AVCHD/HDV iMovie Apple TV file sizes

When you export a 1hr HD iMovie at the highest quality ATV setting what is the file size approximately? Trying to decide between the 40 and 160g AppleTV.
Is there any trick to this or is it pretty basic? Thanks.

I just checked a couple of movies on my TV.
An approximately 5 minute movie in AVCHD stores on the TV as Large (960x540) in h.264 format, and is about 145.5 MB in size. Multiplying by 12 would give you the size for an hour movie, which would be about 1.75GB.
As for 40GB or 160GB TV, I prefer the 160GB because I can have my iTunes and Movies local on the TV. If you have the 40GB, you would probably stream the tunes and movies from your Mac rather than keeping everything local. Streaming works fine as far as playing the movies. However, on my Mac, I have several copies of each movie. I have one copy optimizes for the TV, another copy optimized for the Mobile Me Web Gallery, and another copy optimized for my iPhone. If I stream my TV, I have to navigate through all these copies in the menus to find the movie I want. If I sync to TV, I can choose to sync only the TV size movies, and I make navigating the menus simpler. And I can still stream if I need to.

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ISight and iMovies Editing Problems (File Size)

I recently used my MacBook Pro to record a live business related training. The trainer was using PowerPoint. After recording, I began to edit by separating some of the audio from the video (which I've done numerous times after recording with DV camera), then deleting some video and inserting some .jpg files of the PowerPoint slides to sync with the audio. But everytime I separated a piece of video from the audio, the file size grew tremendously even after I trashed the unwanted video. Note: my .jpgs were extremely small files. After a while, my file was more that 100 gigs. although it began at about 4 gigs. It got to the point where I couldn't even open the file. Does anyone know why this happens when recording with iSight? Also, I couldn't import even the original file into Final Cut Pro for editing. How do you get the file from iMovies to Final Cut?
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Hi Bill
You might be better off posting in the iMovie forum http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=141
Tony

Software Update File Size Different than Apple Downloads File Size

Background:
I am running software update and it retrieves the update for "MacBook, MacBook Pro Software update 1.1" File size is listed as 768K. When I go to the Apple Downloads page for this update, the file size is 979K.
Download ID is 16618 and URl is http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/macosx_updates/macbookmacbookprosoft wareupdate11.html
Question:
Is this discrepancy normal based on the way that Software Update calculates file size or should I be concerned? There is no hash to confirm integrity of the file.

File size, and the volume of space it takes up are 2 different things. Space will very from computer to computer. Chances are, the larger the drive the more space it takes up. Reason? The file system (HSF + on macs with Leopard). The file sytem divides the drive into specific number of sections. That number may be 10 M, say. So, even if you have a thumbnail that is 4 kb, it will still require the minimum size of the file system. Make sense? There is a lot of wasted space on very large drives.
Note: Leopard is set up to use a new file system that apple may soon adopt. It will not use the division method HFS + uses, and so will save a lot of space, if adopted.

FLAC vs Apple Lossless file sizes

I've been looking into moving up to lossless audio files. From what I've been able to discover, FLAC and Apple Lossless should be roughly the same file size, but I downloaded a 24-bit/44.1kHz FLAC from the Bowers & Wilkins site (about half-way down the page - search for Portico) which is 35MB. I transcoded it to Apple Lossless using Max and the resulting file is 62MB - 77% larger!!
Does this seem right? Is the compression level variable for FLAC and/or Apple Lossless (as there is for ZIP for example)? There's no such option in Max.

Hmm, interesting. MediaInfo reports the following:
Apple Lossless:
Audio
ID : 1
Format : ALAC
Codec ID : alac
Codec ID/Info : Apple Lossless Audio Codec
Duration : 5mn 34s
Duration_LastFrame : -49ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 484 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Stream size : 59.1 MiB (100%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2037-05-12 23:52:44
Tagged date : UTC 2037-05-12 23:52:44
FLAC
Audio
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec
Duration : 5mn 34s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 840 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Stream size : 33.4 MiB (100%)
Writing library : libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)
So, same bit depth and sampling rate, but the bit-rate for the Apple Lossless is much higher than the FLAC.
In XLD I have "same as original" for bit-rate and sample frequency.
I've found some more free FLAC download samples at NaimLabel (panel on the right about half way down) and when I transcode these to Apple Lossless the files are the same size as the FLACs, give or take, so I guess these aren't as compressed?

