IMovie and Cinema mode = MAJOR headaches!

Question

Hi there. I've been having this issue for some time now and while I've read similar topics on multiple forums (including this one) I have yet to find a viable fix.
My problem is importing video from my Panasonic mini DV cam after shooting in Cinema mode (widescreen) iMovie doesn't seem to handle it well. Even when I set iMovie to 16:9 (widescreen) before importing, the video becomes squashed or stretched EVERY time I do. It happened in HD06 as well. I have heard that by importing to Quicktime Pro and saving at a certain resolution it will format it correctly, then importing back to iMovie for editing. I'm not sure on the proper steps though. If anyone knows about this or has another solution PLEASE help! I have wedding footage that I need to edit and with the my current imports it's looking horrible!
Message was edited by: Michael Carney

Answer 1

That's an oldish model, and I think that its 16:9 mode is emulated 16:9 ..which means that either - as I mentioned above - it chops off the top and bottom of the picture to give a result which looks wider than normal, or it just spreads each pixel wider to look like 16:9.
It will send a signal to a TV to tell it to display the video as 16:9 ..though it's actually been shot on a 4x3-shaped CCD.
This widescreen display signal, though, doesn't do anything in iMovie, because iMovie detects the actual format in which the video was recorded (4:3 ..masquerading as 16:9). So iMovie displays it in the wrong shape.
By importing your video, then opening each clip in QuickTime Pro and resizing it and Saving it (..as described above..) you should then be able to open it in the correct shape in iMovie ..HOWEVER, I've tried doing exactly that on several occasions, and the new 16:9 dimensions which I've given to clips have NOT been recognised by iMovie when the clips have been re-imported into iMovie! ..It's an annoying characteristic which I've referred to the iMovie Developers.
Sometimes the newly changed dimensions DO work with iMovie, but often not. It's a shame.
You can edit within QuickTime Pro, but it's not so simple as editing in iMovie.
(..I'm just trying to think how I got round this business of QT adjustments not being recognised in iMovie ..I think maybe I exported the resized videos to some other device, like an Archos pocket video recorder..
..then re-imported from that ..but I can't quite remember..)
You can assemble a long movie in QT Pro by adding video sequences to a movie, but there isn't the range of "tweaks" (..transitions, titling, etc..) available in QT Pro which are there in iMovie.
I don't know if you can send to iDVD ..or rather, import into iDVD.. a QT-Pro-assembled movie: you should be able to with no problem, but I've never tried.
But you could easily try that yourself! ..Open a video clip in QTP and resize it. Then open another clip in QTP and resize it. Add the 2nd clip to the 1st clip (..there are QTP tutorials online here..) and Save your work, then open iDVD and import the movie you've just created in QTP.
I don't know if iDVD will recognise the -s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d- 16:9 format which you've resized in QTP, or if it will ignore it.
Why not give it a try and report back..? ..the worst outcome might be that you'd waste a few cents worth of blank DVD..