IMovie-iWeb-movie quality?

The quality of a “web-ready” QT movie made in iMovie and added to iWeb in order to share/publish is compressed to a mere 12 frames per second, which turns out extremely pixilated, blurry and way too small – unacceptable.
What I’m I missing? Is there another method or selection in iMovie or iWeb that doesn’t make the movie look so horrible and tiny on the web? Thanks for any suggestions.

Thanks, but it's still not fit to be viewed... same low quality - really bad! Should be against the law, lol.
Seems like the reason I gave up on exporting movies to my mac website several years ago was the same issues... and my pockets are even more shallow now.
Too bad what I have (maybe I do?) can't perform the simple task without having to squint - maybe I'll play with FCE (several years since that one too) and see how confused and frustrated I can get before giving up, this time.
Oh yeah, I remember you, from good old Texas, my home state!
Anyways, you helped me to get the one and only video that I'm not ashamed of on my site - I still appreciate that!
Next thing you'll be telling me is that I need to spend more money.
Message was edited by: rgw-arts
Message was edited by: rgw-arts

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IMovie 08 degrades movie quality

When I open iMovie, my camera (JCV MG130) is detected and the movies are being imported into the iMovie library. So far things couldn't be better! However, when I export a movie clip to a file using "Share" -> "Export To Movie" and "Large 960x540" resolution, the picture quality of the exported movie is clearly degraded compared to the original file that was downloaded from the camera.
*Does iMovie have a loss-less export function?*
Additional comment:
Overall, my experience with iMovie 08 (and iDVD 08) on my Leopard MacBook Pro is mixed. Great idea, but too many short comings. Example: when I want to create a DVD, I need to import/edit/export a movie in iMovie, then I need to import that movie file into iDVD (if I just open iDVD and load an iMovie project, iDVD crashes). This adds an additional step and it takes twice as long to render a movie (1/2hr clips takes 1 hr to render to file in iMovie, another hour to burn the movie to a DVD using iDVD). Clearly, this should be ONE step. If I want to index the movie, I have to import/export using Garageband, etc. In addition with the degradation of the movie quality as discussed above, I think iMovie and iDVD are more toys than serious applications. I would have expected more from Apple, to be honest.

