How to Edit Your Digital Camera QuickTime Videos on a Windows PC

Robert Yu 2008

how the heck do I convert Quicktime .mov to .avi???

The Problem Identified

So, Windows PC user, I see you've got a cool digital camera. And your digital camera also takes video, and you'd like to post your video on YouTube. But first you'd like to edit the video a bit, just snip a few seconds from the beginning and end. How hard could it be?

As it turns out, it's intolerably hard! The problem is that most digital cameras record in Apple's QuickTime .mov format, yet hardly any (free) video editing software accepts .mov files. Dear Pentax, Casio, Kodak, et al--I'd like to hear the interesting story behind that business decision (smooth-talking Apple QuickTime salesmen, steak and martini dinners on expense accounts, wink-wink perks, and compromising photographs for the recalcitrant). On the other hand, MPEG-4 files with an .avi extension are (more) commonly supported. And as it turns out, the two formats really aren't very different, just a matter of the same data in different packaging.

Well then, how do you convert your videos from .mov to .avi? Well, you merely purchase Apple's QuickTime Pro, and then you select File->Save As. Presto you're done. Or you buy a Mac, which comes with iMovie, and edit to your heart's content.

But now I hear you howling: Fer chrissakes, it's a simple format conversion, and I already spent all my money on the camera! I ain't gonna pay a single cent just to convert .mov bits into .avi bits.

In this case, you've landed in the same dark hole as many, many other Windows users with their QuickTime-spewing cameras. You poor schmuck. OK then, you'll need to use free conversion software. Many people seem to use the free RAD Video Tools, which reads .mov files and spits out some form of .avi file. In my experience, RAD Video Tools only sometimes works. When I tried it recently, my movies came out "converted" to slow motion. Lots of people on Teh Internets complain of mucked-up audio streams. The software's UI certainly doesn't help: you need to click click click...a thousand click just to convert the video.

The Solution Proposed

So here's an alternate path. This works for my Pentax and Casio cameras, and perhaps it'll work for you. Or maybe not. You wants thing to just work? Go buy a Mac!

use mp4cam2avi to convert from .mov to .avi
use VirtualDub to edit the file

Once Google/YouTube get their act together and offer on-line video editing, these instructions will be obsolete (and good riddance!). In the meantime...

MP4CAM2AVI 4 UR Conversion

Mp4cam2avi is open source software specifically designed to convert Quicktime .mov files to .avi. You'd never know from the name.

Download and install mp4cam2avi.
- more info: http://mp4cam2avi.sourceforge.net/interface.htm

Once you've installed the software, double-click the icon (there's no entry under the Start menu).

(A) From the upper left pane, navigate to the directory containing your .mov file.
(B) In the lower left pane, click the movie(s) you want to convert. The first frame should appear in the preview display.
(C) In the upper right pane:
- action: Batch convert (Many -> Many AVI) - This specifies that for each .mov file you selected in (B), output one .avi file (as opposed to smooshing them together into one file)
- audio format: PCM (uncompressed) - PCM gives you the most options for follow-on editing
- target directory: specify where you want the output to end up
- target file name: TargetDir\VideoOut.avi - the output file will end up in the target directory with file extension .avi
(D) Finally, click Start

The output .avi file(s) appears in your target directory.

At this point, you're done! You should have an .avi file which you can play in Windows Media Player, and you can now edit the .avi file with a number of video editing software tools. Note that Windows Movie Maker still doesn't work with these .avi files--what a piece of junk.

VirtualDub for Editing

A popular and free option for editing videos is VirtualDub]

Download and install VirtualDub. Double-click on the icon to start it--like MP4CAM2AVI, there's no Start Menu entry.
From File->Open video file, load the .avi file you generated with mp4cam2avi.
- VirtualDub displays the original video in the left-hand pane and tries to show the edited video in the right-hand.
Configure VirtualDub to copy the image frames directly from the source video to the destination video (see below).
- video->Direct Stream Copy

Configure VirtualDub to copy the audio track directly from the source video to the destination (see below).
- Audio->Source Audio
- Audio->Direct Stream Copy

Now select and delete the unwanted portions of your video using the timeline at the bottom:
Hold down the SHIFT key to select just the key frames: actually, this probably isn't necessary for your .avi file, which doesn't have key frames. Just do it anyways--indulge me!
With the mouse or arrow keys, move the slider to the beginning of the section you want to delete.
Hit HOME to mark the beginning of the section (see below).
With the mouse or arrow keys, move the slider to the end of the section.
Hit END to mark the end of the section (see below).

When you've marked the frames you want to delete, hit DELETE.
Note that deletion doesn't actually modify your original .avi file. If you make a mistake, you can Edit->Revert all edits to undo your changes.
Save your edited file:
- File->Save as AVI
- Be sure to specify an appropriate filename (the default will rewrite your original file).
- Click Save

You're done! Now you can finally upload your PC Home Video to YouTube.

But really, if you're going to be this doing this often, you may as well get a Mac. Let's be honest here: if you're confined to editing on Windows, your videos will always look like a hairy man in a dress.