Can I edit video shows from iTunes?

November 3, 2007 6:26 PM

Is it possible to edit video files purchased on iTunes?

I'm using a Mac. I purchased some large video files from iTunes. Four files, the 4 games of the 2007 World Series. I want to archive the files to a DVD+R DL. They just *barely* don't fit on one disc. It seems that they're about 3 megabytes over. So I'd like to shrink one of the files somehow, so that together they come in under the limit. I wouldn't mind picking a boring 1-2 minute section of one of the files and cutting it out to make that file smaller. Is there a way to do this and have the file still play just fine in iTunes? While I'm at it, is there a way to join m4v files into one larger file (say, some music videos or short podcasts)? Thanks for any help...

posted by sdt33 to computers & internet (4 comments total)

Quicktime Pro will do it.

As an experiment, I just tried trimming and saving a DRM'd iTunes store video. Works just like any other quicktime file, plays fine in iTunes etc. Retains chapter information, even. Doesn't get re-encoded, so no quality loss.

Joining works without problem also (I just made an unholy hybrid of "Sky Captain" and a Pixar short), although it is going to produce a much better result if everything you're joining is the same resolution.

If you paste one file into another, the resultant file will only have the metadata from the file you pasted into, if that makes any difference.
posted by churl at 9:09 PM on November 3, 2007

Not sure but you might be able to take something like iSquint and set it up so you can edit your stuff in something like iMovie. You can grab iSquint for free and see if it works...

isquint.com
posted by bkeene12 at 9:13 PM on November 3, 2007

Video files purchased from iTunes are likely to be encrypted and thus uneditable, unless they fall under the "iTunes Plus" banner.
posted by Mwongozi at 9:55 AM on November 4, 2007

please post if you were successful or not. i searched for ages before i could get into the purchased mp3 files, but i would love to know if u can get into the video as well..
posted by edtut at 3:01 AM on November 5, 2007