Link Safe

I often need to clip out and convert short sections of video and insert them into presentations. Until recently, I’d had to use a number of different programs, depending on which video format I was working on, and the process was always tedious and time-consuming. After some research, however, I found out that the free VLC media player (www.videolan.org) has the facility to make clips from practically any type of video.

Open VLC and play the video from which you intend to extract a clip. Click View in the toolbar then

Advanced Controls. This adds four buttons in the bottom-left corner of the VLC window. Now all you have to do is get the video to the point you want to start your clip by dragging the slider underneath the playback screen, then click the red record button. Let the video play, then click the red button again at the point you want to end the clip.

It’s as simple as that! As long as VLC can play it, even direct from a DVD, you can clip from it. It’ll save your clips in your user video folder (in my case –C:\Users\bob\Videos) as an MP4 file with a rather lengthy filename. If MP4 is not suitable for your needs you can easily convert the clips to another format using the excellent free Format Factory tool (www.pcfreetime.com).