IMovie Won't Import

So I've been having a lot of trouble with iMovie recently (I explained hereiMovie Library Gone). I can now get it to open by clicking it once but now I can't import anything. After selecting some test pictures and short videos I attempted to import them and failed. It let me select all of them and the "import selected" button turned blue, but when I pushed it nothing happened. I've had a ton of trouble trying to fix iMovie and if anyone can help that would be great. I understand that I can not restore my iMovie library but I would at least like to have the chance to import my pictures back into iMovie to try and fix some things.

No, and nobody else seems to know either. Every time I ask I don't get an answer on why. I really wish that someone knew how to solve the problem or at least what caused it.

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IMovie Won't Import MP4 Files

For some reason iMovie '11 won't let me import videos. Specifically, I'm trying to add MP4 files that I copied to my hard drive from my GoPro HD 960. For GoPro users, I used the R2 (720p) format. They open properly in QuickTime and VLC but can't be imported into iMovie (or iPhoto). When I select File-->Import-->Movies and browse to the directory where I saved all the .mp4 files on my hard drive, they're all greyed out. And actually, it seems that just about no video files at all on my computer can be added (all greyed out)--even other MP4 files.
I downloaded MPEG Streamclip but that says "unrecognized file format" when I try opening the videos. I also installed Perian and rebooted.
In case it helps:
- I have an Intel MacBook running OS X 10.6.8 with iLife '11
- QuickTime info for the video format says "H.264, 1280 x 720, Millions; AAC, 2 channels, 48000 Hz"
- VLC says "Stream 0 (Video) - Codec: avc1" and "Stream 1 (Audio) - Codec: mp4a"
Any ideas? This is incredibly frustrating!

Why iMovie Won't Import MP4 Files?
Technically, iMovie does import MP4 video. However, iMovie only import MP4 files that are encoded with MPEG4/AAC or H.264/AAC data. And yet, MP4 is a video container format that may contain various audio and video codec (and sometimes even subtitle streams included). If the MP4 file is not encoded with iMovie support codec, iMovie will refuse to import this kind of MP4 video.
How to Solve Can't Import MP4 into iMovie?
In order to successfully import all kinds of MP4 files to iMovie, a recommended solution is to convert iMovie unrecognized MP4 to iMovie supported video format.
iDealshare VideoGo is just the right MP4 to iMovie Converter which can convert various MP4 to iMovie supported MPEG-4, MPEG-2, MOV or DV. Besides converting MP4 to iMovie, iDealshare VideoGo also helps to convert other video formats including AVI, WMV, MPEG, VOB, MOV, AVCHD, MTS, M2T, M2TS, TOD, MOD, XAVC, FLV, MKV, SWF, 3GP, MVI, ASF and etc to iMovie video format.

I have Imovie 08 and ripped home movies in the Apple TV mode. IMovie won't import them?

I have Imovie 08 and ripped home movies in the Apple TV mode. IMovie won't import them?

Try this.
Open your home movie in QuickTime Player X. (Or right click on your home movie in the Finder and select Open With... QuickTime Player.
Then click the Commenad Key and the letter I at the same time to open the Inspector.
Tell us what you see next to the word Format: in the Inspector.

IMovie won't import from iPhoto (this is different than all the other post)

