MXF In iMovie

[Buba Kastorski]

Is there any way to open MXf in iMovie?

I am a PC person, but one of my clients asked me for a raw footage for her son, to play and learn; it was shot on EX1, but I didn't keep originals.
so unless there is a way I'll have to recompress everything to qt,
many thanks.

[Robert Lane]

In short, no.

iMovie cannot read XDCAM MXF files (it's not designed to handle professional camera codecs) however if you have Final Cut Pro you can transcode XDCAM into AIC for import into iMovie keeping the files HD. Otherwise your only option would be to use the Sony-supplied ClipBrowser to convert XDCAM into raw DV (SD, not HD).

Since your on a PC and not knowing what software you're using for editing I don't know what conversion options you have available but a standard H.264 QT should work.

[Hans Ledel]

iMovie 08 or later will handle any codec you have on your computer.

I have FCS 1 and Imovie 08 and I edit HDV files or any codec that my FCP have in iMovie 08

I just copy the files via import in iMovie and they don´t get converted to AIC they are native.

I´ve also tested with other codec and I have zero problems, all work native in iMovie08

[Robert Lane]

To be clear:

iMovie can only import files when it has access to that codec *on the machine*. If your client's son does not have FCP on their system then they cannot import anything that iMovie does not natively support, which includes all professional codecs such as XDCAM, DVCPRO, RED etc.

Think about it: If iMovie could *natively* handle pro codecs then they would kill the market for Final Cut Express.

For a full list of supported formats and cameras see this link:

iMovie ?09: Camcorder Support

[Buba Kastorski]

Thanks guys , i knew FC has no problems to access MXF, but that's the problem, the boy does not have it,
Thanks again,

[Hans Ledel]

Originally Posted by Robert Lane

To be clear:

iMovie can only import files when it has access to that codec *on the machine*. If your client's son does not have FCP on their system then they cannot import anything that iMovie does not natively support, which includes all professional codecs such as XDCAM, DVCPRO, RED etc.

Think about it: If iMovie could *natively* handle pro codecs then they would kill the market for Final Cut Express.

For a full list of supported formats and cameras see this link:

iMovie ?09: Camcorder Support

That is what I said, if you read my first sentence "on your computer"

My answer where a reply to your statement that iMovie only worked with AIC and did not handle professional camera codecs, it does.

iMovie will never kill FCE
It is just a basic program but it is more capable than FCE when it comes to codecs

You could try adding "Perian codecs" if you don´t have FCP

Cheers

Hans