When I open iMovie, my camera (JCV MG130) is detected and the movies are being imported into the iMovie library. So far things couldn't be better! However, when I export a movie clip to a file using "Share" -> "Export To Movie" and "Large 960x540" resolution, the picture quality of the exported movie is clearly degraded compared to the original file that was downloaded from the camera.
According to what I read concerning this model, it is a "Standard Definition" HDD camcorder. You should expect such degradation when sharing/exporting SD content at HD resolutions. This is the same as taking a 640x480 JPEG photo and enlarging it to 960x540, printing, and then comparing your output quality with that of your original picture. Enlarging the frame size in iMovie does not add resolution detail that did not exist in your original source file.
Does iMovie have a loss-less export function?
No. Unlike earlier versions of iMovie, the source files (in all of their various possible compression formats) are never stored as physical clip. Instead, all content remains in its original form and is manipulated "by reference" as you assemble and edit your project and is rendered in "real time" for previewing (which is why iMovie '08 has such high CPU speed requirements). No physical file is actually created until to share/export the file and at that time all of the various possible forms of content are rendered/converted to a single compression output format preprogrammed by the application or as selected by the user. It is very likely that the "reference movie" approach used by previous versions of iMovie had to be abandoned in order to make the process more universal for all source formats iMovie is now "theoretically" able to import. Think of the time base problems created when importing MPEG-2 camcorder content which has to have separate time bases and offsets for the video to synchronize it with AC3 audio which has been converted to AIFF. Now multiply this problem for each and every track simultaneously under the "playhead" at any given instant in the timeline. On the other hand, GarageBand does have a "Full Quality" option that allows you to export your video unchanged from when it was received by GarageBand and with either the original or AIFF (iDVD "ready") edited format to disk or to iDVD for the same automatic iDVD operations you formerly enjoyed with iMovie '06.
Example: when I want to create a DVD, I need to import/edit/export a movie in iMovie, then I need to import that movie file into iDVD (if I just open iDVD and load an iMovie project, iDVD crashes).
iDVD is not designed to handle iMovie "Projects." An iMovie "Project" is little more than a text file listing the particular ranges of audio and video source frames, text representing titles/instructions for displaying them, and a list of transitions also mapped to a combination of applied effects and a ranges of source audio and video frames to which they are applied, etc. while iDVD is only designed to handle physical audio/video compressed data.
This adds an additional step and it takes twice as long to render a movie (1/2hr clips takes 1 hr to render to file in iMovie, another hour to burn the movie to a DVD using iDVD). Clearly, this should be ONE step. If I want to index the movie, I have to import/export using Garageband, etc.
The "extra" step is required to transform the "text" description of the iMovie project into a physical audio/video file which iDVD can handle. In actuality, there is little time difference between iMovie '08 and previous versions. Previous versions of iMovie required you to wait while each non-editable file was converted as part of the import process. In addition, you had to wait while each title, transition, or special effect was rendered to a physical file during the editing process. What iMovie '08 actually does is consolidate all of this instances of waiting for the various conversions, rendering, and creation of various small files into the conversion and creation of a single long file where all of your waiting is consolidated into one long period rather than all of those old short ones. Stepwise, it was never done in "ONE step." As to the use of GarageBand as a separate application, I see little difference in using it separately for the chaptering and blending/mixing/synchronization of audio and video content and the use of iDVD as a separate application for the authoring and burning of DVDs. You don't hear many complaints about this being done in a separate application.
In addition with the degradation of the movie quality as discussed above, I think iMovie and iDVD are more toys than serious applications.
IMHO, if you elect to "play" with these applications and not use them as they were intended or to their full capacity, then "Yes," they are little more than toys.

Compressing for iweb movie page

My 5 min. QT movie is too big to put on the movie page template in my iweb page. Any idea what settings I should use in Compressor to fit iweb's recommendation of a QT file not being over 10MB? The original file is about 1G and when I drag it into my movie folder and from there to the iweb movie page template is converts it to 1024MB...still too big. Can I use a Compressor setting to get it under 10MB and still have reasonable quality?
Thanks,
Nina

For my iWeb site, I normally use the iPhone preset in Compressor. On occasion I'll use settings similar to what Vimeo recommends for their site.
http://vimeo.com/2051588

IMovie 11 and quality loss with Sony Handycam DCR-SX33e

Hi folks,
I have a Sony Handycam DCR-SX33e (good one!) and iMovie '11 recognizes it, it's able to import movies directly from the cam, creates events, etc... BUT the quality of the movies within iMovie environment is very very poor (i.e. pixels big like a house!) BUT if I look at the movies using QT (from iMovie events, "reveal in Finder" on a movie), the quality is perfect.
Still, if I make a project and finalize it, the exported movies are horribles.
I notice that the cam works with a DV-PAL resolution (720x576), but iMovie works with wide resolutions.
How can I work with iMovie without losing quality on my movies? Can QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component for Mac OS X help?
Thank you!
Bye

Geriatra,
Don't judge the imported footage in iMovie11 on the clip area and the monitor area. They are not a true representation of the finalized project. What's the best way to judge if the footage is imported properly is to look at the actual footage itself by clicking the clip and then select reveal in finder. Play the footage and see if it matches the original. If you do not want iMovie to optimize the footage, you can deselect this feature and it will simply either copy or move your original footage.
Personally, I don't know if iMovie 6HD helps because your Mac still needs to read MPEG-2 properly which you said are not having any success. Over here on my Macbook, I have no problems working with MPEG-2 converted files and with iMovie 11. Quality is superb. Albeit, I converted those MPEG-2 files using my faster Quad Core Vista 64 machine and posted them later on my RAID network server before being made available for the Mac.
Hope this helps.

