HT3130 trying to export a 4 minute video to desktop. Only 1:08 seconds exports. I've tried other clips and they all cut at 1:08. Used different exports like Quicktime with the same results.

Question

trying to export a 4 minute video to desktop.  Only 1:08 seconds exports.  I've tried other clips and they all cut at 1:08.  Used different exports like Quicktime with the same results.

Answer 1

Good to hear that you've had some success with the import.
I tried 3 times to do it before I finally changed it to H.264, and it worked on the first try.  The quality of the compression was terrible with those settings compared to my standard settings, but I'm just glad it worked.
Rather than Share>Export using QuickTime and then choosing your own settings for H.264, you may get a better result if you simply use the Share>Export Movie option. Alternatively, use the Share>Media Browser option (as I mentioned in my earlier post). You will be presented with a range of sizes to choose from. Depending on your target, it's usually best to select the highest size available, such as Large, HD 720p or HD 1080p. However, for producing a DVD it's best to not go beyond the HD 720p size, as the DVD will be downscaled during encoding to Standard Definition in the appropriate size for either PAL or NTSC.
In my experience, both these options (Export Movie or Media Browser) produce a video file of excellent quality. The files will be in H.264 format and will have the file extension .mov or .m4v depending on the size of the export. I'm assuming that your camera records HD video in AVCHD format.
These files work well with iDVD (or other DVD authoring programs). The export process for the presets is optimised by Apple to produce high quality video files at a reasonable file size. So, selecting a preset may give you a much better result. Choosing your own H.264 settings when using the "Export using QuickTime" method could be why "the compression was terrible". You may have selected a data (bit) rate that was too low. There is always a trade-off between quality and file size when compressing video.
So, to summarise, try one of the Apple presets using either Share>Export Movie or Share>Media Browser.
John