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.

Similar Messages

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

I have been trying to import VHS video into iMovie via a Hollywood Dazzle bridge. Did not have trouble until I upgraded to mavericks. I have a mac book pro, 10.9.1, iMovie 10.0.2. Says it is recording, but when I go to check, it says the file is empty.

I have been trying import VHS video into iMovie via a Hollywood Dazzle bridge. I have been successful doing this in the past, but now it is not working. I have a mac book pro, 10.9.1, (mavericks), iMovie 10.0.2. Everything in iMovie looks like it is working. It reads "recording" in the upper left hand corner of the pane while the video is playing. When I stop the process to check on my clip it says that the file is empty. The only thing that has changed since I did it successfully is that I upgraded to mavericks from whatever I had previously. My system is about one year old. Any suggestions?

Hey, Clinton,
     Thanks for your help! I was able to go to iMovie 9.0.9 and import video. I was still curious as to why it didn't work in version 10.0.2, so I contacted Apple tech support. They were't sure at first as to why it wouldn't work, so they had me delete iMovie 10.0.2 and then re-install it just to see if something had gone wrong when it upgraded. That didn't change anything. In the end, they determined that 10.0.2 doesn't support the Hollywood Dazzle DV bridge. But I have a workaround path from them that I will share so that it's possible to import to 9.0.9, then move it to 10.0.2.
     1. Open iMovie 9 (finder/applications/iMovie 9.0.9
     2. Import from Dazzle Bridge to iMovie 9, note which event you are importing the clips into
     3. Close iMovie 9
     4. Open iMovie 10 (probably in the dock)
     5. File/Import Media...navigate to home(this was my name, on the left side of iMovie, under Favorites)/Movies/iMovie events. Find the event folder that contains your Dazzle clips (tip-try sorting by date modified to look at recent events.)
     6. Select the clips and import. Click the blue "Import Selected" button on the bottom right.
You may get a message that some files cannot be imported. Click continue import. It's a little glitchy. It imports your clip, and also makes a copy of it, too. On the copy, the audio is normal, but the video is choppy. In any case, you would delete the copy, anyway.
Hope this additional information helps somebody else. Thanks again, Clinton for helping me!

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 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.

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!)

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.

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.

How can I import VHS video into my macbook pro

I am trying to import VHS tapes into my macbook pro. I want to use them in iMovie. Any suggestions.

You will need something like this

Import VHS Tapes to DVD and iMovie

I have many old VHS tapes I want to finally digitize so I don't lose them. Most are old football games, generally between 1-2 hours per tape. I am working off of a new iMac - 27inch 3.1gHz 1TB hard drive.
I want to do 2 things:
1 - Backup each tape to a high quality DVD for backup purposes - to be played in a DVD player
2 - Store lower quality versions on my iMac hard drive to be viewed/ edited/ possibly uploaded to YouTube or other web based video sites
I have iMovie, and would like the ability to edit if possible - nothing major, ading scores, dates, etc...and possibly manipulating video (cropping of scenes, etc...) but not much.
I have researched and found a few different options. Most threads I have read seem to indicate the need for one of the following:
Canopus ADVC300
Canopus ADVC55
Elgato Eye TV Hybrid
I am willing to spend $100 - $200, but this I'd rather not go crazy. At a certain point it would just be easier to sed them away to be professionally archived to DVD.
Any advice?

I have many old VHS tapes I want to finally digitize so I don't lose them.
I have done lots of that.
To get your VHS video into iMovie, use the Grassvalley ADVC300. With the 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 11).
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 (VCR, Tivo, Satellite Receiver) 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 11 is a "lossless" combination.

Why Is There A loss In Quality When I impoer a Minidv tape into Imovie 08

I have the latest version of Imovie and this is my first Mac.
I am using SD MiniDV camcorder (NTSC). I import the entire tape into iMovie. Then I export it to a large h.264 m4v file. I am somewhat disappointed about the picture quality of the m4v file.
When I play the tape through my camcorder connected to the TV through svideo things it looks pretty good.
When I play the m4v file on MacbookPro connected to a TV via svdeo or using the TV (DVI to HDMI) as second monitor the picture quality isn't as crisp.
Any idea what I am doing wrong. My goal is to move all my Minidv home moves onto a hard drive at the best possible quality. My tapes are getting old and this seems like the best way of preserving them.
Thanks,
Dan

sorry for 'overwhelming' you with info
yes, all apps copy the dv-encoded material from miniDV devices 'natively' = lossless import..
but only iM08 then adds some 'loss' .. nobody knows exactly, what & how.. but you are not able to EXport lossless from within iM08 ..
example: import dv, export dv = adds blurr and 'magnifies' somehow the same file .. ( ! )
using iMHD≤6, FCE/P allows you, to export lossless = highest quality possible (except the parts of your project, which need renderning, e.g. titles, transitions...)
example: import dv, export dv = same quality ...
so, if _pic quality_ is your major concern, avoid iM08 ..
if you want fast results and export quality doesn't matter: iM08
if you want a Library off all imports ever and full integration into AppleTV/, YT.. = iM08
if you want other codecs than dv and simple use = iM08
if you want all imports for any future project and high dv quality = FCE/P
if you want easy to use and high dv quality = iMHD≤6 ..
if you want other codecs than dv and Hollywood quality = FCP