Before you think, "Oh... this is the typical 'iMovie 7 isn't importing iPhoto movies' question" this isn't. I've looked through a ton of threads and questions trying to find something similar to this.
Q: I have all my digital camera (Canon SD500 camera (not camcorder), no known compatibility issues with Apple) movies, which are in .AVI format, in iPhoto. iMovie is being weird as in it will only import SOME of my camera movies. For some events, it imports ALL the movies in. For some events, it won't import ANY of the movies in. For some events, it will only import SOME of the movies included in it.
If someone responds, "Your camera is incompatible" OR "the file format isn't supported" they should have points deducted from their account because they didn't read anything except for the first sentence and decided I don't know what I'm talking about.
Here's some interesting things that have happened:
1) I found ONE event in question called "Wedding Pictures & Movies" that wasn't showing up in iMovie. The camera we took movies with has other movies in other events that have successfully been imported into iMovie. But anyway, I realized that for some programming languages (I don't know if this is true with iMovie, I doubt it) that the ampersand (&) sign is used in code and shouldn't be used in titling things. So I shortened the name down to "Wedding" and all the sudden (more like after iMovie asked me if I wanted to create the thumbnails for the movies), SOME of my movies were put into iMovie, not all.
2) Upon realizing that either: the event name was too long OR the & sign actually did screw it up, I shortened another event in question from "Reception Pictures & Videos" to simply "Reception". Upon opening iMovie, it never asked to build the thumbnail library with movies from this "Reception" event that I did the exact same thing to as the "Wedding" event.
3) I thought I would try and force iMovie to refresh the thumbnail database (or build thumbnails for another movie again) by taking another movie with said camera above, the same one that I've taken all the other movies with, and imported the movie into iPhoto. Upon opening iMovie, it asked me to build the thumbnail, but only did so for the movie that I just took.
What could be going on that movies from the same camera aren't showing up in iMovie? I can understand other cameras, but these movies are all from the same camera. Some will show up while others will not? Does anyone have a clue what could be going on here?
BTW, the movies have not been edited in any way. They are all still in the exact same format and everything since they were imported into iPhoto.

Before you think, "Oh... this is the typical 'iMovie 7 isn't importing iPhoto movies' question" this isn't. I've looked through a ton of threads and questions trying to find something similar to this.
Q: I have all my digital camera (Canon SD500 camera (not camcorder), no known compatibility issues with Apple) movies, which are in .AVI format, in iPhoto. iMovie is being weird as in it will only import SOME of my camera movies. For some events, it imports ALL the movies in. For some events, it won't import ANY of the movies in. For some events, it will only import SOME of the movies included in it.
If someone responds, "Your camera is incompatible" OR "the file format isn't supported" they should have points deducted from their account because they didn't read anything except for the first sentence and decided I don't know what I'm talking about.
Here's some interesting things that have happened:
1) I found ONE event in question called "Wedding Pictures & Movies" that wasn't showing up in iMovie. The camera we took movies with has other movies in other events that have successfully been imported into iMovie. But anyway, I realized that for some programming languages (I don't know if this is true with iMovie, I doubt it) that the ampersand (&) sign is used in code and shouldn't be used in titling things. So I shortened the name down to "Wedding" and all the sudden (more like after iMovie asked me if I wanted to create the thumbnails for the movies), SOME of my movies were put into iMovie, not all.
2) Upon realizing that either: the event name was too long OR the & sign actually did screw it up, I shortened another event in question from "Reception Pictures & Videos" to simply "Reception". Upon opening iMovie, it never asked to build the thumbnail library with movies from this "Reception" event that I did the exact same thing to as the "Wedding" event.
3) I thought I would try and force iMovie to refresh the thumbnail database (or build thumbnails for another movie again) by taking another movie with said camera above, the same one that I've taken all the other movies with, and imported the movie into iPhoto. Upon opening iMovie, it asked me to build the thumbnail, but only did so for the movie that I just took.
What could be going on that movies from the same camera aren't showing up in iMovie? I can understand other cameras, but these movies are all from the same camera. Some will show up while others will not? Does anyone have a clue what could be going on here?
BTW, the movies have not been edited in any way. They are all still in the exact same format and everything since they were imported into iPhoto.

IMovie won't import MPEG movies from Sony Handycam

My Sony Handycam DCR-SR45 is connected to my Macbook pro via USB. After clicking iMovie's File Import, I can see the "No Name" device as well as the various mpg files that I want to import. The mpg files correctly show the date created, file size, etc. However, the mpg files are grayed-out and I cannot select them to import. Does anyone have a suggestion?

I have exactly the same issue. I think that iMovie must have a limitation on the length of the clip you can import. My 45 minute clip will play with VLC, but won't import inot imovie.

