IMovie HD Quality: Does iMovie compress by default?

Helping a friend out making a movie via iMovie, using clips from a fairly decent quality digital movie (Quicktime format).
She's on a pre-intel G5 iMac.
The issue: it appears that iMovie is compressing or lowering the quality of the clips we're importing. Our method of importing is click-and-drag.
Questions: Is there a method of setting iMovie's default to import clips and retain the same quality (High Definition is preferred).
Is there a different way to import clips (e.g. an "Import" option in iMovie, instead of click-and-drag?)
The ultimate goal of the final exported movie is to be the best/highest definition/quality. It's not to be emailed around, or to be loaded to a website. The "clients" merely intend to watch it on a big-screen TV.

iMovie doesn't care if your "drag" or "import" your source files.
When viewed during editing you may not see they "high quality" but your source files are not "compressed" just to be used (or edited) in iMovie.
But iMovie does do some "voodoo" when playing these files back and they are only to insure proper viewing and do not compare to the final "project" files.
"High Definition" will only happen if your source files were captured on an HD device. SD (Standard Definition) video will not be "improved" by using iMovie HD.
If your friend is using an HD camera then the files will remain HD until "exported". Since HD playback devices (HD DVD) are not in common use it may be that your files will become SD at export to iDVD.

Similar Messages

Does iMovie 08 actually work at all?

Long story short, I was trying to make a dvd of some old movies of our family for my daughter's upcoming wedding. The movies are in .mpg format. iMovie won't import them as .mpg. After reading some articles and forum posts I googled, I've used MPEG Streamclip to convert them to DV (which iMovie wouldn't import) and to .mov (again, which iMovie wouldn't import) and so I'm stuck. So, does iMovie actually do anything at all besides suck up space on my drive? If so, you couldn't prove it by me.
<Edited out by the Hosts>

MPEG Streamline has a mass of options to choose from when converting video formats - which unless you have some pointers, can produce some very ******* language.
So here are a few snippets of information I've learned from a few other users and claim no credit for the advice, well except to say thank you to the original posters for their help and assistance.
So here goes...
In order for you to be able to import your DVD footage into iMovie 08 you need to change the format of the video files.
I use MPEG Streamclip which is a free download from http://www.squared5.com/ to convert the video.
Once you have downloaded the software and installed it, pop your DVD into your iMac, open up Streamclip, then click FILE > OPEN DVD > Select the DVD from the Devices. You should see VIDEO_TS but ignore this, simply click on SELECT, then select from the drop-down list which track on your DVD you wish to open and click on Select.
After a few seconds the video should open in a new window. If you see 'Warning, the stream may have timecode breaks', click 'FIX NOW', the next page opens, make sure that 'DO NOT SKIP ANY FRAME' is ticked and click 'PROCEED'.
Wait until the video is processed and the opened page shows the video.
Now click on FILE > EXPORT TO QUICKTIME, select compression 'APPLE DV - PAL' from the dropdown menu, and move the quality bar to 100%. Click on 'Make movie'.
From the next page rename the video footage to something more memorable, and save it to th Desktop or somewhere else NOT the DVD which it defaults to - if you forget it will fail!!!
You can now import this video footage into iMovie 08 using the FILE >IMPORT MOVIES from within iMovie 08
Sailingmaster, I hope this helps you out with making a DVD for your daughter's upcoming wedding, and note, I've been using iMovie 08 for approx two months now, and find it extremely intuitive to use.

Does iMovie'08 import 1920 x 1080 at 1440 x 1080

After some thought the subject (Sony HDR SR11 resolution) of my last post yesterday may include all HD camcorders with 1920 x 1080 resolution. when iMovie'08 imports the files they are saved as quicktime movies. When played in quicktime and the details looked at in Movie Inspector (quicktime/window/show movie inspector) the format is shown as Apple Intermediate Codec 1440 x 1080,
Does iMovie'08 import 1920 x 1080 at 1440 x 1080 and then output it at 1920 x 1080 ?

