Importing to iMovie and supported formats

I'm new to iMovie, and I'm still running '08, and I don't know what video formats are supported. I ripped a home video DVD using HandBrake and found out that iMovie 08 doesn't support .m4v. I tried saving it as a Quicktime Movie file with Quicktime Pro, but iMovie still wouldn't import. Can anyone tell what I can do because I really want to edit my video and burn it on more discs for the rest of my family. So, any help on what formats are supported and what I can do to import my video to iMovie (no. 1 priority) is what I would like help with, please. Thanks for any help.

Here is how I import a DVD into iMovie try it. Get yourself a 4 Gig Thumb Drive plug it in.
Insert the DVD when the DVD Player comes up close it.
Double click the DVD icon on the desk top and drag the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS
folder into the Thumb Drive. Open iMovie 8 or 9 it may take a Minute or more
iMovie see's the Thumb Drive as camera and you may import the content. Thats it, plain and simple
have fun Cheers Herb

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Importing to iMovie and video formats supported

I'm new to iMovie, and I'm still running '08, and I don't know what video formats are supported. I ripped a home video DVD using HandBrake and found out that iMovie 08 doesn't support .m4v. I tried saving it as a Quicktime Movie file with Quicktime Pro, but iMovie still wouldn't import. Can anyone tell what I can do because I really want to edit my video and burn it on more discs for the rest of my family. So, any help on what formats are supported and what I can do to import my video to iMovie is what I would like help with, please.Thanks for any help.
Message was edited by: Warheart1188

Check out the iMovie 08 discussion group. You will find a lot of knowledgeable people there.
iMovie will import h.264 (m4v), but it will not import extra tracks such as closed caption tracks, tween tracks, chapter tracks, etc. Make sure handbrake is including these.
You can go into QuickTime Pro and remove extra tracks.
Sometimes, people have reported that simply renaming your m4v file as an .mov file will make it importable. Not sure if this will work in your case.

IMovie 09 supporting formats

Hello people!
Please, tell me:
what file formats does the iMovie 09 support?
When i convert the dvd (with .vob extension) what should I convert it into? - that as the result after importing it I get the same video as the original - that there is no distorsion of the video!!!!???
Thanks a lot

Check out the posts by iyacyas in this thread for possible solutions:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2410359&start=0&tstart=0
Also, a search on "convert MOD" or "jvc MOD" will bring up many threads about MOD files and their compatibility with iMovie. I haven't read through them, but there may be some good suggestions there.
John

Problems importing into iMovie and which is the required space..

Hi Karsten!
I could see that you know about video editing. And I have some problems and doubts I would like to ask.
The thing is that I have just bougth an ibook of 80 Gb hard disk RAM 512 MB Speed 1.67 GHz and I am trying to edit a documentary with it. The thing is that I started to importing images from a HDV 1080i Sony Camcorder into iMovie and the speed wasnt in real time, was slowing down to half of the original speed. I went to visit the help of iMovie it was saying when it happens is due to the desfragmentation of the disk, but I dont know if it is the real problem, it is a new computer, and how I can solve it.
And I also would like to know if I could have better results in the video importing and editing with an external hard driver other wise I could add more ram and more memory for the hard disk in the computer...
And the last thing, I would like to know how much space would I need in my computer for install and using Final Cut Pro and if it would be easy with more memory or an external hard drive...
Please Karsten or whoever who can have knowledge about these matter could help me. I really need it so much to start with my docu...
Thank you
Mac OS X (10.4) 80 Gb hard disk RAM 512 MB Velocidad 1.67 GHz