How to export .MOD clips as iMovie Project without quality losing?

Hi,
i have JVC HDD SD Camera (GZ-MG335HE). If i play .MOD Clips directly with VLC i have very good movie quality. I shoot movies in ultra fine quality (Right click on .MOD file shows: Res.720 x 576, kbps 9284, 25 frames per second, Codecs: MPEG-2 Video, AC3). But as soon i import movies, there is drop in quality. I tried to export movies as quick time movie, choosing many formats - dv, avi, .mov, .mpg but there is always to me visible loss of movie quality. iMovie produces good movies, but i would like to have the same quality as on my camera (the movie size doesn´t matter to me- i need 4,7 GB on HDD for 1 hour-that is acceptable for me)
Is it possible to import .MOD movies 1:1 to iMovie and then make project and export the movie without quality losing?
Thanks

Do you mean import what I have in iMovie 09 into iMovie HD/06 instead? I suppose I could but I wanted to add some of iMovie 09's titles and adjustment effects to my iMovie HD/06 project, so it could get quite complicated trying to piece it all together. I may have to do that as a last resort, but does anyone know any way I can get around this?
I would think there must be some way to save my iMovie 06 file as something other than an iMovie file without losing quality... but things aren't always that easy are they?

Correct way of importing an iMovie 6 movie into Final Cut Express?

Hi,
Many thanks in advance for your attention.
Any correct way to import an iMovie 6 HD movie into Final Cut Express for further editing?
I tried.
1. I Exported the iMovie, at Full Quality and it made a Quicktime version of that movie.
2. I then Imported this Quicktime version into Final Cut Express.
3. The audio was smooth, but at regular intervals, the video freezes for a second (and then moves on).
4. The movie plays smoothly back in its original iMovie incarnation and in its Quicktime incarnation. Only in Final Cut Express is there this intermittent freezing. Stop and start.
5. I have Final Cut Express 3.5.1 and iMovie 6 HD.
Thank you,
- Ross

"Full Quality" QuickTime export from iMovie gives you a DV stream which will need rendering in FCE. Rather than "Full Quality," choose "Expert Settings," and then the following:
Video
DV-DVCPRO - NTSC (assuming you're in USA)
Sound
48kHz
16-bit

Importing iMovie-created movies back into iMovie

Hi - new here to to the forums; I have had a Mac for less than a year.
I have created many projects in iMovie and exported the files using "share...export movie" creating m4v files. I now want to string several of those exported movies together into one continuous movie. The first way I could easily think of to do that was just to import my final created movies back into an event and piece them together in a project how I want (there may be a better way - I'm open to suggestions).
The problem is that not all of my iMovie-created movies are being recognized for importing by iMovie. I think I have determined the problem, but I don't know how to fix it: the codec for the ones that will import says "H.264, AAC" but the ones that won't import says "H.264, AAC, Text". I have no idea what I did differently to have the codec include "Text" in some but not others, and no idea what to do to fix it.
Solutions? Thanks in advance...

Welcome to the  Discussion Forums.
If you simply wish to join your movies together, you might be better doing this in Quicktime. However if you want to edit further such as applying transitions/titles etc between the movies you would need to use imovie.
If you have the original projects in imovie, it would be better if you re-exported them as full quality AIC video and used this to assemble a new movie in imovie. If this is not possible you can remove the text tracks that are causing you the import problem using the properties window in Quicktime pro.

Allow comments on imovie.iweb page

i need to understand how to add user comments to a iweb/movie rather than the blog page - so that the movie page allows comments?

i need to understand how to add user comments to a
iweb/movie rather than the blog page - so that the
movie page allows comments?
This is just a comment on the side; it does not pretend to be an answer to you question. However, there is a dotmac.info site which does indeed allow for comments of your imovie.
Lorna in Southern California

Does iMovie alter movies imported at full 1080i (1920x1080) ?

