Expert settings for exporting from iMovie

Help. I have a digital video uploaded to iMovie 3.0.3, about 30 minutes in duration and use an external DVD burner (no iDVD). the movie size in iMovie is about 6.3 gigs. I have successfully exported to quicktime but the screen sizes are too small. I would like to create a high quality export at 720 x 480, and burn to DVD. My preference would be to create a DVD that plays on PC's and MAC's but not require QT but simply plays like any DVD movie. Can anyone suggest the correct codec and settings? Thanks!
PowerMac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Thank you. If I were to burn the DVD through QT, what codec and settings would be recommended? At my last burn attempt, I used H.264 with just under best quality setting, frame rate 'at current' and automatic for data rate and key frames. Movie is about 3.6 gigs and looks great except video is occasionally choppy. I suspect the coppyness may be because iMovie is running from an external HD.
PowerMac G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9) 450 PowerPC 448 RAM

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Which settings for exporting from iMovie '09

I have a couple of projects coming up, and I'll be using a MiniDV camera (Canon XL1S) and a hard drive camera (Canon Vixia HG21).
For final editing I'm using iMovie 6 (still feel the most comfortable with it), but need to use iMovie '09 to import AVCHD footage from the HG21.
What are the best settings to use for exporting that footage out of '09 and into '06? I hate to lose major quality on the HG21, but don't really mind if it looks comparable to the XL1S. These projects are really demanding that I keep it at optimum HD quality (besides, I'm not sure if I have the HD space to work with the biggest files. Also, I don't plan on burn to Blu-ray or anything like that. I'm just needing to burn standard-definition DVDs, and plan on doing that with iDVD.
Basically I looking for advice on the proper quality settings for these needs, and also wondering if I'm looking at any issues regarding the different aspect ratios I'll be dealing with.
Thanks much…

Many thanks Lennart, and my apologies for a typo earlier when really confused you by leaving out one key word. I meant to say, "These projects are really (not) demanding that I keep it at optimum HD quality…"
I like your idea of pillarboxing the whole project, filling an entire widescreen TV with my Vixio footage. I assume the key is to open my new iMovie '06 project with the "DV Widescreen" setting, right?
Regarding how to convert AVCHD down to SD… I've been experimenting some with iMovie '09 on my intel-MacBook. Please tell me if I can forego the VoltaicHD purchase by doing this:
- I'm importing my Vixio footage into '09, choosing the "Large - 960x540" setting, just to keep the file size down.
- I'm then choosing Share>Export Movie, and again, I'm choosing the "Large" radio button.
- When the movie has exported, I'm seeing that it is saved with a .m4v extension. iMovie '06 will not allow me to drag a .m4v file into the clip pane. However, if I change the extension to .mov, I AM able to drag it in, and it appears that all is working ok.
What do you think? Is this workable? Am I sacrificing something with this method? Though I have not yet ripped anything to DVD, the quality seems good, (for SD standards, anyway).
One other question: Is it possible to export multiple clips out of '09 so that they can be brought into '06 individually? So far, all I'm able to do is to export them as one complete "movie," with all of my raw clips locked together. I'd like to have them separated when they arrive in '06. Maybe this is easy to do, and I just have not figured out this feature in '09.
Thx again…

Best practice for exporting from iMovie '08 to iDVD

I am looking to find out what is the best practice for exporting from iMovie '08 to iDVD. I have read the other postings that give the basic howto (export to Media Browser then select the video in iDVD). However, my question is a little more technical. I have 1080i HD projects. I am interested in burning them to DVD in the best possible quality. What setting should I be using when I publish to Media Browser?
I am wondering about quality loss due to more than one conversion/compression. I suspect that when I export to the Media Browser then this is occurring. If I am not mistaken iMovie is using something like H.264 for this. Then, when I run iDVD I suspect it will it do another conversion/compression, I think to get to MPEG2. Not only could this result in a loss of quality but also it will take extra time. I am interested to know what others think about this.
Finally, I am looking to create DVDs for a lot of video. I am wondering if there are any USB or firewire hardware devices out there that could speed up the compression. I use the Elgato Turbo.264 when I want to encode to H.264 but I wonder if there is something similar for DVD creation.
Thanks in advance.

the standards for videoDVD are 720x480, and usually mpeg2 encoded..
so, your HiDef project HAS to be 'downsampled' somehow..
I would Export with Qucktime/apple intermediate => which is the 'format' your project is allready, and you avoid any useless 'inbetween encoding'..
iDVD will 'swallow' this huge export file - don't mind: iDVD cares for length, not size.
iDVD will then convert into DVD-standards..
you can 'raise' quality, by using projects <60min - this sets iDVD automatically to highest technical possible bitrate
hint: judge pic quality on a DVDplayer + TV.. not on your computer (DVDs are meant for TVdelivery)

Best method for exporting from iMovie?

