a SIMPLE small program to merge 2 AVIs into 1 ?

[will3]

Hi all,

Have just joined VLC forums. I downloaded some videos, which although using H264 codec, have AVI extension. Each video is split into 2 AVi's, which is very inconvenient. According to VLC, both AVI's use the same video & Audio encode rates/parameters.

Is there a SIMPLE small program that can merge the 2 AVIs into a single file, without degrading video/audio quality ?

Thanks in advance.

[Lotesdelere]

Try AviDemux.
Although H.264 in AVI is a bad idea, use MP4 or MKV container instead.

[will3]

@Lotesdelere: thanks for your suggestion. 2 things: I read up on the Avidemux or their website and in wikipedia. It is quite a massive program at 18MB just to join 2 video files - by comparison, Virtualdub is 1.62MB. The second thing is, it is not clear from reading about either program, if they have a SIMPLE option to merge the 2 AVIs into a single file, without degrading video/audio quality. I prefer to install the minimum of Apps that are needed to do what I want for pc stability, and so reluctant to do trial installs just to find out if it will join the 2 files. Prior to my post here, somebody told me Virtualdub will do it., so I installed it. 2 problems: I couldn't find a 'merge' function in the menu, and I couldnt even load the 1st video, because it said I didn't have the required codec - not obvious where to get the req'd .DV? plugin.
Being far smaller than AviDemux, if Virtualdub will do it, I prefer using the smaller program (also wikipedia said of the 2, Virtualdub has an easier UI. Do you know if AviDemux DEFINITELY can simply merge the 2 videos ? Also, if you know Virtualdub, do you know a URL where I can download the req'd 'plugin' ? - I assume x/H264 as that is the format in thse 2 videos

[Lotesdelere]

Do you know if AviDemux DEFINITELY can simply merge the 2 videos ? Also, if you know Virtualdub, do you know a URL where I can download the req'd 'plugin' ? - I assume x/H264 as that is the format in thse 2 videos

Yes AviDemux can do it. Just drag and drop the first file into the AviDemux main window, then drag and drop the second file (assuming it's using the exact same format as the first file), then on the left panel select Copy for both video and audio streams and MP4 as the container and save your file.

VirtualDub is using the VfW framework which is outdated and was never meant for using any other container than AVI neither the H.264 codec (especially with B-frames). I strongly suggest not to use VirtualDub for H.264 videos and, once again, do NOT use AVI for H.264, use MP4 instead which can be natively played by Windows 7 and many other devices.
You've been warned.

[will3]

@Lotesdelere: Thanks for your advice. I installed AviDemux using the defaults. Did as you said, except 'Dragging' did nothing; had to use File>Open. Also, unless I used File>Append for 2nd file, it just replaced the first. The left panel defaults were Copy, Copy, AVI, so I just changed the AVI to MP4, and clicked Save like you said. It was fairly quick to Save the merged file, about 2 minutes. Curiously, I tried the 'Preview blue buttons at bottom, only to find the video played fine but audio very squeekly. The OP file would not play in WMP, but played fine in VLC - BUT, once the play was more then 15 min into the 2nd half of the merged file, the audio was badly out of sync. I redid this, trying MKV & AVI containers, but made no difference.
On reloading the src files, I inspected both the 'Properties' and Bitrate Info in AviDemux. Properties said the Codec4CC: H264, Audio codec MP3, VBR: No, Freq 22050Hz, Filesize: 46.70MB. After appending the 2nd file, I noticed the Audio Duration was 0.031secs longer than the Video Dur.
The Histogram said it had No B-frames. 787 I-frames, 195664 P-frames.I tried again having asked it to Rebuild the I & B-frames, but no different. At the beginning, as each file load came with a prompt "H264 detected, If File using B-frames, AviDemux can use another mode. I tried both ways but made no difference.
In 'Preferances, I initially altered none, but after a few goes, did alter the default Thread Priority to 'Below normal' to speed it a little.
I host my multimedia on a an external WD Passport as not feasible to keep it all on internal HDD. So both SRC and Destination are in same external folder. As processing speed didn't seem to be a problem, I hope using external HDD not cause of the problem ?
Should I be altering some 'Preferences' - Automation, Input, Output, Audio, Video?
Have you any idea what might be causing the 2nd video file to lose Audio sync after its first 15 minutes, and if so, how to fix that ?

My prefered container is MKV. You recommended MP4. Any reason for prefering MP4 over MKV ? If I get a fix for this, any reason I can't choose MKV ? (I plan to view only on PCs)

[will3]

@Lotesdelere: Thanking you again for your advice. Further to my reply to you on 4 November, I tried the same operation on a Notebook that has a 2GHz 2-core T7200 CPU, 1GB DDR2, running under WinXP SP3, and the join worked ok, completing in about 1 minutes, no audio sync issues. The first machine is an Acer Revo R3610 with a 1.6GHz 2-core Atom 330, 2GB DDR2, running under Win7 (32bit), which completed in about 2 minutes. Does that throw any light on why the audio became out of sync on the File2 to be Appended, and if there is a solution ?