Compressing video in imovie HD?

I'm using a media converter to transfer analog video to imovie but the files are huge - about 100 MG per minuute of video. Is there a way to compress the video to store it or burn to DVD?

Welcome to the forums and the world of huge files.
iMovie imports video in DV Stream format (.dv) at about 13 gigs per hour -- if I did the math correctly, that's about 200 Mb per minute. If you compress that onto a DVD, an hour goes on each disc at the highest quality, and it's possible to get 2 hours onto a DVD. So that saves a lot of hard disk space, but it doesn't give you flexibility to edit easily.
Solutions vary according to the underlying problem. Hard drives are relatively cheap storage, but very expensive to give away to 4 siblings and 6 grandchildren (if you're converting old home movies, for example). Here's 2 good articles:
VHS to DVD Options
http://www.macworld.com/2004/05/features/fromvhstodvd/index.php
Editing Old Home Videos
http://www.macworld.com/2007/01/secrets/febmac911/index.php
If you're looking for a good book, I'd recommend David Pogue's Missing Manual series (iMovie and iDVD).
John

Similar Messages

MPEG4 video from imovie is sluggish and audio out of sync

Hi y'all,
I am new to this. So I need some hand holding here. I am working with video that was exported in MPEG4 video from imovie on a mac.
The Camera I used is a Sony FX7 HD camera with SD tape.
So Now I am trying to edit the video using Premiere Pro CS3 creative suite.
Import into CS3 is fine. Playing the imported video in the source monitor is fine as well. All looks well.
However, here are the challenges I am having:
1. When I try to play it in the Program monitor its very sluggish. Audio plays fine but picture lags behind.
2. And once I edit the the video and try to export it as flash video or as a windows media, the video and audio are out of sync.
The video is choppy as well.
Details: source video is 720x480 and trying to export to 320x240
My project details are:
DV-NTSC standard 48khz
Video is 10 min long

OK, not my choice of workflows, but... I assume that the MP4's are H.264 encoded. There are many of these. Three common ones are Lead, MainConcept and Apple. Some find that one works better than the others. These are not the ONLY versions, but are common. You might want to explore others, depending on which one you have installed. G-Spot can tell you which you have.
Next, you can Render your Timeline, to get things as smooth as possible.
Note that the MP4 files are heavily compressed already. Quality has been lost, and there is nothing that can be done about that. When you Export to, say DVD, you will recompress that material, and loose even more.
In the future, have your Mac-person do the Capture to .MOV [Animation CODEC]. Or, do it yourself to DV-AVI Type II w/ 48KHz 16-bit PCM/WAV Audio.
Not sure of any other ways to get the MP4's playing more smoothly. Much will depend on both your CPU and on your system's I/O sub-system, i.e. your HDD's, their size, speed, controller type and how they are utilized.
Good luck,
Hunt

Imported video from imovie, when i try to play only have audio, screen is red and flickering

imported video from imovie, when i try to play only have audio, screen is red and flickering. new mac pro.

steved
Thanks for the reply with additional details.
In order to help you with the Elements Organizer 13 and Premiere Elements 13 issues, we need details of that video from iMovie.
You should be able to get the important details of the iMovie video by telling us the export settings that you used for the iMovie export.
Minimum information..
Video Compression
Audio Compression
File Extension
Frame Size
First, update Premiere Elements 13 and Elements Organizer 13 each to the 13.1 Update (See Help Menu/Update in an opened
Premiere Elements 13 project.)
We will be watching for further details in order to plan and carry out troubleshooting strategy.
Thank you.
ATR.

Options for compressing video in iPhoto

So after using iPhoto for several years now, I've got lots of HD video snippets (hefty MOV files) scattered all throughout my years of created iPhoto Events. I don't have any intention of using iMovie to drag all the pics and movies together and make a "produced" movie, but instead just want to be able to access the individual iPhoto events & albums from my AppleTV for viewing with family. The newest Home Sharing feature of iTunes allows me to do this.. watching all the pictures & videos within albums and events - a great new feature. Unfortunately though, the large HD files take for ever (5 mins +) to load to the AppleTV before playing, thus ruining the "home video" experience.
I've done some experimenting compressing a few video files into 1080i .mp4 format using Quicktime then reimporting them into iPhoto. Without an "import to event" feature, it takes a while to find the imported files, then merge them with the original Event. When streaming the revised iPhoto event with the newly compressed video content, the files loaded quickly (1 to 2 sec) and were of acceptable quality.
I'm pleased with the results of this experiment, however, at 15 mins of work per video it would take way too much time to do this manually for my entire library. There are no features of iPhoto I know of that can perform the compression task, thus requiring all the file moving back and forth. Does anyone have suggestions on how this task could otherwise be done in a simpler fasion or using an automated technique?
Thanks for the help,
Chris

