iMovie questions

Heath McKnight · February 3rd, 2005, 09:37 PM

How fast is the internal? 5400 rpm?

heath

Dave Perry · February 3rd, 2005, 10:29 PM

Heath,

There is also an iMovie HD 5.0.1 Update at Apple's Support Site.

Maybe that will help out.

Heath McKnight · February 4th, 2005, 12:36 AM

Yeah, I posted about that. No dice. iPhoto has a 5.0.1 update, too.

heath

Jonathan Lennard · February 4th, 2005, 02:24 AM

I'm a big fan of imovie...is there anything interesting about imovie 5, if I don't care about HD...??
thanks for reviews.
jonathan

Mark Sloan · February 4th, 2005, 10:33 AM

Rearranging clips IN the timeline and widescreen are now supported. You used to have to put clips back in the clips pane and then where you want them to change the order of the clips.

Jack Wheeler · February 4th, 2005, 04:17 PM

I a considering an upgrade to my current editing system. (I am only a hobbyist - but find I grow in the hobby quickly!)

I don't like to spend much money on software. The new iLife has a nice, simple iPhoto upgrade, and of course the latest iMovie.

I am better off dropping the iLife suite and going right for the latest Final Cut Express?

Lastly, is there any issue with buying FCE or iLife from the US and using it on my euro-iMac G4? (My current iLife was bundled and purchased in Europe)

John C. Chu · February 4th, 2005, 05:07 PM

I've been playing with it since it came out and I have been very impressed.

If you have been suffering with iMovie 3/4 then iMovie HD will make you really, really happy.

Most the speed issues(spinning beach ball of death) sluggishness and glitches have been addressed in this release

It run as nicely as iMovie 2 did--and it is like having a new Mac!(i have a 800 mhz eMac)

An of course the support of HDV editing...

But most importantly, 16:9 implementation is nice and you can finally do the titles correctly and go straight to iDVD and make anamophic DVD's also...

Dave Perry · February 4th, 2005, 06:44 PM

Final Cut Express HD is quite a bargain at $299. It's now bundled with Sound Track and Live Type, which up to this point were available separately or bundled with FCP HD. The nice thing is, the price did not go up for FCE HD.

Jonathan Lennard · February 5th, 2005, 11:29 PM

Are there any audio improvements? does anyone know how to pull out stereo tracks?
thanks

Eric Bilodeau · February 7th, 2005, 12:28 AM

Heath,

The actual problem is that you have stopped the capture process when your tape (on camera) reached 32 mins. but your display on computer was at 4 mins. With slow computers, Imovie displays slower and displays what as been transferred in AIC so if you hit stop capture by looking on your in cam footage you will get a wrong timing... My dual G5 does it in RT but my portable is much slower, thus I learned this the hard way...

Jason Beaton · February 7th, 2005, 12:24 PM

Hi all, I have some HDV Footage that a friend needs for a project that she is on a deadline for. Is there a way to convert HDV via iMovie and FCPHD to DV tape so she can work with it ? Many Thanks in advance from both of us...

Eric Bilodeau · February 7th, 2005, 12:32 PM

If you have a Z1, it is able to do the downconversion within the camera (I guess the FX1 should too) in the firewire cable. You could also connect via composite or S-video to a DV camera that can accept an analog signal and record it using this camera from your HDV camera (that does the down conversion) or through a capture card, I already did that for a project and it works fine. These are the easiest and less time-consuming ways.

Heath McKnight · February 7th, 2005, 03:00 PM

I never thought a single processor G5 Power Mac would be considered slow with iMovie HD. I didn't have this problem with Lumiere Hd....

heath

Dylan Pank · February 8th, 2005, 04:40 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Jason Beaton : Hi all, I have some HDV Footage that a friend needs for a project that she is on a deadline for. Is there a way to convert HDV via iMovie and FCPHD to DV tape so she can work with it ? Many Thanks in advance from both of us... -->>>

iMovie should be able to convert to DV with under the "share" menu.

Another possibility is to use DVHScap or VirtualDVHS to capture and MPEG streamclip to convert to DV. I've used MPEG streampclip and it's glitchy sometimes and I can't speak at all for the reliability of DVHScap or VirtualDVHS. You should be able to import the final clips to FCP and output them to a DV cam.

MPEG streamclip has no batch convert facilities so you'd have to convert clips one by one.

Ben De Rydt · February 8th, 2005, 07:13 AM

Using the camera to convert the footage will be much faster than using a computer and I doubt anyone will see the difference. I would dub the HDV footage to DV by firewire. Just connect the FX1/Z1 to a DV cam or DV deck with firewire. Turn on HDV to DV conversion in the FX1/Z1 menu. Set the "TV type" to whatever you want. If you want letterboxed DV, choose 4:3, if you want anamorphic DV, choose 16:9. Press play on the FX1 and record on the DV cam/deck.

Original timecode will be lost, but then again, none of the different HDV capture methods on a mac preserve timecode right now.

