Problem: Pinnacle Video Transfer writes to FAT-32 only, which limits the maximum file size to 2 GB. A long source tape results in two or more chunks. I tried to combine these chunks into one big file after being transferred to the PC's NTFS file system, but to no success so far. Apple's Quick Time Pro acted as if it was able to handle this, but simply failed. I found hints, that there must be some kind of internal marking in the files that express that the video cannot be expanded, although they no longer resided on a FAT-32 system. I found that Quick Time Pro can combine two chunks, provided tha the combined length of these files does not exceed 2 GB. So, who can help? Who did that before. And, as I am about to finally digitize hundreds of old tapes (not kidding), I need a very quick solution, something that simply combines two or more parts of a video within minutes, not within hours.

This is to lavinog - I did exactly as you said:

>> For splicing multiple chunks together, you may want to try avidemux. Load the first chunk into it, then click on file>append and load the next chunk...leave audio >> and video set to copy and change the format to mp4...then click save and set the filename. The chunks should be combined in minutes.

However, I got a result that was not much different from the one mentioned above when I used Quicktime Pro. Avidemux took some 315 seconds to combine two chunks (2.0 GB + 0.9 GB), which I considered acceptable. While the audio part seemed ok, the video part showed only some frames from the very first seconds. With Quicktime, the video part was completely black or white. This was not the case when the combined length of both chunks remained below 2 GB, then everything was ok.

So, this is not the solution I am looking for. Did anyone ever successfully combine two or more chunks that were generated by Pinnacle Video Transfer, and were the combined length exceeded 2 GB?

I'm a bit puzzled here, as the maximum file size of FAT 32 is 4GB (-1byte), not 2GB.

Correct, 4 GB. I can imagine that Pinnacle wanted to ensure the widest range of compatibility in the file system addressed. However, this consideration is philosophical as it is a fact, that they truncate the stream with every 2 GB of data reached. Of course, it is terrible that they do so and it does not really reflect technical flexibility. So they leave the people with lots of chunks which may or may not be glued together by some tool, but which will burden the users of their tools with tons of unnecessary work.

Anyway, I checked Avidemux one more time in its ability to combine chunks, and this time it succeeded much better. It is irritating to me, however, that the resulting combined big stream causes an address (!!) violation in the Magix Player, and disables the video part in Quicktime Pro. The video seems to be free of problems when watched with the Windows Media Player (and the Main Concept H.264 codec) or with the VLC Player. I am digitizing a lot of tapes and would like to ensure that the digitized version can be viewed over a long period of time and by a big variety of different video players.

Again: Who has successfully experienced a way to quickly combine two or more chunks of video data and view the result with the majority or all of the important video players?

I have read that the mp4 container does not have a filesize limitation, but the fact that different players behave differently with the file shows that there is a lack of conforming to a particular standard.

I doubt that h.264 will go away, but like we figured out different players support them differently. I have a divx DVD player that I have yet to find a way to encode a file that it can play correctly. With this in mind I think your best bet is to convert to DVD video. Sure there is less compressability, but you will be able to play DVDs anywhere.  Even though Blueray will eventually replace DVD, you should be able to play a DVD for the next 20 years. Keep in mind DVDs can still deterioate over time, but will last much longer than most other media such as hard drives or solid state flash drives.

Right, lavinog: DVD format (or MPEG-2 rather) would ensure for the best compatibility, However, I have tons to digitize, and MPEG-2 consumes to much space. So far, H.264 as provided by the PVT is not my problem, as all relevant player can display it. It is just that I so far did not succeed in having the stupid chunks combined in a way which again would be displayable with all readers. I need the chunks to be combined, as otherwise the time descriptors to the tape would not fit as with the second chunk on. We're talking hundreds of tapes here. Space, reliability and compatibility is a very big issue.