Hi(Bonjour)!
Look at this very interesting link about H.264 CODEC and web compression:
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/qt_h-264_moviesfcp.html
As WEB involves many compression and smaller frame sizes, the quality will be on par for both formats.
iDVD will accept HD sequences movies from FCE but it will convert them to standard definition as it cannot output (authoring and burning) high def blu-ray DVD.
Look at this link (altough you don't have ProRes codec with FCE package...) about HDV limitation for DVD usage:
http://www.kenstone.net/fcphomepage/hdv_timeline_to_sddvd.html
Michel Boissonneault

IDVD Burn Quality (Cam iMovie '11 iDVD disc

I'm planning on buying a Canon HF21. During my research I found that the HD camcorder>iMovie>iDVD>Burnt DVD produced a very undesirable, low quality disc when played on a DVD player on an HD TV.
During my research I found plenty of other threads on other sites asking questions regarding quality, but have resulted in a "you can't get BluRay ..." tangent.
I do have a BluRay player and I understand that it takes special software/equipment to "burn-your-own" BluRay. I can play regular DVDs on it and use the built in "up-convert" to improve the quality a little.
I guess the "simple question" is: Can iDVD or another software package burn an SD DVD that is comparable in quality to one that is commercially produced? Again, I'm not looking for a BluRay solution, just a burned disc that doesn't lose quality due to compression, etc.
It seems, according to the other threads, the "weak link" is iDVD. I have just upgraded to iLife '11 if that makes a difference. So, iDVD will work by doing xxxx? or I need to get DVD burning software yyyy?
Thanks in advance.

You seem to have double posted this information.
I will repeat what I told you in the other thread:
Can iDVD or another software package burn an SD DVD that is comparable in quality to one that is commercially produced?
Sure - or very close to it. The limiting factor ISN'T iDVD, it's the video content used. In general, commercial DVDs use very high quality video - well lit. great focus, tripod. etc. It is also carefully processed during encoding.
It seems the "weak link" is iDVD.
DVDs are only standard definition devices as mentioned here many times. It is more likely that iMovie is the weak link in HD video production. MANY people still use iMovie 6 HD because it is the last version that doesn't have interlacing issues with HD content. It you want to know more, check out all the comments in the iMovie forums. There are things you can do in iMovie to make things better - but I want you to understand that iDVD ISN'T the weak link.

Loss of quality from iMovie Project to Burned DVD

Hello,
I have read some strings regarding this subject but I'm still left with questions.
I have created a photo collage set to music, in iMovie. It's 12 minutes long, and when I play it in iMovie on my computer, it looks great. All the photos are crystal clear, rich with color, and vibrant in all the right places.
I played the file in Quicktime 10.0 and it looks great.
The info in the Quicktime Inspector is
Format: H.264, 1920x1080, Millions AAC, 2 Channels, 44100 Hz
FPS: 29.97
Data Rate: 20.23 Mbit/s
Current Size: 1549x871
I burned this to a DVD using Toast Titanium (because ever since my iLife '11 upgrade my iDVD hasn't worked past startup. I can't get it to do anything at all.)
Somewhere between the Quicktime movie and the Burned DVD, the movie loses a significant amount of quality. It seems all the colors are washed out. I can see my edits on some of the photos... it looks like crap. To me it looks awful, to others it may not look as bad, but I know the difference. It looks awful.
Can someone please tell me why this is happening and how I can prevent it? All while still using iMovie through this whole process, and Toast for burning?
Thank you so much
YahYah

