diff --git a/clients/manifest.go b/clients/manifest.go
index 99fa35cab..369fab5af 100644
--- a/clients/manifest.go
+++ b/clients/manifest.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/cenkalti/backoff/v4"
 	"github.com/grafov/m3u8"
+	"github.com/livepeer/catalyst-api/log"
 	"github.com/livepeer/catalyst-api/video"
 )
 
@@ -223,6 +224,7 @@ func ClipInputManifest(requestID, sourceURL, clipTargetUrl string, startTimeUnix
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error clipping: failed to download original manifest: %w", err)
 	}
+	log.Log(requestID, "Downloaded manifest to clip", "segments", origManifest.Count())
 
 	// Generate the absolute path URLS for segmens from the manifest's relative path
 	// TODO: optimize later and only get absolute path URLs for the start/end segments
diff --git a/video/clip.go b/video/clip.go
index 7bd43d443..3aaf18e37 100644
--- a/video/clip.go
+++ b/video/clip.go
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ func ClipManifest(requestID string, manifest *m3u8.MediaPlaylist, startTime, end
 	// Find the segment index that correlates with the specified startTime
 	// but error out it exceeds the  manifest's duration.
 	if startTime > manifestDuration {
-		return nil, []ClipSegmentInfo{}, fmt.Errorf("error clipping: start time specified exceeds duration of manifest")
+		return nil, []ClipSegmentInfo{}, fmt.Errorf("error clipping: start time (%f) specified exceeds duration of manifest (%f)", startTime, manifestDuration)
 	} else {
 		clipStartSegmentInfo, err = getRelevantSegment(manifest.Segments, startTime, 0)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/video/clip_test.go b/video/clip_test.go
index a27470a71..20a6c775a 100644
--- a/video/clip_test.go
+++ b/video/clip_test.go
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ func TestClippingSucceedsWhenValidManifestIsUsed(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// start exceeds the duration of playlist: ensure no segments are returned
 	segs, _, err = ClipManifest("1234", plB, 30, 20.78)
-	require.ErrorContains(t, err, "start time specified exceeds duration of manifest")
+	require.ErrorContains(t, err, "exceeds duration of manifest")
 	require.Equal(t, segs, []*m3u8.MediaSegment(nil))
 
 	// end exceeds the duration of playlist: ensure only 0.ts is returned