I have been having a lot problems with exporting from iMovie. I have a 30 minute movie that I want to compress to a file around 400~500mbs. I found the best results with Divx and .Avi files. Unfortunately, after I installed Tiger, I noticed that the audio was faster than the video, like " old kung-fu movies ".
I read in other forums that there are many problems with Divx compatibilty with Tiger. Whie waiting for a new version of Divx, can anyone give me some advice on the best way to export a movie from iMovie( good audio and video quality) thanks in advance!!

http://www.danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6007.shtml

Optimal settings for export from 1080p camcorder - Canon HF100

I just bought an HF100 camcorder. When I make projects with iMovie what are best export settings for 1080p projects? What about for 480p for a DVD. I tried to export 1080p video and it looks grainy. I'm not sure if this is the fault of the camera or iMovie?
Also, when I play clips inside imovie the playback is choppy. Is there anyway to fix this?

I'm using a HF10, and I don't think iMovie '08 properly detects that 1080p recordings from these camcorders are progressive scan, but rather treats then like 1080i clips. I find I get better results by recording in the default 1080i if there's sideways motion in the video. That doesn't really surprise me - according to the AVCHD consortium website, there's no such thing as 1080p in AVCHD (see http://www.avchd-info.org/format/index.html).
DVDs are always interlaced anyway, so for best results you want to start with 1080i and not 1080p. I export at 960x540i, using the Quicktime export option selecting "High" quality mode. The default "Large" sharing option in iMovie uses a bitrate that I find too low for getting the best quality.
When you export at 1080p, what is your bitrate set to? That makes a lot of difference.
Finally, 1080p playback is very hard work for your computer. Try quitting other applications before playing back your video to get a smooth experience. Or export at 540p.

Best settings for exporting from AE

Hi,
I am wondering what the best settings to export to from AE for editing in Premiere CS5.5. Previously I would digitize from tape and would export lossless .avi from AE but now I am using XDCAM EX 1080 50i sequence presets on Premiere and I wonder if I should amend the settings from AE or just keep them as lossless?
As always thanks in advance!

Keep it lossless.

Best settings for export from FCE to Web

I'm trying to get a 20-minute project (audio and video) exported from FCE to iWeb in reasonably high quality. I've consulted the manual, and have tried various compression settings and consulted some online tutorials, to no avail - more often than not, if it "publishes" to iWeb, the resulting file looks like it will take the better part of forever to buffer. Any recommendations?

Well, not sure about what you mean “in reasonably high quality”...?
What export-settings did you use...? size and codec...?
A twenty minutes project for the web in reasonably quality...?
Did you start with your project in FCE with the best and highest uncompressed resolution ?
Did you export (compress) from this resolution once to your desired web format ?
Doing file compression properly, I guess, one needs years of experience...
There are far to many variables one has to consider...
t’s rather an art-form than exact science...
Anyway...
If you like, here are one of my settings:
Compression H.264 / Frame Rate Current / Key Frame Automatic / Quality Medium /
Data Rate Automatic (higher rate - higher file size) / Encoding Best Quality /
Size 480 x 270 (16:9) / Sound AAC Stereo 44.1 kHz (Mono and lower Rate reduces size).
Regards
Nolan

Best way to export from iMovie 09 to iMovie HD

Due to a) image quality issues, and b) no export to tape feature, I need to stick with iMovie HD for all my editing needs.
However, I do want to use those nifty map and photo animations in my iMovie HD project. What are the best settings for exporting from iMovie '09 to a format that works in iMovie HD and is 1080i? Since I'm working with HD files, I don't really care about size.
Thanks!

Thanks shawk, however, the DV stream is not in HD. It exports in 720x480 I think.
I've had some time to test out the AIC more. I can't find a difference between the 1080i and 1080p (even though it converts down to 1080i for the final). There doesn't appear to be a noticeable loss in quality and it seems to work perfectly with iMovie HD. Maybe I answered my own question? haha.

Best settings for exporting crisp video/graphic from iMovie to YouTube?

