predicted, m2t files produced by Womble's MPEG Editor (a.k.a MPEG2VCR) play nicely with on my system using Windows Media Player 9 with NVidia's Purevideo decoder installed.

They won't load back onto my HC1 via HDLink over firewire, however.

I had never tried that. It's good to know. Darn! Anyway, it's still useful and I can back them up (as I already do) to DVD-R.

Yep, darn. My workaround for now is to import the Womble clips back onto the PremierePro timeline and then hit 'export to tape' to get them back to the camera via firewire.

They don't get re-rendered - no red line appears above them - but they perhaps get remuxed as it takes a (not-unreasonable) period of processing before they are sent out to tape.

This works for both the VideoWizard and VideoEditor clips, by the way...

Found this thread very helpful. I have a similar issue - ie want to split 12+Gb m2t files to put onto DVD-R and DVD+R DL disks. In this case its to play on a Sony PS3, which will play m2t data files right off the disk.

Problem I've got is that it doesn't see the m2t files saved using MPEG2VCR. The PS3 just thinks the disk is empty. I don't particularly want to go through writing the new trimmed files back out to tape and reading them back in again in the hoping of 'cleaning' them in some way, so does anyone know of a solution to this?

Thanks