Hi Ziatron,
The quality workaround I proposed assumes the person starts with a progressive source material. The original poster did as I don't see how you would import true progressive source media and get interlaced artifacts at the end, especially for stills! We are not in the days of the Sony Mavica you know. What you are doing is importing interlaced video and processing it in interlace with a progressive scan workflow. The combing artifacts you saw is from the consumer algorithm that is inherent in iMovie 11. I know iMovie 6HD and FCE or FCP have better de-interlacing algorithms. You can by pass iMovie 11's weakness by treating the interlaced video through a commercial/high end de-interlace software and get better results.
As long as you are working with a progressive source media, then you are not bound by de-interlacing artifacts unless your movie was shot in it. Suffice to say, best de-interlace programs cost money and a lot of computing power. That is not something the majority of computer owners use iMovie possess. I see you have a high end Mac Pro. I also have a high end Quad PC with a high end Nvidia graphics card to utilize its hundreds of CUDA cores for vReveal to eat on. But that's not what the general public of Mac or PC owners have nor what the general public buy during Black Friday or Boxing Day in Canada either. High end Macs or high end Quad PCs go with high end video editing software where the de-interlacing and the encoding and decoding algorithms are much better than the consumer versions.
This is OBVIOUS! Better algorithms will simply slow down any mid-end Macs to mid-end PCs to a low teeny 1-5 fps processing a video clip in H.264 in very very high quality and multiple passes. This is not acceptable to the general public. Which is why, you are also seeing noise artifacts in the workflow too, because you need to first de-interlace the source media and then re-encode to H.264 which obviously adds artifacts to the source before you can use it with iMovie 11, so clearly iMovie 6HD has a clear advantage. This carries over to the final workflow. But most AVCHD material out there is compressed too!
Consumers need to be aware that there is a difference between consumer grade software and commercial grade software. Also, commercial grade software require a hefty computer to do its job reasonably well! People need to understand that just because you own a nice $900 to $1000 camcorder does not mean that your mid-end Mac can deal with it.
Getting quality is so easy. Just spend lots and lots of money on hardware to shave off 15mins to a few hours of video encoding to digital video processing, but at what end because it will never end!
I've seen a few footages floating around on Youtube that looks really good made with iMovie 11. Just keep in mind that there are always tradeoffs for reasonable rendering time vs cost of your computer package.
Message was edited by: Coolmax

Poor Quality in iMovie 09 with Stills

I've read through many posts and found some solutions, but the question to begs to ask: Why, when doing a movie with pics from iPhoto, is the final output quality so freaking poor?
My pics are upwards of 9MB apiece originally. I realize they get compressed through the process. I can do a 15 minute video on a DVD, and iDVD burns it to about a third of the disk. Why can't the program (either iMovie or iDVD) calculate the pics and only compress to a certain extent?
When I play a finished product on my Mac, it looks pretty good. But when I convert it through iDVD and burn it to a DVD disc, the output on my HD (yes, I realize THAT'S part of the issue) looks horrible. Aliasing is ridiculous.
I tend to save the files to the highest output and put it on my media player. However, when I want to share the final result with friends on DVD, I'm slightly embarrassed. The quality is just too poor.
I'm open for any input. I realize you can't burn high def to a DVD, but surely there's a better solution. Maybe iMovie 11?
Thanks in advance.

I make slideshow movies using still photos exclusively. Here is the process I use when I want to make a DVD from an iMovie project.
In iMovie I set the ratio to 16:9 and I also crop many of the photos in iPhoto to 16x9 (HD) - this works best for pictures in landscape; it's not good for portrait photos. Also, cropping this way doesn't work for all landscape photos either: sometimes I lose details that make the photo 'good' and so just leave it uncropped.
When the project is finished I choose Share>Export using QuickTime and click "options". In "options" I use the following:
Compression: H.264
Quality: Best
Frame rate: 29.97
Frame reordering: yes
Encoding mode: multi-pass
Dimensions: 1920x1080 (HD)
Scale: Letterbox
I use either iDVD or Roxio Toast to create a DVD.
The issue of the quality of DVDs made from iMovie projects has often been discussed in this forum. The process and settings I use may not be strictly kosher, but I do get good quality DVDs this way and so I stick with them. My projects are usually between 20 to 30 minutes in length.
I hope this helps.
(I haven't tried iMovie 11 yet.)

IMovie capture quality better than anything FCP can offer for consumer DV?

