Imported MPEG-4 file into Imovie 09 no picture only sound

Imported a MPEG-4 file taken from a Samsung HD video, into IMovie (5.0.2), sound plays but no picture

Problem is worsening, I think. Now, just about any clip I try to import has no sound. I just tried an MP4 video, and it actually seemed to have work, until I realized the sync is miles away from being correct. I must have some major problems with my system; I seem to be the only one struggling with this.

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Import MPEG 2 files into imovie 08

I have a Sony Handycam (Model: DCR SR 65E) which records movies on its HDD in MPEG2 format. When I tried to import my clips into imovie 08 (Macbook) I realized that these two are not compatible. imovie does not recognize this movie file format.
On reading the associated manual with imovie08, it clearly mentions that it can recognize MPEG2 format and will import files using USB ports.
I currently have multiple video files on my handycam but cant do much with them. I have used 3rd party converters to covert to other format (MPEG 4 etc) but it invariably degrades the quality and I dont want to consider thsi approach. Is there any way my Macbook/imovie 08 can work with the Sony Handycam?

This is nuts. As a Windows refugee I can't believe I have to leave my 24" iMac sitting on my desk and use Movie Factory on my wife's little HP notebook because iMovie won't read my mpeg-2 files.
And I find it hard to believe that there are still people out there who think that that all forms of video are the same. This is like saying a Chrysler, a Mac truck, and a jet plane should all use the same fuel since they are all vehicles. If you buy a camcorder that stores files in a compression format specifically designed as a means for distribution and delivery, then it should not come as a surprise that it may need to be converted to a compression format designed specifically for editing to do a "proper" job of editing in a video editor specifically designed to edit at the intraframe level as most professional, prosumer, and consumer video editors do.
The only way I can open them on the iMac is through VLC (a freebie program I highly recommend). QuickTime is useless unless I pay $20 or whatever for a plugin. How can this be so difficult?
QT has never fully supported any of the multiplexed compression formats like MPEG-1, MPEG-2, VOB, or Flash. While some are QT "playback" only and others are playback only with the proper QT component installed, none are conversion and/or edit compatible with QT processes which are based on the temporal synchronization of up to 99 tracks of different data types and not designed for the conversion/editing of spatially synchronized audio and video stored as interspersed blocks of data in a single data stream. Just as you need the proper engine to run on a specific type of fuel, you need the proper type of video engine to play, convert and/or edit different types of video. Simply put, QT is not a "muxed" MPEG engine.
Why is Apple making it so difficult to transfer videos over from Windows to MacOS. I thought they wanted us to switch.
Apple has no say as to what types of videos you may chose to transfer. It cannot legally provide support for any proprietary codecs that may have been used to produce your original Windows content. Neither would I expect Apple to go out of its way to perform research and development in support of compression formats which are in the process of being replaced and can already be handled satisfactorily by other means currently available.
Has anyone successfully got around this roadblock?
You have three basic options here:
1) You can manually convert the files to any of the compression formats currently capable of being edited in iMovie '08 using a third-party, MPEG-based engine designed to bridge the gap between Multiplexed MPEG video/AC3 audio files and the QT structure now embedded in the Mac OS. I prefer this work flow since it gives the user the greatest control and maximizes editing options.
2) You can "image" your MPEG-2 based content in order to fool iMovie '08 into performing the the conversion for you. Your success here will likely depend on the method you employ and which version of iMovie '08 you are trying it on.
3) You can purchase a MPEG-2/GOP based editor specifically designed to edit your MPEG-2 content "natively." I don't know of any good ones for the Mac and my only experience with such programs in the past have all be unqualified disasters.

