Importing camcorder tape to imovie

Hi.
I have shot on a mini DV that was accidently set on LP and now can't import the content of the tape to my imovie HD on my powerbook G4. The reason why I know that the record mode is the problem is that other phootage on the tape that was recorded as SP imports fine.
What to do??? Any way around it, or should I consider that material lost? Is there any other software I can work with? I could potentially install FinalCut 5 - would that work better? Would another computer work better? a different version of imovie?

I realize I'm not being very clear, so let me correct that;
The tape was shot on a mini DV that was set to LP. I'm now using a DIFFERENT camera for the editting, and don't have access to the original camera I shot the video on. The current camera is compatable with imovie whether set on LP or SP - I recorded in both modes, and was able to import these parts.
The audio was set to 16 in both cameras, I beelive.
I hope that makes more sense. I am new to this stuff, and don't know how to transfer the tape - if I get another camera and a firewire, would that work?

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Best Way to Import VCR tapes to iMovie

Hello, all.
I have a small problem that I hope somebody can help me with: I currently have an ADS Pyro A/V unit. I was told my the local Apple dealer that would be the best way to import VHS tapes into iMovie. It has worked for a few tapes, but now does nothing except give me a static-greenish-loud-high pitch sound when I try to import a tape.
I have given up on this unit!!!!!!
Can anybody recommend a decent way to import my old VHS movies to my MacBook and into iMovie??
Thanks for your time & input!

I have the same situation as the original poster (VHS tapes I want to edit and store on DVD).
However I don't have a CamCorder.
What I do have is a PVR that I have used to capture the video and I can write that to a DVD. That gives me the base video that I can work on.
However, the files on the DVD have a .VOB file type. I have tried StreamClip but it provides me with a number of options as to the format I can import it into.
Ultimately I want to bring the image into iMovie, edit it and then burn it back onto a DVD. I don't really care if the intermediate files are large, but I am a little concerned about loosing picture quality (which is not great to start with - the original images were on recorded on Super-8 movie film, then 'projected' and recorded onto the VHS tape of which I have a copy. However it is all I have!!!)
What is the best format (and if necessary, tool) to copy the .VOB files to - something that iMovie can use without conversion preferrable - and then write back to a DVD.
Thanks
Susan
(PS in case you haven't gathered, I'm new to all this side of things, but I have time and a strong desire to learn!)

Problems with importing video tape into iMovie '08

I'm using a canopus advc 110 to import video tapes from a vhs recorder into iMovie. BUT, the process often stops after only a few minutes when I still have a long way to go. I'd like to be able to leave it to work for 20-minute chunks (longer if possible, but I think that's about the limit), but it keeps stopping after a few minutes. When I come back in the room, it keeps trying to import (time in upper right corner keeps going) but had quit earlier according to time on the lower center of the iMovie screen. This is adding to my frustration and time, which is limited. Any suggestions??

The canopus advc 110 will work IF you have a perfect tape.
Look at the Grassvalley ADVC300 it has the ability to compensate for bad tapes. Using Line Time Base Correction (LTBC), ADVC300 instantly cleans, stabilizes and preserves old VHS and Hi8 videos in clean DV format. No need to monitor, just start and forget. Fast forward the tape all the way and then rewind all the way before import will never hurt.
The program that comes with the ADVC300 has some nice filters that can improve video and audio of the source material. The ADVC300 will take Audio and Video from any source and convert it to FireWire (iMovie will treat it like a camera).
http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc300
The ADVC300 is for anyone who wants to do editing and is concerned about quality of color and speed, for the novice it is an incredible gizmo that will restore VHS tapes to a state close to the original fixing midtones, highlights and shadows on the fly. Not only can you simply convert analog to digital you can actually manipulate the signal going in (if you want to).
A bit pricey bit it WORKS.
I would use iMovie 06 with iDVD 08/09.
iMovie 08 and 09 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage. iMovie 06 uses ALL of the image to form the video.
Your workflow is editing DV clips and making DVDs, so iMovie 06 is better suited. Your movie will arrive at iDVD in DV format, which is an ideal match for making a DVD: same resolution, same pixels aspect ratio, and original quality. If you share your movie from iMovie 09, it gets re-rendered at 640x480 or less, and then iDVD upscales it back to 720x480. The end result is obviously not as good.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 08/09 is a "lossless" combination.
iMovie 09 is a wonderful programs assuming that you're using it for what it was designed to do, assemble videos to share on the Internet.

