Camtasia import to iMovie losses quality

I'm creating a number of screen capture videos and looking for high quality/best practice settings for Camtasia and iMovie. For camtasia I've been using 30 fps and recording in 1280 x 720.
I've exported to both mp4 and .mov for import to iMovie but the end result is a loss of quality when the files are imported. I just upgraded to camtasia 2.2 and still have the same problems.
I'm not sure what I'm missing. Are there any iMovie import settings or file management actions I should take after importing?
Any help would be appreciated.
-Bill

Yes, I realize this , I have made many movies but the finished product (a burned dvd using iDVD still presents the photos in a lower resolution. I am thinking it must be a bug in the computer. Someone suggested turning off the Ken Burns effect in preferences to improve the situation. It never happened on my non intel iMac 20in. This iMac (intel 20inch with 2 gigs of ram even) seems to be quirker than any other mac I have owned.
Joe McGarry

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Quality loss and blurriness when imported to iMovie from Sony Handycam

I have a Sony Carl Zeiss Lens 40x Optical Zoom Handycam. The quality is crystal clear on the camera..but once it is imported into iMovie, it becomes somewhat distorted. Please help! I need to upload this video to Youtube ASAP.. I'm already past my deadline. Thanks in advance

Hi
Sony Carl Zeiss Lens 40x Optical Zoom Handycam - Yes but this referes to many different types.
What Sony Camera do You use ? e.g. TRV-900E, PC-330 or ?
How was it set to record ? 4x3 SD-Video (as on old CRT-TVs or 16x9 or HD or what ?
My Camera can record to Memory-Card when in Photo mode - and these movies are in a very low quality just to be small enough to add to an e-mail. Can this be what You've done ?
Yours Bengt W

Screen Capture Video Loses Quality When Imported Into iMovie - WHY?

I am using screen capture software to make a video of my screen at 1024x768. The video is for a tutorial. I want to use iMove to get things like transitions and such into the movie, and to add text and audio. The problem is that, although the video looks great in QuickTime, it loses quality significanly when I import into iMove. The text on the screen is blurry, and the quality of everything else is terrible as well.
Is this s limitation of iMove? Can screen capture video be imported? Does it only work with DV?
Also, I tried to convert the file to many other formats, from QuickTime to MPEG-4, so it's not the file type.
If anyone can help me out, I've be very grateful.
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iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Your dimensions are getting in the way. iMovie converts your 1024X768 to a DV Stream file that is 720X480.
One workaround would be to set your display resolution smaller. Try 800X600 (if your windows fit that size).
If you're using Snapz Pro you should set your window capture to 640X480. This size will import nicely into iMovie.
An even better way would be to do all of the work using QuickTime Pro. Again a 1024X768 QT.mov file would not fit on the most common display settings used. When you add the QT Player window the controller would be below the screen and not accessible for most users.
800X600 would make a better file (smaller, too). It would still be 4:3 aspect and would also import into iMovie.

When i import a video into iMovie the quality gets very ******,but when its not in iMovie it looks awesome

when i import a video into iMovie the quality gets very ******,but when its not in iMovie it looks awesome, please help

Exact same problem

How Much Does Camera Quality Matter for Pics Imported to iMovie?

Hello,
Always appreciate the responses and answers I get from the forum - thanks in advance!
I am considering upgrading my digital SLR to something 10 mp or better. But wondering whether or not at some point the original quality of digital pics no longer matters because of rendering or compression that might take place once imported to iMovie or when bounced to iDVD. Put another way, is it worth spending $1000.00 for a camera thats pictures will end up in iMovie? (Because I like the Ken Burns feature a whole better in iMovie than the ton of work and less than results I get in FCE).
Thanks again!

