Over the last few days, I have spent quite some time on creating several videos, demonstrating the use of technology. Creating this videos took a lot of time – especially the final step: merging five MP4 files together. This article provides some very brief pointers.
First of all, I have used SnagIt to create the initial screen-cams. Recent releases of SnagIt (note: this is not a free tool, although it is good value for its money) support not just the creation of screenshots (its initial purpose) but shooting screencam-videos as well. The videos can be saved in MP4 format – video and audio.
Next, I have used Microsoft MovieMaker – a free tool from the Windows Essentials tool set (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/movie-maker) – for editing the video files. Especially trimming and splitting (to remove sections) has proven quite useful. I saved the edited video files as MP4 from MovieMaker.
At this point, it seemed that I ran into a little degradation of video quality. When I next tried to merge together the five MP4 files that I had created using MovieMaker, the video quality was no longer acceptable.
At this point, the third and final (free) tool enters the picture: My MP4Box GUI is a Graphical User Interface for the command line tool mp4box; it is simple. And it can join together MP4 video files quite smoothly. Fast, no frills. Make sure that all MP4 files have the same aspect ratio and the same frame rate. Download My MP4Box GUI from http://www.videohelp.com/software/My-MP4Box-GUI.
Screenshot:
