I do video podcast interviews using Zoom.us
Until recently I was able to edit them using iMovie. For some reason the zoom files no longer open in iMovie. I find QuickTime very hard to to use to trim my videos with any degree of precision. And, yes, I saw Gary’s demo on how to do it. Still really unwieldy for me. I’m looking for an inexpensive video editor app in which I don’t have to drag bookends as in QuickTime Player but can simply stop where I want to make a cut, for the beginning, continue watching and make a 2nd cut for the end point, and save it out in a format good for YouTube. That’s all I want to do. Don’t need any fancy features beyond that. That’s pretty much how iMovie worked for me. Recommendations please!!!!
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David Van Nuys
I would try to figure out why Zoom's files are not working in iMovie. That's your solution. You like iMovie, it is free, it works well and does what you want.
So what sort of video files does Zoom produce? What is the error message when you try to open them? Have you tried simply converting them -- if QuickTime Player opens them, then just export from QuickTime player and use the exports in iMovie. Of course if QuickTime Player opens them, then I'm not sure why iMovie doesn't. Are you using the latest version?
I do not remember the video file format options for Zoom but consider using Handbrake to convert the Zoom file to a standard MP4 file and then use iMovie as you usually do.
Thanks for suggestions. Zoom seems to be saving in mpeg-4. iMovie gives error saying it can't recognize that format. I've tried playing with converters but no luck. Back to my original request for a different low cost, simple editor.
David: There are many flavors of mpeg-4 with different settings. But if QuickTime Player can open these files, then iMovie should be able to as well. Or, at least, you can export from QuickTime Player.
Sorry, I don't have any suggestions for a cheap or free video editor other than iMovie. Final Cut is what I often use, but that costs $$.
Hi,
If you're looking for a powerful and simple video cutter, I highly recommend you trying Joyoshare Media Cutter that I'm using now. It enables to cut and trim the video clips in a precise way without re-encoding. With the support of real-time preview, you can see any changes you made during the process. It's not totally free, but it's not expensive though.