Check out Automator. I'm no expert on this, but it seems like you can get the Videos (gather them in a Smart Album first) and encode them with QuickTime in a workflow. That's half the work done. That just leaves you with replacing them in iPhoto.
And you can do this in iMovie too. You don't have to edit, just import them (which you can do from the iPhoto Library inside the iMovie window, add them to a time line and encode them as you prefer. Then export.
Not sure there is any way around manually adding and replacing them in iPhoto after though.
Regards
TD

Best Quality Export Settings in MPEG Streamclip to Edit HD Video in iMovie

Hi,
I import video from data DVDs and regular DVDs and edit the videos in iMovie. In the past, I've always used MPEG Streamclip because it can read the native DVD VOB format. I then use the "Export to DV" option in MPEG Streamclip which exports a .DV file readable by QuickTime or iMovie. These are large files, but it is my understanding that this is best quality for editing.
Now I have started to receive HD Videos. When I use MPEG Streamclip the same way, it reduces the HD video into a windowbox 720x480 video loosing all HD resolution.
I've done some research online and apparently MPEG Streamclip's DV export options are pretty limited and other people have said to use the "Export to MPEG-4" or the "Export to QuickTime" which are more configurable. Each of these requires a Compression Codec Selection. Some have said to use H.264, but I've also read that you should not compress with H.264 if you're going to be doing editing.
I do not care about file size, I want maximum quality. The incoming DVD video is 1280 x 720 (HDTV 720p), what Compression selection do I select in MPEG Streamclip for "Export to MPEG-4" or "Export to QuickTime" to maintain the best quality for editing in iMovie? I appreciate your help!
Jerry

Use Apple Intermediate Codec for best quality and best editing performance.
If you have Final Cut Pro installed, you may have additional good options like ProRes 422.

How can I import Jing videos to iMovie?

I am trying to import a video I made using Jing, and it saves the file as swf. I tried to convert it, but for some reason it's not working. Any ideas? Thanks!

Okay, this can still be done.
A DVD is a highly compressed video format. However, tools do exist to uncompress it and get it into an editable file. I've had to do this myself on a couple of occasions when the only thing people had was a DVD.
The software below is what I use. It will create a video file that should load into QuickTime 7 or QuickTime Pro, allowing you to eliminate the audio as described by Old Toad above.
I use it with iMovie 06 (and a few times with iMovie 11) and iDVD 11. It has several modes of converting the data. One mode is called "lossless".
http://www.amazon.com/Miraizon-10121201-Cinematize-2-Mac/dp/B0006AAO96/ref=cm_cr _pr_pb_t
By the way, I am pretty good with movie editing using iMovie HD 06 and sometimes the newer versions of iMovie. Old Toad is a much better expert than I regarding video. He has helped me countless times. However, others here can help you as well. Unfortunately, the iDVD section is not visited as often as it used to be. Once you have a working video file you might try posting in the iMovie or QuickTime areas as these are visited more often by experts.

Importing Flip MinoHD videos into iMovie '09

I've successfully managed to import videos into iMovie '09 from my Flip MinoHD. There's one annoying thing, though...
When I plug the camera into my computer, iPhoto opens instead of iMovie. Does anyone have any idea how to tell Leopard to open the right program for the MinoHD?

I would suggest that in GarageBand you use SHARE/TO iTunes or SHARE/To disk.
You can either use no compression or use Compression and choose AAC encoder.
Start iMovie. The track should be available from within iTunes through the Media Browser in iMovie.
If you shared to disk, you will have to locate it in the FInder and drag it into your iMovie Project from there. I do not recommend this, because if you ever move your file to another location, your project will not be able to find it.
That assumes you want to continue editing in iMovie.
Alternatively, you could finish your iMovie, then SHARE/TO MEDIA BROWSER. Then in Garageband, bring the video file into your project from the Media Browser in Garageband, and continue audio processing in GB. Then you Share the finished product through GarageBand.

I have been trying to import VHS video into iMovie via a Hollywood Dazzle bridge. Did not have trouble until I upgraded to mavericks. I have a mac book pro, 10.9.1, iMovie 10.0.2. Says it is recording, but when I go to check, it says the file is empty.

