Yeah, Apple's built-in encoders have always been sucky, but the H.264 encoder is REALLY unoptimized. I would think they could do a TON to make it better. I thought with 10.4 and the lock down on libraries that Apple would have lots of resources to optimize code and fix bugs throughout their products, but now with the move to Intel...

3rd party tools will always be the way to go though. But H.264 should have better encoding performance than it does.

did your friend try to convert the video into formats other than H.264, using the expert settings on imovie? if so, what were the results?

i use a G4 powerbook and just spent yesterday experimenting with the imovie HD software for the first time and encoded the same file in both H.264 and mp4 and did not notice a huge difference. what OS version is your friend running? that may make a substantial difference in encoding, especially on a G3.

also, what is the file size he is encoding...if i encode the same file size using their default settings, 240 x 120, it takes no time at all, but since i was encoding at widescreen 428 x 240, even my smaller one-minute file suddenly took about 5x longer to encode.

i'm just learning about this stuff myself, so i'm no expert. but using a G4 and imovie, i did not experience the sorts of unusually long compression times you're describing.

i have a G3, though, and it has been relegated to use strictly as a hard drive device for storing music files and as an internet engine, because most of its functions are damnably slow, if i try to use recent software upgrades on it. maybe that's the issue.

Thanks everyone for your very helpful input. I passed the info on to the guy having the distress, and it turns out that his iBook crashed after the first 71 hours of encoding. I never found out if he a futzed with the settings before he started the encode, but he was going to try to explore the log files and find out what made it crash...I haven't heard back yet.

I will be installing Tiger today or tomorrow, and updating my QT and adding some RAM before the weekend. I will then try to encode a short piece myself to see what stats I end up with. Thanks again everyone.
-Jon

Just a thought.... for just a few couple dollars more than the cost of RAM and Tiger you could get a Mac Mini which should be considerably faster than a G3 iBook...

Thanks Boyd,
but the G3 iBook belongs to a guy I know whose H.264 dilemma prompted me to start the thread. Since I had not yet upgraded, I couldn't offer him feedback and started fishing for info in this thread. I do most of my work on a G4 Aluminum Powerbook that I suspect will provide more satisfactory results than my friend is dealing with. I just haven't had enough time in my workflow over the last two months to install the copy of Tiger I bought the day it was released...plus, I wanted to wait a little while till Apple ironed out the initial bugs.

The RAM is an essential for me because I am still doing all my editing on the stock RAM - it works, but struggles with some of the higher end things I throw at it - but money has been tight waiting to complete a couple of contracts - so now I plan to install at least 1 gig of RAM, and if I can swing it, max it out at 2 gigs os that my experiences with Motion will be as smooth as I can make them.

As far as the Mini, I have thought about getting one anyway. It is a little less powerful than the current Powerbook system I am using now (although the recent updates to the line bring it up to par I think) , but I played with one last week that I another friend of mine had just purchased, and it is kind of fun to have around, and even take over some of the lighter stuff while I am crunching data. I think I will pass your advice on to the G3 iBook fellow who I believe has recently been entertaining the concept of 'movin' on up.

Thanks again.
-Jon

If you're using FCP 4.x on your Powerbook... read this before upgrading to Tiger! There are a lot of issues with it and also QT7...

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=46030

Also, if you have a 15" Aluminum Powerbook please see this regarding memory problems:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=45834

Thanks Boyd, that is exactly my scenario...looks like I have a little reading and prep work to do. Thanks much.
-Jon

.dv import (iMovie) stutter in FCP5 (and other ?s)
 

Hi All

After struggling with a Canon (field cam)/DVX(deck cam)/FCP5 capture issue for weeks, I elected to capture with iMovie and import the .dv files into FCP just to keep my hands on the mat'l. I know it would have been much better to capture into FCP, but with no access to a diff deck and no cash to try a cheapo canon dv cam for capture, it looked like this was the best option.

I'll output this mat'l to DVD, so there's no worries about needed to match timecode to recapture or anything that would usually make imovie/FCP unacceptable. As I'm beginning to play with the footage, however, I am noticing a few little things. I get a stutter when I play any of the clips in the viewer. When I drop it into the timeline (and render), it plays fine. I guess that's another ancillary question as well. I'm working in 29.97 timeline and the iMovie /dv files are 29.97, so why the rendering? Are these little issues I'm just going to have to deal with? Any other things I can expect to pop up while working with this mat'l in FCP?