Importing VHS tape into iMovie.

I am importing VHS tapes into either imovie 09 or 06. When I play back in the program, it has good quality. But when I save it, no matter what format: mp4, .avi, .mov, etc. The quality is very poor when played back on DVD player.
Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong?

I am importing VHS tapes into either imovie 09 or 06.
Use iMovie 06 with iDVD 09.
iMovie 09 and 11 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage. iMovie 06 uses ALL of the image to form the video.
Your workflow is editing DV clips and making DVDs, so iMovie 06 is better suited. Your movie will arrive at iDVD in DV format, which is an ideal match for making a DVD: same resolution, same pixels aspect ratio, and original quality. If you share your movie from iMovie 09, it gets re-rendered at 640x480 or less, and then iDVD upscales it back to 720x480. The end result is obviously not as good.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 09 is a "lossless" combination.

Importing VHS tape to imovie

Hi there im geting a new macbookpro but i will need to transfer my video wedding video which is on vhs, so I can import it in to imovie or quicktime. Please please if you have any idea on what i can use to do it please help.
PowerBook G4 1.5 15, 80Gb 5400rp128mb grahics Mac OS X (10.4.3)

As you will have read in Sue's link, you need to connect your VCR player to an analogue to digital converter (like, for example, a Canopus ADVC110), and the converter to your Mac by firewire in order to import the digital signal into iMovie.

Help! How can I import camcorder video to imovie on my computer?

I have a G4 tower, running Leopard 10.5.8. I have a Sony Camcorder Handycam HDD Hybrid DCR-SR45. When I plug in the camcorder to computer the imovie does not launch to import. The computer does recognize that I plugged in my camcorder (icon shows up on my desktop), and when I open that file, and click on a file in the folder of video footage taken today, a window pops up that reads "The movie could not be opened. The file is not a movie file". How can I import today's video footage into imovie? Help! Homework project due Tuesday.

I tried, but when I hit import there is no option that says "import from camera". The driver that shows up on my desktop when I plug in the camcorder reads "no name". When I try to drag the video files into an open window of imovie an error message pops up reading "Error during import", "The file could not be imported;the file ""/volumes/Noname/MP_root/101PNVo1/MZU00001.MPG" Can't be imported. Quicktime could not parse it:-2048
What else can I try? Thx.

Importing VHS tapes into iMovie

I have several VHS movies that I am importing into iMovie from a VCR to a Pinnacle Movie Box DV which is hooked up to my computer. The box is a few years old and I am having a problem. I cant simply start the import and walk away because without fail every so often the video screen in iMovie goes blue and while the tape is still playing, nothing is being imported. I have to stop the tape rewind it to where it stopped being imported, and start again. This is VERY frustrating!!! Is it my box, or iMovie???

Hi
My Guess. There might be drop outs on Your VHS tapes and Your A/D-box stops
importing then.
I payed up for a more costly way. Canopus ADVC-300. But this costs.
Alt. I used was to connect my miniDV tape Camera and download 1 hour at a time
to tape and use this. The tape has been pre-recorded with eg a wall so that I get
an unbroken time-code on it.
one hour passes are better than constantly supervicing.
iMovie is more accepting to drop-outs than FinalCut Express or pro (my experience)
Setting iMovie to import without breaking up in individual clips works better
for me. (Material from VHS/VCRs doesn't carry the information that can divide
into separat clips anyhow)
Yours Bengt W

Importing Hi8 tapes to iMovie

What is the best method for taking Hi8 tapes and importing them to iMovie on m new MacBook?

