I have a home video that is about a minute and a half long but I only need/want the first 30 seconds or so. How can I crop it, or what program can I use?
You need a program that can edit it, I use Nero but I think Windows Movie Maker would do it also but not sure. I think Windows is also free and again I'm not sure anymore if it is. There are other programs that will as well.
Use MPEG Streamclip or Windows Movie Maker. Both are free, but Streamclip is really small, fast, and is a stand-alone EXE (no install required).
In Streamclip, open the MPEG file, then set a Mark In (beginning of movie) and a Mark Out (end of movie) then export it as one of the designated file formats (AVI, MPG, MOV, MPG4, etc).
Streamclip also lets you step through the movie frame by frame and do screen captures of individual frames. Comes in handy if you want to make/grab a picture from a movie.
If you’re going to use Streamclip, you should also download the latest version of Apple’s QuickTime player. Streamclip makes use of some of its codecs for some file formats (MPG4), so it’s handy to have that as well.