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LV426

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 22, 2013
1,829
2,256
(Mountain Lion, MacBook Pro)

In Finder, I have a bunch of movies that are shown as thumbnails. MOV files, 3GP, various formats, you name it...

However, most of the thumbnails do not represent the corresponding movie very well. Is there any way in Finder / QuickTime that I can set the poster frame of a particular movie? Doing a Google search, it seems that an option to "Set Poster Frame" existed at one time in QuickTime, but I don't see this option anywhere in the version that I'm using.
 

talmy

macrumors 601
Oct 26, 2009
4,725
332
Oregon
(Mountain Lion, MacBook Pro)

In Finder, I have a bunch of movies that are shown as thumbnails. MOV files, 3GP, various formats, you name it...

However, most of the thumbnails do not represent the corresponding movie very well. Is there any way in Finder / QuickTime that I can set the poster frame of a particular movie? Doing a Google search, it seems that an option to "Set Poster Frame" existed at one time in QuickTime, but I don't see this option anywhere in the version that I'm using.

You can still buy Quicktime 7 Pro, which will allow you to set the poster frame.
Search for "Quicktime 7 Pro" on the Apple website.
 

LV426

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 22, 2013
1,829
2,256
You can still buy Quicktime 7 Pro, which will allow you to set the poster frame.
Search for "Quicktime 7 Pro" on the Apple website.

Thanks, talmy. But that sounds like a yukky solution IMHO! Installing the prerequisite Quicktime 7 player (the current inbuilt player is up to version 10.2), then paying for a version 7 product which doesn't even feature on the App store sounds a little extreme! Sigh. Life really shouldn't be this difficult :eek:
 

kohlson

macrumors 68020
Apr 23, 2010
2,425
736
Easy, but manually-intensive.
Open the movie in QT and navigate to the desired thumbnail image (or poster frame).
Copy (command C)
In Finder, Get info on the movie. At the top of the pop-up window, upper left, is a small QT image. Click on it, then command-V (paste).
 
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LV426

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jan 22, 2013
1,829
2,256
Easy, but manually-intensive.
Open the movie in QT and navigate to the desired thumbnail image (or poster frame).
Copy (command C)
In Finder, Get info on the movie. At the top of the pop-up window, upper left, is a small QT image. Click on it, then command-V (paste).

Hey, it works! Thanks very much :)
 

LethalWolfe

macrumors G3
Jan 11, 2002
9,370
124
Los Angeles
Thanks, talmy. But that sounds like a yukky solution IMHO! Installing the prerequisite Quicktime 7 player (the current inbuilt player is up to version 10.2), then paying for a version 7 product which doesn't even feature on the App store sounds a little extreme! Sigh. Life really shouldn't be this difficult :eek:
As an aside, don't like the higher number fool you as QT 7 is still a more feature laden tool than QT 10 (although Apple is slowly building QT 10 back up)
 

Shakadula

macrumors newbie
Jan 31, 2016
2
0
Harpers Ferry, WV
Seems the frames I set only work on videos i record from TV. Pre recorded movies on discs do not work. Major oversight, laziness or Apple screwing over users again. I will continue to work on this but right now only pre recorded movie discs are a problem when trying to set a poster frame with the title of the movie.
 

Gwendolini

macrumors 6502a
Feb 5, 2015
589
127
random
Seems the frames I set only work on videos i record from TV. Pre recorded movies on discs do not work. Major oversight, laziness or Apple screwing over users again. I will continue to work on this but right now only pre recorded movie discs are a problem when trying to set a poster frame with the title of the movie.

That is because pre-recorded video DVDs don't have write capabilities, thus such a thumbnail as icon can not be written to the file.
 
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Steveheroldmedia

macrumors newbie
Feb 11, 2016
1
0
Easy, but manually-intensive.
Open the movie in QT and navigate to the desired thumbnail image (or poster frame).
Copy (command C)
In Finder, Get info on the movie. At the top of the pop-up window, upper left, is a small QT image. Click on it, then command-V (paste).

I've done this and it works on my computer. But I've found when I've uploaded this video to say Dropbox for someone else to download the thumbnail I've changed it to doesn't carry over.

Anyone know a way to make this thumbnail change permanent so anyone getting this file will see the updated thumbnail on their end as well?

Thanks.
 

kohlson

macrumors 68020
Apr 23, 2010
2,425
736
I think the thumbnail is a meta file, and not part of the container file, and therefore does not ascend to Dropbox with the upload. I would try a zip utility that also grabs any associated meta data.
 

gwied

macrumors newbie
Jan 31, 2017
1
0
Easy, but manually-intensive.
Open the movie in QT and navigate to the desired thumbnail image (or poster frame).
Copy (command C)
In Finder, Get info on the movie. At the top of the pop-up window, upper left, is a small QT image. Click on it, then command-V (paste).
The first part of this technique is also useful for grabbing a custom poster frame for a Youtube video in your account (i.e., one for which you have editing rights).
With the PRE-UPLOADED movie open in QT X, set playhead to the frame you want. Command-C to copy. Switch to an image editor (I use Graphic Converter). Command-V to paste. Save-As appropriately named jpg.
In the editing page of your Youtube video, click "Custom thumbnail" beneath the three offered by Youtube. Navigate to and choose your saved image, and voila!
 
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