help converting old mpg file to mp4 to edit

[Avocheeseado]

Hi, I have recently transferred some old video tapes onto my PC. There are about 10 of them and about 2gb each. Because they are about 10 years old, they are in mpg format. To edit them, I need them to be in mp4. Is there anyway i can convert these files into mp4? I have tried some websites but they usually dont allow files over 200mb.

Thanks for any help

[minibois]

2 minutes ago, Avocheeseado said:

Hi, I have recently transferred some old video tapes onto my PC. There are about 10 of them and about 2gb each. Because they are about 10 years old, they are in mpg format. To edit them, I need them to be in mp4. Is there anyway i can convert these files into mp4? I have tried some websites but they usually dont allow files over 200mb.

Thanks for any help

Handbrake (https://handbrake.fr/) has always worked for me personally. Of course ffmpeg is also possible to use, but its command-style interface is slightly less intuitive I would say

With handbrake, you just insert the video file into the program, choose the format, on the video tab check the settings (I would say set the framerate to constant, keep the quality at about 22 I would say).

 

Handbrake encodes videos on your CPU, so depending on the processor you're using and the video size, it might take a bit

[WereCat]

or use ffmpeg to convert without having to encode again

[mariushm]

MeGUI would be super easy to work with: https://sourceforge.net/projects/megui/

 

[AbydosOne]

24 minutes ago, minibois said:

Handbrake encodes videos on your CPU

You can actually tell it to use your GPU, fun fact. See below...

 

 

[mariushm]

Either way, it's mpeg videos and SD quality, even a 10 year old PC without hardware (gpu) encoding will encode it it real time or near real time speed, so a 1h video will take at most 1-2 hours to finish.   

He only has a handful of files, there's no rush, can be done within a few days while watching youtube or tv

 

You should get a better editor though, which can work directly with that format, instead of recompressing (and losing quality). 

DaVinci Resolve is free, and it's a good video editor.  Lots of other free basic video editors out there that should support mpeg files. 

 

Also MeGUI I recommended, can split files into their components ( video track , audio track, subtitle) and then package them into another format, so you could give it the MPG file, and choose to repackage it as MTS or MP4 or whatever container your editor supports, without recompressing. This way you won't lose any quality, and it's super fast.

 

[The_Geek]

VLCPlayer would do the job just fine too. It is free, get the latest version and you are set.

[Avocheeseado]

On 10/29/2020 at 1:22 PM, AbydosOne said:

You can actually tell it to use your GPU, fun fact. See below...

 

 

thanks!! I have used handbrake for compressing files in the past and had an idea that i might be able to use it! But with GPU acceleration it is so much faster. Thanks!

 

On 10/29/2020 at 12:57 PM, minibois said:

Handbrake (https://handbrake.fr/) has always worked for me personally. Of course ffmpeg is also possible to use, but its command-style interface is slightly less intuitive I would say

With handbrake, you just insert the video file into the program, choose the format, on the video tab check the settings (I would say set the framerate to constant, keep the quality at about 22 I would say).

 

Handbrake encodes videos on your CPU, so depending on the processor you're using and the video size, it might take a bit

 

[Teddy07]

On 10/29/2020 at 1:50 PM, Avocheeseado said:

Hi, I have recently transferred some old video tapes onto my PC. There are about 10 of them and about 2gb each. Because they are about 10 years old, they are in mpg format. To edit them, I need them to be in mp4. Is there anyway i can convert these files into mp4? I have tried some websites but they usually dont allow files over 200mb.

Thanks for any help

Pretty easy with adobe premiere pro if you can get your hands on the software.  You can it even encode in H265 which makes the files even smaller. I currently do it with old vhs tapes

 

Donˋt know if there is a better way.