How to edit previews in MKV format in their original positions, and maintain quality and subtitles (Dragon Ball related)

[DB1984]

Recently, I found a lot of original NEPs for certain episodes of Dragon Ball GT in MKV format. I want to know this: How do I, step by step, edit the episodes so that the previews are before the credits, as well as restore the preview for the '97 Dr. Slump, so that the subtitles are intact, and the picture quality doesn't degrade? Thank you.

[VegettoEX]

Couple key concepts to keep in mind:

If you have a single video file, in order to rearrange things within it, you have to edit it and reprocess (export) that back out to a new, final "thing". It's not made up of individual pieces that you can "move around" within its container (even if it has things like "chapters," which aren't actual bespoke "pieces" within it, but just meta data points for the player to recognize and jump around to).

In a nutshell, you would have to take this into a video editing program, literally use the splice tool to cut things and rearrange them, and then export that back out to a new file.

The very process of re-exporting is going to necessarily "degrade" the video (unless you export to a truly lossless video codec, but you almost certainly won't be doing that due to the extreme, exponential file size it would take up). Think of it like a photocopy: even at the highest quality setting, it's still a copy, and inherently can't keep the original clarity/quality/crispness/etc. of the original version.

That said, you can "effectively" not "lose quality" by re-encoding at a high enough (or at least sufficient) bitrate... or at least something that would be negligible enough to your own eyes. I can't say for certain what exact settings you would need to use, because I don't know what files you're working with in the first place (source, bitrate, aspect ratio, codec, etc.; MKV is a container, not a codec).

This isn't an easy "just do this, this, and this" kind of process. There are some of those key concepts I've explained above, and your editing environment / export option availabilities all affect what you would do here.

[nineko]

Well, no, it is possibile to effectively split parts of video files without reencoding (and chain them together in other ways), for example with the parameters "-acodec copy -vcodec copy" in ffmpeg. Since I hate transcoding, this has proven handy for me in several occasions (e.g. to trim longer videos). The only caveat is that the split won't be perfect if it's not aligned on a particular frame (I don't feel like getting technical as of now, but feel free to ask me to expand on this).

[VegettoEX]

Mmmmm fair point on the ffmpeg option. Something to consider. Thanks for noting it!

[HarveyPlissken]

Recently, I found a lot of original NEPs for certain episodes of Dragon Ball GT in MKV format. I want to know this: How do I, step by step, edit the episodes so that the previews are before the credits, as well as restore the preview for the '97 Dr. Slump, so that the subtitles are intact, and the picture quality doesn't degrade? Thank you.

I'm not entirely sure if this helps your project, but I found a high quality version of the next episode music for the Japanese version.

https://youtu.be/696z2UKGADE?si=_1iWErU8L8wxcTM8

Your project really intrigued me, as I've been wondering what the English NEPs would have been like if they used the Japanese score track.

[TheRed259]

I'm not entirely sure if this helps your project, but I found a high quality version of the next episode music for the Japanese version.

https://youtu.be/696z2UKGADE?si=_1iWErU8L8wxcTM8

This is a cover. The uploader of the video says it in his description.

[HarveyPlissken]

I'm not entirely sure if this helps your project, but I found a high quality version of the next episode music for the Japanese version.

https://youtu.be/696z2UKGADE?si=_1iWErU8L8wxcTM8

This is a cover. The uploader of the video says it in his description.

An honest mistake on my part. This was the highest quality version of it that I was able to find, even if it is a cover. I couldn't find another HQ version of it on YouTube. My mistake.

[Joujou]

I'm not entirely sure if this helps your project, but I found a high quality version of the next episode music for the Japanese version.

https://youtu.be/696z2UKGADE?si=_1iWErU8L8wxcTM8

This is a cover. The uploader of the video says it in his description.

An honest mistake on my part. This was the highest quality version of it that I was able to find, even if it is a cover. I couldn't find another HQ version of it on YouTube. My mistake.

i did create the NEP BGM even if not perfect, i've never seen better attempt for it, it can be ideal if you do a fandub or if your contry didnt' use the original bgm so you can isolate vocals and use this one
https://www.mediafire.com/file/r61nu4v5 ... .flac/file