As a newbie to FCP, I have not found Capture, sequence, and export settings that is equal to or better than what iMovie 08 can create. Prior to this, I've been using iMovie 08 which is extremely user friendly. Just plug in the fire wire connections and it auto detects only one setting for DV. I am not sure what format it captures in but it does a good job. When I export out of iMovie 08 I use "using Quicktime" and choose the Uncompressed 8-bit NTSC method. The result is a decent, non-interlaced looking .mov file.
The first time I tried to capture with FCP I chose the easy setup, where I would capture in the NTSC DV, sequence would be NTSC DV and export using the current settings in quicktime. The result was an interlaced and lowered quality vid.
I have also tried the following combinations with no success with quality comparisons w/ iMovie 08:
capt: NTSC dv, seq: NTSC DV, progressive exp: Uncompressed 8-bit
capt: Uncompressed 8-bit, seq: Uncompressed 8-Bit exp: Uncompressed 8-bit
This last one came close, but still iMovie 08 was better.
My assumption is that FCP would contain the settings to duplicate or even out perform iMovie's export quality for consumer video dv. I viewed iMovie as little brother and FCP as big brother. Shouldn't FCP produce equal to or better quality than iMovie 08? And what are the settings for this?
Thanks

Thank you for clearing up my confusion. How is my export from iMovie 08, using "Uncompressed 8-bit" coming out progressive (I see no interlaced, odd/even scan lines)? Is this export dropping lines/information? If so, uncompressed is not an appropriate name for the export.
I understand what you are saying about "getting quality back" on export. My initial question was comparing the quality of an iMovie 08 export vs. FCP export and having the problem of a lowered output from the FCP export.
If anyone has the time, would they try a short experiment:
1. From your DV source, camera or deck connect to your computer
Capture a short clip via iMovie 08 a short clip in standard 4:3.
Export using Quicktime, Uncompressed 8-bit setting
2. From your DV source, camera or deck, connect to your computer.
Capture the same short clip to FCP using Easy set up for NTSC DV. Export with current settings.
3. Compare the two.

Poor photo quality in iMovie

When I import a still picture into iMovie from either the desktop or from the media library and use it in a movie, the quality of the photo suddenly becomes terrible in both the iMovie preview screen immediately upon import and later in the actual exported movie.
Here's an example which dramatically illustrates this problem:
Here is a JPEG photo I took at sunset with a Nikon D7000.
The picture is intentially underexposed as it is one of the final shots in a time lapse sunset movie.
Now, here's the photo exported into a 1080p iMovie!
The photo is now horrible! Gag me!
I've tried various settings in "Export using QuickTime" and the quality does not improve. From my research, it appears this has been a persistent issue.
Has anyone found a good work around?, or alternate workflow?

Jim
No one asked the ? of the sizes of the pictures
that you are putting into iMovie?
When I do a slide show I use from 1 to 2.5mg.
I go from Photoshop E / iPhoto to a folder on my DT then drag to iMovie without going to iPhoto.
iPhoto is an easy import. I do use it from time to time.
I do not crop, I use iMovie. I find that a better way.
I do not use KB to import. I then change some to KB.
Special effects no more then every 5th frame.I do break that one too.
I also use Toast.It works for me.
Karl-I like that thread- I put that in my iMovie folder.
Woodie
iMac 20 G5 BT AP Rev A / iMac G3 / in the closet Performa 6115CD / ll SE Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Poor quality in Imovie

I imported a movie via Iphoto( its 16m big). It looks okay in I photo, but in Imovie it has very poor video quality. How can i fix this?

I make slideshow movies using still photos exclusively. Here is the process I use when I want to make a DVD from an iMovie project.
In iMovie I set the ratio to 16:9 and I also crop many of the photos in iPhoto to 16x9 (HD) - this works best for pictures in landscape; it's not good for portrait photos. Also, cropping this way doesn't work for all landscape photos either: sometimes I lose details that make the photo 'good' and so just leave it uncropped.
When the project is finished I choose Share>Export using QuickTime and click "options". In "options" I use the following:
Compression: H.264
Quality: Best
Frame rate: 29.97
Frame reordering: yes
Encoding mode: multi-pass
Dimensions: 1920x1080 (HD)
Scale: Letterbox
I use either iDVD or Roxio Toast to create a DVD.
The issue of the quality of DVDs made from iMovie projects has often been discussed in this forum. The process and settings I use may not be strictly kosher, but I do get good quality DVDs this way and so I stick with them. My projects are usually between 20 to 30 minutes in length.
I hope this helps.
(I haven't tried iMovie 11 yet.)