IMovie Won't Import Any Files

I've previously imported all of my GoPro videos into iMovie for editing without any issues. Suddenly, when I try and import my most recent GoPro videos, it acts like it is going to import and displays the "Processing Event" box. Then nothing happens. I thought that was strange so I tried to import videos shot on my iPhone as well. They also did not work. I've now gone through and tried to import several different video formats and I always get the same response. It acts like it is working, then nothing shows up.
At the bottom of iMovie, I have the "Show All Clips" selected, so any available clips should appear in the event. None of the files I'm trying to import are grayed out or anything, and I've never had issues in the past. Not sure what has suddenly changed. Please help.

Here's some additional information that is more frustrating. I opened iMovie on my Mac Book Pro and did the same import on the same GoPro files and it worked fine. No issues. I can't figure out why it won't import on my iMac. I also just updated my iMovie software to the latest version, and still no luck.

IMovie won't import gameplay files from Elgato.

I recently got an HDPVR (The Elgato Game Capture HD) to record gameplay from my Xbox 360. I recorded about an hour of gameplay and used the Elgato's software to import the file into iMovie. It began it's import but got hung up on a part that said "Generating thumbnails." It would say that it would take about a minute but this estimate would climb until it said "about an hour." I've left it overnight and still no import. I tried to close out iMovie (eventually having to force quit it) and start again but now everytime I reopen it, it returns to that same point, refusing to continue on and I have to force quit out of it everytime. Any suggestions on how to fix this problem? Please help.

bobebaba wrote:
… It is MP4 file, 275 MB, 20 minutes.…
iMovie is by concept for camcorder imports.
20min crunched into tiny 250MBs means highly compressed - iM has to convert it into an editable intermediate.
20min crunched into tiny 250MBs means 'exotic' codecs - mp4 is a container, or media-wrapper, no 'format'. when it comes to DivX and stuff like that, you have to manually convert BEFORE import into iMovie.

IMove Won't Import Photos from iPhoto Library Album

Tried to import photos from iPhoto Library/Selected Album. Pictures appeared in photos window but a high lighted photo did not appear in the large window. Tried dragging photos to build project, received message: ERROR DURING IMPORT: The file could not be imported: (-4960).
The files are 5 Megapixel JPEG, I tried to import photos from another Album (200 dpi) in size and received the same error Message. My Mac OS is: 10.4.2, iMovie HD 5.0.2 (111)
e-mail: [email protected]
Richard

"/* Core Foundation errors*/
enum {
coreFoundationUnknownErr = -4960
That is NOT a good error. Your Mac may be in serious trouble.
Prevent Mac Disasters
Eight Simple Steps You Can Take Now to Keep Your Mac from Falling Apart
http://www.macworld.com/2005/01/features/preventmacdisasters/index.php
(Article is in 3 parts, don't miss parts 2 and 3)

Imovie won't import mp4 although shows in iphoto

I am trying to import a number of mp4 files into imovie to convert them to a DVD that is readable on a home DVD player for our dance studio. I have loaded 9 files without issue into imovie all with the same extension .mp4 without issue. They were all transferred over from the same CD source at the same time, however two of the files refuse to import in. These two mp4 files are also from the same source as a few files that did correctly transfer over. I can see them in iphoto after importing, however the thumbnail is black. They do play in quicktime when I click on them. While in imovie I have tried importing from both the iphoto direction and directly from the desktop where I also have the file saved. Neither has worked. The computer appears to be importing them but then when it is done saying it is importing there is no file to be found in imovie. I have rebooted the computer three times. Quit and restarted imovie a number of times and even turned off the computer overnight all to no avail.
I am beyond frustrated at this point. I know my computer is a bit of a dinosaur. I have new software to be upgraded and loaded soon but am unable to do that before needing this project completed. I am runig OS X 10.5.8 and IMovie is '08 version.
It is so long winded I didn't even know how to google search my solution. Sorry I'm not hugely computer savy and still new to Mac so my apologies if I worded this incorrectly
Hope I've provided enough information to help me.
Thanks!
Jen