Kevin,
These are all the pixels you need for iDVD: if you are using NTSC - 720x540 for 4:3 and 854x480 for 16:9; if you are using PAL - 768x576 for 4:3 and 1024x576 for 16:9. If you really like to do high Ken Burns effects zooms, more pixels will be useful, but 10 megapixels is probably more than you really need.
HOWEVER, a $1,000 digital SLR will have a lot of additional features that will give you better pictures. But only you can decide if the extra features are worth it to you.
F Shippey

Protechnius into iMovie image quality problems

We created a bmp animation with audio in Protechnius - it's a 90 MB AVI file. Play it with Media Player or QT (not QTPro) and it looks and sounds great. Music was longer than movie, so imported it into iMovie to clip it. When 'share' it to QT movie, looks awful no matter what we do. After reading several Posts, I realize that the computer monitor isn't as good as a TV monitor, but I don't understand why it looks great in Media Player and QT before iMovie, but awful after iMovie. Appreciate any help - the project's due tomorrow...of course.
Oh, btw, this is never going to be played on anything but a computer. I'm not trying to make a DVD-quality movie; I'm trying to make a computer-screen quality movie with clear, sharp images - like what you see on quality websites. It needs to be small enough to email...
Kristina

AVI is just a container, much like a MOV. You never know what is actually inside this container.
When importing into iMovie, it's always converted to DV, which has a fixed resolution. Then share to QT movie and the movie is converted again. You have lost quality twice.
Try QT Pro instead. There you can crop the audio without quality loss.

Exporting Video without lossing quality. A Nightmare!

Hi all,
a recently bought a Sony Handycam HDR-CX160e, which records videos in HD, in AVCHD format (.MTS files). I cannot import / export a file using imovie without lossing quality. What I do is:
a) Record the video in HD Standard Quality. It saves the video in .MTS format, 1440x1080 (25i).
b) Import the video into iMovie
c) Without editing anything, i click Share->Quicktime, using this configuration:
   - Format: H.264
   - Data rate: 16500 kbps
   - Image resolution: 1920 x 1080 HD
   - Framerate: current
   - Key frame: auto
When I play the video in the mac the quality is more or less the same, but when i play it in the TV the movements arent as smooth as the original; also the original video is a little bit sharper (clear).
How do I have to export the video in order not to lose quality? Is posible in iMovie? Should I use another configuration (framerate, data rate or something) when exporting the video?
Thanks very much in advance,
--ugo

For one thing, when you record at 1440x1080, iMovie will automatically import it at 960x540. So you can export at Large (960x540) and that is about as good as you get. If you export at 1920x1080, it will double the 960x540 to create it.
If your camera has a 1920x1080 mode, use that. If it has multiple 1920x1080 modes, use the one with the highest bit rate.
If your camera offers a progressive mode, use that. 1080P will look better than 1080i in iMovie.

Nice MOV from Screen Recording - Import to iMovie looks degraded

Hi,
I am wondering why I have a great MOV file from a Mac screen recording program, with audio, and this looks fantastic when viewed with Quicktime.
Then I import into iMovie and it looks much degraded.
I don't use iMovie a lot, but I figured MOV quality should look the same when imported into iMovie.
Any help greatly appreciated!

Welcome bdemil to the  iMovie boards ...
some misunderstanding:
iMovie is meant for PAL/NTSC content.. any other formats/resoltuions get converted = loss of quality..
and: .mov is nor format, just a container; your Mac can display many codecs.. but only very few 'fit' into iMovie..
I mostly doubt, any screenrecording fullfills the 'video' standards.. (interlaced, framerate, resolution...)
for handling off-standard videos, QuicktimePro or MpegStreamclip offer some basic editing features...

Can I use events imported with iMovie 11 and on exhard drive, in iMovie 6?

I would like to open DV files in iMovie6 which are stored on external hard drive (imported with iMovie 11). How do I do this please? Would there be any loss of quality even if I knew how to do this? I asked this question previously but I was a bit more 'confused' then.

Dear Tom, Thank you, thank you - it's so easy when you know how! I had previously dragged the folder over and it didn't come cleanly. Gosh. ' File' then 'Import '- it's magic really. Ta again.