I have a new Sony HDR HC9 1080i camcorder (Mini DV tape).
I heard rumors that iMovie converts movies imported at full 1920x1080 to something like 900 x 480.
Is there any truth to this ugly rumor?
Thanks.
Paul

This not not exactly true.
iMovie imports movies into Event files at the same resolution as their source. If you import 1920x1080 in AVCHD, the event contains an AIC file in 1920x1080.
However, when you use the Event footage in a project, the standard iMovie pre-sets for rendering top out at 960x540 (which is exactly half of 1920x1080). However, by using the Export to QuickTime option, it is possible to render in full 1920x1080.
However, for most people, the 960x540 is good enough. It is about the largest size that can be reasonably streamed over the internet. It is the largest size accepted by the Apple TV. And it easily upscales to 1920x1080 on a high quality receiver/TV with upscaling circuitry. If you are burning a DVD, it will be downscaled to 480i anyway.
As I mentioned, you can export in full 1920x1080 through QuickTime. The issue is "How do I play it?". Some people have reportedly been successful playing these files on a Sony Playstation 3. The new version of Toast allows you to Author BluRay DVDs and you may be able to play them on a BluRay player. You can also play them on your Mac Screen if you have the display resolution set high enough. A 1920x1080 will take up most, if not all, of your computer screen.
As for the Toast BluRay option: It is not practical for me to buy a BluRay burner for USB, since these run over $1000. The SATA BluRay burners are around $300, but my iMac does not have an external SATA port. However, with Toast 9, they claim you can make a BluRay-playable disk from a standard DVD. It holds about 20 minutes of high def content. I am going to burn a BluRay disk using the same project rendered in 1920x1080 and 960x540 to see if I can tell the difference.
Message was edited by: AppleMan1958

IMovie HD movie has no Play buttons.. partially frozen

IMovie HD movie has no Play buttons.. partially frozen/ please help. It is only with a particular movie which is both on an external hard drive and on the computer.

Hi
there are two - most probably origin to this
• use of strange media eg .avi, .wmv .mp4 etc.
(not from miniDV tape Camera - as iMovie up to HD6 is made for)
Convert video to - streamingDV and
audio to .aiff 48kHz 16-bit (no .mp3 etc)
• corruption - eg iMovie pref file or preferences
Trash iMovie plist file
Repair Permissions
Usually helps here
Else
*Not knowing the origin to Your problem - General approach when in trouble is as follows.*
• Free space on internal (start-up) hard disk if it is less than 10Gb should rather be 25Gb or more
• Delete iMovie pref file
iMovie pref file resides.
Mac Hard Disk (start-up HD)/Users/"Your account"/Library/Preferences
and is named. (one or more of these)
com.apple.iMovie.plist
com.apple.iMovie3.plist
com.apple.iMovie7.plist
com.apple.iMovie8.plist
and find
com.apple.iApps.plist
While iMovie is NOT RUNNING - move this/these file/s out to desk-top.
Now restart iMovie.
• Hard disk is untidy. Repair Permissions, Repair Hard disk (Apple Disc Util tool)
• Garageband-fix. Start it, Play a note and Close it. Re-try (Corrects an audio problem that hinders iMovie)
• Screen must be set to Million-colors
• Turn off Mac and disconnect Mains/Power for 20-30 minutes - will at least re-set FW-port
• Third party plug-ins that doesn't work OK (not relevant for iMovie’08 or 09)
• Problems in iPhoto Library can affect iMovie to crash on start-up. Re-build this first then try to re-start iMovie.
This You do by
_ close iPhoto
_ on start up of iPhoto - Keep {cmd and alt-keys down}
_ now select all five options presented
_ WAIT a long long time
• iMovie updated ?
• QuickTime updated ?
• Mac OS version ?
• Program miss-match. iMovie 4 - will not work under Leopard
• Program miss-match. iMovie 5.0.2, up to Mac OS X.4.11 AND QuickTime 7.4.1 - is OK
• Program miss-match. iMovie 6.0.3 or 6.0.4, Mac OS X.4.11 AND QuickTime 7.4.1 - is OK (will work under Leopard and Snow-Leopard)
• Program miss-match. iMovie’08 v. 7.1.4, Mac OS X.4.11 AND QuickTime 7.5.5 - is OK (will work under Leopard and Snow-Leopard)
• Program miss-match. iMovie’09 v. 8.0.6, Mac OS X.5.8 AND QuickTime 7.6.4 - is OK (will work under Leopard and Snow-Leopard)
From LKN 1935. (in this case = iMovie HD (5), I tried it all, but nothing worked.
Your answer (above) has been helpfull insofar as all the different trials led to the conclusion that
there was something wrong with my iMovie software. I therefore threw everything away and reinstalled
iMovie from the HD. After that the exportation of DV videos (there has not been any problem with HDV videos)
to my Sony camcorders worked properly as it did before.
Lennart Thelander
I run "Cache Out X", clear out all caches and restarts the Mac.
Yours Bengt W

