imovie 9 and sony vegas at DVinfo.net

Lynne Whelden · November 6th, 2010, 08:41 PM

If this is a stupid question, I apologize in advance. But having done a rough edit in imovie9, am I now committed to staying within mac editing software? Or is there a way to convert .mov files to something Vegas could recognize without losing any quality?

Charles Newcomb · November 6th, 2010, 08:58 PM

I don't know about iMovie .movs. I think they're different than FCP .mov files. What you can do, however, is download (for free) Mpeg Streamclip, then use it to convert the files to .avi.

Michael Wisniewski · November 6th, 2010, 09:28 PM

iMovie transcodes video to the Apple Intermediate Codec, AIC for short. Unfortunately the AIC playback is not available for Windows, so you'll have to transcode the video one more time to get it to playback on a Windows PC. Your best bet is to re-import your video on a PC, preferably using Sony Vegas.

But you will lose the edits you made in iMovie, I have not come across any successful way to translate edits to Vegas, except for very simple one track edits. ** I have successfully, made edits in iMovie, and then transferred the edits to FCP, which then went to Premiere on the PC, but I was careful to start with a video file format that was cross-platform compatible, in my case Cineform.

Gerald Webb · November 7th, 2010, 03:21 AM

One more bad thing, if your original was 1080p / i, iMovie renders its own file @ 960x540, so anything that comes out of imovie is permanently degraded by half.
But, you can save your project file and open it up in FCP, as long as FCP has access to the source footage, you could export dnxhd, or animation if you have enough space, and then put it on a PC and have a lossless transition between platforms.

Lynne Whelden · November 7th, 2010, 07:47 AM

I'm working with footage shot on the older Sony HC-3 but I imported it at the "full size" 1920x1080 (rather than "large size"). So I"m going to be burned in the export process no matter what I do, whether I convert files for PC consumption or whether I import into FCP (which I'd obviously rather not do)?

Bredly Root · November 9th, 2010, 06:18 AM

interesting for me, thanks

November 6th, 2010, 08:41 PM	#1
Lynne Whelden Major Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: williamsport, pa Posts: 604	imovie 9 and sony vegas If this is a stupid question, I apologize in advance. But having done a rough edit in imovie9, am I now committed to staying within mac editing software? Or is there a way to convert .mov files to something Vegas could recognize without losing any quality?

November 7th, 2010, 03:21 AM	#4
Gerald Webb Trustee Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Central Coast Australia Posts: 1,046	One more bad thing, if your original was 1080p / i, iMovie renders its own file @ 960x540, so anything that comes out of imovie is permanently degraded by half. But, you can save your project file and open it up in FCP, as long as FCP has access to the source footage, you could export dnxhd, or animation if you have enough space, and then put it on a PC and have a lossless transition between platforms. __________________ http://vimeo.com/livewebvideo

November 6th, 2010, 08:58 PM	#2
Charles Newcomb Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Salida, Colorado Posts: 561	I don't know about iMovie .movs. I think they're different than FCP .mov files. What you can do, however, is download (for free) Mpeg Streamclip, then use it to convert the files to .avi.

November 6th, 2010, 09:28 PM	#3
Michael Wisniewski Wrangler Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Makati, Metro Manila Posts: 2,706 Images: 32	iMovie transcodes video to the Apple Intermediate Codec, AIC for short. Unfortunately the AIC playback is not available for Windows, so you'll have to transcode the video one more time to get it to playback on a Windows PC. Your best bet is to re-import your video on a PC, preferably using Sony Vegas. But you will lose the edits you made in iMovie, I have not come across any successful way to translate edits to Vegas, except for very simple one track edits. ** I have successfully, made edits in iMovie, and then transferred the edits to FCP, which then went to Premiere on the PC, but I was careful to start with a video file format that was cross-platform compatible, in my case Cineform.

November 7th, 2010, 07:47 AM	#5
Lynne Whelden Major Player Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: williamsport, pa Posts: 604	I'm working with footage shot on the older Sony HC-3 but I imported it at the "full size" 1920x1080 (rather than "large size"). So I"m going to be burned in the export process no matter what I do, whether I convert files for PC consumption or whether I import into FCP (which I'd obviously rather not do)?

November 9th, 2010, 06:18 AM	#6
Bredly Root New Boot Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: USA Posts: 18	interesting for me, thanks