Cannot submit widget to Apple Downloads : File size does not match

Hello all,
I made a widget to play Go that I finalized yesterday ( http://lesiteajulien.free.fr ).
Unfortunately, I have not succeeded to uploading it to the Apple widget repository, since the submit page keeps returning the following error :
"The filesize from the file you uploaded and the file that is downloaded from the given download URL do NOT match."
But I am absolutely sure that both zip files are the SAME. I downloaded it from my server a few times and compared the size with the original file I'm sending to Apple: they match. So I guess my server is not the cause.
I tryied from various places and with various browsers.
Did anybody have any similar problem while trying to upload a widget ?
Any idea ?
Thanks for your help.
Julien

tntemerson wrote:
The sales people at the Apple store told me that Time Machine makes a true restorable system picture of the native HDD during backups.
So I'm surprised when the backup runs through to a reported completion but the final backup size does not match the stated estimate for a "full backup" which is the same as the Macintosh HD used space.
Time Machine automatically excludes some things that aren't needed for a full system restore: system work files, most logs & caches, trash, some indexes, etc. So it should be a few GBs less than what's on your system, but of course varies a lot from one Mac to another.
See the tan box in #11 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions for the gory details.

IMovie 10.0 file sizes/bitrates

Ok - so like many people here I've recently upgraded to Imovie 10.
I am helping to build a website - it currently contains about 12,000 clips all of which are 640x480. Now that particular option is no longer available in the new version, the smallest being 854x480, but I've still 1000's of clips I still need to edit at the correct size.
Uploading to youtube kills the quality, and that's not an option anyway. I need to be able to upload the original edited movie clip directly to the website the same size as all the others.
Any ideas anyone?

I have been creating movies using iMovie for many years now, and realised the size of the movie is often much bigger than what I wanted. Usually the movie resolution and bitrate issues.
To solve that, I have downloaded this http://www.wondershare.com/mac-video-converter-ultimate/ and after exporting using iMovie, I would port it over to this Video Converter which I could set the size and bitrate information, as well as audio and video qualities.
The conversion is very fast and I am very satisfied with the results. You can try this out.
Regards,
MacLover2226

Request Advice for creating DVDs from 7.5 gig file sizes

Hi,
[using dvdstudio 3]
I’m looking for advice for home DVD project i'm working on. I want to create a DVD from video that has been captured to my computer using iMovieHD, and have completed my wanted edits for two clips. They are about an hour-plus each. When exporting the two clips separately (Sharing, in iMovie terms), the file sizes are about 7.5 Gig each at full quality,and I understand I’m going to have to cut some corners in the process to get both on one DVD and I’m even willing to have two DVDs, but still need to know the best way to decrease the file size for each one. The audio should remain as 16 bit 44.1 Khz, Stereo.
I’m wondering what the best method to achieve an optimum quality DVD is. Again, I realize I’ll have to compress the video at the loss of quality (i.e., “cut corners”) to make the DVDs.
In my previous experiences, I’ve retained the larger file size all the way up through the authoring process in DVD Studio letting it build a 7.5 gig dvd format (VIDEO_TS). Then, I used DVDx2One to compress it down to 4.5. The end result was pretty good and I never had any troubles per say. However, this project is important to me and I want to make the best quality I can. What would you do differently?
Here are my software tools that I use interchangeably for previous projects; copying, authoring, editing, etc:
-> iMovieHD 4x – used to capture the video.
-> DVD Studio 3 - to author and build my dvd session
-> ffmpegx - as a video conversion and compression tool
-> DVDX2one to recompress DVD formatted (VIDEO_TS).
Thanks very much for your tips!
JeffTronics

Hi Jeff - is the iMovie file in QT format?
If so, you need to compress it to MPEG2 - you don't need to suffer too much of a quality loss by doing so - how long (in minutes) is the video?
You should also encode the audio to AC3 - this will save loads of space as AC3 is about a tenth the size of a .aiff.
ffmpeg will create the MPEG for you, but so will DVDSP (as indeed will Quicktime). In your applications folder you should find 'A.Pack' which will handle the audio conversion as well.
The exact encoding parameters you use will depend on the nature of the footage that you have got - it's more than just squeezing it to fit - you need to account for fades, pans, zooms and fast action as well. Some parts can have a lower bitrate applied than others, and this is where a tool such as Compressor comes in handy. DVDSP will encode the footage as you work, or when you build if you want it to - this is also a reasonable option if you have nothing else available, or if you are new to the whole thing.
The best workflow is to go from iMovie to a compression tool to create your MPEG2 file. Take the associated .aiff file and encode to to Dolby Digital (AC3). Import both the MPEG2 and the AC3 file into DVDSP and you should be able to get the entire project to less than 4.37GB (the maximum capacity of a DVD-R).