February 3rd, 2005, 09:37 PM	#166
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	How fast is the internal? 5400 rpm? heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

February 3rd, 2005, 10:29 PM	#167
Dave Perry Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Roanoke, VA Posts: 796	Heath, There is also an iMovie HD 5.0.1 Update at Apple's Support Site. Maybe that will help out. __________________ Dave Perry Cinematographer LLC Director of Photography • Editor • Digital Film Production • 540.915.2752 • daveperry.net

February 4th, 2005, 12:36 AM	#168
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	Yeah, I posted about that. No dice. iPhoto has a 5.0.1 update, too. heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

February 4th, 2005, 02:24 AM	#169
Jonathan Lennard New Boot Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: new York usa Posts: 22	imovie 5; anyone tried it? I'm a big fan of imovie...is there anything interesting about imovie 5, if I don't care about HD...?? thanks for reviews. jonathan

February 4th, 2005, 04:17 PM	#171
Jack Wheeler New Boot Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 16	iMovie (iLife 2005) or Final Cut Express? I a considering an upgrade to my current editing system. (I am only a hobbyist - but find I grow in the hobby quickly!) I don't like to spend much money on software. The new iLife has a nice, simple iPhoto upgrade, and of course the latest iMovie. I am better off dropping the iLife suite and going right for the latest Final Cut Express? Lastly, is there any issue with buying FCE or iLife from the US and using it on my euro-iMac G4? (My current iLife was bundled and purchased in Europe)

February 4th, 2005, 10:33 AM	#170
Mark Sloan Major Player Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Venice, CA Posts: 346	Rearranging clips IN the timeline and widescreen are now supported. You used to have to put clips back in the clips pane and then where you want them to change the order of the clips.

February 4th, 2005, 05:07 PM	#172
John C. Chu Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Rego Park , NYC Posts: 665	I've been playing with it since it came out and I have been very impressed. If you have been suffering with iMovie 3/4 then iMovie HD will make you really, really happy. Most the speed issues(spinning beach ball of death) sluggishness and glitches have been addressed in this release It run as nicely as iMovie 2 did--and it is like having a new Mac!(i have a 800 mhz eMac) An of course the support of HDV editing... But most importantly, 16:9 implementation is nice and you can finally do the titles correctly and go straight to iDVD and make anamophic DVD's also...

February 4th, 2005, 06:44 PM	#173
Dave Perry Major Player Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Roanoke, VA Posts: 796	Final Cut Express HD is quite a bargain at $299. It's now bundled with Sound Track and Live Type, which up to this point were available separately or bundled with FCP HD. The nice thing is, the price did not go up for FCE HD. __________________ Dave Perry Cinematographer LLC Director of Photography • Editor • Digital Film Production • 540.915.2752 • daveperry.net

February 5th, 2005, 11:29 PM	#174
Jonathan Lennard New Boot Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: new York usa Posts: 22	any audio improvements Are there any audio improvements? does anyone know how to pull out stereo tracks? thanks

February 7th, 2005, 12:28 AM	#175
Eric Bilodeau Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Chicoutimi, Canada Posts: 334	Heath, The actual problem is that you have stopped the capture process when your tape (on camera) reached 32 mins. but your display on computer was at 4 mins. With slow computers, Imovie displays slower and displays what as been transferred in AIC so if you hit stop capture by looking on your in cam footage you will get a wrong timing... My dual G5 does it in RT but my portable is much slower, thus I learned this the hard way... __________________ Eric Bilodeau video SFX,DOP ___________________ http://www.fictis.net info@fictis.net

February 7th, 2005, 12:24 PM	#176
Jason Beaton Tourist Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 4	HDV to DV via iMovie HD and FCPHD... Hi all, I have some HDV Footage that a friend needs for a project that she is on a deadline for. Is there a way to convert HDV via iMovie and FCPHD to DV tape so she can work with it ? Many Thanks in advance from both of us...

February 7th, 2005, 12:32 PM	#177
Eric Bilodeau Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Chicoutimi, Canada Posts: 334	If you have a Z1, it is able to do the downconversion within the camera (I guess the FX1 should too) in the firewire cable. You could also connect via composite or S-video to a DV camera that can accept an analog signal and record it using this camera from your HDV camera (that does the down conversion) or through a capture card, I already did that for a project and it works fine. These are the easiest and less time-consuming ways. __________________ Eric Bilodeau video SFX,DOP ___________________ http://www.fictis.net info@fictis.net

February 7th, 2005, 03:00 PM	#178
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	I never thought a single processor G5 Power Mac would be considered slow with iMovie HD. I didn't have this problem with Lumiere Hd.... heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

February 8th, 2005, 04:40 AM	#179
Dylan Pank Major Player Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Portsmouth, UK Posts: 611	Re: HDV to DV via iMovie HD and FCPHD... <<<-- Originally posted by Jason Beaton : Hi all, I have some HDV Footage that a friend needs for a project that she is on a deadline for. Is there a way to convert HDV via iMovie and FCPHD to DV tape so she can work with it ? Many Thanks in advance from both of us... -->>> iMovie should be able to convert to DV with under the "share" menu. Another possibility is to use DVHScap or VirtualDVHS to capture and MPEG streamclip to convert to DV. I've used MPEG streampclip and it's glitchy sometimes and I can't speak at all for the reliability of DVHScap or VirtualDVHS. You should be able to import the final clips to FCP and output them to a DV cam. MPEG streamclip has no batch convert facilities so you'd have to convert clips one by one.

February 8th, 2005, 07:13 AM	#180
Ben De Rydt Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Belgium Posts: 139	Using the camera to convert the footage will be much faster than using a computer and I doubt anyone will see the difference. I would dub the HDV footage to DV by firewire. Just connect the FX1/Z1 to a DV cam or DV deck with firewire. Turn on HDV to DV conversion in the FX1/Z1 menu. Set the "TV type" to whatever you want. If you want letterboxed DV, choose 4:3, if you want anamorphic DV, choose 16:9. Press play on the FX1 and record on the DV cam/deck. Original timecode will be lost, but then again, none of the different HDV capture methods on a mac preserve timecode right now.