Replace Start and End points with Split pts, Batch with Render
Thanks
admin 22 Dec, sorry for not replying earlier.
I just started trying this, on another TV record, relatively big (
Arte.TV_2013-0621.20h40.m2ts, 7.49GB, 3h49mn, AVC, 1440×1080, info and downloads 2min sample and 3h23min total on ARTE's
COSÌ FAN TUTTE page), of which I want to save
Cosi fan tutte (3h23min) and its
trailer (25sec), with dividing the whole in 86-87 parts according to the
DME Score Table of Contents (of course I will reduce these 87 parts to 15-20 but only after a lot of try-and-seek-and-error-and-back-and-forth, while watching, listening, and following the score, which involves a similar amount of work). Unfortunately the method above is impracticable with file sizes current today:
A - In Smart Cutter, seeking and finding the right point is too hard: in a 3-hour file, on the long slider in the SC interface, the smallest mouse move goes too far left or right; I have to 1st narrow, then many times alternatively, click "
forward one frame", and move the short slider to its right end (fwd, right end, fwd, right end, fwd, right end, fwd, etc), then fine-tune using "fwd" and "back" (by one frame). Smart Cutter lacks (or has not visible enough) a way to fast-and-fine navigating along a long input file. Just one example, when the part between Start and End points is short compared to the input file (e.g. 5min in a 3h input), Smart Cutter CANNOT show that 3-min part as the "
blue segment" announced in
How To EDIT §7 (Now this is not the worse nor the most urgent to fix).
B - The steps above should (IMO) be completed with a "2bis" as follows:
1. Define a NEW START POINT and a NEW END POINT
2. Click 'add batch' so to add it as a new batch item
2bis. Click "JUMP TO END POINT" (the 180×135 image at bottom right of SC interface)
3. Click 'Delete'(on the bottom of the UI) to reset the time line
4. Repeat 1~3 ........
(Of course this method, once completed and re-read and eventually corrected, should be properly integrated into the
How To EDIT page).
This is because when dividing your input file into multiple tracks (e.g. for future use in
m3u Playlists for
VLC or
MPC-HC or
WMP), you need to accurately place the beginning of a track exactly on the end of the previous one; and SC not always remains on the End point after "
add batch". So, short of the "2bis", you have to write down each exact End point, at the millisecond and/or frame number, which is tedious, time-consuming and error-prone.
Even then, even with this eventual "2bis", it is very tedious and difficult to work. For instance today after pre-batching my first 5 tracks I get this (click to enlarge):
where you can see that those 5 tracks (under "
Result Point" top right in the image) have their Start and End points apparently counted from the start of the eventual output file, while the current point (
10:58:06:044 at left middle of the image) is apparently counted from an unknown origin somewhere around 10 hours ahead of the input file debut. Such details, that are countless in SC, make this program very hard if not nearly impossible to use, while its great qualities (
Smart Seek,
Smart Cut, accurate and easy to follow audio track histogram, etc) should oppositely make it very efficient.
C - Better would be (if you have the time, that is) to use "
Split points" as Sony Vegas calls them (
SONY Vegas Movie Studio Platinum Suite TRIAL 12.0 64b b896). In Vegas, User just hits "S" on his keyboard which creates a Split point, and repeats as necessary down to end of the input file, which divides it in a number of parts; then clicks an unwanted part, hits "Del" to remove it, and repeats as necessary; finally clicks "Render" to apply.
Smart Cutter should use the same way, which is much more relaxing and time-saving: when discovering that a Split point is misplaced (which you often can't know before careful watching your output and its audio histogram while listening to it), you simply move that Split point and re-Render.
Versailles, Tue 25 Jun 2013 07:06:00 +0200