Thanks
Lain

Capturing clips in iMovie and editing in Premier or FCP?
 

I am looking for a simple solution for my wife to capture clips in imovie, then for me to be able to color correct the clips that need it in FCP or Premier, or Vegas on the PC side, then render changes back out for her to use in iMovie. How mobile is the dv stream format?

DV stream lacks timecode, so you can't do timecode-based things (i.e. re-capture).
DV stream also stores the audio differently. In FCP3 I remember you needed to render the audio, which was a PITA.

It may make sense to print the iMovie project onto miniDV tape and then capture with another program. Apply a global color correction and that's it (or do scene-by-scene).

In the future, maybe start programs in FCExpress or FCP or Vegas.

Glenn,

This helps. My wife isn't a video person, she just wants to do dvd's of the kids, and I can make a lot of the clips look better in FCP. Simplicity vs toolset.

I believe you are encountering the main issue with capturing via iMovie... it captures DV streams vs. FCP capturing DV video. Or at least, that's what I encountered waaaaay back when with iMovie 3.x. I ended up converting the DV streams to just plain DV. Does iMovie still do this?

This thread talks a little bit about it too:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=53281

Yes, you will need to render the DV stream files from iMovie (at least for final output) since they aren't FCP's native format.

However there are a variety of things that can make playback stutter with FCP. For one thing, make sure journaling is turned off on your media drives.

#20 Using iMovie to Capture for FCP edit

Shane's Stock Answer #20:

iMovie handles the media differently from FCP, specifically where audio is concerned. So it is not a recommended workflow. Here's why...

iMovie captures using DV Stream (.dv) standard which does not use timecode. That is a big disadvantage over the way that FCP captures in that you can't go back and recapture the material at a later date if you need to revisit a project.

The DV/NTSC specification (the one FCP uses) also calls for seperate tracks for audio and video, even if you capture it as one clip. iMovie' DV stream format is muxed audio and video, which means that they are tied together (I can't get into specifics because I ain't no engineer or programmer). FCP is a bit more demanding and captures the seperate audio/video tracks, either in a single media file or as seperate video and audio files. With FCP you could capture video only or audio only because each is defined by the DV specs. while with iMovie you can't.

Also, if you drop the iMovie footage into the timeline, your will get the RED render bar forcing you to render the footage in order to see it...

For all the stock answers, click on this link:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/we...El.0@.68a3b883

You are going to be doing a lot of rendering. Once .dv files from iMovie are in the timeline, they need to be rendered.

Thanks for the input everyone. Someone on lafcpug board suggested I export from iMovie as a Quicktime .Mov file. That let me view without rendering, but there's a discernable flicker in it now as tho its dropping frames, plus the .mov file loses all the dv start/stop markers. I may just go back to the .dv clips and deal with rendering as it's only for a couple minute long behind the scenes piece. Still haven't given up hope that I'll figure out how to capture the XL-1 tapes directly into FCP with my DVX. Until then, i-movie and .dv files into FCP will just have to do.

iMovie with 16:9
 

I was playing around a shot some footage in 16:9 on my XL2. I have never played with iMovie (I use Premier Pro on PC) so I uploaded it on there for fun. The video is all smashed into 4:3 and lookes like a circus sideshow funhouse mirror video.. What's the story? You can't make a 16:9 video with iMovie?

What version of iMovie are you running? I haven't used it in years, but the old versions didn't support 16:9. The current version supports 16:9 and even HDV 720p and 1080i: http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/import.html

iMovie HD (5.0) supports 16:9 DV footage. Don't forget however, that all DV footage, 16:9 or not, is still 720x480 regardless of the NLE used. It's just a matter of how it's played back.

iLife '05 with the new iMovie HD has nice integration with iDVD---true 16:9 widescreen projects become great anamorphic DVD's.

No flags to set etc.

You can edit anamorphic 16:9 footage in older versions of iMovie and when you export the project in Quicktime Pro--just set it as 16:9 anamorphic for MPEG-2 for use in DVD Studio Pro.

iMovie HD is the BEST version of iMovie since 2.0

3.0 and 4.0 were lousy[slow and sluggish].

iMovie 5 issues
 

I edit on Final Cut, but every once in awhile I'll do a rough quickie in iMovie to show a client while he waits... etc etc...