"..which is the difference between FCP and FCE?.."
FCE is Final Cut Express, a cheaper and 'cut-down' version of FCP (Final Cut Pro).
FCE changes HDV (hi-definition) video into a slightly different format called 'Apple Intermediate Codec' when it's importing HDV material - just like iMovie HD does. This means that importing is generally slower than importing ordinary DV, because the movie has to be converted while it's importing. On a G4 PowerBook or iBook HDV might import at half-speed, or take even longer (..maybe 4x 'real time'), as you've found.
The latest version of FCP can import HDV, and edit it, without any conversion, Apple says. But I don't know if that applies on any Mac, or if that needs a special capture card to be fitted into a PowerMac. In theory, I'd expect that importing and editing HDV using FCP HD 5 (..the latest version..) would be faster than on a PowerBook - because there's no conversion involved - but I can't say for certain till I receive my latest version of FCP (..I just did an Apple "cross-grade" to convert my FCP HD 4.5 into FCP HD 5).
HDV doesn't take up any more room on a tape than normal DV, because the high-definition is 'squashed' onto the tape, using MPEG-2 compression. Because iMovie HD and FCE HD can't handle this kind of compressed material directly, they convert it into the Apple Intermediate Codec, and that form of the video takes up more storage on a hard disc than the normal DV does!
So although normal DV uses about 13 gigabytes of hard disc space per hour of running time, the converted HDV (..converted into 'AIC'..) takes up, er ..I'm looking for a recent project ..most are on an external disc ..are here's a simple one: one-and-a-quarter minutes' worth uses 904 megabytes; nearly 1 gigabyte! ..Here's another: four-and-a-half minutes' worth takes up 6.5 gigabytes!
Using normal DV, 6.5 gigabytes would hold half an hour's worth of video, not 4.5 minutes' worth!
So you will need a big external hard disc to store hi-def footage. At least, with iMovie HD or FCE HD.
I don't know if FCP HD 5 would store imported footage in the original HDV format, that is with the same storage requirements of ordinary DV - like HDV tapes. If so, that means that you could store hi-def (..if you're using FCP HD 5..) in just the same amount of space as normal DV ..but I don't know for sure. Maybe you could ask in the FCP Discussions. I probably can't tell you till next week or so..
Where to get a 300gb hard disc? I'm sure there must be at least one shop, or electronics store, in Istanbul which sells them at reasonable prices. Otherwise, look online. There are many companies which now sell 300gb discs: Maxtor and LaCie, for example. But you do need one with a FireWire connection; not just USB. You don't need to buy from an Apple store: buy one from any computer shop ..an external hard disc for a PC works exactly the same ..but you must format it for use with a Mac, as described before.
All I know of Istanbul is Cumhuriyet Caddesi, Taksim Square, and the areas around what used to be the floating bridge, and the Spice Market, and round Haigha Sophia, but there must be lots of computer shops somewhere in the city.
"..I have never used iMovie for editing, I understood it is only good for capturing, sample and concise.." and it's also good for transitions, titles, adding photos and audio, adding video effects and for audio tweaking. And it integrates perfectly with iPhoto, iDVD, GarageBand ..and now 'iWeb'.

Quicktime Pro and supported formats

Looking for confirmation on using Quicktime Pro to create slideshows that can be used for both Mac and PC uses:
- All other phones. iPhone is a sure thing.
- As a screen saver (Mac & PC)
- As DVD (Mac, PC, TV)
I know this is all about supported formats and have found what Quicktime Pro exports, but there's no admission on all the cross platform compatiblities.
Thanks in advance for your reply!

MOV containers with say H.264 are platform agnostic - QT files on Windows and QT on a mac play the same files assuming they have QT installed. You can buy Flip4mac export and even make WMV files using QT. You can export to 3gp for phones, that is a standard for the phone and again nothing to do with Quicktime per se.
QT does not author DVDs. That requires an MPEG-2 encoder so you can use iDVD which does have a slideshow function, or iPhoto to iDVD or make a slideshow in Quicktime then use that as your video source in a DVD authoring program, e.g. iDVD or more easily, in Toast.
I use Talaphoto from Talasoft to make slideshows, it writes a nice QT file and times music well to the duration. Then that QT file is used in Toast to make a DVD.
Your reference to DVD - PC, Mac, TV - again - another platform agnostic standard - DVD (video) is DVD - plays in a DVD player - computer, TV or either, but it has nothing to do with a mac as the source and everything to do with a DVD being written to the DVD standard.
No idea how you make a screensaver - look at screensaver writing programs and determine what source material is required.

Why do 4 video clips import into iMovie and one doesn't?