1920 x 1080
AVC Coding, 1920 × 1080, Millions
AAC, Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz
Is the info for the first file
1920x1080
AVC Coding, 1920 × 1080, Millions
AAC, Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz
Info for the 2nd file.
Where do I grab and drag from? I tried from the desktop where the file is and that doesn't work for me.
I have osx 10.5.8 and imovie '08
I don't need to edit these two particular files.
However something else I have a question about.
I decided to just export the 9 other dances that did export and selected large file size as in the past that has worked to allow it to play on a dvd player. Which is what my final goal of this entire process is. I exported and then burned the DVD.
Unfortunatley the DVD will NOT play in my DVD player at home nor at the dance studio where these are ultimaltely to be played.
Boy doing this favor for the studio is killing me. I've spent hours and hours working through this and am so frustrated!
Thanks again for any guidance you can provide.

IMovie won't import my video from USB, SD, iPhoto

I'm using iMovie on a Mac mini. I have videos for a school project on a USB drive. I can't drag them into iMovie for some reason so I got my SD card that also had the videos on them. I imported them into iPhoto and it still wouldn't work. I can get the USB and something called No Name (I'm assuming that's my SD card) on the side of iMovie in the Event Library but there is a little yellow triangle warning sign and when I click on the icons, nothing happens. If anyone has any suggestions, they'd be gladly appreciated.

Try moving the video onto your computer, then in iMovie: File>Import>Movies. Navigate to it and import it into an event.
Let us know if that doesn't work!

IMovie won't import QuickTime files

I know this has been covered, and I'm not really a video newbie, hence my posting here. I have three QuickTime files that were ripped approximately the same time (a few years ago). They all came off DV tape (I think I used FC Express at the time), so they're all reporting as DV codec at 720x480.
iMovie refuses to allow me to import the shortest one. When I choose import only the two longer ones aren't grayed out. Any thoughts?

As a note, the lengths of the movies are 20:51, 27:47, and 44:51.

IMovie won't import video

I'm trying to import a video from my camera to iMovie. I saved it to the desktop but now I can't bring it intp iMovie. It is saying "The operation could not be completed. No other information is available about the problem." Everything was working fine earlier. I turned off the computer and restarted but it still wont work

get for 20$ the Apple mpeg2 plugin
and for free the tool Streamclip
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6010.shtml
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6018.shtml
you'll realize some (dramatic) loss in quality, because a video-dvd uses a very lossy compression codec (mpeg2)
<center>ignore this line: 101010</center>

IMovie won't import video from dvd's

I had all my home video tapes converted to dvd's. But I can't import them into iMovie. iMovie doesn't seem to recognize the file type, example "VTS011.VOB". It seems to filter them all out. Help please.

get for 20$ the Apple mpeg2 plugin
and for free the tool Streamclip
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6010.shtml
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6018.shtml
you'll realize some (dramatic) loss in quality, because a video-dvd uses a very lossy compression codec (mpeg2)
<center>ignore this line: 101010</center>

IMovie won't import my Videos!

Need some help with iMovie. Converted a number of .avi files on my PC to mp4 format suitable for iPad3. When I open iMovie it says that I have no videos but if I go to Videos app I have heaps of video/movies/podcasts. Location services are turned on already so not that. Videos aren't appearing in camera roll or iPhoto either. Any advice to get these clips in so that I can create a movie would be much appreciated.

iMovie iOS was designed to edit video shot on the iOS device, so it cannot edit videos in the movies / videos app.
You need to import the video to the photos app.
Do this via the photos tab in iTunes, once you open the iPad.
MAke sure to tick the import videos button.
OR via the camera connection kit.
There are many explanations of this in this forum, do a quick search and you will see detailed descriptions.

Imovie won't import AVI files since upgrade to imovie 06

Hey everyone
I've just upgraded to imovie 06. Everytime I try to import movies made on my Digital Camera a sign saying: 'Error during Import, The file could not be imported: Unknown Error.
I didn't have this problem before upgrading to imovie 06. I wonder if anyone can help?
See ya
Bevan James Eyles

Hi BJE:
When you upgraded, did you upgrade your quicktime as well?
Sue

IMovie Won't Import

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