FCP Import Quality vs iMovie 06

Is there quality difference if I import mini DV using FCP or iMovie 06? Thanks

Here's an expanded version of Nick's post.
DV Stream (noted as .dv) is what the camera records. At the time of recording, the camera takes the audio & video from the separate sensors and mixes (muxes) then into a single data stream and writes that to tape. When you capture this material, it is a direct digital transfer of 1s and Zereos from the tape to your hard drive. No processing takes place on the file. iMovie works fine with these files as iMovie is designed as a simple 1 stream editor.
On the other hand, FCP must be able to edit multiple streams of audio and video. To facilitate this, FCP uses QT during capture to disentangle (demux) the audio and video into separate streams. There is no processing/degrading of visual or audio quality, just pulling the audio out of the video so that within the QT file container, each part is individually accessible. They are not separate files, just separate components within one file.
Now, when you put .dv material in a FCP timeline, the audio must be rendered every time you make an edit as the audio is mixed into the video stream. This is a royal pain.
It is good procedure to capture material with the program with which you'll edit the material.
Good luck,
x

Similar Messages

FCE import quality vs. iMovie

Is FCE capable of capturing/importing video at an improved quality level than iMovie 6?
I understand the superior editing & functionality aspects of FCE, but am trying to see if using FCE also gives you the ability to produce a higher quality video. FYI, I will be working with a bunch of MiniDV tapes.

I went to FCE because I was disappointed with the DVD final results of iMovie 06 at its best setting (at least what I think is the best). Thinking Imovie was just a poor factory add-on program I got FCE and on my initial tests with the same footage imported then exported through their respective programs, I saw great differences in the picture. Viewed back on a good Panasonic Gaoo 37 inch TV.
Smoke or fog, trees, anything with a lot of detail seemed less vibrant with iMovie.
I am open to opposition on these findings as perhaps something wasn't set right, but to date I have not been able to encode a DVD from Imovie as well as that from FCE
I suppose this is off topic since the question was of import quality, not export.
Cheers

Help with photo import quality in iMovie!

The resolution of the iPhoto (5.0.2) pics once dragged into iMovie (5.0.4) severly deteriorates on my iMovie project. The photos are 21 inches widecrystal clear JPEGS in iPhoto, Preview and Photoshop, except once dragged onto iMovie they look blurry and pixely. My digital camera is a Sony 7.2 (shot pixs at 5M)
Playing project footage on full screen in iMovie looks this way as well. So it is not just the import still shot on the clipboard that looks bad.
How do I fix this problem to get clear quality ?

Create your iMovie project in a high quality format (choose the highest one possible) and then the pics you import will be imported in a high quality. iMovie automatically adjusts the quality of your pics and movies based on the quality of the iMovie project you are creating.
I'm not sure what you mean by "a high quality format", hlokty. Are you referring to the iMovie Playback preference, which lets you pick one of three playback settings?
If so, note that preference does NOT affect the quality of the imported image. It has no affect on the quality of project clips like video, photos, or anything else. The preference only affects playback in iMovie itself. Low quality improves the playback smoothness. High quality improves the playback image.
If should be noted that iMovie NEVER shows us all the quality that's there, for either video or photos. That must be kept in mind when viewing photos imported to iMovie. It's important to not judge quality by what you see in iMovie. iMovie is a video editor, not a video player.
There are many Topics here discussing photo quality. To find them, search for words like "blurry" and "jaggies".
Here's one:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2105598&#2105598
Karl

I'm thinking of using Final Cut Pro to straighten slightly crooked footage and then re-import back to iMovie to complete the video. Does this have any impact on image quality?

I'm thinking of using Final Cut Pro to straighten slightly crooked footage and then re-import back to iMovie to complete the video. Does this have any impact on image quality?

As your rotate the image, you will begin to see black edges. So, as Tom implies, the image must be scaled up to hide those voids. If you shot 4k ad are editing in a HD timeline, no problem, lots of room to spare. If you shot 1080 and are editing in a 1080 timeline, you will run into issues at a certain point. However, if your 1080 project is going to be transcoded to 720 or ye olde DVD you won't notice any deterioration at all.