I attempted to import 5 short clips into my MacBook Pro from the same event, shot with an ipad2. Four of the clips easily imported into iMovie. IMovie said that the fifth clip wouldnt import because it is 'not compatible with iMovie'. All of the clips are 1280x720, H.264/AAC, encoding 7.0.2. Importing to IMovie 11, version 9.0.9. I've read thru some of the strings but haven't quite found this problem. Any ideas?
thank you

I think this is an SD memory card camera. It does not work in a format that FCE uses. FCE only works with DV, HDV or AVCHD material. Everything else has to be converted to a format FCE works with.

AVI - MPEG4 movie imports to iMovie and iPhoto

Hi Everyone,
I'm fairly new to Mac having swapped out my pc's and laptops for iMacs and a Macbook Air but some things frustrate.
I've just recorded some video on a cheapy chinese DVR recorder. The format is AVI / MPEG4 (or so the Chingish instructions tell me).
I plugged the recorder into iPhoto and it saw 4 files and imported 1 !! I want to import the movies into iMovie for editing but no joy. I've tried to find a solution online but now I'm really confused as Quicktime is often mentioned....Why. Surely with iMovie I don't need Quicktime? Anyway, without getting technical (I'm a user not a programmer) can anyone tell me how to get iMovie to recognize the AVI files please.....

rusty spur wrote:
Yes - totally! Thank you so much. From Quick Time I can move it anywhere I want. Perfect.
I don't know anything about awarding points - I marked it as "solved" - are the points then awarded automatically or is there something else I need to do?
Thanks again!
Angela
You are very welcome (and you awarded the points perfectly!)
Sue

Best Output Settings for movies via iMovie and Quicktime

So here's what I don't understand. I can download a 1080 movie trailer, such as Get Smart, and convert it to Apple TV standards via iTunes and have it look amazing.
However:
When I digitize my own content, such as TV shows (broadcast TV) from my DVR, or old VHS tapes, why can't I get the EXACT same quality I get as if I were sending these videos to iDVD?
I capture in DV format using iMovie 6 (don't get me started on 08) and, in the past, when that footage is rendered onto a DVD, it's been fantastic.
However, when I take that same DV footage and convert it to Apple TV format, it does not look good at all.
I know the culprit is the FPS rate (24 vs 30), however, I am not understanding how I can take an HD trailer and still have it look great in 720p, but I can't get the same quality from digital video I capture in DV format. That just doesn't make sense to me.
I read that 24 fps will give that "movie" look, but I want a VIDEO look as an option.
I've rendered short clips using iMovie, Final Cut Express, MPEG Streamclip and Quicktime directly and none of the Apple TV output is worth it.
Now a nice, cuddly little software update that would allow Apple TV to play full .mov files would be nice, but I suspect that isn't happening.
Is there anyone who has any suggestions on taking SD DV footage and making a file that will play on my Apple TV AND still look as good as the original source video?
I have Apple Cares on the Apple TV but every time I call them for tech support, I am kept on hold upwards of 1/2 hour each time and I get frustrated and hang up.
PLEASE HELP!
So ready to put my Apple TV on ebay and run a DVI to HDMI cable from my iMac to my LCD TV....................................

I have a couple of thoughts about your issue.
Firstly while you capture to DV, the broadcast tv shows are more likely to be in mpeg2, this itself isn't much of a problem, indeed I do exactly the same if I'm converting a movie that has interludes within it which I wish to remove (import into imovie and export the reference file to AVC in streamclip). This could however explain a little why you find your conversions to DVD (mpeg2) a little better. You also need to remember mpeg2 is lower quality than mpeg4 and even lower quality than AVC. If you watch a clip in mpeg2 it can look better than AVC because AVC is sharper and clearer and shows all the defects mpeg2 simply blurs.
I also note you might be converting the frame rate to 24 fps, don't do this it will result in jerky video. If you are doing this to retain 720p, you would be much better dropping the resolution to no more than 960 x 540 and keeping your original frame rate, never alter your frame rate. Of note here, if your frame rate is 25 fps it may be accepted by the tv at 720p.
Finally, you might need to consider what is happening to the resolution of these shows as they go through your workflow process. Your source is likely to be 720 x 480 anamorphic and your workflow is likely changing this to 640 x 480, 853 x 480 or even 1280 x 720 fixed ratio pixels, sometimes this conversion can lead to less than perfect results (another reason your DVD's might look better). Unfortunately imovie will drop these anamorphic flags and you may get better results using another application.
My results are quite acceptable and I suppose the question is why when yours aren't, but it may simply be a matter of source since I'm in a PAL region.