Hi, I am working on a video for a client and after viewing on YouTube they had some issues with the type not looking "crisp," and I'm not sure how to fix it, not sure if it's a YouTube thing or something I am doing wrong.
I am working in iMovie 6/HD on OS 10.4.11. I do my "type slides" in Photoshop and import them into the iMovie as photos (JPGs). I know some text/titles can be done in iMovie but there is very little control I have over what goes where, so by making my type slides in Photoshop I have more creative control to do what I want. I have done tests and it doesn't seem to matter what resolution the Photoshop files are when they're imported, the results are always the same.
If anyone has a better suggestion for doing the type slides I'd gladly welcome them, but I think what I really need to know is the following:
What are the best expert settings to export my iMovie file as, so that when I upload to YouTube, the quality stays fairly crisp? Or does YouTube's compression just negate anything I can do on my end?
I have googled and found settings recs on other sites and other boards and tried a bunch of them and my results aren't any better than my original effort.
From another post on this board I discovered I could play with the Filters setting when exporting, and I have set that to Sharpen and also used the Brightness filter to lighten the video (it was a little dark). I uploaded to YouTube and I think it is a little better, but would still love the info if anyone has a guaranteed rec for correct settings for YouTube video from iMovie HD/6.

Hello Brian,
Have you tried de-interlacing before exporting?
Sometimes, when I'm in a rush, I would expand the Canvas/Viewer (viewed at 100%), pick the clearest frame, and do a screen capture.
For example, with the captured image (in Photoshop), I have a marquee preset at 640x480 (NTSC). I created an action to crop, resize to 720x480, then set the Pixel Aspect Ratio to NTSC.
Gary

Exporting from iMovie for additional editing?

I have an iMovie sequence that took a long time to edit, but I need to export the footage to another editing app (GoPro Studio). I invested a LOT of time creating the iMovie, but need to merge much of it with other GoPro footage. GoPro studio has a few features that can adjust for GoPRo wide angle lens etc that iMovie can't do.
I am concerned that once the footage has been rendered/exported FROM iMovie then rendered again in GoPro studio for final, that I will have an extra generation of interpolation that will further degrade the image quality. Is there a LOSSLESS export option form iMovie? (I'm using the most recent version)
I'm obviously not a pro video editor, but I am a pro photo retoucher, and would never create a second copy of a file using JPG format. I'm assuming that video rendering (exporting) also INTERPOLATES the pixels, resulting in a noticeable image degradation.
So is there a "LOSSLESS" export option? Or a format that is virtually indistinguishable form the original? I hope I'm being clear enough on this.
thanks!

Do you have a MobileMe account? If so an alternative is to publish directly from iMovie to a MMe gallery. You can include several sizes of the same movie in the gallery to accommodate visitors with different connection speeds. This demo page has an example: Adding a MMe Gallery from iMovie 09.
Or, there are a couple of ways of embedding a QT movie into a web page that does not require the movie to load with the page, only when the play button is selected. See these demo pages: Opening Item in a New, Precisely Sized Window and QT Movies via Export for Web in QT Player.
This demo page has seven examples of the first method: PhotoPresenter Animated Slideshow Themes
OT

What format in expert settings for fast start on the web?

I exported a slide show to QT from iPhoto. Unlike imovie that gives you the possibility to use expert settings to export a fast start, iPhoto doe not have the option to export to expert settings.
I want my QT slide show to begin to play as it uploads on the .mac web page. By accident, (I don't know what I did) one of my video has a fast start on my web pages, it starts playing before it has finished uploading. On the other hand, most of my other videos or QT slide show, have to fully upload, which can take 5-10 minutes, before the viewer can see it playing.
Also, If I open my QT slide show exported from iPhoto in the size of 7.1MB, and re-export it using QT pro expert settings using Fast start, the file become 91MB big...... way too big to post on the .mac account!
What is the difference between hinted, streaming, fast start, and compressed header? I'm getting a little confused with the choices!!!
please help!
Any suggestions would be appreciated!!!
michel

Some iPhoto slide shows (those that use only the fade effect) do not fast start. They are made up of three video tracks slightly offset in time and a tween track that sets the fade.
You could open them in QT Pro and use the save as menu. No re-compression but the file size will become three times larger because each of the video tracks will become independent (for lack of a better word). This new file will fast start.
Exporting isn't a good choice unless you use identical settings to the original (Photo-JPEG video codec and an extremely low frame rate).
The file size of the original is "trick" that can only be performed by iPhoto.

IDVD: Files exported from iMovie 11, one works, one "Unsupported File Type : Unknown format"

I used footage from the same camera (taken on the same weekend using the same settings) in several different iMovie "projects". All were shared from iMovie 11 as "File" using the quality setting "SD 480p".
In Quicktime Player, all ".mp4" files will play and they show the following info in its inspector:
Format: H.264, 854 x 480
AAC, 48000 Hz, Stereo (L R)
FPS: 29.97
One exported file will drag, drop, and burn in iDVD just fine. The other two files show the error "Unsupported File Type : Unknown format" as soon as I try and drag them into iDVD.
The only difference I can find is that the one file that works is about 803MB, while the files that don't work are 1.87GB and 3.98GB.
All files and the iDVD project are in the same folder on my startup volume. I've tried deleting com.apple.idvd but that didn't help. I've tried rebooting and starting the iDVD project from scratch but I get the same results.
Mac OS 10.9.1
iMovie 10.0.1
iDVD 7.1.2
Any ideas?