I own one of the "hybrids" you speak of it is a sony trv520 digital8. our family had an old hi8, then we moved to this, to be able to still playback our old tapes. Sony only made the full analog/digital features in these models around 2000-2002 then it started disappearing. You can record in either Hi8 or D8 mode and the D8 systems encodes as DV codec with trouble free importing to things like final cut that i use. for Hi8 footage i have to use iMovie to import or a special setting in final cut as Hi8 does not have a timecode. sony still sells a digital8/hi8 vcr with firewire link and they just dropped the price:
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=1055 1&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11028832
otherwise people have used something like a canopus advc100 analog/digital converter, ive seen them on the net and at apple stores. or the dub method like forestman mentioned

Will FCE 4 Import Analog 8mm Tapes (unlike iMovie '08)

Hello--
I've had a heck of a time importing my older analog 8mm tapes onto my MacBook and was wondering if dropping bigger bucks on FCE 4 will help.
Since iMovie '08 for some reason won't import analog 8mm tapes from my Sony TRV-330 Digital8 camcorder, I've had to import the tapes using iMovie HD. The problem is then I have to save the iMovie HD project before I can import the video into iMovie '08 where I want to tag and edit it...and this takes a lot of extra time (hours per tape).
On other discussion boards, people have suggested using other video importing applications such as Vidi, iDive, and QuickTime Pro. The first two didn't seem to work out for me, so I just spent $30+ to get QT Pro...that was a mistake because the video and audio quickly got out of synch which was completely unacceptable (some of my older tapes have periodic video and audio dropouts due a problematic camcorder at the time, which I understand can cause that problem...but it didn't seem to be a problem for iMovie HD).
So, since I've read on these FCE discussion threads that FCE uses QuickTime it makes me wonder if I'd have the same video/audio synch problems in FCE (if it even would import analog 8mm video at all).
BOTTOM LINE: Has anyone successfully imported analog 8mm videotapes from a digital camcorder into FCE 4? I'd really like to be able to catalog, tag, and edit ALL my tapes (analog 8mm and Digital8) in iMovie '08 (but am willing to try to do it in FCE 4 if that's a better comprehensive solution). When will Apple fix iMovie '08 to make the lives of those of us who want to transfer old analog 8mm tapes easier??

Thanks for the response, M.R. I didn't know QuickTime was also the import engine for iMovie HD...if that's the case, I don't know why iMovie HD would import my analog 8mm tapes while iMovie '08 doesn't (assuming iMovie '08 also uses QuickTime as the import engine).
I haven't really considered a converter box since the Sony TRV-330 camcorder does the analog to digital conversion...seems like it'd be unnecessary. Do you think there's the possibility that the output from a converter box would look different than the output from my digital camcorder to iMovie '08?
--Bill

Can i turn off the Timecode, when importing a DV Tape into iMovie?

Hi,
I have just cut a film on a Pc and exported in on a DV tape. When i tried to import this tape into imovie the film is cut into pieces again. I want to import the Movie in one piece and only add some gimmicks to it.
As i am new with I-movie, does anyone has an idea, how i can do this??
Thanks

Open iTunes. Go to Edit>Preferences>Advanced and change the setting "On CD Insert" in the drop down menu from Import Songs to Show Songs.

IMovie clip length when importing from tape

Having used iMove HD without any problems and up until now have imported video into an eMac, I know but it works, then copied the DV files to my new Macbook Pro laptop for editing.
Now I have the firewire adaptor for this MacBook Pro I have successfully imported a tape into iMovie 10 but now am completely stuck.
Each clip is one second long (5 minutes with iMovieHD and adjustable) and I can't do anything with the whole import.
If I select more than on clip any export function is unavailable. Thought I would export all the clips as one file then re-import as a work a round.
There is also no timeline for editing. The screen shows all the one second 733 clips (12 minutes).
Lastly, I have no problem editing video imported as a digital file, i.e. DV
I may be missing something, but its certainly not intuitive.
What's wrong?