Imovie and canon Mv 20

Hello
I have a new iMac and old canon MV 20 digital camera. Imovie cannot find the camera. Have somebody resolved this problem?
Thanks

It’s confirmed (at least till now) we can’t import the raw Full HD 60/50p video to iMovie for freely editing. Because 1080 50p and 60p are not standard video formats, they are unsupported by iMovie. iMovie can smoothly edit videos at 1080p 24/25/30, 1080i 50/60, 720p 24/25/30. So we have to change Canon XA201080 60p first. iMovie best supported format and codec is Apple Intermedaite codec MOV format, once you transcode Canon XA20 AVCHD to AIC in 25p/30p , you can play and edit Canon XA20 AVCHD in iMovie smoothly.

IMovie and the XA 20

OK, so I know I should get Final Cut Pro if I'm using the XA20, but until then, teach me a bit about using my XA20 with iMovie. I've already figured out the hard way that iMovie won't important 60fps files from the XA20, I just see a bunch of 60 with lined through red circles when I try to import into iMovie.
Any advice for a noob here?

It’s confirmed (at least till now) we can’t import the raw Full HD 60/50p video to iMovie for freely editing. Because 1080 50p and 60p are not standard video formats, they are unsupported by iMovie. iMovie can smoothly edit videos at 1080p 24/25/30, 1080i 50/60, 720p 24/25/30. So we have to change Canon XA201080 60p first. iMovie best supported format and codec is Apple Intermedaite codec MOV format, once you transcode Canon XA20 AVCHD to AIC in 25p/30p , you can play and edit Canon XA20 AVCHD in iMovie smoothly.

Converting from PDF directly to Java Objects/XML (and PDF format questions)

Hi,
I posted this originally in the Acrobat Windows forums but was told I might have more luck here, so here goes:
I am desperately trying to find a tool (preferably open source but commercial is fine also) that will sit on top of a PDF and allow me to query it's text for content and formatting (I don't care about images). I have found some tools that get me part of the way there, but nothing that seems to provide an end-to-end solution but is quite lightweight. My main question is WHY are there so many tools that go from PDF to RTF, and many tools that go from RTF to XML, but NONE that I can find that go PDF to XML.
To clarify, by formatting I simply mean whether a line/block of text is bold/italic, and its font size. I am not concerned with exact position on the page. The background is that I will be searching PDFs and assigning importance to whether text is a heading/bodytext etc. We already have a search tool in place so implementing a pure PDF search engine is not an option. I need a lightweight tool that simply allows me to either make calls directly to the PDF OR converts to XML which I can parse.
Some tools I have tried:
1) PDFBox (Java Library) - Allows the extraction of text content easily, but doesn't seem to have good support for formatting.
2) JPedal (Java Library) - Allows extraction of text content easily, and supports formatting IF XML structured data is in the PDF (not the case for my data).
3) Nitro PDF (Tool) + RTF to XML (script) - This works quite nicely and shows that PDF to XML is possible, but why do I have to use 2 tools? Also, these are not libraries I can integrate into my app.
4) iText (Java Library) - Seems great at creating PDFs but poor at extracting content.
I don't really expect someone to give me a perfect solution (although that would be nice!).
Instead, what I'd like to know is WHY tools support PDF to RTF/Word/whatever retaining formatting, and other tools support RTF to XML with the formatting information retained. What is it about PDF and RTF/Word that makes it feasible to convert that way, but not to XML. Also, as I found in 3) above, it is perfectly feasible to end up as XML from PDF, so why do no tools support this reliably!
Many thanks for any advice from PDF gurus.

XML doesn't mean anything - it's just a generic concept for structuring
information. You need a specific GRAMMAR of XML to mean anything. So what
grammar would you use? Something standard? Make up your own?
However, there are a number of commercial and open source products that can
convert PDF to various XML grammars - SVG, ABW, and various custom grammars.
But the other thing you need to understand is that most PDF files do not
have any structure associated with them (as you saw when using JPEDAL). As
such, any concepts of paragraphs/sections/tables/etc. Are WILD GUESSES by
the software in question.

