Edit .m2v File???
 

I have a project in which the video is available only as an .m2v DVD file.
I need to do edit cuts, add/insert some graphics, and replace the sound track. It's fairly basic stuff.
I would like to do this edit directly on the m2v file, as opposed to decompressing the mpeg, transcoding to avi, edit, recompress, etc.
Does anyone know of software, or plug-in (for PPro 2.0) that will allow me to do this?
Thanks

But if you just go ahead and convert it to something visually equal you can do whatever you want, then spit it back out. I don't think you can hack away at an .m2v (effectively)...

Well, that's the question- can you hack away at mpeg2. You certainly can do it with HDV m2t files- in PPro, FCP, etc. I'm just wondering if there is software for m2v as well.
The problem with converting from the original acquired DV to m2v (the file I have) to DV and back to m2v again, for DVD delivery- the problem is whipsawing the color sampling between 4:1:1 to 4:2:0 and back again several times.
I think the image resolution will hold to an acceptable level, but I am concerned re the color.
If I can edit in m2v, then output to DVD, I won't be tampering with the color sampling. In fact, the only part of the m2v that would get recompressed at all would be the edit point areas.

Robert,

If you were going to take the .m2v to a different codec for editing, I would suggest going to 10bit uncompressed, making the edits, then going back to m2v. This should help preserve chroma resolution during the transcode.

I won't swear to it, but I think you can sometimes rename the .m2v to .mpg and edit it that way. MPEG streamclip will let you do some basic editing.

-gb-

Thanks for the ideas Greg.
I think Streamclip will only cut the video on the I frame- it's like really, really basic. I don't think it would handle a 60 min commercial project.
Editing uncompressed is a great idea- I'm not sure if PPro can do it, but After Effects can.
The low road would be to take analog component out from the DVD and into an avi format. Would this be better/same/worse than digital conversion of the m2v file???

You might look at TMPGEnc MPEG Editor 2.0:

http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/pr...me20_spec.html

There is no way a digital to analog and then back to digital could possibly be better than staying all digital. I did some testing with the following method: import the VOBs into MPEG Streamclip, export as mpeg (all this does is get rid of the extra information contained in the vob file, like subtitles, multiple languages). Run this mpeg file through VirtualDub-MPEG and decompress to whatever you can afford space-wise... all the way up to uncompressed. Then take this file and edit it all you want.

I got very good results!

M2V - easy with Avid Liquid
 

Avid Liquid edits M2V as default.
I use it daily. No problems

try womble, its an mpg2 nle with smartrendering.. its free

Same thing as above, Liquid edits M2V natively. I also believe Vegas does too. It is better to do a native edit than convert it and loss information. Pinnacle Studio Plus V10.x should do the same as Liquid.

FYI Womble is NOT free.

Both TMPGEnc and Womble have free trials. Either one would probably do the job, for cutting and joining with minimal re-encoding.

As I understand it, .m2v files are nothing more than "video only" .mpeg files. As I also recall, Pinnacle 10 Plus actually captures HDV as an .m2v file, and edits that file natively, with a separate linked audio track. I will double check that this evening. In any event, I also believe I have been able to edit .m2v files directly in Premiere Pro 2.0, so I am not sure what the issue is.

Of course if you are going to do a lot of color correction, and are going to do a lot of heavy editing, I think it is adviseable to reencode to something more editable like Cineform

.m2v files are indeed just MPEG-2 video streams (not muxed with an audio stream).

Chris- actually, I just got the word from David Newman that Cineform Aspect HD Link will convert 480i .m2v into Cineform 480i 4:2:2 .avi.
This is the way to go.
Using Cineform, I should be able to go from .m2v to .avi and back to .m2v without resampling the color to a different matrix each time, which was my main concern.
I had actually tried this, but HD Link wouldn't process the .m2v. David gave me the "file selection" procedure that works.
Thanks all.