Importing a Motion file into FCP loses quality

When viewed within Motion the quality of the graphics, text, etc. is excellent. However, if I import the Motion file or a Quicktime movie of that file into FCP, the quality goes down. The text is ragged, as well as any graphics. I'm creating at NTSC DV. I tried importing one of the tutorial files and the same thing occurred. Any ideas?
Thanks, Matt

Seperate but related question - if my intention is to make a DVD that plays only on a computer, is there anyway to replicate the Motion quality in a computer only format?
I just don't understand why Motion's display so pristine yet FCP is not. I know it has been answered and explained, but I just don't get it.

Importing avi into Imovie, i loose Quality

OK.....
I'm importing avi files from my PC to my Mac. File sizes are around 1.2 GB each. When i import them to Imovie, takes about 10 minutes to, and when the files are imported, the quality is not good. BUT! when i import these files into IDVD and place them in a menu screen on IDVD, they look great! So ? What do i need to do so when i import my .avi video files, i won't loose quality when importing them to imovie. These files are uncompressed and come from a home design software. Please post ASAP with answers i need to resolve this issue for a client of mine. Thanks everyone!
Taylor

Never judge by what you see in iMovie, the playback is bad. Always judge by what you see on a TV (via DV camera or iDVD and DVD player).

Does FCP import iMovie projects?

does FCP import iMovie projects?

Thanks, Tom Wolsky and Whiteshirt, for confirming my suspicions. I've always liked iMovie 6 for its simplicity, but I guess I'll have to get up to speed with FCP X. I like the multicam feature. Now, if they'd only include chapter markers in the next update.

What are the best import and export settings? I'm losing lots of quality in iMovie...especially in the shadows?

I am creating timelapse videos using Quicktime pro's Image Sequence. I then save them and import them into iMovie. Problem is...when I bring them into iMovie...I lose tons of quality it seems. The shaddows get all blocky and pixelated? Then when I export the movie...it's even worse. I'm creating this footage from images taken on a Nikon D3s so the footage should be CRYSTAL clear...and IS in Quicktime Pro at the beginning...but when it's brought into iMovie it's like it gets all compressed etc. How do I create beautiful stunning footage that doesn't look compressed and pixelated? Thanks!

> You just need to use a larger file or settle for less quality
This is not always exactly true. There are many things that can affect the perceived quality. In Premiere's case:
1.) Deinterlacing: If your sources are interlaced, Premiere (by default) will deinterlace them before scaling down for web export. Premiere's deinterlacer is as bad as it gets. If you are doing a ratio >= 2:1 (such as 480i -> 240p) it is probably better to untick the "deinterlace" checkbox, as the line-pairs will be blended on output anyway because of the large scaling ratio.
2.) Soft scaling: Premiere's Bicubic resampling is not really ideal for large ratio reductions. Unfortunately, there is not much way around this without using other tools.
3.) Noise: Video noise can greatly reduce the efficiency of encoding -- and therefore, when using a set data rate, it makes lowers quality output. Premiere does have a noise reduction filter option in AME, but it is quite slow and not the most sophisticated solution. You may want to experiment with it anyway: It can potentially make low bandwidth encodes look much better.
4.) Frame rate: It seems like a basic concept, but many people forget that you can greatly increase your spatial quality by reducing the frame rate. If you can live without the motion smoothness of 30 fps, you can get much higher quality with 15 fps at the same data rate.
5.) Two-pass Encoding: Unfortunately, Premiere does not have 2-pass for FLV VP6 which, IMO, is probably the "best looking" web output. You should look at other tools like Sorenson Squeeze or On2 Flix. In these cases you'll need to export a lossless intermediary AVI file to maximize quality.