IWeb movie pages, when published -- no movies

my iWeb movie pages, when published, came up lame, no movies, only areas where the movies should have been, all with faint Q's with question marks inside them
LONG STORY SHORT, MAKE SURE YOUR MOVIES (as well as being located in your MAC HD and its proper MOVIE sidebar, that you CUT AND PASTE all your MEDIA YOU'RE USING IN YOUR iWeb SITE,
CUT AND PASTE PHOTOS, MOVIES in dupe form right into your desktop where you've published your iWEB site folder.......that way, any browser, a .mac or outside web host, can locate your media better so that you don't get GHOST MEDIA PUBLISHING LIKE I DID...hopefully this will help both of us
ALSO, in any iWeb website (named SITE in your desktop, or iDisc, or whatever or wherever you publish it, or even if you can find where on earth on your HD it is published, remember, if you have any MEDIA at all, NOTE IN MY CASE MEDIA MEANS MOVIES (not photos, so I'm not speaking to the photo blogs people, only iWeb MOVIE folks) anyway, all the compressed poetry video clips are right there, in a separate folder called MEDIA, that is every iWeb site, when published to .mac or a folder, which contains movies in .mp4 format or .mov format, all these will appear right in your site's MEDIA FOLDER....
this is important as a concept....
also, if you're using an outside web host like me (so that all my movies will LOAD QUICKLY), don't forget when FTP'ing (file transfer protocol'ing) your iWeb changes to your web host from your original MAC HD folder....remember to also send to the FTP/outside web host your MEDIA folder inside your SITE
(which i only realized a couple hours ago, and which totally was a revelation, so i'm passing it along to you guys)....
if you'd like to know exactly what i do here in nyc, i video the poetry scene, now for 20 years, and create educational poetry DVDs.... and my website is today's equivalant of operating a virtual business.....
....oh-oh, since I video poetry in NYC and go direct into a standalone DVD recorder to make single tracks of each poem...and then through Popcorn's mp4 program, I can make a movie file
then..through QuickTime Pro's streaming compression system, reduce that file size to under 5 MBs,
well, after lots of headaches, i am able to have 200 streaming video clips on an iWeb site, which apple itself said was impossible, that iWeb was only geared for less ambitious projects
okay, so that is cool..until yesterday, when i began the whole process again with completely new poetry video clips....
first, the iWeb pages were designed correctly...that took time....then i published the new pages to .mac, and only some of the movies showed up on the published pages, some had a big bright Q (which means the browser identifies the movie and will within 20 seconds load that movie), but what wracked my brain all day and night yesterday, why were there areas where the browser only showed the faint Q/Question mark inside (meaning the browser cannot find the movie)
so what the.....!
also i'm going from an iWed Folder to an FTP so I can use an outside web host and bypass THE MUCH SLOWER .mac browser (too slow when using movie clips for visitor to your site having to wait valuable seconds for **** movie to appear...with outside web host process almost immediate)
.....any similar experiences?