Why is importing MPEG 4 files into iMovie so slow

I have just got my first Mac and very happy except that when I try to import video from my camera which records in MPEG 4 the time taken is 10 - 15 minutes for the smallest of clips. I tried importing 5 clips at once of about 10 mins total video and the extimated import time was over 3 hours !!! am I dong something wrong ?, do I need a different editing package ? The same operation in Ulead on the PC took no more than a few minutes Any help appreciated .. Kevin

Hi Kevin,
to my knowledge, iM is converting anything, which is not dv, into socalled Apple Intermediate Codec.
as the name implies, that is an internal codec, to make mpegs editable... dv stores every single frame of a movie, mpeg (any flavor, 1/2/4,h264, divx...) uses a socalled inter-frame compression technique, which results in much smaller files, but your poor Mac has now first "estimate" what is happening in every frame..
besides: on the right "View My Profile", you can add some valueable info for us about your system... if, as an example, your problem occurs on one of the new quad-über-Macs, the answers would be quite different from "I'm using a iBookG3/500MHz"...

When i import a movie file into iMovie,it somehow reverts to the shortened file of the same name that i previously had used

I'm trying to import a movie file into imovie that I know is 3hr16mins long but when it's finished importing,all I have in the programme is the heavily edited 51mins that i used in a previous project (using the same file),5 years ago. How can I stop iMovie from reverting back or could the much longer file be there and I have incorrect settings so I can't see it all?

Are these files MPEG compressed files? iMovie can not deal with the multiplexed audio of those files. For suggestions on how to get them right start here...
http://www.danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6030.shtml
And if your files are not MPEGs, some of the suggestions on that page may still do what you need done.
Patrick

Importing FCP 4 files into iMovie 4

Can this be done? I captured a lot of video to FCP 4, but the learning curve is more time intensive than I thought. Would now like to do the project in iMovie 4. Can I import the FCP files into iMovie, and if so, how is this done. BTW, I'm talking about nine hours of video.
Thanks,
Nick

"Good point."
... and a well known for years, up to iM 4.... did some research on that, and the reason I found was the file system of System8 (eight!)....- so, using the 4th version of that wonderful app with 10.3 was limited by the file management of the pre-pre-version of the system ....
I will never forget that

How can I import a powerpoint file into imovie?

I am trying to import a powerpoint presentation into imovie keeping the transition times. Can you help?

How to add a Powerpoint presentation to iMovie:
http://www.wikihow.com/Add-a-PowerPoint-to-iMovie

Can't import mp4/mov files into iMovie

I tried to create a new project by importing a .mp4 file from my account on Youtube. It copied the file to the event but didn't create a thumbnail. I did some research and I tried:
-Quitting imovie, changing the name of the event folder, then restarting imovie.
-Importing the .mp4 to a different event folder. Quitting/restarting.
At this point, the thumbnail for the newly imported movie appeared but the other videos that were previously (and successfully) thumbnailed in that event disappeared. I quit/restarted iMovie and all the thumbnails in that event were missing.
Here's what I've tried since then:
-Converting the .mp4 in Handbrake to .mp4 and then importing again. No luck.
-TRYING to convert the .mp4 to .mov in mpeg streamclip. I get an "Audio Decoding Error" when I attempt.
-Converting the .mp4 to .mov while disabling the sound in mpeg streamclip. IT WORKS and iMovie is able to import AND thumbnail.
So it'd appear that there's something wrong with the audio in the .mp4 file. Tried other .mp4 files and none of them were able to be converted or imported. Tried extracting the audio from the .mp4 file via MPEG streamclip and there's the same "Audio Decoding Error." The audio on the .mp4 file is AAC.
OK... It'd appear that I'd need to just import the .mov (no sound) along with the audio from the clip (I've used AudioHijack for that) to edit both in iMovie. The problem is that when I try to export it in iMovie I receive error codes.
This just all seems way, way more complicated that it needs to be. Does anyone have any suggestions on something I haven't tried yet or perhaps some video editing software (non FCE) worth looking into?
Thanks

I was currently having the same issue trying to import into imovie. I have EyeTV Hybrid and when exporting a movie it asks you to select format in which to export it in. I selected m-peg4 and when I tried to import into imovie it was grayed in the finder, so what I did was return to the export feature in EyeTV and exported again under a different format - for imovie. It's exporting as we speak and I feel this will allow me to import properly now. Hope this helps.

How do I import a .vob file into iMovie?

I friend sent me on a CD a video she took with a Sony camcorder, but I cannot import it into iMovie. I've found several forms of software to convert the Sony file into a format iMovie will recognize, but which is the best one? Is there a free option?