IMovie project quality poor in iDVD export

I'm having problems with the quality of iMovie projects exported to iDVD. The final dvd looks very pixelated, however, when I export the same project to iTunes and view the video on same TV, the video looks perfect...clear as a bell, when great definition.
Here's what I'm doing...
Video imported from my HD camera at Large 960x540,Optimize setting.
Clips moved from Events to Projects.
No major edits made in Projects outside of a trim or two.
Project 'Finalized.'
Project sent to iDVD via Share > iDVD.
Am I missing something? I've even tried omitting step 4 above...not finalizing. Same DVD result. The video looks perfect on my screen in both iMovie and iDVD as I work on it. Only experiencing problem with final DVD output.
I'm using iMovie 11 (v9.0.4), iDVD (v7.1.2).
This is the first time that I've used iMovie 11 to create my video before sending to iDVD. In the past, I've used iMovie HD and never had a problem with iDVD output.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi
There are lot's of thought's about this - read as much as You want of my notes.
DVD quality
1. iDVD 08, 09 & 11 has three levels of qualities. (version 7.0.1, 7,0.4 & 7.1.1) and iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality
(movies + menus up to 120 min.) - BEST (but not always for short movies e.g. up to 45 minutes in total)
• Best Performances
(movies + menus less than 60 min.) - High quality on final DVD (Can be best for short movies)
• High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6)
(movies + menus up to 120 min.) - slightly lower quality than above
Menu can take 15 minutes or even more - I use a very simple one with no audio or animation like ”Brushed Metal” in old Themes.
About double on DL DVDs.
2. Video from
• FCE/P - Export out as full quality QuickTime.mov (not self-containing, no conversion)
• iMovie x-6 - Don't use ”Share/Export to iDVD” = destructive even to movie project and especially so
when the movie includes photos and the Ken Burns effect NOT is used. Instead just drop or import the iMovie movie project icon (with a Star on it) into iDVD theme window.
• iMovie’08 or 09 or 11 are not meant to go to iDVD. Go via Media Browser or rather use iMovie HD 6 from start.
DO not use - "Share to iDVD" in any iMovie version !
iMä'08 to 11 - "Share to Media Browser" and as LARGE or Medium - NOT HD or other resolutions as this too degrades the final DVD.
3. I use Apple Disk Util tool (or Roxio Toast™) to make an as slow burn as possibly e.g. x4 or x1 (in iDVD’08 or 09 this can also be set)
This can also be done with Apple’s Disk Utilities application when burning from a DiskImage.
4. There has to be about or more than 25Gb free space on internal (start-up) hard disk. iDVD can't
use an external one as scratch disk (if it is not start-up disc). For SD-Video - if HD-material is used I guess that 4 to 5 times more would do.
5. I use Verbatim ( also recommended by many - Taiyo Yuden DVDs - I can’t get hold of it to test )
6. I use DVD-R (no +R or +/-RW) - DVD-R play’s on more and older DVD-Players
7. Keep NTSC to NTSC - or - PAL to PAL when going from iMovie to iDVD
(I use JES_Deinterlacer to keep frame per sec. same from editing to the Video-DVD result.)
8. Don’t burn more than three DVDs at a time - but let the laser cool off for a while before next batch.
iDVD quality also depends on.
• DVD is a standard in it self. It is Standard Definition Quality = Same as on old CRT-TV sets and can not
deliver anything better that this.
HD-DVD was a short-lived standard and it was only a few Toshiba DVD-players that could playback.
These DVDs could be made in DVD-Studio Pro. But they don’t playback on any other standard DVD-Player.
Blu-Ray / BD can be coded onto DVDs but limited in time to - about 20-30 minutes and then need
_ Roxio Toast™ 10 Pro incl. BD-component
_ BD disks and burner if full length movies are to be stored
_ BD-Player or PlayStation3 - to be able to playback
The BD-encoded DVDs can be play-backed IF Mac also have Roxio DVD-player tool. Not on any standard Mac or DVD-player
Full BD-disks needs a BD-player (in Mac) as they need blue-laser to be read. No red-laser can do this.
• HOW much free space is there on Your internal (start-up) hard disk. Go for approx. 25Gb.
less than 5Gb and Your result will most probably not play.
• How it was recorded - Tripod vs Handheld Camera. A stable picture will give a much higher quality
• Audio is most often more critical than picture. Bad audio and with dropouts usually results in a non-viewed movie.
• Use of Video-editor. iMovie’08 or 09 or 11 are not the tools for DVD-production. They discard every second line resulting in a close to VHS-tape quality.
iMovie 1 to HD6 and FinalCut any version delivers same quality as Camera record in = 100% to iDVD