I have been trying import VHS video into iMovie via a Hollywood Dazzle bridge. I have been successful doing this in the past, but now it is not working. I have a mac book pro, 10.9.1, (mavericks), iMovie 10.0.2. Everything in iMovie looks like it is working. It reads "recording" in the upper left hand corner of the pane while the video is playing. When I stop the process to check on my clip it says that the file is empty. The only thing that has changed since I did it successfully is that I upgraded to mavericks from whatever I had previously. My system is about one year old. Any suggestions?

Hey, Clinton,
     Thanks for your help! I was able to go to iMovie 9.0.9 and import video. I was still curious as to why it didn't work in version 10.0.2, so I contacted Apple tech support. They were't sure at first as to why it wouldn't work, so they had me delete iMovie 10.0.2 and then re-install it just to see if something had gone wrong when it upgraded. That didn't change anything. In the end, they determined that 10.0.2 doesn't support the Hollywood Dazzle DV bridge. But I have a workaround path from them that I will share so that it's possible to import to 9.0.9, then move it to 10.0.2.
     1. Open iMovie 9 (finder/applications/iMovie 9.0.9
     2. Import from Dazzle Bridge to iMovie 9, note which event you are importing the clips into
     3. Close iMovie 9
     4. Open iMovie 10 (probably in the dock)
     5. File/Import Media...navigate to home(this was my name, on the left side of iMovie, under Favorites)/Movies/iMovie events. Find the event folder that contains your Dazzle clips (tip-try sorting by date modified to look at recent events.)
     6. Select the clips and import. Click the blue "Import Selected" button on the bottom right.
You may get a message that some files cannot be imported. Click continue import. It's a little glitchy. It imports your clip, and also makes a copy of it, too. On the copy, the audio is normal, but the video is choppy. In any case, you would delete the copy, anyway.
Hope this additional information helps somebody else. Thanks again, Clinton for helping me!

Which cable do I need to connect my Mac Book Pro to my Panasonic PV-GS150 video camera for transferring video to iMovie?

which cable do I need to connect my Mac Book Pro to my Panasonic PV-GS150 video camera for transferring video to iMovie?

I totally understand.
Check some things from here, I have 2 and they have been great so far.
Check here, lots of storage and reasonable prices. Also great support, you get to speak to a person
Clean off your on the G5 drive and off you go.
I suggest buying a second drive and setting it up for a back up, Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner, or SuperDuper (both "bootable" back up) All searchable on the web.
http://eshop.macsales.com/search/elite+pro
You can talk to a person for REAL advice, Phone: 800.275.4576 Ask about exporting to your G5 and and exporting to your existing OSX, you may only need a small inexpensive drive for this.
Quick delivery and willing to help.
Hope this makes you back up and running :-)
Do get a back up drive, as it is not ""whether my drive will fail, as much as "when my drive fails"
All the best

I have a new macbook pro and just made a video on imovie and it asked me to put it on idvd but there is no idvd listed as an option. How can I get idvd?

I have a new macbook pro and just made a video on imovie and it asked me to put it on idvd but there is no idvd listed as an option. How can i get idvd. it doesn't seem available

Since Apple has stopped supporting and offering iDVD you'll need to purchase the iLIfe 11 disk from a 3rd party retailer like Amazon.com: iLife 11 which will include iDVD 7.
OT

How do you save your videos in iMovie to a different location on your computer?

Since i upgraded to OSX Mavericks imovie keeps switching itself off when trying to export video to DVD.
Genius Bar told me i need to save my videos first then delete imovie and then download imovie from the app store.
How do i save my videos in imovie to a different location on my imac so i can then delete imovie????

Copy the iMovie Library. It should be in YourUserFolder/Movies/iMovie Library. See iMovie (2013): Work with multiple libraries

I have my home videos on imovie. How do I get them to idvd so I can burn to a dvd?

I have my home videos on imovie. How do I get them to idvd so I can burn to a dvd?

Export to the camera roll, then import them to your comuter as you would any photos or video from your device:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3994426?tstart=90

Is there a way to create a picture from video in iMovie 11

Is there a way to create a jpg picture from video in imovie?
I have noticed several work arounds which are not so easy. This was previously a feature that was very helpful to put in stills in the drop zones in idvd from your video project. Only makes sense. Why has it been removed?

See my post here.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3231
We are all just users here. Nobody knows why Apple includes features or not.

I imported an hour of video into iMovie HD and cut it down to a 33 sec clip, and emptied the trash. When I save the project, the file size is 20Gb. How can I save just the 33 sec clip?