You need to convert the VOB files in the TS-Folder of the DVD back to DV which iMovie is designed to handle. For that you need mpegStreamclip:
http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html
which is free, but you must also have the Apple mpeg2 plugin :
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/
(unless you are running Lion in which case see below))
which is a mere $20.
Another possibility is to use DVDxDV:
http://www.dvdxdv.com/NewFolderLookSite/Products/DVDxDV.overview.htm
which costs $25.
For the benefit of others who may read this thread:
Obviously the foregoing only applies to DVDs you have made yourself, or other home-made DVDs that have been given to you. It will NOT work on copy-protected commercial DVDs, which in any case would be illegal.
If you are running Lion:
From the MPEG Streamclip homepage
The installer of the MPEG-2 Playback Component may refuse to install the component in Lion. Apple states the component is unnecessary in Lion, however MPEG Streamclip still needs it.
To install the component in Lion, please download MPEG Streamclip 1.9.3b7 beta above; inside the disk image you will find the Utility MPEG2 Component Lion: use it to install the MPEG-2 Playback Component in Lion. The original installer's disk image (QuickTimeMPEG2.dmg) is required.
The current versions of MPEG Streamclip cannot take advantage of the built-in MPEG-2 functionality of Lion. For MPEG-2 files you still need to install the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component, which is not preinstalled in Lion. You don't have to install QuickTime 7.

When importing a Quicktime file into iMovie the audio is inconsistently synchronised with the video. Any ideas?

I record using Quicktime and the built in webcam on my MacBook Pro. When importing the file to iMovie the audio is inconsistent in its syncronisation with the video. Any ideas?

This is probably caused by the internal webcam on Apple devices being optimized for FaceTime rather than for movie making. In FaceTime, the goal is to transmit the information using a little bandwidth as possible, so the video will be recorded at a variable frame rate. The frame rate will get low if you are still, and will speed up if there is a lot of motion.
To fix, I would suggest that you use a free app like MPEG Streamclip. Drag the clip into MPEG Streamclip and export it out at a constant framerate.
If it is an HD movie, I suggest exporting it from MPEG Streamclip using FILE/EXPORT TO QUICKTIME. Choose Apple Intermediate Codec as your video compression. For sound, choose uncompressed 48khz. That should work, but I can't test it right now. If MPEG Streamclip does not work for you, let me know and I can recommend another free tool.

Cannot import specific MOV file into iMovie. HELP please!

I have been using iMovie for many years and am not a novice.
For some reason, I have a specific MOV file that I cannot import into iMovie 10.0.5. When I try to import the file, I get an error message:
"No Importable Files: None of the selected files or folders can be imported"
The file is NOT corrupt and plays perfectly in QuickTime. Interestingly, when I try to import the movie in iMovie, it shows 0.0 sec duration, even though it load/plays perfectly in iMovie with a duration of 54:45. See file A1 below:
I even tried converting the file to M4V in Quicktime, but iMovie would still not import the new M4V file.
Any suggestions? This is an important Movie, I cannot re-record it, and I need to edit it in iMovie.
Thanks in advance!