IMovie project quality poor in iDVD export

I'm having problems with the quality of iMovie projects exported to iDVD. The final dvd looks very pixelated, however, when I export the same project to iTunes and view the video on same TV, the video looks perfect...clear as a bell, when great definition.
Here's what I'm doing...
Video imported from my HD camera at Large 960x540,Optimize setting.
Clips moved from Events to Projects.
No major edits made in Projects outside of a trim or two.
Project 'Finalized.'
Project sent to iDVD via Share > iDVD.
Am I missing something? I've even tried omitting step 4 above...not finalizing. Same DVD result. The video looks perfect on my screen in both iMovie and iDVD as I work on it. Only experiencing problem with final DVD output.
I'm using iMovie 11 (v9.0.4), iDVD (v7.1.2).
This is the first time that I've used iMovie 11 to create my video before sending to iDVD. In the past, I've used iMovie HD and never had a problem with iDVD output.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi
There are lot's of thought's about this - read as much as You want of my notes.
DVD quality
1. iDVD 08, 09 & 11 has three levels of qualities. (version 7.0.1, 7,0.4 & 7.1.1) and iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality
(movies + menus up to 120 min.) - BEST (but not always for short movies e.g. up to 45 minutes in total)
• Best Performances
(movies + menus less than 60 min.) - High quality on final DVD (Can be best for short movies)
• High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6)
(movies + menus up to 120 min.) - slightly lower quality than above
Menu can take 15 minutes or even more - I use a very simple one with no audio or animation like ”Brushed Metal” in old Themes.
About double on DL DVDs.
2. Video from
• FCE/P - Export out as full quality QuickTime.mov (not self-containing, no conversion)
• iMovie x-6 - Don't use ”Share/Export to iDVD” = destructive even to movie project and especially so
when the movie includes photos and the Ken Burns effect NOT is used. Instead just drop or import the iMovie movie project icon (with a Star on it) into iDVD theme window.
• iMovie’08 or 09 or 11 are not meant to go to iDVD. Go via Media Browser or rather use iMovie HD 6 from start.
DO not use - "Share to iDVD" in any iMovie version !
iMä'08 to 11 - "Share to Media Browser" and as LARGE or Medium - NOT HD or other resolutions as this too degrades the final DVD.
3. I use Apple Disk Util tool (or Roxio Toast™) to make an as slow burn as possibly e.g. x4 or x1 (in iDVD’08 or 09 this can also be set)
This can also be done with Apple’s Disk Utilities application when burning from a DiskImage.
4. There has to be about or more than 25Gb free space on internal (start-up) hard disk. iDVD can't
use an external one as scratch disk (if it is not start-up disc). For SD-Video - if HD-material is used I guess that 4 to 5 times more would do.
5. I use Verbatim ( also recommended by many - Taiyo Yuden DVDs - I can’t get hold of it to test )
6. I use DVD-R (no +R or +/-RW) - DVD-R play’s on more and older DVD-Players
7. Keep NTSC to NTSC - or - PAL to PAL when going from iMovie to iDVD
(I use JES_Deinterlacer to keep frame per sec. same from editing to the Video-DVD result.)
8. Don’t burn more than three DVDs at a time - but let the laser cool off for a while before next batch.
iDVD quality also depends on.
• DVD is a standard in it self. It is Standard Definition Quality = Same as on old CRT-TV sets and can not
deliver anything better that this.
HD-DVD was a short-lived standard and it was only a few Toshiba DVD-players that could playback.
These DVDs could be made in DVD-Studio Pro. But they don’t playback on any other standard DVD-Player.
Blu-Ray / BD can be coded onto DVDs but limited in time to - about 20-30 minutes and then need
_ Roxio Toast™ 10 Pro incl. BD-component
_ BD disks and burner if full length movies are to be stored
_ BD-Player or PlayStation3 - to be able to playback
The BD-encoded DVDs can be play-backed IF Mac also have Roxio DVD-player tool. Not on any standard Mac or DVD-player
Full BD-disks needs a BD-player (in Mac) as they need blue-laser to be read. No red-laser can do this.
• HOW much free space is there on Your internal (start-up) hard disk. Go for approx. 25Gb.
less than 5Gb and Your result will most probably not play.
• How it was recorded - Tripod vs Handheld Camera. A stable picture will give a much higher quality
• Audio is most often more critical than picture. Bad audio and with dropouts usually results in a non-viewed movie.
• Use of Video-editor. iMovie’08 or 09 or 11 are not the tools for DVD-production. They discard every second line resulting in a close to VHS-tape quality.
iMovie 1 to HD6 and FinalCut any version delivers same quality as Camera record in = 100% to iDVD