I imported an hour of video into iMovie HD and cut it down to a 33 sec clip, and emptied the trash. When I save the project, the file size is 20Gb. How can I save just the 33 sec clip?

Non-destructive editing is an important feature of iMovie HD 6.
iMovie preserves the entire copy of every clip you place into your movie in case you change your mind at a later stage.
So, if you have cut out one minute from a 45 minute clip, iMovie will have stored two complete copies of that clip. This is why is helps to set import as 3-5 minute clips rather than one huge chunk. As DV runs at 13GB per hour your project files can get very big.
One workaround is to complete the editing of a section of the movie, then export that to Quicktime: highlight the clip/s, choose Share-Quicktime, turn on Share selected clips only, and choose Full Quality from the pop-ip menu.
Once you have saved the stand-alone clip to your hard drive, you can re-import it into your project using the File/Import command, and delete the original long clip/s from the project.

Download and import YouTube videos to iMovie for editing

Download and import YouTube videos to iMovie for editing
YouTube always provides people with raw video materials on all sorts of things happened worldwide in real time. Video lovers are fond of downloading these files as private collection, even using video editors like iMovie to do further editing of their favorite ones, so as to import them to portable devices like iPod, iPhone, PSP, Blackberry, etc. for playback, or upload to their own websites to share with others, or do something else as they like.
However, not all the people have found a proper way to download YouTube videos, not to mention how to add these files to iMovie for editing. YouTube videos are in the format of FLV, which is not a workable format in iMovie, so if you want to import YouTube videos to it without trouble, you should convert FLV files to iMovie compatible formats such as MPEG-4 and MOV in advance. With the special intention of solving these two problems, this guide will show you how to download YouTube videos and import them to iMovie for editing step by step. If you are in need, just feel free to go along with it.
Step 1: Download, install and run Pavtube YouTube Converter for Mac
This converter can process downloading and conversion simultaneously. Once you launch it, the interface below well pop up.
Step 2: Add URL, select output format and set save path
Press tag “Add URL” in the above interface, and then the following window will appear. Just copy and paste the URL of the YouTube video file which you want to download and convert to the text box after “URL”. Then select a supportable format for iMovie by clicking the drop-down list of “Convert To”. Here I choose MOV for example.
Afterwards, you can insert the storage file name in the text box of “Save As”, if not, the program will generate one automatically. Here I save my file as “mycollection”. Meanwhile, you are allowed to hit “Browse” in the opposite side of “Save To” to specify the destination folder. By the way, if you want to save the original FLV files, you are allowed to tick the checkbox “Save FLV File” to achieve this goal.
Step 3: Custom
This program enables you to adjust video and audio parameters like codec, bit rate, aspect ratio, frame rate, sample rate, and channels, so that you can change them randomly according to your own demands. Generally speaking, the options which refer to values are always in condition of the larger values, the larger file size, but better quality. Do remember click “OK” to save your custom settings.
Step 4: Download and convert
Once all the settings are done, you can click “OK” button to start. The following window will show you the progress of downloading and conversion.
Step 5: Import the output MOV files to iMovie
As soon as the YouTube video files have been downloaded and converted to MOV or other iMovie workable format, you can click “Open” at lower right corner of the above interface to find out the output files. Afterwards, launch iMovie, and click File > Import to add the output files to iMovie for editing.
Tips:
1. This program supports batch tasks so that you can download multiple YouTube video files in batches at a time.
2. Pavtube YouTube Converter for Mac adopts multi-threading technology, which makes its download speed is faster than any other similar YouTube downloader.
3. Besides YouTube.com, it can also automatically detect and download online videos in the format of .flv, and f4v from many other video-sharing websites, like Yahoo Video, Myspace, Google Video, Fox and more.
4. It also provides users with conversion function, with which you can convert any YouTube FLV/F4V files to other formats like MP4, MKA, WAV, AC3, MKV, FLV, MP3, M4A, 3GP, AVI, MOV, MPG, etc. at will.
5. If you only use it as a YouTube downloader without format conversion, you can take it as a piece of freeware.
All right, this guide is ending up now; hope it will do you a favor while downloading video files from YouTube as well as importing them to iMovie for further editing.

It's a clip from CNN (with all credits etc. added). When one refers to it as a clip posted on "YouTube", then people understand the quality will be poor.
I've watched television go from everything shot on a tripod with clean, meticulous editing rules, to almost anything goes. It has to do with cultural reference.

Compressing video in imovie HD?

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