I need a digital camcorder that imports direct to iMovie - any ideas

I have been using a MiniDV JVC camcorder to import direct into iMovie - worked great but the camcorder heads are now worn out. So I use an Hitachi HD flash card camcorder that outputs AVI files. I then have to convert through Handbrake to get a useable file for iMovie.
This is much too slow as I produce lots of short video for customers - is there a better direct camera to get files straight into iMovie or should I use different software on the mac?
Last resort, I have been told to buy a pc to use for producing edited DVD movies - I don't really want to move off the mac - HELP?

Wow...good question.
Do your FCP setups have capture cards? You could send a signal from the toaster machine to FCP via the capture card and recapture the footage in FCP. Will take a while, but it should work.
Tough working with proprietary formats.
Shane

Importing Video from iMovie HD - What's the Trick?

Hello brilliant Mac Fans,
I've been working steadily to create a cool demo reel for a client using iMovie HD (6) and Keynote '08. Well, the file in iMovie is Widescreen DV, and looks great. When I export it at full quality (as a dv file,) I play it in Quicktime and everything looks dandy, but when I drag that same file into Keynote, it has the wrong aspect ratio and has skips here and there...
I guess my question is, for Widescreen video, what are the ideal settings? Does anyone know the best frame rate, kind of file, etc. that plays well with Keynote?
Thanks to all for reading...

Hello Carol,
you can create slideshows in iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD. In iPhoto you can create your slideshow in a few simple steps with music and transitions, then export it to iDVD for DVD authoring. One drawback (for me) is that you choose the duration for each picture and a transition, and these will be applied to all the pics in the slideshow, so not much room for customisation. On the other hand, if you want something quick and simple, this might be the right approach.
In iMovie you can import the pictures from your iPhoto library and create a slideshow. Here you have the possibility to completely customize all the settings (length of each pic, different transitions and music) and you can add titles and effects if you like. The process in iMovie will be longer as you'll have to import the pics one by one and change settings everytime you want a different outcome, but it will be a more personalised creation.
In iDVD you can create slideshows more or less like in iPhoto with more or less the same options. You can import your pics from the iPhoto library or from a folder and set duration and transition type and add music.
There have been several posts on this forum regarding problems with pic quality when played from DVD on TV - one problem is that pictures and video are not the same (pixels vs. lines, interlacing etc.). I personally have had the best results by importing photos into iMovie and applying a Ken Burns effect to each, but have to say that I don't work much with pictures (mostly video), so you'll probably get other sound advice from other users.
hope this helps
mish

Importing clips from iMovie HD to FCE4

Hi. Have read with interest a couple of questions on this same issue, with the advice from Tom Wolsky seemingly being to not mix the two applications and just get stuck in with FCE. However, i'm finding FCE difficult to like/get to grips with. But more importantly, after attending some Apple onetoone sessions, it seems my Canon camcorder might be a little long in the tooth and there may be some tape slippage as I was getting time code errors when trying to import directly to FCE. The fix seemed to be to capture the footage via iMovie and import to FCE using 'show package contents' route. Having now though imported some footage from a second tape, I have some of the clips showing as Offline for some reason. Is the trick to import clips from IMovie as per Tom's suggested route on 9/8/08?

