[FFmpeg-user] Seeking for a method to remove sections of a video

[James Girotti]

On Sun, Jun 18, 2017 at 9:50 AM, Carlos E. R. <robin.listas at telefonica.net>
wrote:

> On 2017-06-18 15:02, Frank Tetzel wrote:
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> I'm new to this list.
> >>
> >> I'm seeking for a tool to remove the start and end sections of a movie
> >> recorded from TV, plus sections on the middle (commercials), in
> >> Linux. I have tried several GUI tools and they are either too complex
> >> or lack some crucial feature (like handling two language audio
> >> tracks). Some tools are obsolete and abandoned, do not work
> >> (gopchop...).
> >>
> >> I have found that ffmpeg can do the perfect conversion and cutting.
> >>
> >> My problem is finding out the cut points.
> >>
> >> Thus what I seek is a GUI Wrapper for ffmpeg that allows me to move
> >> around the movie selecting start, end, and middle remove sections, and
> >> just generate a script for ffmpeg that I can then edit and adjust with
> >> my own options and run.
> >>
> >> I have tried, for instance, ffmpegyag. Well, it is incapable of
> >> visualizing my videos, so I can't select the cut points...
> >>
> >>
> >> The closest I have is finding the points with Xine, then manually
> >> concot the command line to generate sections, then concatenate using
> >> method in https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Concatenate
> >>
> >> I seek a GUI to automate generating the cut points in a list or
> >> script.
> >>
> >> Thanks :-)
> >>
> >
> > In the past I used avidemux for simple cutting jobs:
> > http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/
> >
> > Not sure if it can handle multiple audio tracks.
>
> It can't.
>
> I was told that version 3 can do it, but I tried and couldn't.
>
> > This is a full GUI application, not a ffmpeg frontend that you want.
> > Just mentioning it...
>
>
I ultimately run avidemux as a frontend to ffmpeg. I have avidemux save
(copy video and audio) to a FIFO which is then the input for my ffmpeg
command. From my limited testing that way supports multiple audio tracks.
It's not a perfect setup because you have to end cuts on key-frames, not
usually a problem for me though (you can start your cut wherever). Also,
you can see the PTS for a given frame in avidemux. So in the rare-case I
can manually tell ffmpeg where to cut a given segment. Generally, this is
the workflow I use.

Someone suggested mplayer with "--edlout=your_filename". I haven't tried
it, but it could give very accurate times without having to type them
yourself. The problem I foresee is that you cannot do backward frame steps.
That would end up frustrating me because I would likely go a frame too far
and then not have an accurate time.

Back in the day when I ran MythTV it was very easy to this kind of thing.
Their interface for this is great in my opinion. Within a couple minutes, I
could have all the commercials from a movie marked with accuracy to a
single-frame. MythTV is a lot to setup and run if you just want to cut
commercials though.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to use.

-James