• What kind of movie project You drop into it. MPEG4 seems to be a bad choice.
other strange formats are .avi, .wmv, .flash etc. Convert to streamingDV first
Also audio formats matters. I use only .aiff or from miniDV tape Camera 16-bit
strange formats often problematic are .avi, .wmv, audio from iTunes, .mp3 etc
Convert to .aiff first and use this in movie project
• What kind of standard - NTSC movie and NTSC DVD or PAL to PAL - no mix.
(If You need to change to do a NTSC DVD from PAL material let JES_Deinterlacer_3.2.2 do the conversion)
(Dropping a PAL movie into a NTSC iDVD project
(US) NTSC DVDs most often are playable in EU
(EU) PAL DVDs most often needs to be converted to play in US
UNLESS. They are play-backed by a Mac - then You need not to care
• What kind of DVDs You are using. I use Verbatim DVD-R (this brand AND no +R or +/-RW)
• How You encode and burn it. Two settings prior iDVD’08 or 09
Pro Quality (only in iDVD 08 & 09)
Best / High Quality (not always - most often not)
Best / High Performances (most often my choice before Pro Quality)
1. go to iDVD pref. menu and select tab far right and set burn speed to x1 (less errors = plays better) - only in iDVD 08 & 09
(x4 by some and may be even better)
2. Project info. Select Professional Encoding - only in iDVD 08 & 09.
Region codes.
iDVD - only burn Region = 0 - meaning - DVDs are playable everywhere
DVD Studio pro can set Region codes.
1 = US
2 = EU
unclemano wrote
What it turned out to be was the "quality" settings in iDVD. The total clip time was NOT over 2 hours or 4.7GB, yet iDVD created massive visual artifacts on the "professional quality" setting.
I switched the settings to "high quality" which solved the problem. According iDVD help, "high quality" determines the best bit rate for the clips you have.
I have NEVER seen iDVD do this before, especially when I was under the 2 hour and 4.7GB limits.
For anyone else, there seem to be 2 places in iDVD to set quality settings, the first is under "preferences" and the second under "project info." They do NOT seem to be linked (i.e. if you change one, the other is NOT changed). take care, Mario
to get this to work I
• Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up (Mac OS) hard disk
• Use Verbatim DVD-R (absolutely no +/-RW)
• Set down burn speed to x4 - less burn errors = plays on more devices
• No other process running in background as - ScreenSaver, EnergySaver OR TIMEMACHINE etc
• and I'm very careful on what kind of video-codecs, audio file format and photo file formats I use
• and I consider the iDVD Bug - never go back to video-editor to change/up-date - if so Start a brand new iDVD project
• Chapters set as they should - NO one at very beginning and no one in any transition or within 2 sec from it
• Lay-out - Turn on TV-Safe area and keep everything buttons, titles etc WELL INSIDE not even touching it !
Try to break the process up into two stages
• Save as a DiskImage (calculating part)
• Burn from this .img file (burning stage)
To isolate where the problem starts.
Another thing is - Playing it onto a Blu-Ray Player. My PlayStation3 can play BD-disks but not all of my home made DVDs so to get this to work I
• Secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up (Mac OS) hard disk
• Use Verbatim DVD-R (absolutely no +/-RW)
• Set down burn speed to x4 - less burn errors = plays on more devices
• No other process running in background as - ScreenSaver, EnergySaver OR TIMEMACHINE etc
• and I'm very careful on what kind of video-codecs, audio file format and photo file formats I use
• and I consider the iDVD Bug - never go back to video-editor to change/up-date - if so Start a brand new iDVD project
• Chapters set as they should - NO one at very beginning and no one in any transition or within 2 sec from it
• Lay-out - Turn on TV-Safe area and keep everything buttons, titles etc WELL INSIDE not even touching it !
TO GET IT TO WORK SLIGHTLY FASTER
• Minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up hard disk
• No other programs running in BackGround e.g. Energy-Saver
• Don’t let HD spin down or be turned off (in Energy-Save)
• Move hard disks that are not to be used to Trash - To be disconnected/turned off
• Goto Spotlight and set the rest of them under Integrity (not to be scanned)
• Set screen-saver to a folder without any photo - then make an active corner (up right for me) and set
pointer to this - turns on screen saver - to show that it has nothing to show
• No File Vault on - Important
• NO - TimeMachine - during iMovie/iDVD work either ! IMPORTANT
• Lot's of icons on DeaskTop/Finder also slows down the Mac noticeably
• Start a new User-Account and log into this and iMovie get's faster too - if a project is in a hurry
• And let Mac run on Mains - not just on battery
Yours Bengt W