Well I did this quick cut of standard def stuff shot on an XL2, cut it and was rendering a quick transition when suddenly I got the spinning rainbow of death... I quit iMovie, and dis-mounted the ext. harddrive that the project was in, re-started the computer and I haven't been able to open that project since. Now it's not a huge deal since I have all the raw footage and was planning on doing the real job on FC anyway... but I want to retrieve this because... well I need to know in case this happens again.

So what I'm getting is I click on it and it says "project _____ is missing a file, it will be skipped" then it gives me the options: "ignore all" or "ok" then it crashes iMovie and says that it unexpectedly quit. So what's the problem folks?

Thanks in advance for your replies,

Daniel Riser

There aren't usually very many iMovie users around here... so if you don't see a response you might want to visit Apple's iMovie support forum:

http://discussions.apple.com/categor...categoryID=141

Yeah... me either. Pixar uses iMovie for rough storyboarding and that's basically what I do. If this were an FC issue I'd have it licked... funny the "simple" program is giving me problems beyond my scope of knowledge... I'll check out apple.

Thanks,

Daniel Riser

have you tried looking for individual clips in the capture file? (i think iMovie 5 calls this a "media file"--at least you'll know the captured footage is still there, even if your editing is lost. you can re-import those files into a new project file without having to re-capture. and if you discover that footage is *not* there, that means the entire project file is a bust. i'd start there....

Hi Daniel,
In case you are unaware...what Meryem is suggesting is achieved by control-clicking your iMovie project and selecting 'show package contents'

Inside the opened folder there should be a folder entitled 'media'

Your captured clips should hopefully still be in there. Sometimes, iMovie will experience a glitch where it becomes unable to recognize the contents of its own media files. Those files should be the original captured clips you were working with. If you create a new iMovie file and drag these media files into it, you can basically start fresh with the original clips.......the problem here is that you are losing any editing you have done thus far.


Also, while in the package contents folder, you will also see a folder called 'cache'. Inside this folder, there should be a Quicktime .mov file. This is usually a relativley small file as it mostly serves as an alias of sorts to the edited timeline data. Try to open this file to see if it works (try this before moving your media files out of the project folder) If you can open up this quicktime cache file, theoretically you should be able to export it to a full quality dv file - thereby saving a full resolution of your edited project. (I don't know if that works as I haven't needed to try it, but it makes sense to me)

Dealing with clip referencing and file corruptions are one of the limitations of this software...but hey, its a free app with new Macs and part of a whole suite of apps for low cost.....For that, I think iMovie is a pretty amazing application with lots of handy uses. It effectively got me through my first year of a video editing business with flying colors while I saved up my pennies to buy and learn FCP. For that, I give kudos to iMovie....but beware the limitations.

Good luck.
-Jon

Imovie is very impressive. I spoke to a Pixar guy that told me they use iMovie just as often as the FC... of course not for any theatrical work but mainly for rough storyboarding etc... I think iMovie is a powerful tool for the learning filmmaker/videographer...

and I really appreciate the posts. I'll test that right now.

High Regards,

Daniel Riser

can I use iMovie HD to make non-HD dvd?
 

So, I got iLife '05 - with iMovie HD - Now I want to produce DVD. Except, I don't have a HD camera. Frankly, I'm not interested in the HD tecnology, not yet at least.

QUESTION: can I still use iMovie HD to make non-HD movies? or should I get iMovie (without HD)?

Thanks,
Jesse Luke
Lone Wolf Productions

You don't need another product; they just call it iMovie HD to indicate that it can handle HD. You don't have to use an HD camera with iMovie, and there is no "iMovie SD" version. In fact, I don't think you can currently make an HD DVD using iMovie/iDVD; I believe it will downconvert your HD footage to SD when burning the DVD.

Simple iMovie Question
 

Okay... try not to laugh.

I have done about 3-4 or projects in iMovie and when I'm done, I go back and delete the video and get my disk space back.

But when I go to open a new project, I still see my lists of previous projects.

How do I get rid of an old project?

They should just show up as iMovie icons in the finder just find them and drag them to the trash. They are probably in your movies folder located in your home folder.

Thanks Nate... much appreciated.