• What kind of movie project You drop into it. MPEG4 seems to be a bad choice.
other strange formats are .avi, .wmv, .flash etc. Convert to streamingDV first
Also audio formats matters. I use only .aiff or from miniDV tape Camera 16-bit
strange formats often problematic are .avi, .wmv, audio from iTunes, .mp3 etc
Convert to .aiff first and use this in movie project
• What kind of standard - NTSC movie and NTSC DVD or PAL to PAL - no mix.
(If You need to change to do a NTSC DVD from PAL material let JES_Deinterlacer_3.2.2 do the conversion)
(Dropping a PAL movie into a NTSC iDVD project
(US) NTSC DVDs most often are playable in EU
(EU) PAL DVDs most often needs to be converted to play in US
UNLESS. They are play-backed by a Mac - then You need not to care
• What kind of DVDs You are using. I use Verbatim DVD-R (this brand AND no +R or +/-RW)
• How You encode and burn it. Two settings prior iDVD’08 or 09
Pro Quality (only in iDVD 08 & 09)
Best / High Quality (not always - most often not)
Best / High Performances (most often my choice before Pro Quality)
1. go to iDVD pref. menu and select tab far right and set burn speed to x1 (less errors = plays better) - only in iDVD 08 & 09
(x4 by some and may be even better)
2. Project info. Select Professional Encoding - only in iDVD 08 & 09.
Region codes.
iDVD - only burn Region = 0 - meaning - DVDs are playable everywhere
DVD Studio pro can set Region codes.
1 = US
2 = EU
unclemano wrote
What it turned out to be was the "quality" settings in iDVD. The total clip time was NOT over 2 hours or 4.7GB, yet iDVD created massive visual artifacts on the "professional quality" setting.
I switched the settings to "high quality" which solved the problem. According iDVD help, "high quality" determines the best bit rate for the clips you have.
I have NEVER seen iDVD do this before, especially when I was under the 2 hour and 4.7GB limits.
For anyone else, there seem to be 2 places in iDVD to set quality settings, the first is under "preferences" and the second under "project info." They do NOT seem to be linked (i.e. if you change one, the other is NOT changed). take care, Mario
to get this to work I
• Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up (Mac OS) hard disk
• Use Verbatim DVD-R (absolutely no +/-RW)
• Set down burn speed to x4 - less burn errors = plays on more devices
• No other process running in background as - ScreenSaver, EnergySaver OR TIMEMACHINE etc
• and I'm very careful on what kind of video-codecs, audio file format and photo file formats I use
• and I consider the iDVD Bug - never go back to video-editor to change/up-date - if so Start a brand new iDVD project
• Chapters set as they should - NO one at very beginning and no one in any transition or within 2 sec from it
• Lay-out - Turn on TV-Safe area and keep everything buttons, titles etc WELL INSIDE not even touching it !
Try to break the process up into two stages
• Save as a DiskImage (calculating part)
• Burn from this .img file (burning stage)
To isolate where the problem starts.
Another thing is - Playing it onto a Blu-Ray Player. My PlayStation3 can play BD-disks but not all of my home made DVDs so to get this to work I
• Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up (Mac OS) hard disk
• Use Verbatim DVD-R (absolutely no +/-RW)
• Set down burn speed to x4 - less burn errors = plays on more devices
• No other process running in background as - ScreenSaver, EnergySaver OR TIMEMACHINE etc
• and I'm very careful on what kind of video-codecs, audio file format and photo file formats I use
• and I consider the iDVD Bug - never go back to video-editor to change/up-date - if so Start a brand new iDVD project
• Chapters set as they should - NO one at very beginning and no one in any transition or within 2 sec from it
• Lay-out - Turn on TV-Safe area and keep everything buttons, titles etc WELL INSIDE not even touching it !
TO GET IT TO WORK SLIGHTLY FASTER
• Minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up hard disk
• No other programs running in BackGround e.g. Energy-Saver
• Don’t let HD spin down or be turned off (in Energy-Save)
• Move hard disks that are not to be used to Trash - To be disconnected/turned off
• Goto Spotlight and set the rest of them under Integrity (not to be scanned)
• Set screen-saver to a folder without any photo - then make an active corner (up right for me) and set
pointer to this - turns on screen saver - to show that it has nothing to show
• No File Vault on - Important
• NO - TimeMachine - during iMovie/iDVD work either ! IMPORTANT
• Lot's of icons on DeaskTop/Finder also slows down the Mac noticeably
• Start a new User-Account and log into this and iMovie get's faster too - if a project is in a hurry
• And let Mac run on Mains - not just on battery
Yours Bengt W

