Editing in QuickTime 7 Pro

place playhead where you want an in point then press I on keyboard

place playhead where you want an out point then press O on keyboard

to trim the clip down; Edit > Trim to selection

is there a way for the in/out points to be visible on the timeline at the bottom?

Use the "Display" window to actually select the "in" and "out" points. (I.e., scrub the playhead to the approximate location you want and then use the left or right arrow keys to move the playback head forwrds or nackwards one frame at a time. Mark the frame you want and repeat this operation to mark the other end of the file segment to which you wish to trim the file to or to mark the segment of the file you wish to remove.)

Having read the Help section, I think that i will need to save the edited version as a new file - is that correct?

yes save it as a new file

If so, that will consume quite a bit of space, as they are large files. If I delete the original file, will the quality of the new file be any less than the orginal?

Do not delete the original file. Move it to a backup drive or optical disc, but do not throw a way any original.

If you; save as > self contained it will have exactly the same quality of the original

2. Edit/copy segments into new files

This is where I want to lift segments of the file and create a new file. To do this I was expecting to see the "in" and "out" markers in the timeline but when I press "i" and "o", nothing shows in the timeline (which makes it difficult to track) - is there a different method to pressing "i" and "o" to edit segments?

Thank you

You will see the in, out and play head positions you have made as below:

Once you perform the trim function the 3 markers will reset

1. Remove start/end segments of the file

Ideally, I just want to delete the segements I don't need from the start and finish, and then resave the file. Having read the Help section, I think that i will need to save the edited version as a new file - is that correct?

If so, that will consume quite a bit of space, as they are large files. If I delete the original file, will the quality of the new file be any less than the orginal?

Yes. The easiest approach here is the simply make the first frame you want to keep as the "in" point and the last frame you want to keep as the "out" point. Then select the "Trim to Selection" option under the Edit Menu. Then select the "Save As..." File menu option to save the selected segment to a new MOV file container which you can then rename to best identify the particular segment.

Alternatively, you can mark the segement you wish to keep as above but instead select the "Copy" Edit Menu option to save the reference pointers to memory, open a "New" player under the File Menu, select/activate the new "Untitled" player, paste the copied segment to the new player using the "Command-V" keyboard shortcut, and the use either the "Save" or "Save As" option to save the new "Untitled" player as a named file.

Always try to keep 15-20% of you drive (or at least twice the source file(s) size space) free before attempting an edit. One way to cut editing space requirements is to to save the "new" file as a "Reference" file. However, this means you cannot delete the source file until such time as you finish editing the the reference file, have exported the edited file to a target compression format depending on its final use or method of distribution and have determing that no further edits are required form this source EVER.

If you use the "Save As..." option to create a new "Reference" or "Standalone" file, then the quality is the same as your source file. (I.e., this option copies the segment you want to a new MOV file container in its original compression format. On the other hand, if you export the file segment to a different compression format, then its quality will depend on the specific codec(s) and settings used for the export.

2. Edit/copy segments into new files

This is where I want to lift segments of the file and create a new file. To do this I was expecting to see the "in" and "out" markers in the timeline but when I press "i" and "o", nothing shows in the timeline (which makes it difficult to track) - is there a different method to pressing "i" and "o" to edit segments?

The basic process for "lifting" one or more segments from a source file and saving them as independent files was explained above. If not "in" or "out" points are being displayed in the timeline, then your source file probably contains a "muxed" audio/video stream of data. (I.e., the setting of QT 7 Pro "in" and "out" points is content adaptive and may not be available for certain media. In these cases you will probably be better off using the free MPEG Streamclip" app which works essentially the same as QT 7 Pro but better supports "muxed" and/or transport stream media but does not support the QT 7 Pro compositing features.)

MPEG Streamclip is very easy to use and the editing function is exactly like QT pro

MPEG Streamclip tutorial

I then see a set of "compression" settings. What should I select to get .mov files - is it "Apple Intermediate Codec"?

You are exporting MPEG files from MPEG Streamclip, to then edit in QT Pro?

I would use QT DV, as your originals are from VHS and Beta, exporting to a higher bit rate codec wont gain any advantage in quality or efficiency.

QT DV is still a reasonable CODEC to use.

Any DVD converted files I get are edited with QT DV and they are indistinguishable from the originals.

The tutorial I posted earlier will guide you through converting DVD video to QT files.

Streamclip will only convert non commercial non copyright protected discs.

what is the "apple intermediate codec" option? I vaguely recall selecting this previously when I used MPEG Streamclip, but can't recall why.

It is a codec specifically designed by Apple as an "intermediate" editing codec for long-GOP compression formats like HDV. You can think of it as the "poor man's" ProRes editing format commonly used by iMovie when importing HDV or AVCHD content from HD camcorders. Basically it is an 8-bit 4:2:0 video codec in which each frame is encoded independently—i.e., each frame can be decoded immediately without need of decoding other frames. Data is somewhat more compressed than DV-25, DV-50, or DV-100 compressed data for the same encode dimensions but still produces relatively large files.