Avi file size compared to m2v file size

I saved a movie clip in MPEG for computer playback. The file size was 112MB. The preset was H.264 1440x1080i 25, no export audio, the codec was MainConcept H.264 Video, TV standard was automatic, frame dimensions were 720 by 480, frame rate was 29.97, field order was automatic, fixed aspect ratio was automatic, level was 4.1, bitrate encoding was VBR, 2 Pass, and Bitrate level was high. I then saved the file in AVI and the file size was 426MB. The preset was Microsoft AVI, no export audio, the video codec was Cinepak Codec by Radius, quality was 100, size was 720 by 480, frame rate was 29.97, field type was lowere first and aspect was square pixels. Why would the file size nearly quadruple and what can I do to get the AVI file size down below 400MB? Thanks.
Steve

Well, for one thing, you're going from one format to another -- but, more so, you're going from one codec (compression system) to another.
The H.264 codec is the one used for creating AVCHD video, although not all H.264 video is AVCHD. It can also be used as a delivery format (that's a format that you display online or play on a computer) -- which seems to be the case here. Your source is apparently from an AVCHD camcorder, although at that file size it must only be about 10 seconds long.
Though that's hard to say too. Codecs can be highly compressed or lightly compressed, so two files using the same codec and the same file format can be very different in size!
The Cinepak codec is also a delivery format, though it uses a completely different codec system as well as being for a different file format (AVI). You would neer use a file with a Cinepak codec as source material for editing. It's a highly compressed delivery format. Convert the file to a DV-AVI (an AVI using the DV codec) and it will likely be many times that size.

Huge HD file sizes in iMovie when importing AVCHD files from HD Camcorder

Although several answers have been given on different ways to import HD files from a AVCHD camcorder, in this case a Sony one, the issue is what to do with the HUGE files it creates. I recorded 2 hours of HD content in about 30GB on the camcorder. I can burn those native HVCHD files on DVD's, took 6 of them, and play them on a Blue Ray player in HD. To edit, I tested a sample 50MB file that was about 3 minutes in length. It convered to quicktime file in the same 1920x1080 quality resulted in a file that was about 800MB, looked great, but how do I store or play a 20 minute version of it? iMovie is inadequate to do anything other than produce smaller size files for an iPod or lower quality, unless it is going to be a very short HD movie if doing true HD quality. One of the reasons I took the MAC plunge was the better multimedia capabilities. In this case, Apple (iMove and Final Cut) is behind.
I ended up shifting my HD editing back to a PC with $100 Sony Vegas software that can edit the AVCHD files and author in it. I can produce a DVD with about 25 minutes of edited HD in AVCDH file format and play it. I can also store the finished product in a much smaller space using AVCHD files. I have a 1 TB drive on my Mac that would be consumed if I worked in iMovie with converting all these AVCDH files and kept them in HD quality since it looks like it needs to expand them 12-16 times the AVCHD file size.
Yes, I know I could lower the quality to better work with them in iMovie, but that makes no sense to me. I want to record and edit in the HD format. Seems like these AVCHD cameras are becoming a standard since they are so efficient at storing HD content, iMovie needs to figure out how to edit and store them the same way. Very disappointed in how iMovie handles HD, to me it is NOT very good at handling HD, no good way to store or distribute it.
Am I missing soomething here? I have spent hours looking for a different answer, but have not found one yet? Maybe the next version of iMovie will be better. I like using it for SD DVD authoring, but for HD, did not work at all for me.
Jon

Interesting you say it is not meant for editing, but there are about a half dozen editor's for windows that will work on these exact files. I know with Sony Vegas that I have the same level of control with frame precision as I do with iMovie so I think there must be more to the story why Apple has not been able to support it like other software manufacturers who support windows. Don't get me wrong, i would love to do the work in iMovie and not have to learn something new. I don't have the storage space to use the HD apple format, that 2 hr of HD in AVCHD would turn into about 500GB then what do I put it on to play it. If the BlueRay standard calls for 25 or 50G disc's and we can get full two hour movies on them today, then they must be using a file format similar to AVCHD to fit on a disc, they cannot be using anything close to what Apple uses for HD files, it is just simple logic and math. So why doesn't Apple finure it out before everyone who starts working in HD comes to the same conclusion that the Apple QT file formats for HD is going to be an issue with space, you can create content, but cannot afford the disc space to store it or play it.

