Using VLC to trim / cut video

[rsbrux]

Following instructions posted in several palces o nte web, I am using VLC to trim videos by playing and recording the video simultaneously.
I can then trim the video by starting and stopping the recording where I want the new video to begin and end.
With this approach I have only two problems:
1. The resulting video usually starts out pixellated with large blocks of various colors. Presumably this is an artifact of progressive encoding, in which new frames are coded based on the data changed from the previous frame. Is there some way to prevent or get rid of this?
2. The resulting file is always an ASF file. I didn't find any way to change this in the Help, in the FAQ, on the Wiki or here in the Forum. Is there any way to select the desired output format (e.g. MP4 / H.264)?

P.S. I don't think this question is Windows-specific, but I didn't find a better place to post it. In case it matters, I am using VLC 3.0.16 under Windows 10 Pro x64 21H2.

[Hitchhiker]

See: https://www.vlchelp.com/cut-trim-videos ... ia-player/

If it doesn't help you might be better off using a dedicated transcoder such as Handbrake: https://handbrake.fr/features.php
There's an instruction youtube video on the subject here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SVedaH2v04

By the way the latest version of vlc is 3.0.17.4: https://www.videolan.org/

[Lotesdelere]

The record button is recording streams in their native formats, no transcoding is performed, so you can't change the format of the output.
It's not very accurate either, but VLC is not an editor. It will be easier and faster to do it with a dedicated video editor tool such as AviDemux:
http://avidemux.sourceforge.net