Confused about Sony HDR-SR7 and iMovie '08 import

I have my camera set to record at HD XP (15Mb/s). If I look on the camera hard drive at an arbitrary .mts file that is 107.3MB and import that into iMovie '08 at the Full (1920x1080) setting, that 107.3MB file turns into a whopping 854.5MB, while the Large (960x540) setting yields a much more reasonable 287.3MB file size (yet still double the size of the raw file sitting on the hard drive).
There's got to be some re-encoding going on, but what's the point? Why take a 100MB file and explode it to 800MB when you can't get any more quality out of the 100MB file?
Is it just the fact that iMovie doesn't actually support whatever native codec Sony's AVCHD uses, so it needs to re-encode it using AIC whose compression isn't as good as whatever codec AVCHD is using?
So this poses a real dilemma for me - do I import at Full or do I import at Large? Where does one notice the difference? If I blow up the 960 file to display the same size as the 1920 file, I can totally see artifacts on my 30" ACD, but would they show up on my Pioneer plasma TV? PDP-5070HD (1365x768))
Assuming I stay on Full quality - is there any way I can accurately tell how much hard drive space an import is going to consume? Right now my 60GB drive is rammed to the gills and I want to dump it all, but I need to make sure I have the space. 1:8?

Hi
*First: it sounds like you are not importing to iMovie, it sounds like you are trying to browse to the clips. That may not work.*
Ok - I was trying to import and also to view directly on the camcorder (but not at the same time). It was maybe 2 questions rolled into one so apologies if that was confusing...
*Second:You have SD and HD mixed, All of the SD has to be imported before any HD can be imported according to the manual.*
So what would I do, import SD movies first, and then delete it to then import HD specifically? Or do I just import SD and then import HD separately without deleting SD footage from the camcorder?
*Third point: The clips can be on the hard drive or the card. The camera has to be set to the media with the clips you want to import. If you recorded to the card, then switched to the hard drive, you won't be able to import the card video until you switch back.*
I dont have a card at the moment - only using the HDD.
*When you have the import working it is a matter of using the check box to select the clips you want.*
i assume iMovie loads them all up and asks you which ones you want to import?
*Alos one final point for video on the card I find it much easier to use a card reader to import. When I plug in the card reader to my usb port it mounts on the desk top, I start iMovie and the import screen comes up after iMovie is all opened up and running.*
I dont see much point in the card reader at the moment as the HDD is 120GB whereas I assume memory sticks only go to 8GB or so max...
*I hope I have been of some help.*
yes thanks for that - but am still confused by the whoel iMovie & HD import situation and how I should be doing it
All help appreciated

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iMovie '09: Camcorder Support
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3290#1
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http://help.apple.com/imovie/cameras/en/index.html
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I am confuse about passing by reference and passing
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reference. But I find out that its true for
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Yeah, good on yer mlk, At least I beat Jos.
Message was edited by:
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Message was edited by: Billy McQueary

Welcome to the  Discussion Forums.
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In case you're interested…
I'm in the process of reviewing both the Canon HV10 and the Sony HDR-HC3. Both use Mini DV tapes. I've heard hard disk models don't work with iMovie HD6.
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Apple iMac 2.16 Mac OS X (10.4.8)
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I'm really confused now. I've set the HC3's settings to HDV (not Auto) and the iLink Conv to OFF. And still no joy. I've even tried 'Magic Movie' for which it searched for a camera but found nothing. I know the Firewire cable works because I've used it on the Canon and my own, older Digital-8 Sony Handycam.

Sony HDR-HC1 with iMovie HD 6 experience

Well, I took the plunge and picked up a Sony HDR-HC1
HD camcorder. I took it for its first drive. The video
is awesome but iMovie HD 6 has some quirks.
I imported the video into the computer. It imports
at 1/2 real time. I learned later that this is a
function of my computer speed. The camera was actually
playing at normal speed; the computer was processing
at 1/2 that rate.
When I attempted to play the movie, iMovie hung on
me. In hindsight, it appears that there was some
corrupted data at the very beginning of the tape.
I waited and waited while my CPU was pegged at 100%
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I had to kill the application to get out of this hang.
It took a number of hangs/kills before I got out of
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In iMovie, the colors came and went. Sometimes the
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heck was going on. It seems good now after I
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The 16:9 movie was being displayed as 4:3.
Everything looked narrow. I created a new project
and this problem went away.
When I tried to use an external Firewire drive for
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Apparently, you can't connect to the camera
(with Firewire) when a Firewire drive is in use.
This is something else I learned the hard way.

"..When I tried to use an external Firewire drive for the project, it said "no camera connected.."
This may depend on (a) the make and model of external drive, (b) which socket on the drive you connect the camera to ..assuming there are at least two FireWire sockets on the drive.
You might also try using a FireWire hub (..some work, and some don't, but the Belkin and Dino hubs work for me and my G4 PowerBook..) to connect both devices to your Mac.
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..I just thought you ought to know, and be prepared for the wait!

Have FCP, new Sony HDR-FX7e and an iMac G5 (non intel core) please help

Hi,
This is going to be a bit of a dumb question but i need to ask to be sure of the equipement i have and if i need some new hardawre n my mac to capture the video in HD.
I have an older iMac G5, FCP and a new Sony HDR-FX7e with Belkin 4-6 pin iLink cable.
When i try to capture video that i have filmed in HD 29fps, FCP brings up an error:
Something like: Codec is wrong and also hardware card. I am guessing that the video card is not capable enough as it is the one that came with the mac. Also i am trying to capture the video onto the Hard drive which has 198Gb left. I guess this needs a firewire drive capable of teh right speed.
I am guessing here so please advise as i am so new to this you would not believe and i know it is ambitious of me to expect to plug and play but i can pick it up quickly with the right advice.
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1) Your best bet is to get 5.1 if you do not have it yet. It is a paid crossgrade, but as long as you have the original install discs it is a simple process.
2) The "e" at the end of your camera indicates that it is the PAL version I believe. Do you edit in PAL? or NTSC? Whichever you use just make sure to choose the proper easy setup.
3) Since you have a G5, I would suggest using that as your video machine. You can get around the firewire situation in one of two ways. First, and best in my opinion, is to purchase a second internal SATA harddrive and install it in the spare bay, set this as your "Scratch Disk" and your off. Second, buy a PCI firewire card and install this in a spare PCI slot, then connect your firewire drive to this. Or, if you feel the need, do both.
4) As for why iMovie works and FCP doesn't, the simple answer is the iMovie is a consumer program that has much lower tolerances than the PRO FCP. From what I understand, iMovie does not capture timecode and does not capture audio and video as separate files, among other things. To do these things there must be proper communication between the computer and camera.
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K

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HD is not listed...
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Elliot: I know you say you don't want to edit, but this thread could be interesting for you:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=995562
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Alberto

Confused about Sony HDR-SR7 and iMovie '08 import

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