converting mp4 to (lossless?) avi

[reave]

I need to cut a scene out of an mp4 format video. I want to be able to use either Vegas or Virtualdub. I'm assuming it needs to be in an avi format. What would be an easy way to do this?

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

if you just need a scene, you might try loading the mp4 in Vegas. I don't normally advocate editing compressed formats, but if you're just pulling out a tiny piece, it might be ok. Otherwise, you can load the mp4 in virtualdub (you may need an AVS script), and export to lagarith AVI. You can even set start and stop points if you just want a short clip. Be sure to add the audio to this as well in virtualdub, otherwise it will be a bitch to match up in Vegas.

 

[reave]

Vegas wouldn't load it. I only have access to an mp4 of the clip (from a fanedit) and it's just for a trailer, so I'm not worried about the quality too much.

Any way to convert it to avi without quality loss so Vegas will take it?

 

[ThrowgnCpr]

yup. As I eluded to in my previous post, you can open in virtualdub and save as a lagarith avi.

step #1:
drink a beer

step #2:
open mp4 in virtualdub

if this succeeds skip to step #6, if fale, proceed to step #3

step #3
drink another beer

step #4:
in notepad write an avisyth script along the lines of the following:

DirectShowSource("C:\YourDirectory\YourVideo.mp4", fps=23.976)

(or whatever framerate is. see mediainfo)
save with *.avs extension

step#5:
open them shitz (your avs script) in virtualdub

step #6:
set compression (video -> compression...) to lagarith, and save as AVI. you can also set the in and out points of your clip if you only want a short piece. Do this on the timeline, before saving.

step #7:
enjoy another beer, or if you are blueyoda, an apple martini.

step #8:
holy shit!!! you have an AVI. edit that sucker.

 

[AvP]

enjoy another beer, or if you are blueyoda, an apple martini.

blueyoda drinks Babycham.

 

[blueyoda]

step #7:
enjoy another beer, or if you are blueyoda, several apple martinis.

Fixed.

 

[reave]

Trying this again and virtualdub keeps crashing when I load the avs file. In fact, it's crashing when I load ANY avs file that I've tried. FML.

 

[wabid]

I would actually suggest using avidemux. It is a somewhat unofficial successor to virtualdub. http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

You can open a video, set an in and out timecode and output to any container. You can input mp4 and output mp4 without reencoding. Avidemux has quickly become one of my most used video tools because it has no problems with h.264 like avidemux. It is also waaay more stable. It is also able to reencode from anything to anything. You can mux and demux. It pretty much does everything.

 

[reave]

Thanks. I'll give it a shot.

 

[TV's Frink]

Can it convert to lag avi?

 

[wabid]

Pretty sure it doesn't, but it will support HuffYUV which is probably a little better in some senses as it prioritizes decode speed to file size, and is more compatible with other software. (Lagarith is a modern fork of the HuffYUV code.)

I don't actually use it to encode video though. I use it as one of my mp4 muxing engines and to convert AC3 to AAC when necessary.

Then again I could be way off base. You might be able to get lagarith to work with avisynth as your input to avidemux and setting the video mode to copy. Never tried it. Is there a way to get avisynth to decode the mpeg (DGDecode) and output lagarith frames? Since avisynth is just a framebuffer, I am assuming this isnt possible.

You could also try and find a lagarith dll from the ffmpeg project, and see if it works as a plugin to avidemux. I'll play around and see if I can get it working.

Edit: nope, shit out of luck there. Lagarith is vfw only and the author has no intention of releasing a ffmpeg compatible dll. Too bad really. Lagarith is a strange codec though. (It also makes me nervous, I have read claims that it corrupts frames http://mod16.org/hurfdurf/?p=142 I am not sure if these accusations still apply.) If you want lossless and care about speed you should be using HuffYUV. You will need more disk space but you will get much better performance. If you want lossless and diskspace but speed is less important (meaning you have a very fast system so it wont matter) you should use FFV1. You can also check out beta/nightly builds of avidemux here http://avidemux-mswin.sourceforge.net/

 

[FforYou]

It’s really easy man, you just need a little bit of practice
That’s how you do it
http://www.askwiki.net/How-to-Convert-Mp4-to-Avi
I used this one to convert my first files and it was actually very easy thing to do. That’s a video if you want more details

 

[geminigod]

I'm afraid to ask what the F stands for...

 

[TV's Frink]

I'm afraid to ask what the F stands for...

 

[Gatos]

It’s really easy man, you just need a little bit of practice
That’s how you do it
http://www.askwiki.net/How-to-Convert-Mp4-to-Avi
I used this one to convert my first files and it was actually very easy thing to do. That’s a video if you want more details

For what it's worth, the thread title says convert mp4 to lossless avi. And that little video tutorial for use with "Leawo Video Converter" is not gonna produce lossless avi.

*Ok, I just realized this thread was started almost 2 years ago. Unnecessary necroposting FTW?