I import video from my camera into iMovie 4, because that is the last version of iMovie, I believe, that was capable of flushing unwanted video off the hard drive, and I can bring an entire tape into iMovie, trim it down for FCE, and then get rid of the unwanted footage. iMovie 6, like Final Cut Express, is a nondestructive editor and can't erase unwanted footage from the hard drive, and as you know, video uses up hard drive space FAST. To get rid of discarded edits, you either have to use iMovie 4 or Final Cut Pro.
iMovie is also much easier to import video into than Final Cut Express, with all the latter's complicated controls. With iMovie, you just plug in your camera, iMovie then says "Camera Connected," and you hit Play and Import. Stone simple. Also, in iMovie you can hear the audio as it comes in, and if I remember right (it's been a while since I did it in FCE), you can't hear your audio tracks as your video imports into FCE. Not a big deal, but an annoyance.
Once the video is in iMovie, then I cut and trim the video to get rid of all substandard/unwanted stuff, and then Empty Trash, which erases the unwanted video off the hard drive, saving mucho space over the course of a project. Otherwise, you're just stuck with the unwanted video, and all it does is fill up your hard drive. Then you export (or "Share," in iMovie parlance) your video from iMove as a QuickTime movie, and drop that QT movie into Final Cut Express's Browser. Then create your FCE project from it.
The only objection I have ever seen to this procedure is people complaining that their QuickTime movie from iMovie has to be rendered in FCE before FCE can use it, and this takes a bit of extra time. Well, that's true, unless you export your video from iMovie in a form that FCE can use natively. Then it doesn't need to be rendered at all--it's just as though you had imported it from the camera directly into FCE. Most people don't know how to set up iMovie to do that.
Here's how I do it: (this is iMovie 4; I assume other versions are the same), Select Share > QuickTime and choose Expert Settings. On the next screen, select Export: Movie to QuickTime Movie, and click the Options button. In the Movie Settings window that this brings up, on the upper (video) part of it, under the Video checkbox, click the Settings button there, and for Compression Type choose DV/DVCPRO-NTSC, and under Compressor Quality, move the slider to Best, and click OK. Under the Sound checkbox, click Settings, and then choose Linear PCM, Stereo, and 48.000 kHz for Sound Settings. Under Render Settings, choose Qualty: Best. Just below that, uncheck the "Prepare for Internet Streaming" box. Then click OK, and the window will go away, and you're ready to export.
Give the video a name, and a place to save to, then click SAVE. The QuickTime movie that results from this can be dropped straight into FCE and requires no rendering; it works just as though you had imported it directly into FCE from your camera.
Tom B.

Importing clips from iMovie - jittery

Just got Final Cut Pro 5 and I'm having a problem with importing clips from iMovie into FCP5. The clips were fine in iMovie, but the images are jittery in FCP. I tried Apple Care, but they wanted to charge me $200 to answer my question eventhough I just bought the software yesterday!
any ideas most welcome - thanks

Nowhere is it advertised that iMovie is compatible with FCP.
One is a consumer format, with less features, like lack of timecode. The other is a professional format, which relies heavily on timecode.
Yes, output to tape from imovie, then capture with FCP.
#20 Using iMovie to Capture for FCP edit
Shane's Stock Answer #20:
iMovie handles the media differently from FCP, specifically where audio is concerned. So it is not a recommended workflow. Here's why...
iMovie captures using DV Stream (.dv) standard which does not use timecode. That is a big disadvantage over the way that FCP captures in that you can't go back and recapture the material at a later date if you need to revisit a project.
The DV/NTSC specification (the one FCP uses) also calls for seperate tracks for audio and video, even if you capture it as one clip. iMovie' DV stream format is muxed audio and video, which means that they are tied together (I can't get into specifics because I ain't no engineer or programmer). FCP is a bit more demanding and captures the seperate audio/video tracks, either in a single media file or as seperate video and audio files. With FCP you could capture video only or audio only because each is defined by the DV specs. while with iMovie you can't.
Also, if you drop the iMovie footage into the timeline, your will get the RED render bar forcing you to render the footage in order to see it...
"There's no need to fear, UNDERDOG is here!"

Importing VHS into iMovie - Communication Error

Hi
I have just got a new iMac with iLife 08.
I am trying to import VHS tapes through a Canon camcorder into iMovie. I have done this many times before using Final Cut Pro on my old computer. My old FCP isn't compatible with OSX 10.5 so I have to use iMovie for the first time.
My problem is when I connect everything up, I get a 'communication error'. I can play the VHS and see it playing on the camcorder but it won't play on the import window in iMovie. i have tried importing it anyway and it does capture a couple of seconds and then stops.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks.