Hi
Help - No I've not got iMovie'13 v.10
But a thought.
I would bring in iMovie HD6 (if you got that one - iMovie HD5 doesn't work) into Your New Mac - as it is 100% DV friendly.
Yours Bengt W

Imovie imported DV tape clips (no more)

I am importing DV tape into imovie 11 and in the past it alway was broken into clips when importing. It no longer does. Is this due to the updated version since my old version did.
I cant find any settings to change.
Thanks - Rick

Hi
No it doesn't work like that - iMovie looks at the tape and reads the TimeCode and when it finds a break it starts a new clip. So it doesn't analyze the picture or audio to do this - and in analog material as VHS, Video-8 or Hi8 - there is no timecode at all after it's been converted to digital via A/D-box or Camera with Video-through function.
May be - something in iMovie settings/preferences that needs to be set - my look like this (sorry Swedish)
and
If this doesn't work - I would trash iMovie pref file (or rather and easier - Create a New User-Account in System Settings then log into this and re-try. )
Now iMovie should behave when a DV tape is importe (that are recorded live - not a copy from any analog device)
Yours Bengt W

Why does iMovie stop importing my tape from the camcorder even though it says it is still importing?

Why does iMovie stop importing my tape from the camcorder even though it says it is still importing?

It's difficult to be sure without doing some network packet sniffing, but if it were another app syncing, it would be an awful coincidence, since it seems to happen only while I'm in Reminders.app -- as soon as I click the home button and go back to the home screen, it stops; when I launch Reminders again, it starts again.
Moreover, it happens when I am not in the house, which rules out iTunes syncing.
Note that it's not the syncing spinner (i.e. two arrows chasing each other in a circle) -- it's the data access spinner (like the wait spinner in many apps and the apple.com search box).

Importing VHS tape from VCR into iMovie

I'm trying to find out if it is possible to connect a VCR to my iMac and import the content from a VHS tape into iMovie in a similar way to connecting a camcorder to the iMac.
Thanks in advance.

Welcome to Apple discussions!!
I have done lots of this.
To get your VHS video into iMovie, look at the Grassvally ADVC300. Audio and Video go in, FireWire comes out. It also comes with a nice Macintosh application that works flawlessly with iMovie 06 and iDVD 09/11 (I have used it a few times with iMovie 09 also).
The program that comes with the ADVC300 has some nice filters that can improve video and audio of the source material. The ADVC300 will take Audio and Video from any source and convert it to FireWire (iMovie will treat it like a camera).
http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc300
I would use iMovie 06 with iDVD 09/11, why?
iMovie 09/11 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage. iMovie 06 uses ALL of the image to form the video.
If your primary workflow is editing DV clips and making DVDs, iMovie '06 is better suited. Your movie will arrive at iDVD in DV format, which is an ideal match for making a DVD: same resolution, same pixels aspect ratio, and original quality. If you share your movie from iMovie 09/11, it gets re-rendered at 640x480 or less, and then iDVD upscales it back to 720x480. The end result is obviously not as good.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 09 is a "lossless" combination.

Importing tape into Imovie 11. How do I import all the clips as one long clip?

How do I import all the clips as one long clip? I have 45 min of footage and I want it as one long take I can edit in Final Cut ProX. When I import, all the clips are split up when the scene cuts. I just want the 45 min in one long video.

iMovie will import the tape as if it is direct from the camera. It will sense the scene breaks and put all the clips in chronological order.
If you want to import it as one long clip, I suggest you load the tape into the app that you edited the tape with. Then export it out as a QuickTime movie in the DV codec. You can import this MOV file into FCPX or iMovie.

Importing camcorder tape to imovie

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