Where can I find scriptable command line tools that can combine multiple QuickTime movie segments?
The QTCoffee package provides Macintosh software for manipulating QuickTime files from the command line and includes a tool named catmovie that can be used to combine movie segments. Catmovie can be used to create pointer movies that refer to original files, or it can be used with the self-contained command option to create self-contained movies by combining original files.
Four other command line utilities are included in QTCoffee: muxmovie, modmovie, chapcutmovie and splitmovie. Together these utilities provide scriptable command line capabilities for taking apart QuickTime-readable files and putting them back together in a variety of combinations. Muxmovie can be used for simultaneously playing multiple tracks. Modmovie can extract tracks, rescale the movie and extract chapters. Chapcutmovie and splitmovie are used for cutting movies into chapters or by time, or into movies of equal duration.
Good documentation is provided, which makes it relatively easy to sort out which command line options are needed for a particular task. Two other Mac OS utilities provided by the same Web site, iTunesJoin and Movie Sync, also are quite useful for manipulating QuickTime media. iTunesJoin is used to combine iTunes tracks, and Movie Sync synchronizes audio and video tracks that have drifted out of sync during the length of a movie.
Blass, a network architect at Change@Work in Houston, can be reached at dr.internet@changeatwork.com.