I copied it below. I would appreciate any suggestions!
Basic information:
General
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Codec ID : qt
File size : 78.9 MiB
Duration : 54mn 44s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 201 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2014-12-10 21:01:49
Tagged date : UTC 2014-12-10 21:01:58
Writing library : Apple QuickTime
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=2, N=30
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 54mn 44s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 63.4 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 768 Kbps
Width : 1 728 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:10
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 0.294 fps
Original frame rate : 25.000 fps
Minimum frame rate : 0.062 fps
Maximum frame rate : 50.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.116
Stream size : 24.9 MiB (32%)
Encoded date : UTC 2014-12-10 21:01:38
Tagged date : UTC 2014-12-10 21:01:58
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 54mn 38s
Source duration : 54mn 38s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Channel positions : Front: C
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 48.3 MiB (61%)
Source stream size : 48.3 MiB (61%)
Expanded information:
General
Count : 284
Count of stream of this kind : 1
Kind of stream : General
Stream identifier : 0
Count of video streams : 1
Count of audio streams : 1
Video_Format_List : AVC
Video_Format_WithHint_List : AVC
Codecs Video : AVC
Audio_Format_List : AAC
Audio_Format_WithHint_List : AAC
Audio codecs : AAC LC
File name : OB
File extension : mov
Format : MPEG-4
Format/Extensions usually used : mp4 m4v m4a m4b m4p 3gpp 3gp 3gpp2 3g2 k3g jpm jpx mqv ismv isma f4v
Commercial name : MPEG-4
Format profile : QuickTime
Internet media type : video/mp4
Codec ID : qt
Codec ID/Url : http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone.html
Codec : MPEG-4
Codec/Extensions usually used : mp4 m4v m4a m4b m4p 3gpp 3gp 3gpp2 3g2 k3g jpm jpx mqv ismv isma f4v
File size : 78.88 MiB
Duration : 00:54:44.630
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 201 Kbps
Stream size : 5.71 MiB (7%)
Proportion of this stream : 0.07233
HeaderSize : 1305394
DataSize : 81406130
FooterSize : 0
IsStreamable : Yes
Encoded date : UTC 2014-12-10 21:01:49
Tagged date : UTC 2014-12-10 21:01:58
File last modification date : UTC 2014-12-10 21:47:04
File last modification date (local) : 2014-12-10 16:47:04
Writing library : Apple QuickTime
Writing library/Name : Apple QuickTime
Video
Count : 274
Count of stream of this kind : 1
Kind of stream : Video
Stream identifier : 0
StreamOrder : 0
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format/Url : http://developers.videolan.org/x264.html
Commercial name : AVC
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings : CABAC / 2 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=2, N=30
Internet media type : video/H264
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Codec ID/Url : http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/standalone.html
Codec : AVC
Codec/Family : AVC
Codec/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Codec/Url : http://developers.videolan.org/x264.html
Codec/CC : avc1
Codec profile : [email protected]
Codec settings : CABAC / 2 Ref Frames
Codec settings, CABAC : Yes
Codec_Settings_RefFrames : 2
Duration : 00:54:44.630
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 63.4 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 768 Kbps
Width : 1 728 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Pixel aspect ratio : 1.000
Display aspect ratio : 16:10
Rotation : 0.000
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 0.294 fps
Original frame rate : 25.000 fps
Minimum frame rate : 0.062 fps
Maximum frame rate : 50.000 fps
Frame count : 967
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Interlacement : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.116
Stream size : 24.9 MiB (32%)
Proportion of this stream : 0.31508
Encoded date : UTC 2014-12-10 21:01:38
Tagged date : UTC 2014-12-10 21:01:58
Buffer size : 768000
Audio
Count : 222
Count of stream of this kind : 1
Kind of stream : Audio
Stream identifier : 0
StreamOrder : 1
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Commercial name : AAC
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Codec : AAC LC
Codec/Family : AAC
Codec/CC : 40
Duration : 00:54:38.179
Source duration : 00:54:38.193
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Channel positions : 1/0/0
ChannelLayout : C
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Samples count : 144567694
Frame count : 141179
Source frame count : 141180
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 48.3 MiB (61%)
Proportion of this stream : 0.61259
Source stream size : 48.3 MiB (61%)
Source_StreamSize_Proportion : 0.61259

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I have old videos that were put on dvds using go-video. They are unix executable files, I don't know how to import them into imovie. Am I missing something?

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Sorry,
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I have a lot of .MPG files on a disk that I want to import into iMovie.
These files were recorded on a Sony Handycam.
I cannot import these files into iPhoto or iMovie. I have downloaded VLC so are able to watch these files individually but would like to edit and join these clips to make one movie.
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Message was edited by: Aussietez

have you tried running them thru "Hand Brake" to convert them into mp4 files? Hand Brake is a free down load.
i am a bit of a hack as well so this may or may not work. I am currently trying to find the right software to grab some footage from a commercial DVD for some personal work and cannot get it to work so i feel your pain.

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Imported MPEG-4 file into Imovie 09 no picture only sound

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