Split large file with multiple episodes into separate files?

[KeyNo]

I have a number of Blu-rays with multiple episodes on each which only present as a single file, therefore MakeMKV will only dump those episodes into a single MKV file.

I could no doubt split them up manually into their individual episodes while referring to the chapters and lengths, but is there any easier way to do this?

Thanks

[Flesh]

Best way I've found to do this is with MKVnix... which might not be of much help because it is pretty hands on & goes back to doing things manually like you mentioned.

Worse - it is sometimes (always) more in depth that chapter/episode lengths, so you kinda have to skip to points & enter the timestamps manually. At least it does it without any compromises to quality?

Maybe there is a way to use the tool more powerfully & semi automate it; I haven't figured it out yet, since I've only had to occasionally slice things up.

[KeyNo]

Thanks, I"ll take a look at that.

Maybe somewhere out there is an AI-based tool which would automate the process?

[dyoung]

Thanks, I"ll take a look at that.

Maybe somewhere out there is an AI-based tool which would automate the process?

To clarify, it is not "MKVnix" but "MKVToolNix".
I am aware of no AI tool to automate what you want.
However, what you describe is much less common, and MKVToolNix performs the task very quickly, especially if you can perform the operation from drive A to drive B.
No, not meaning Windows' drive letters A & B, but merely MKVToolNix reads the input file while simultaneously writing the output file, so reading an input file on a different drive than you write the output is much faster than reading from & writing to the same drive.
However, that could be not beneficial depending on your setup, for example if you rip to the same drive you want the resulting file to be on then you would need to move the files after splitting which would require more time and ultimately create extra work & require more time than using 1 drive as source & destination.
And irrelevant if you have only 1 drive to use.

[Qorellon]

There isn't a dedicated AI splitter app as far as I am aware, but I know ChatGPT will give you some timestamps (roughly speaking) if you provide it with information such as the exact blu-ray set. There's a way to have these imported as bookmarks and then you can fine-tune things to get the exact time stamps for cutting it manually with MKVToolNix. It'll be a huge pain in the ass.

[dyoung]

There isn't a dedicated AI splitter app as far as I am aware, but I know ChatGPT will give you some timestamps (roughly speaking) if you provide it with information such as the exact blu-ray set. There's a way to have these imported as bookmarks and then you can fine-tune things to get the exact time stamps for cutting it manually with MKVToolNix. It'll be a huge pain in the ass.

A huge pain in the ass? Use ChatGPT to get timestamps? Import bookmarks?
......
Do everybody a favor and learn before you speak again.

Nearly all bluray include chapters with timestamps.
In EVERY situation where I found a disc which included all episodes as a single output file, it ALSO included chapter markers.
Any such disc which allows you to use its menu to select which episode to play must have chapter markers for it to do this, and I never found a disc with multiple episodes which lacked chapter markers for this feature.

Using VLC can easily allow you to play the output file, then using the control to "Skip to next chapter" which by default is SHIFT+N, you can easily skip through chapters until you find the beginning of the next episode.
This takes several seconds for me. Seriously.
When I find the beginning of the next chapter, I use VLC's menu (Playback > Chapters) to see what chapter is the beginning of the episode, then set MKVToolNix to split the output before that chapter.
Rinse & repeat for subsequent episodes, and I am done with this in less than 1 minute for any "multiple episodes output as a single file" issue.

If somehow you encounter an output single file which has no chapter markers:
Simply change skipping through VLC to be by the minute (CTRL+Right/Left arrow) for finding the next episode then medium (Left/Right arrow) or short (SHIFT+Left/Right arrow) to find the exact beginning of the episode, then press T to display the timestamp.
Change MKVToolNix to split at the time instead of chapters.
This method adds a few seconds to finding each episode, but barely worth mentioning.

If you know not what you are talking of, then stay quiet and learn from a person who does instead of spreading bad information from your incorrect guesses or false assumptions.

[yauumm]

Hi,

the episodes are often stored in separate m2ts files on such discs and those m2ts files are merged into one playlist (the name of the playlist file is shown in MakeMKV).
For such discs after making a full disc backup with MakeMKV, you have the following possibilities:

• Delete the playlist file (mpls file) from the backup and open it with MakeMKV again. This way, MakeMKV will present you with the individual episodes to rip but you will lose chapter information (because that's stored in the mpls file and not in the m2ts files).
• Make a copy of the main mpls file under a new name in the PLAYLIST folder (e.g. 00001.mpls > 99001.mpls) for each episode and use a tool like https://bdedit.pel.hu to edit that copies. Remove all listed m2ts files from them except the one for the episode you want. Then reopen the backup with MakeMKV and rip that newly created mpls files. This way you keep chapter information for the episodes.

The latter is more work but you can keep your own mpls files with the backup if you want to rip the episodes again in the future and you can also use those mpls files with other tools like MKVToolNix.