Frustating Import over iMovie as Final Cut throws errors

I have recorded some WOW videos (using Apple intermediate codec, 25 fps) and Final Cut Pro fails, if I try to import the file directly.
But iMovie imports it without any problem. Export to XML works sometimes, sometimes not. Exporting to Quicktime (using Apple Intermediate, 25 fps) from iMovie and then importing this file in Final Cut Pro is the only solution.
I'm really disappointed that a big suite like Final Cut Pro is NOT able to import files, that iMovie imports without problems.
Apart from this every application I tried (Quicktime, Cinema Tools etc.) is able to open the file.
Error message Final Cut Pro is in german:
Dateifehler: 1 Datei(en) erkannt, Zugriff auf 0 verweigert, 1 unbekannt
Translated this may be something like
File error: 1 file(s) identified, Access on 0 denied, 1 unknown
Message was edited by: MichaelLindenau

Sorry, but why should I call those video guys. It works for most of the programs and if FCP is pickier, than at least I expect, that it can do the same transformation as I'm doing with a workaround (import into iMovie, export again and import it into FCP)
I've no problem if FCP tells me it has to correct some characteristics to fit with the desired FCP quality. But giving me strange error messages and not doing anything is a simple malfunction for this price I paid.
And I have a workaround, so why start with more workarounds.
I would like to have a solution. But Apple is not available directly, so I can claim this malfunction or do you have a mail address, where you can claim bugs in FCP?
Thanks for all your good intentions, but I want a program that works or at least tells me clearly, which standard is not fulfilled by the video I want to import (and why other Apple programs are able to deal with it). Especially if the price is not just a few dollars.

IMovie Capture Quality

Hi there I was trying to find out why I could not export an iMovie to iDVD at 720 x 480 - the standard resolution for MiniDV and for DVD players. I started looking at the files that iMovie imported and I realized that they original files (stored on my hard disk) were only imported at 640 x 480. Why is this happening???? I import the same files into FCP and they are stored at their proper resolution 720 x 480? Does anybody have any ideas as to what's going on here? Why does iMovie import at a lower quality than DV??

Why is this happening?
To add to what Karl has said, your DV files are encoded to a 720 x 480 NTSC matrix "standard" and flagged as to whether the content is actually 4:3 or 16:9. This is historically due to the evolution of DV as the "crossover" between analog and digital content. The difference between 720 x 480 and 640 x 480 is in the shape of the pixel used for display. An analog TV employs a "rectangular" pixel while monitors and HD devices use a "square" pixel. In this way, the display maintains its proper aspect ratio no matter which class of device is used for playback.

IMovie picture quality

Hi,
I am using iMovie to make video-clips of footage that I have made from our baby-daughter.
I am not that happy with the quality of my videos and I am uncertain if this is the camera or iMovie
I have a Sony avcHD video-camera (HDR-CX130) and all files are imported directly into iMovie. This works as a blast.
Still, when a project is finalized and 'optimized' the inhouse filmed footage quality looks very poor.
The files that are imported into iMovie are enormous in file-size (why is that, actually?) so I am wondering why the output looks the way it does, somewhat pixelated (is that a word).
Anyway I might be doing something wrong. See below link to one of my projects. This film begins with foto's but at 1.20 i have filmed inside during the day, the whole image seems to be somewhat blurry. This is youtube in 480p but even when I export in quicktime in highes solution possible it doesn't get that much better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfxZufYswqw
Your help is appreciated.