I have the same problem, used the info from the above link....
Live import workaround #2: Put a tape in the camcorder and put it into CAMERA mode. Launch iMovie HD 6.0.2 -- its import mode should show the live feed from the camcorder. Remove the tape -- iMovie HD should continue to show and import live feed from the camcorder. The drawback with this approach is that it produces wear and tear to the camcorder. If you keep the tape in the camcorder, it may also go into standby mode if the tape is paused.....
But then switch from camera to play (VCR) on my canon MV500i
imac Mac OS X (10.4.8)

What's the best format to import in to iMovie?

Okay, here is the situation, I have a lengthy Keynote presentation which I plan to export via QuickTime so it can be imported in to iMovie in order to do voice-overs. The question I have is what the best format is to use to export from Keynote in order to import in to iMovie. I am obviously looking for the format which is the smoothest, doesn't lose any quality, and will look clear once imported in to iMovie. Also, there is no reason to use H.264 since size during the transfer doesn't really matter to me, besides, H.264 seems to be somewhat jerky with Keynote exports (or maybe it's just my computer) as I am using some of the graphics intensive transitions and effects.
Also, I know that when you send movies directly from Keynote to iDVD or from iMovie to iDVD, it uses a format which is directly compatible and there is no conversion that takes place, is there a format which will work this way from Keynote to iMovie or does it always have to do the conversion.
Finally, the other thing you should know is that I created the presentation in Keynote using 1280x720 in order to achieve the true widescreen aspect ratio. Now, I am NOT looking to keep this in HD, once I import it in to iMovie, I only need the standard DV Widescreen resolution since I will eventually transfer it to iDVD to burn it as a widescreen DVD. So, I would also appreciate some sort of input as to whether I should export the QuickTime file out of Keynote as the full 1280x720 and then let iMovie do the down-sampling, or should I export it directly out of Keynote using the standard definition widescreen resolution? Please, I would appreciate ANY help on this!!!

Thanks for your suggestion Bruce, however I found another way as well. I finally found that using the full resolution (1280x720) with Apple Intermediate Codec @ 60FPS turns the best results (for a relatively low disk usage). I finally went with the 60 frames per second because I was having problems getting a somewhat jerky output using Current or 30FPS in any format. I realize that iDVD reduces the FPS eventually, but it seems to be perfect when I take that route. Although the jerkiness isn't noticeable on most effects and transitions, if you use the newer transitions like Reflection or Doorway, you will definitely notice a less than perfect playback.
I know that I said that file size didn't matter, but I decided using uncompressed video was just too large, I think the file size was like 25-50GB or something like that. I took forever to import in to iMovie, so I quit with that route.
I really appreciate the Garageband suggestion, that was by far the best way to go. I never really tried using the new GarageBand in iLife '06 so I didn't even realize that it had movie scoring—what a GREAT feature! I definitely should have recorded directly in to GarageBand rather than in iMovie, something is just not right with iMovie's audio handling. Anyway, thanks for the help!

Photo Quality in iMovie HD

I'm importing photos into iMovie . . . all of them look GREAT when viewed in photo or graphic applications, but when bringing them into iMovie they look distorted and blurry. When they were originally created I saved them at a high resolution to hopefully avoid problems like this. Any idea what the problem is? Thanks

I'm having a similar problem with this and I wonder if you've gotten anywhere? I've used Keynote to create builds with my text & image content for an intro to a presentation that I'm putting together in iMovie.
The resolution quality when I export from Keynote (at high quality 1280x1920) to Quicktime is variable depending on what format I set the Quicktime view at when I open the file in Quicktime. At actual size, it looks perfect. When I switch it to full screen mode, it's horrible. So perhaps my problem starts in this phase from Keynote to Quicktime?
Just to check to see, I then drag the Quicktime movie into iMovie to incorporate it into the presentation. Here, the graphics retain their quality, but the text content stays horrible.
From here, when I "share" to quicktime with all settings at highest quality, the quality is indeed the worst when opened and viewed in quicktime.
Has anybody found a remedy for this? It seems to be a common problem where there are so many places one can go wrong....

FCP Import Quality vs iMovie 06

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