Freeze after import from built-in iSight

Question

I go to File > Import from Camera..., record my lovely visage, and then I click Done. iMovie imports the new video just fine, I see it pop up in the little clips tray, but then I'm faced with a problem.
The capture window is still open and if I click the "Done" button or close the capture window, iMovie just freezes and I have to force quit.
When I re-open iMove, everything is fine, my project and the new clip still exist, but I've just wasted a lot of time.
It happens every time and it's really frustrating. What's going on?
Console offers little of interest...
3/28/08 12:51:43 AM iMovie[19101] CFDictionaryAddValue(): immutable collection 0x2630a390 given to mutating function
3/28/08 12:55:01 AM com.apple.launchd[169] ([0x0-0x38c38c].com.apple.iMovie7[19101]) Exited: Terminated
Message was edited by: Iynque

Answer 1

There are a few other threads out there based on iMovie freezing after importing, but most are people importing from other devices, not the built-in iSight camera. None has any good advice about how to correct it, that I can see.
I suppose the good news is it's not a problem endemic to the iSight camera capture option itself. I'm willing to bet it has something to do with disk fragmentation or dropped frames during capture -any of which a standard NLE would tell you about instead of crashing.
I guess the usual salvo of countermeasures are called for: verify the target volume using disk utility, defragment the drive, try building a new user account on your Mac and try the capture again (just to rule out any unruly preferences in your current config). Worst case, reinstall iMovie and see if it keeps happening. Now, having said all that, I haven't actually taken the time to try it myself. So, grain of salt, and all that.