Image quality in iMovie 11

I'm working on a personal documentary with 16mm footage (it's been de-interlaced) , but because I have a non OpenCL iMac I'm relegated to using iMovie 11 for the time being for budget reasons. I will also upconvert my 16mm film footage to HD so I can take advantage of the higher rez for all the stills I will be using in this documentary. What is the story on iMovie 11 image quality? I understand that FCP X has many more features, but would any given moment in my documentary look the same as FCP X, or does iMovie just not look as good.

It sounds like the hard disk space could be the culprit.
I would recommend you get an external drive. You need to move some of your events to the external drive to free up space. This must be done within iMovie. Let us know if you need help with this. (or search the discussions for how to move events)

IMovie Capture Quality

Hi there I was trying to find out why I could not export an iMovie to iDVD at 720 x 480 - the standard resolution for MiniDV and for DVD players. I started looking at the files that iMovie imported and I realized that they original files (stored on my hard disk) were only imported at 640 x 480. Why is this happening???? I import the same files into FCP and they are stored at their proper resolution 720 x 480? Does anybody have any ideas as to what's going on here? Why does iMovie import at a lower quality than DV??

Why is this happening?
To add to what Karl has said, your DV files are encoded to a 720 x 480 NTSC matrix "standard" and flagged as to whether the content is actually 4:3 or 16:9. This is historically due to the evolution of DV as the "crossover" between analog and digital content. The difference between 720 x 480 and 640 x 480 is in the shape of the pixel used for display. An analog TV employs a "rectangular" pixel while monitors and HD devices use a "square" pixel. In this way, the display maintains its proper aspect ratio no matter which class of device is used for playback.

How do I export to DV "Full Quality" in iMovie 2009?

The old iMovie used to have a full quality export that would produce a .dv file.
Newer versions of iMovie have a "DV Stream" option, with settings (Progressive, Interlaced, Audio rate, etc.)
I want an absolute, full quality archive of my iMovie project, as sharp and perfect as I see it in iMovie. None of the DV Stream options seem to produce that. The titles look jagged, for one thing.
I want to export my iMovie project so that if I need to re-import it later into iMovie, no quality is lost. I don't care how big the files are, I want FULL QUALITY.

Thanks for breaking this down for me, Sheryl, and thanks to everyone who took time to read my quest and fire off suggestions.
I will look for the AIC export option and try to select the maximum quality settings available for it, and then hand that resulting file to my producer.
I have an old Mac with iMovie HD on it, so I will also try importing the AIC export into that and the exporting to DV, as that DV seems like it would be better quality than the DV coming out of iMovie 09. (I seem to remember doing DV exports back in 2006 and being quite happy with the results, which is why this process has been so confusing for me now.) If the producer NEEDS a DV file, I reckon that's the best I can give them right now.
The consolidate project option sounds VERY COOL. I had no idea that was possible! For working between Mac users, that might be just the ticket I need. That also sounds useful when trying to throw away all the extra, unused footage and just keep the parts of the footage that I actually ended up using, but may want to tweak titles and effects later.
Long term, it sounds like I am going to have to transition to FCE or FCP. I will go surf the Web for reviews and impressions of it. I'd be happy to hear more about people's opinions. Investing time, energy and money into a new tool does not appeal to me, but I am definitely going to need full quality DV exports sometimes (anytime we want to get our PSA on the local television channel, for one).
I guess iMovie is still useful for my mini-YouTube fun time projects, (my latest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9TrAZ4yCDQ), but it is a shame that it can't produce something in which the future-proofing is limited only by source quality, not the software's output quality.
(I don't mind limitations based on source quality, them's the breaks! But potentially losing source quality forever because of shackled software is... GAH unforgivable.)
-D