I am having the same problem.
Now I am using iWeb 2.03. So when I uploaded the site to my server I see the Media folder you were talking about, and the videos are there. But when I go to the website I still get the faint Q with the question mark.
Here is my site. http://mnorland.dadeschools.net
The videos are supposed to be in the Athletics page, then go to football highlights.
Any help would be appreciated.

IMovie 13 Movie Disappeared

I was working on a project in iMovie, when suddenly my computer froze and wouldn't do anything until I powered it down manually. When I went back to iMovie, the movie I had been working on had disappeared. (All of the raw footage was still there however.) I used the 'Show Package Contents' option in the finder to look through my iMovie library, and found that there still is a folder for the movie file I was working on with a single file inside it marked 'CurrentVersion.imovieevent' so it seems to still exist in some sense. Is there any way I can restore it to iMovie so that I can keep working on it? Thanks.

I should probably clerify that by 'iMovie 13', I really mean version 10.0.2.

When I drag photos into iMovie, the image quality is degraded. Can I somehow prevent the degradation?

When I drag photos into iMovie, the image quality is degraded. Can I somehow prevent the degradation?

Hi
A very common origin to jumpy picture is
• Recorded material in one frame rate e.g. 29.97fps (NTSC) and iDVD set to do a 25fps (PAL) project - OR the other way around.
It delivers a DVD but a very bad one.
I do convert all my material to same fps as the DVD I want to do (e.g. PAL) - before any editing etc.
I use JES_Deinterlacer or Compressor to do this and the result is so much better.
JES_Deinterlacer is free on Internet and makes a Great job - Professional alternatives comes at an astronomical cost and the quality is not hardly no better.
Yours Bengt W

Imovie 11 move vs. copy

I have clips that I use in several movies...
Wanting to move off some of the data burden off of my computer... I had ctrl-moved some of my projects off onto another drive. So I'm having problems w/ crashes upon selecting some of my projects (not all). So in this 'move' feature... I'm supposing I've shot myself in the foot, having not considered multiple uses, hence the reason for the crashes & inability to even get into those projects any longer.
I did this like.... 5 months ago & it never connected until now & realllllly wanting into an older project.
Would you all concur? Any fix suggestions? If I time machine... I'll lose my newer stuff right? or will it keep multiple placements? I had this kind of footage together on the computer in a few folders that no longer exist & I don't know I could guess what they were.... (perhaps i could view them on time machine but not implement them from it) but if I could, would the ans. be to dupe them from the external drive and place them back on the computer with the right folder chain?
anyways... advice apprec.

maybe i'm not as clear as I should be.... I selected "move project AND events"... instead of just "move project"...
so in using event footage in multiple projects... baaaaaaaddddd.
can't dupe an event folder IN imovie and move it back (to help out many projects looking for what's missing)... so would duping it (event folder) and putting it back OUTSIDE of imovie (in it's old place) be the route to go?
I know things get messed up if you do thing outside of imovie... but if i'm just putting something back it's already looking for... I dunno.??
OR... LOL... if I want to get into them move the event folder to the old drive... access what I need and then move it back so I can access the newer stuff?
I'm trying to make the most of my mess here...

IMovie Original Movies vs iMovie Events

What is the difference between them? I have the same file under iMovie Original Movies/New Event and iMovie Events/New Event.
Is taking the double capacity of my HD and would like to know if I can delete one of them.
Thanks,
F

I dont even know how you get 'iMovie originals", but why not make a copy of the iMovie originals folder on an external HD, then trash the original and see what happens. then make a new project, see if it creates a new "iMovie originals"...
rr

IMovie-iWeb-movie quality?

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