AVCHD vs HDV file sizes

I just read AVCHD to AIC files balloon to roughly 10 times. Are AVCHD files imported to iMovie larger than HDV imported to iMovie? What sort of files sizes are we talking for HDV compared to AVCHD?
How taxing are files THAT large on a C2D MacBook Pro w/ 3gb RAM? Am I setting myself up for the hours of the spinning wheel?

Are AVCHD files imported to iMovie larger than HDV imported to iMovie?
They should be of roughly equivalent size for a given duration and dimensions as both are converted to AIC/AIFF for editing.
What sort of files sizes are we talking for HDV compared to AVCHD?
As indicated above, if both file types are of the same duration and dimensions, they should be nearly equivalent in size when imported/converted to iMovie '08. As to actual file size, AIC is more compressed than DV files and so an AIC encoded SD file would be smaller than an equivalent DV file. On the other hand, HD content contains more data than an SD file of the same duration and so would still be larger than the DV file. Since the data rate is proportional to the dimensions of the file being imported and the file size is proportional to the data rate being used in each case, there is no way to answer your question without you providing some concrete parameters on which to base even "ball park" estimations here.
How taxing are files THAT large on a C2D MacBook Pro w/ 3gb RAM? Am I setting myself up for the hours of the spinning wheel?
No practical experience here to make a response. And besides, you did not give any idea as to the the unit's clocking speed for comparisons.

AVCHD - IMOVIE - APPLE TV - CONFUSION

Hi All,
this is my first post on the discussion boards. I've owned my iMAC now for about 6 months and its been great.
My wife is pregnant with our first due in the next month We are wanting to buy a HD Hard Drive Camera to capture as much as we can on video of the "early days". This is where my usually Mac Literate head is getting confused ad for the first time I find myself not being able to understand the usual intuitive Mac thinking.
My intent is to record on the Handycam, import to iMovie for editing etc then display on my TV using Apple TV (of which I am about to buy, not just for this reason).
I am going to buy the Sony SR12 which records in AVCHD, according to the list of supported Camcorders within Apple Support the camcorder is supported by iMovie. In digging a little deeper though it seems I'm going to have some challenges getting the Footage onto APPLE TV.
I have researched prior to posting and am looking for confirmation here of my understanding of the steps required to get my AVCHD recorded Home movies into imovie, then onto Apple TV
Step 1.
Record on the handycam only using AVCHD (told if I mix recording on the handycam between SD and HD iMovie will not pick-up the HD stuff.
Step 2.
Connect Camera and import recordings similar to iPhoto (????)
At this point iMovie converts the AVCHD footage to AIC to enable storage and editing.
Step 3. - Here's where I get confused
Somehow I need to get the now iMovie converted AIC formatted footage in iMovie to display on Apple TV.
How do I do this ?
what are the steps involved ?
do I need 3rd party software to convert formats etc ?
Thanks in advance for reading my post.
Dylan

I have had troubles similar to the ones that you are facing now. I have an HDV (MPEG 2) camcorder that I use for family video recording, and an Apple TV. In this post, I will discuss what I normally do with my video, and I have some comments on what other users have said here.
First of all, the Apple Intermediate Codec is NOT lossless. In fact, it is highly compressed, just not as much as AVCHD (H.264). In the AIC, every frame is basically a JPEG. So even if this format looks lossless (to the eye or file size), it actually isn't.
That said, now to my workflow.
The first way I export my videos is like how Winston said. I use the 960x540 resolution in iMovie. While this format looks OK on my Apple TV, it is still not as good as if I played directly off the camcorder. This is because the resolution is only 1/4 the resolution of the original source, and the bitrate is much lower. So, I make a higher quality backup that I can edit or view at a later time, but keep in mind that this backup will not play on the Apple TV because of its video limitations. Those can be found here under 'Video formats supported':
http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html
If I were in your position, I would try to back up the actual AVCHD files directly from your hard drive. Since I have never used one of these cameras, I am not exactly sure how you would get these file or what they look like, but I would guess that the hard drive mounts on your computer when you plug it in via USB. The file format might be something like .MP4 or .TS (just look for the big files). From there, MPEG Streamclip can export them to AIC if you ever want to edit them again.
I normally export to H.264 720p30 @ 8 mbps and stereo AAC audio @ 160 kbps when I know that I am finished editing. But how you want to preserve your video is totally up to you. Some people are bigger on quality than others. The only thing that I would NOT recommend is that you back up your video in AIC format (or other codecs that are that lowly compressed). This is just a total waste of hard drive space, especially when you can keep the original files for (at least) half of the space.
Hope this helps, and good luck!! -- Ian.