Are your iMovie preferences to show the movie at full screen when you go to full screen (meaning it will blow up smaller videos to fit the screen) or have you selected to show the movie at actual size when you go to full screen in cases where the movie is smaller than the full screen?
In other words, if your movie is, for example, 640x480. With the full screen option your 640x480 movie will be blown up to fill the screen (and look like crud). With the other option the movie will only show at 640x480 and not be enlarged.
Many HD formats are LARGER than your screen, but a few of the "mini-HD" formats (e.g. 720p which is 1280x720) the video might be smaller than your full screen resolution, so that preference decides if you want to enlarge it further to fill the screen or if when you go to full screen mode the video is made no larger than actual size.
Patrick

IMovie image quality

Hi,
at http://www.prgomet.net/iMoveIQ.png you can see what I talk about.
I shoot using Canon 5D Mk2, those are h264 40mbit mov files. When I import them iMovie makes great looking AIC encoded mov files and puts them in events. That AIC made by iMovie is great and almost like original.
BUT! when I look at it in events or on timeline it look like it has 6bit (or less) colors, also when I export it it looks as bad. I do not understand why is that so. I mean iMovie makes for itself great looking AIC file to work with, but somehow in viewing and exporting it degrades quality a lot.
On linked image you can see AIC file that is source for iMovie, original Canon source, and how that same shot looks in iMovie event/timeline and when exported.
Does anyone has similar problem?
Thank you!
ez

now I see on timeline that stills (photos from iPhoto) are also very low on quality .. same problem .. like jpeg on 30% quality ..
i deleted source video file .. and iMovie still shows it on timeline .. I presume iMovie has some kind of thumbnail video .. I get the feeling that iMovie uses that thumbnails to preview, edit and export, and not AIC imported ..
what else ..

Importing AVCHD: iMovie vs. Voltaic HD

I'm going to use a new HDD-based camcorder (those who read my previous topics will know why I - or rather someone else - chose HDD over tape). I've narrowed down my choice between a "basic" standard definition model, and a choice of more expensive high-def. models which feature optical image stabilization and take nice still pictures. Since they're HDD-based, they record in AVCHD.
I've been recently given a 10 s. sample of AVCHD video which I converted using Voltaic HD, but it took about 2 minutes (and I can consistently reproduce this time when converting it again) on my 2.2 GHz MBP. This is far from what I've read here when importing with iMovie '08 (which seems to take about twice as long as the actual footage length, and not ten times).
For those who own and use an AVCHD camcorder with iMovie '08 (and possibly Voltaic as well), how long does it usually take you to import footage with iMovie? With Voltaic?
Do you think (or know from personal experience), importing with Voltaic would be faster when importing larger clips, or do I really have to expect it taking ten times as long as the footage to import AVCHD?

I used "Voltaic" to test a short sequence recorded with a Panasonic AVCHD SD5 camcorder - to see what the quality was like before buying the camera, and before buying an Intel Mac to go with it.
Like Appleman's ..that camcorder shoots on SD (..or SDHC..) memory chips, not a hard disc.
Actually, that's what my sample came from (an SD5, or possibly an SD9).
I was disappointed with the results - though that might have been because I didn't choose some settings correctly - because although normal zooms and pans and static material looked OK, fast-moving material (..e.g; a train passing by..) seemed to have its fields reversed or overlaid, with an annoyingly imprecise location of vertical edges, and strong "comb" effects on moving edges ..as if the interlaced fields had been de-interlaced and then doubled to make Voltaic's frames (..this was using PAL video at 'full' 1920x1080i).
I'm not sure I understand all of that, but I was also disappointed with Voltaic's results on fast-moving objects (there wre two in the sample clip). Overall quality was very good though, and once the footage was converted from AIC to DV, the problem was less noticeable.
P.S: ..You say "..it took about 2 minutes (and I can consistently reproduce this time when converting it again) on my 2.2 GHz MBP.."
On Voltaic's website FAQs (..scroll down about halfway..) they show:
"How long does the conversion take?
This depends on your machine, but as a guide, on a 2.0 GHz MacBookPro with 2Gb of RAM, a 10 second AVCHD clip takes about 2 minutes to convert. In other words, it takes about 12 times as long as the original footage to convert the clip."
Thanks. That settles it. 12x is way to slow, and while iMovie can apparently import the footage faster, I want to keep the ability to transfer the footage from the camcorder's HDD to my drive and convert it later. So, AVCHD is not for me yet.

Camtasia import to iMovie losses quality

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