Command prompt confusion

[Dick Baker]

As somebody who had two CMP computers before switching to DOS, and who
stuck with DOS long after most of the world had switched to Windows, I
thought I was conversant with DOS/Command prompts, but this one has me
baffled. I need to combine several .wmv files into one, e.g., combine

1.wmv and 2.wmv and 3.wmv into 1-3.wmv

The various Windows GUI programs I found are all wretchedly convoluted
and slow, but there's a plain old DOS program that's supposed to do the
trick, wmvappend.exe.

It's command prompt syntax is given as

wmvappend -o <outfile> -i1 <firstinfile> -i2 <secondinfile> [-a
<attributeindex>]
outfile = Output WMV file name
firstinfile = First Input WMV file name
secondinfile = Second Input WMV file name
attributeindex = (1 or 2)Input file index for applying attributes
to outfile

I've tried many variations and can't come up with anything that works.
Can anybody tell me exactly what to type at the command prompt to combine
1. & 2. & 3.wmv into 1-3.wmv?

Thanks in advance for any help...

 

[Dick Baker]

I didn't make this clear in first note: I realize that wmvappend.exe is not
built into WinXP -- I tracked it down and downloaded it. When run, it
gives the syntax hits described above. But does that mean

wmvappend -1-3.wmv -1.wmv -2.wmv -3.wmv
or
wmvappend -o 1-3wmv -i1 1.wmv -i2 2.wmv -i3 3.wmv
or
some other variation (the two above don't work).

 

[sgopus]

I would think since the program using the hypen as a seperator, you can't use
it in a filename.
I'm not familiar with the program but try this:
wmvappend -outfilename -firstfileinname -secondinputfilename
-thirdinputfilename
do not use a hyphen in the filename.

 

[Dick Baker]

I would think since the program using the hypen as a seperator, you
can't use it in a filename.
I'm not familiar with the program but try this:
wmvappend -outfilename -firstfileinname -secondinputfilename
-thirdinputfilename
do not use a hyphen in the filename.

I figured it out with further experimentation. It wasn't the hyphen in
the filename (although that was a logical guess, I suppose). It was that
I was giving wmvappend credit for acting like the copy command, which
will concatentate an unlimited number of files into one.

wmvappend works only to combine two files into one. So the only way to
accomplish my task was

wmvappend -o 1-2.wmv -i1 1.wmv -i2 2.wmv
to get 1-2.wmv, then
wmvappend -o 1-3.wmv -i1 1-2.wmv -i3 3.wmv
to get 1-3.wmv
....and then repeated steps to add 4, 5, 6, etc. How bloody damned
cumbersome!

 

[VanguardLH]

I didn't make this clear in first note: I realize that wmvappend.exe
is not
built into WinXP -- I tracked it down and downloaded it. When run,
it
gives the syntax hits described above. But does that mean

wmvappend -1-3.wmv -1.wmv -2.wmv -3.wmv
or
wmvappend -o 1-3wmv -i1 1.wmv -i2 2.wmv -i3 3.wmv
or
some other variation (the two above don't work).

The program combines only 2 files on each run of the program. Stop
trying to combine all 3 files. You will have to combine 2 at a time,
then use that combined file as an input and add a 3rd file, use that
output combined file and add a 4th file, and so on. If you have more
than 2 files to combine, you have to combine the first 2, and then
combine the output of the prior combine with 1 additional file (so you
keeping adding 1 file at a time).

wmvappend -o tmp1.wmv -i1 1.wmv -i2 2.wmv
wmvappend -o tmp2.wmv -i1 tmp1.wmv -i2 3.wmv
wmvappend -o tmp3.wmv -i1 tmp2.wmv -i2 4.wmv
wmvappend -o tmp4.wmv -i1 tmp3.wmv -i2 5.wmv
wmvappend -o tmp5.wmv -i1 tmp4.wmv -i2 6.wmv
wmvappend -o tmp6.wmv -i1 tmp5.wmv -i2 7.wmv
....

You could reduce this to 2 temp files by toggling between them:

wmvappend -o tmp1.wmv -i1 1.wmv -i2 2.wmv
wmvappend -o tmp2.wmv -i1 tmp1.wmv -i2 3.wmv
wmvappend -o tmp1.wmv -i1 tmp2.wmv -i2 4.wmv
wmvappend -o tmp2.wmv -i1 tmp1.wmv -i2 5.wmv
wmvappend -o tmp1.wmv -i1 tmp2.wmv -i2 6.wmv
wmvappend -o tmp2.wmv -i1 tmp1.wmv -i2 7.wmv
....

 

[Panic]

You can also use the copy command. Type in copy/? to get all the options.
For .mp3 or .wmv binary files you have to add the /b to the filenames to
keep them binary. Example I had 2 mp3 files by the same artist. Say it was
GeorgeOrwell-I love you.mp3 and GeorgeOrwell-I hate you.mp3. You could go
to the folder containing them and type copy geor*/b C:\newgeorge.mp3/b and
it will combine all songs with that beginning into a new mp3 file named
newgeorge.mp3 in your root directory.

 

[HeyBub]

You can also use the copy command. Type in copy/? to get all the
options. For .mp3 or .wmv binary files you have to add the /b to the
filenames to keep them binary. Example I had 2 mp3 files by the same
artist. Say it was GeorgeOrwell-I love you.mp3 and GeorgeOrwell-I
hate you.mp3. You could go to the folder containing them and type
copy geor*/b C:\newgeorge.mp3/b and it will combine all songs with
that beginning into a new mp3 file named newgeorge.mp3 in your root
directory.

Or, simpler:

copy A.mp3+B.mp3+C.mp3+D.mp3 result.mp3 /b

 

[Panic]

Or, simpler:

copy A.mp3+B.mp3+C.mp3+D.mp3 result.mp3 /b

Good addition. I had failed to show how to combine completely different
filenames. And you added an important item... the + you must place
between the filenames to use more than one separate filename input. And
it seems you must enter /b after each source filename to keep the binary
status. When I tried your illustration it wouldn't play. When I added /b
after each source file as well as the destination file it played.

When experimenting it helps to use the F3 key to reenter the last attempt so
you can edit it before trying a new variation. I also found it helps
prevent typos if you only type as much as necessary to distinguish the file,
then use * for the remainder. Example: I had a folder with mp3s listed as
01filename, 02filename, etc. With that I can use copy 01*/b+03*/b
result.mp3/b. That combines, copies, and plays.