What does iMovie (09) do when I select "Export Movie"?

I can't believe this isn't an FAQ, but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere. I love iMovie but, as many people realize quickly, part of what makes iMovie so simple to use is that it assumes certain things so that the endusers don't have to worry about them.
Well, I guess "Export Movie" is one of those, but I'm curious - what does iMovie do with my video when I use that option? I realize, for example, that "Export with Quicktime" allows me to select quite a few settings for the export, but that's not the case for iMovie, except for being able to select the exported movie resolution.
What other settings does iMovie assume?

Thanks, everyone! I apologize for being unintentionally vague. To take a step back, my source is video shot with a Canon HF200 in FXP mode which records in 1920x1080 resolution.
The root of my question is curiosity around what iMovie does to my video when I'm burning to DVD, and specifically, I noticed that there's a difference in the quality of the video when I do "Share to iDVD" versus "Export Movie" (then dragging the project into my iDVD template).
I had added some text titles to parts of my video and noticed the "Share to iDVD" caused the text to be more "jaggy". Using "Export Movie" appeared to create DVDs that didn't look jaggy, so naturally, I thought "Export Movie" was the better way to burn DVDs, which then started making me wonder what magic happens when that option is chosen.
Subsequent to my posting this question, I then ran into this thread: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2214292&tstart=90 and learned that iMovie drops half the lines in a frame when exporting.
- Is this what was happening when I use "Share to iDVD"? Was iMovie dropping half the lines which caused my video to look jaggy? Pictures of the videos below. In these pictures, the DVD was being played by a progressive scan DVD player on an LCD TV (if that makes a difference).
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i211/joelq/DSC_1679.jpg
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i211/joelq/DSC_1680.jpg
- I got even more confused when I read that iMovie only does this when exporting to 960x540 or smaller. :-/ If that's the case, then is "Export Movie" exporting to a larger resolution which explains why the video quality seemed better, i.e., the video didn't appear jaggy?
- And finally, when shooting 1920x1080 60i video, what's the best export process to get the best quality DVDs? Is this possible with iMovie 09 (or even HD)? Or do I need to upgrade to FCE? (Or should I just invest in the eBook :-)?)
Thanks everyone!

IMovie degrades quality

I'm new to iMovie 9.0.4 and have a Olympus camera that shoots1080i video. iMovie 9.0.4 seems to only allow me to import and export at 720p and the quality is much worse than the original. So bad I would not ever consider making a movie and posting it to Youtube. Does iMovie '11 preserve quality any better?
Or does one need to use an expensive program like Final Cut Pro to preserve quality?

Hi - thanks for letting us know that you've resolved the quality problem, and sorry that none of us got back to you earlier. But just for the benefit of other users, are you able to share the method you used originally, compared to the method that worked for you? It may give us a better understanding of why some methods work better than others.
I get very good results importing 1080i AVCHD clips at either the Large size (960 x 540) or Full (1920 x 1080), then exporting using Share > Media Browser or Share > Export Movie, at the Large, HD 720p or HD 1080p size (subject to the import size).
iMovie '11 is actually version 9, the latest update being 9.0.8. As you appear to be on iMovie '11 version 9.0.4 it would be worth updating - unless of course Snow Leopard doesn't work with versions later than 9.0.4 (your profile shows you are using Mac OS X 10.6.8). Note that iMovie '09 is version 8, the last update being 8.0.6 - all very confusing!
John

IMovie HD Quality: Does iMovie compress by default?

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