Our meeting on the 16th April featured tips on performing basic video tasks and conversions using the Mac and members discussed several other topics.
Video Tips
Robert talked about performing simple video tasks and conversions on the Mac including:
- Saving a still image from a video.
- Exporting the audio track from a video.
- Reducing video resolution to make a smaller file that’s quicker to work with.
- Converting a video into a different format.
He noted that most of these tasks except format conversion can be done in QuickTime Player that comes with the Mac. QuickTime also has a trimming feature and Ben pointed out that you can also do simple editing by splitting and adding clips and then dragging them into position.
In Photos Robert showed that you can save stills from the cog menu on the video player.
If you have a requirement to convert videos in formats not supported by QuickTime, Robert suggested:
- SmartConverter - free on the Mac App Store (with a paid pro version) that offers simple conversion choices for different devices.
- VLC - a free video player that supports lots of different video formats and can also do conversions.
- Handbrake - a free video converter with lots of options if you need to tweak settings.
Member Topics
- Ben mentioned that the Mimeo photo printing service now has an iOS app.
- Denesh talked about troubleshooting Bluetooth issues on his Mac and mentioned the hidden Bluetooth Debug menu.
- Sue asked about changing the default search engine on her iPhone.
- Ben pointed out that a free trial of Final Cut Pro is available from Apple.