iMovie questions

[Kyle De Priest]

Sorry to be so long...
Yes Jeff, I am running the latest versions of all the software.
The guys at apple are racking their brains and my buddy (at apple) is contacting the president of geethree to find out what's up with that.

I'm beginning to think my settings may be askew...

Any more ideas? I told you this was weird.
-Kyle

[Ken Tanaka]

The folks at Apple will always be "...racking their brains" on nearly any problem. That doesn't qualify this as an eternal mystery.

Have you tried anything Jeff or I recommended?

[Kyle De Priest]

Actually Ken, thank you very much,
I have been messing with it quite a bit.
Jeff suggested that I import the footage in smaller "chunks". The footage in iMovie isn't a problem. While viewing the footage in iMovie, it appears perfect and the timing is perfect. I don't believe the hardware connection is an issue.
Once all my editing is complete, I select export for iDVD. That's where the trouble begins.
As I'm sure you know, there are 3 options for exporting a film from iMovie.
Export to Camera
Export to QuickTime (which has all types of settings)
Export to iDVD.

I have been exporting to iDVD (where there are no frame rate settings) and then burning the disc from there.
I have done this with 4 other films with no problems.

Now, this one has me without solution.

Are you suggesting I Export this to QuickTime, then move that to iDVD? I can surely try that.

I appreciate the help. Unfortunately, this one has me and my friends stumped... except for one possible solution (which I'll try this weekend)
I am convinced that the problem is with these geethree effects (this project is the first time I've used it)
I can export the film from iMovie back to the camera. Once there, I can then import it back to the computer and from there, to iDVD.
I'll let you know if that works.
-Kyle

[Ken Tanaka]

Are you suggesting I Export this to QuickTime, then move that to iDVD? I can surely try that.

Yes. Export the sequence to QT in DV format. Also try breaking the sequence into smaller pieces before exporting, as Jeff suggested. Then import to iDVD.

[Kyle De Priest]

Ken,
I tried to export to quick time.
Actually, what I did was... I extracted all the audio from the live footage and pinned it in place. Then, I exported the video to quick time. In my settings, I saved it as 720 x 480 at 29.97 fps in mono at 16 bit quality. (DV/DVCPRO - NTSC) Best Quality

It took about 40 minutes to export it (original piece is 55 minutes)

Now, the audio is worse. About 2 seconds ahead of the image.

I'm still messing with it.

I have one question though... How can I divide the piece into smaller chunks and then merge them back together after they are exported? iDVD can not accept different chapters. Is there a way to do it with 2 or more quicktime pieces so they run together as if they are spliced?

-Kyle

[Ken Tanaka]

I think you're outsmarting yourself. Don't fool around with separating the sound during export. The whole point of this experiment is to try to ensure that sound and video remain in synch. The DV export from iMovie is intended to maintain the audio sampling rate with the video rate. So export the whole piece, sound and video, to a DV format QuickTime file. Then bring the QuickTime DV file into iDVD. DON'T manipulate the audio separately!

iDVD cannot deal with chaptering or chaining at all. It is designed to simplify the DVD authoring process, so it hides the markedly more complex features of the DVD specification that enable you to do such tricks. To divide your disc's content you will have to create separate exports from iMovie and bring the into iDVD as separate content pieces. (Given your problem, this would probably be a good idea anyway.)

[Marc Potvin]

Hi,

I'm using iMovie to edit video on my Lombard PB (400Mhz G3) and I've notice that when I do a crossfade effect from one clip to another, the "action" goes into slow motion during the actual fading from one image to another and goes back to regular speed after the fade. Is this normal? Is this a limit of iMovie, or of my slow machine? It sure doesn't look good and slick.

Any info appreciated (I'm a complete newbie btw).

Thanks.

Marc.

[Ken Tanaka]

Marc,
It sounds like iMovie is rendering the transition when you observe it going into "slow motion". That it, it's creating the necessary frames in the background as you're playing it. After it's finished rendering you should see the movie displayed at full speed.

[Marc Potvin]

In fact, it is not the rendition but the actual playing of the fade. And also, there is no change whether I'm looking at the rendition during playback on the computer or on the minidv tape (sony TRV25) after I've exported the movie to my camera. I'm puzzled as to why this is and how to change it.

Marc.

[Jeff Donald]

How full is the hard drive? I don't do much iMovie work (just to help my son) but could one of the clips be too short and iMovie stretches the clip? Just guessing though.

Jeff

[Marc Potvin]

No, the movie files take about 500 megs and the disk still has about 3 gigs left so I don't think that is the problem.

Marc.

[Jeff Donald]

How long is the clip? Can you delete it and re-import the clip and render it again. That sometimes works in FCP.

Jeff

[Ken Tanaka]

Marc,
Apple's support site is one of the best and is a good resource for every Mac user. Here's an article discussing what seems to be your trouble. It looks like it's time for you to update iMovie.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.h....net|158245996

[Jeff Donald]

You can download the latest version of iMovie and iPhoto. They are also available from software update in your system preferences.

[Bob Zimmerman]

The Apple support page for iMovie is loaded with unhappy people. You might want to read some of the problems first. I'm going to wait until things get worked out. I might just get FCX anyway.