Hey, Colby. No shame in using iMovie if all you need are basic transitions in editing your project. I bet no one could tell the difference between a cross dissolve done in iMovie and one done in FCP, know what I mean?

iMovie is a fabulous program, I use it extensively for pulling in footage, logging footage and for whipping together animatics/moving storyboards. Great way to sort through your footage. Pull in a full tape of footage, cut out the cruft and re-export as full quality DV stream. I add placards for scene/shot size/actor in there too.

Since we're on the subject of iMovie I've got a question for you Cole. When you export your full quality DV streams do you use them in FCP? I'd like to do that but always have to render the clips that I bring in, would you mind sharing your workflow?? Thanks

sure, Having shot the best thing ever commited to photons ;) I pull the full tape into iMovie (saving wear and tear on the transport of my camera - view, rewind, capture pertinent bit, repeat). I then rename the clip to match the label of the tape. This becomes my logging station. Since I have been the only technician on set many times, logging takes is not necessarily something that would have been prudent at the time. After option-dragging my clip to the timeline (always work on a copy), I watch through it with a hand on the command-T (cut at play hear) and the other shared between the spacebar (start/stop) and the arrow keys (step forward/reverse). I play through the whole tape cutting out the bits between the takes (unless there's a brilliant piece of BTS stuff in there, which I will cut out and drag back to the clips palette to rename appropriately and save for later).

After that's done, I put titles in with project name, scene number and shot description/actor name for singles. I string all the takes out in one chunk for ease of reference when editing. I export each camera position as its own entity named <scene#>-<shot size>-<character if singles>.dv as a dv stream. These get imported into Final Cut Express (pro it if ya got it!) into scene bins.

I have a master sequence that has all of the scene sequences nested in it. The scene sequences are located in their respective bins so I can open the bin and have the whole thing right at my fingertips. With the dv stream, I also need to render the file, but only if I'm using the audio. Having the takes in one clip allows me to scrub through the clip to find just what I'm looking for when I'm looking and will often uncover new stuff that would fit better as I scrub through (I learned this from "In the Blink of an Eye" by Walter Murch). I initially populate the scene sequences with titles that give the scene number and a brief description of the scene as placeholders, 10 seconds each. This allows me, while editing, to keep the story in mind.

History Channel effect - How do I place pictures in iMovie and do the slowzoom in/out
 

I am new to iMovie and wanted to know if I can place pictures for a documentary and move in slowly and out or to the left or right. What method can I use for this?

Don't bother with iMovie's Ken Burns effect..it doesn't give you enough control.

I recommend LQ Graphic's Photo-To-Movie.

http://www.lqgraphics.com/software/phototomovie.php

It's really easy to use.

Thanks! That' what I needed!

iMovie - stalling footage after moniter view
 

So I spend numerous days editing footage, (I'm sure you can relate) Apple G4 & iMovie & iTunes for music, etc. (all new iLife '06 versions) - then I want to view the edited footage, from iMovie THRU my DV camera (Pan PVGS400), to my TV, & the #!*& thing has choppy video playback. Audio is fine.

The video/audio was smooth, in real time just before I patched it thru my camera. I just don't get it. Why would a signal leaving the computer mess up the software it came from.

Now, when I play back on the computer screen, without the patch thru, it's still choppy. I unplugged the fire wire, turned off the camera, ... I just can not get my mind around this cause & effect. It seems backwards. Am I in a time warp???

Thanks for any feedback here, I'm loosing it. (Again, I'm sure you can relate.)

I don't use iMovie, so there may be something simple that I'm missing. But I just wonder, if you captured a lot of footage, what disk is it on? Is it on the internal drive of an iMac, iBook or Powerbook? If so then you may have issues with disk performance and fragmentation. I know that older versions of iMovie forced you to put everything on the internal drive; is that still the case? If so, then this may not be well suited to large projects. The startup drive on a mac has literally thousands (probably tens of thousands) of little files. The result may be a fragmented disk such that a lot of seeking is required when reading and writing data. The startup drive is also constantly being read and written by various applications and the operating system itself. Combine all this with slow drives on some models and it isn't a good situation for video.

But I'm just brainstorming here. Unfortunately we don't have a lot of iMovie users here. If you don't get any help you might visit Apple's iMovie support forum here: http://discussions.apple.com/categor...categoryID=141