Certain mp4 files are not importing into iMovie

I downloaded various files from the video page at a blog website [ http://www.911blogger.com/ ]; they're mp4 QuickTime. They won't properly import into iMovie, and quickly return a "An Unknown Error Has Occured" message box.
This is confusing, especially since iMovie can make mp4 movies. And since mp4 is a QuickTime format -- and QuickTime is made by Apple, who also makes iMovie.
It doesn't matter what size of file; none import. I asked the guys who own/operate the blog website if they put any special locking features on their video file downloads from their podcasts, and they said they (paraphrasing) "didn't do anything except use an iPod video converter" or something to that effect.
So, any idea's?

I have QuickTime 7.1.1 installed, with a license for QuickTime Pro.
QuickTime Pro shouldn't affect the ability to import to iMovie. All QuickTime Pro does is enable certain movie editing commands in QuickTime Player. It doesn't add any codecs or new elements to QuickTime.
But third-party QuickTime codecs could certainly be affecting iMovie 6's ability to import a movie. If any are installed, they should be temporarily removed and the Mac restarted.
They are discussed here:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1852869#1852869
Karl

AVCHD or MP4 HD using IMovie and IDVD

Okay,
I am new to Macs and like them alot. I transfered from PC to Mac mainly for IMovie and IDVD. Here is my issue:
I use a Sony TX7 Digital Camera as my camcorder. It creates MTS files which I have saved on my desktop. IMovie does not recognize these files which I already understand. I know that IMovie imports directly from the camera itself but still changes the format to AIC. What I am trying to accomplish in the future is the ability to create the best quality HD movies to burn to standard DVDs usin IDVD. I know next to nothing about the whole process of IMovie and IDVD. My main concern is how I should be recording video on my camera. Obviously AVCHD needs to be converted but I have know idea the exact settings I should convert it to in order to keep the majority of the quality. Should I just record in MP4 at 720p? My TV is 720p and I am not looking for the best HD ever. I am just looking for HD in 720p. How can I retain this quality using IMovie and IDVD? I have MTS files on my desktop that I tried converting and the quality is okay, but I would rather not have to convert files in the future. I don't want to copy the whole file structure each time I import my videos because I like to organize my videos in one folder by date. There has to be someone who has had success with this. I just want to produce great looking widescreen home videos using these two software programs. Then there is the whole other mess of what settings to use when importing into IMovie and exporting to IDVD. Can someone experienced with ILife explain this to me?
Thanks,
Matt

Well first thing is iDVD is SD not HD and does nothing HiDef. You need a Blu-Ray, Apple TV, or other device to watch HD.
http://unofficialimoviefaq.com/tt/BurnHD.html
Even "pro" apps like Final Cut will turn MTS files in to AppleProRes so you can edit it faster.
You need the WHOLE CARD not just the MTS files for proper editing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6QF-1WxNwI
Daniel C. Slagle
Keeper of the "Unofficial" iMovie FAQ
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link

Nice MOV from Screen Recording - Import to iMovie looks degraded

Hi,
I am wondering why I have a great MOV file from a Mac screen recording program, with audio, and this looks fantastic when viewed with Quicktime.
Then I import into iMovie and it looks much degraded.
I don't use iMovie a lot, but I figured MOV quality should look the same when imported into iMovie.
Any help greatly appreciated!

Welcome bdemil to the  iMovie boards ...
some misunderstanding:
iMovie is meant for PAL/NTSC content.. any other formats/resoltuions get converted = loss of quality..
and: .mov is nor format, just a container; your Mac can display many codecs.. but only very few 'fit' into iMovie..
I mostly doubt, any screenrecording fullfills the 'video' standards.. (interlaced, framerate, resolution...)
for handling off-standard videos, QuicktimePro or MpegStreamclip offer some basic editing features...

IMovie and my videos

i'm new at iMovies and is not really cler to me where my videos goes after importing in iMovie, and if it converts in a different format that original one
so should i backup my original video file (shot with a camcoder)?
an other question is, that when i preview clips moving the mouse over it is a little slow, probabli because are HD clips, would it be better using Final Cut Expres? if later on i woult upgrade at Final Cut Expres could i keep all my projects and videos that i have in iMovie?

I found out

Importing to iMovie and supported formats

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