Can somebody confirm avchd file sizes for me

According to a FAQ I found at http://shedworx.com/?q=volmac-faq
"How big are the output files?
AVCHD files are about 120Mb per minute of footage.
The converted output file will be about four times the size of the input. This is because AVCHD is a highly compressed HD format and we are uncompressing it into a Quicktime-friendly high definition format. Our example 1 minute AVCHD clip becomes about 500Mb in size, after conversion.
The final size of a converted clip has a lot to do with the amount of movement in the clip. A lot of movement will mean a larger file. Action clips can be as high as 7 times the size of the raw clips.
The output files are uncompressed HD footage, making them easy to edit even on a MacBookPro with 1Gb of RAM."
Is is true that 1 minute of avchd will translate to 500mb thats huge. I was going to purchase the sony sr11 but I do not see any benefits of avchd other than not having tapes. It seemed great at first but pro duo memory cards are not cheap and small. also in order to record 10 hours of footage I will need 300gb of space. what if i am on vacation? It doesn't seem logical. Am I missing something? or is this basically true

When you capture HDV or AVCHD video with Final Cut Express, the video is transcoded into Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC). AIC video takes up anywhere from 25GB-50GB per hour of video depending on whether you shot 720p or 1080i. That works out to 425MB-850MB per minute. It's still compressed video, just not as compressed as HDV or AVCHD.
This article provides more details - Final Cut Pro 5: About HDV and the Apple Intermediate Codec
Have you considered the Canon HV20 or HV30? They record HDV video to miniDV tapes. Cheap & easy to use, especially when you're on vacation.

Any way to decrease file size of imported AVCHD clips?

Since I got my AVCHD camera I've pretty much eaten up all the space on my HD because of the way iMovie converts the files to a format that takes up like 15 times more space.
I do have some of my lesser-used footage on an external HD, but my Time Machine backup is also starting to get full and I need to find a solution for the clips that I don't want to erase, but don't need to store in the full HD format. Is there any way to compress or otherwise decrease the file size of an imported clip? I always import in the highest quality possible to evaluate, and then choose clips I only want to keep in a lower resolution.
Thanks in advance for suggestions.

Your AVCHD files are highly compressed. During import to iMovie they must be expanded to an editable format (AIC) which increases the file size.
The only way to "compress" these files is an export. An export from iMovie would "render" any effects, transitions or text making these items un-editable in the future. You could export your "raw" footage but this could also lead to problems in future imports.
Newer external drives could be partitioned for use with iMovie storage and your Time Machine files. You can also probably connect your current external giving you even more storage.

Is it best to upload HD movies from a camcorder to iMovie or iPhoto. iMovie gives the option for very large file sizes - presumably it is best to use this file size because the HD movie is then at its best quality?

Is it best to upload hd movie to iPhoto or iMovie? iMovie seems to store the movie in much larger files - presumably this is preferable as a larger file is better quality?

Generally it is if you're comparing identical compressors & resolutions but there's something else happening here. If you're worried about quality degrading; check the original file details on the camera (or card) either with Get Info or by opening in QuickTime and showing info. You should find the iPhoto version (reveal in a Finder) is a straight copy. You can't really increase image quality of a movie (barring a few tricks) by increasing file size but Apple editing products create a more "scrub-able" intermediate file which is quite large.
Good luck and happy editing.

Regarding importing HDV video/file size

Hi, since Final Cut Pro HD won't recognize my Canon HDV camera (a problem for a different forum), I'm using iMovie for the first time.
I'm noticing that the file sizes for the clips I'm importing via firewire are unusually large (ie 1.2 gigs for a 3 minute clip). Is this unusual for HDV?
Also, could it be slowing down the importing process? It keeps saying "capturing at 1/8 speed" and doesn't get off it.
Thanks!

a SD video has ~13GB/h on miniDV.. and in iM.
a HDV uses a different codec on tape.. so, on tape, it is again ~13GB/h, but to make it editable, iM has to convert it (automatically) into AIC.. which has ~40-50GB/h ..
FCP should 'notice' HDV devices, it should offer you to choose 'AIC' or 'proRes' as 'inbetween' codecs .. but, import into FC and esp in FCP is a very different cup of coffee.

AVCHD/HDV iMovie Apple TV file sizes

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