Hello Bengt and thank you again for the replies.
As I mentioned in my previous posts, I'm using iMovie 10.0.1 which has very limited quality adjustments. In every case I chose the smallest size, which iMovie 10.0.1 calls "SD 480p (854 x 480)". I used this same setting on all exports.
I still have iMovie HD (6.0.4) and iMovie '11 (9.0.9) on my iMac so I tried both of them. In both cases, they could import only the file that works in iDVD. Both older versions of iMovie choked on the longer movies shared from iMovie 10.0.1.
I have many many hours into the editing of these clips and I do not want to have to go back and redo everything in an older version of iMovie. Might I be better off going with a different DVD creation software? Or am I out of luck? Because I can't really change iMovie 10.0.1's export settings, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to get it to export it as something that iDVD can use (really, I can't even tell why it's different and why iDVD doesn't like it).
The software "WonderShare DVD Creator" has no issue with any of the files I've exported from iMovie 10.0.1.

Best way to export from iMovie so that clip will play in Powerpoint on Windows?

Does anyone know the best settings so that a movie exported from iMovie will play in Powerpoint on a Windows machine? Thanks.

You need one of the more expenseive Flip4Mac options. Flip4Mac Studio, Studio Pro, Studio Pro HD, for example.
Flip4Mac supplies a video component. To do the conversion, you need a tool like QuickTime Pro or Compressor. You take the file you created in iMovie and convert it using QuickTime Pro using the supplied component.
It is possible that a free tool like MPEG Streamclip would do the conversion (after purchasing the Flip4Mac components) but I haven't tried it personally.
You cannot do this conversion from within iMovie. You need to SHARE from iMovie, then convert.

Best settings for exporting and dropping a MOV file into iDVD7?

I have a movie (originally shot in HD), made in iMovieHD6, and that I'd like to export and drop into iDVD7. *What settings would the brain trust recommend?* I cannot seem to get iDVD to render a good version through direct export from iMovie. (As a side, I wonder if it is because I started this process by bringing AVCHD files from my camera into iMovie8 and "going backwards" to iMovieHD6.)

I have used Pro-res from Final Cut Pro into iDVD and it works.
*This is from iDVD help menu:*
Video and image formats that work with iDVD
You can use these movie and graphic formats in iDVD:
◼
Most video or image files supported by QuickTime (see the list of unsupported QuickTime formats below)
◼
16:9 widescreen formats
◼
AAC, MP3, and AIFF audio files
◼
Any format from iMovie: DV, high-definition video (HDV), MPEG-2 SD, MPEG-2 SD, MPEG-4 SD, MPEG-4 HD, and AVCHD
High definition video is converted to work with the format of your project. iDVD supports using 16:9 widescreen video; therefore, when your DVD plays on a DVD player that supports widescreen format, the footage appears in its original aspect ratio.
The following video and image formats are not supported in iDVD:
◼
Copyrighted or protected videos.
◼
Movies saved in thousands of colors using the “none” compression setting in iMovie.
◼
48-bit color images (16 bits per color). To use source files in one of these formats in iDVD, save them in a supported format.
◼
Aurora uncompressed files. For best results, export Aurora clips as DV-format video before importing them into iDVD.
◼
QuickTime VR, MPEG-1 or MPEG-2, Flash, streaming or encrypted movies, or QuickTime spanned movies. You can’t add MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 files to an iDVD project because they don’t contain standard video tracks.
◼
QuickTime Fast Start movies. (Fast Start movies are intended for Internet playback.) When saving a QuickTime movie for use with iDVD, click the Options button in the QuickTime Export dialog and make sure that the “Prepare for Internet Streaming” checkbox is not selected.

Best settings to Export from FCP to iWeb?

In the past I have exported from FCP to a QT that I import into iMovie and then export from iMovie to iWeb...
is there a simpler way to get video to iWeb?
I prefer not to edit in iMovie, so what FCP settings are best for iWeb? I'll ask this on the FCP board as well.
Thanks

In the past I have exported from FCP to a QT that I import into iMovie and then export from iMovie to iWeb...
is there a simpler way to get video to iWeb?
I prefer not to edit in iMovie, so what FCP settings are best for iWeb? I'll ask this on the FCP board as well.
Thanks

Expert settings for exporting from iMovie

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