8MM Tape into iMovie

Been transferring 8mm tapes into iMovie via my Sony TRV350 camcorder and firewire cable. Goal is to convert all of these to DVD via iDVD. 2 questions-
1) Should the "Automatic DV Pillarboxing & Letterboxing" box be checked?
2) On my camera settings, it has a A/V--->DV OUT option, which can be turned ON or OFF in the menu VCR settings. According to the manual, when it is OFF, it is "to output digital images and sound in analog format using your camcorder." When it is ON, it is "to output analog images and sound in digital format using your camcorder." I have tried importing with both settings (ON and OFF), and it imports fine both ways, and I haven't really noticed any difference. Do you think this actually matters? The 8mm tapes are analog and I want to convert them to digital format (DV), but it appears it's doing that with either setting.
Any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.

My iMovie version 4 doesn't have those options, but I am guessing they are for 16:9 and other widescreen formats. Your old 8mm video is likely standard 4:3 ration, so you probably don't need those checkboxes.
I think the DV Out only matters if you need the video to be present on the analog output jack on the camcorder (looks like a headphone jack like on an iPod). My thinks that that you always get video output present at the Firewire port but the analog port is probably off when you have DV Out set to ON. So as you found, if you are not using the analog port, it doesn't really matter.
Enjoy,
Patrick
p.s. after several years, I am finally up to analog tape #12 with two more after than to finally finish my analog to digital conversion using my old Sony TRV330 Digital8 camcorder.

Import .VOB files into iMovie?

I have copied footage from my camera (don't have that tapes anymore!) to a DVD. Now I want to import the files into iMovie to edit and so but iMovie doesn't recognize the file-formats on my DVD: .VOB
Can anyone tell me how I can convert these files so I can import them?
Thank you very much...
Marcha
MacMini Mac OS X (10.4)

Ok I was right, the stretching is coming from importing it directly into imovies folder. Unfortunately when I drag the dv file into imovies the quality was not as good as HB.
Now trying the crop method directly into imovies to see if that fixes the stretching as the picture quality seemed much better, if that don't work I'll save it to my desktop using HB at 100% quality as that seems to be the best and then drag it into imovies quality.
How, if it was you, would you convert the files back to mpeg2? Is there a free converter as I don't have QT pro? Will SC do it in good quality?
I also thought (hate to use the pc word) but I may store the file in my external hard drive as a quicktime or divx or another format (what will give me the best quality from the other formats) and then do the conversion to mpeg2. Then use something like dvdshrink to make the file dvd size
Gees what a bummer man! Just as well I have 2 weeks off work. Not quite the way I was hoping to spend it though!

Importing analogue video into imovie.

I am trying to import analogue video into imovie 5 using my canon i830 dv camera with tape out. imovie 5 will not import using this method and as I only have a few tapes to transfer I do not want to purchase further hardware. Will imovie 6 enable me to do this. Any sugestions?

iMovie has not changed in how it imports video from camcorders to the best of my knowledge. Your DV camcorder with a Firewire connection should import to iM4, 5 (HD), or 6. So it would appear that there is a problem with a setting, hardware, or something else keeping it from working. Sooooo....
Let's explore your setup. You have a DV camcorder right? It has a Firewire port? You are connecting the camera, with a Firewire cable, directly to the Mac? Daisy chained off an external hard drive? Via a Firewire hub?
Does the menu of the camera feature different connection types that you can select from (e.g. Firewire, USB, A/V jacks, etc.)?
What mode do you put the camera in when you attempt to import? Camcorder record mode? VCR play mode? Other?
When you hook up the camera what exactly happens? Do you get absolutely nothing? Do you get a message that the camcorder is connected but then can not get it to import? Do you get an error message?
Are you in an iMovie project when you attempt to import? Or are you trying to see the camcorder from the desktop?
Are you SURE the cable you have is OK? Have you tried it on another device to verify? Some cables have the molded over plastic higher on the connector than others. I personally have had devices with deep ports on them that a cable with more molded plastic (less exposed metal) not connecting but swapping to another cable with less molding and more of the metal connector exposed working correctly.
Patrick

How can I import a movie into iMovie 09 from a hard drive? The movie will open and play in idvd but breaks into separate files that can't be downloaded when I try to import. Can it be done?

How can I import a movie into iMovie 09 from a hard drive? The movie will open and play in idvd but breaks into separate files that can't be downloaded when I try to import. Can it be done? I am trying to create a disc of player highlights for a collegiate coach, and I am using movie files downloaded to my hard drive from a DVD created on a PC.

No unfortunately it won't open in quicktime either. It does the same thing that Imovie does, separates it into two file folders audio and video, and if i select video it opens to reveal 8 files that cannot be selected. VIDEO_TS.BUP, VIDEO_TS.IFO, VIDEO_TS.VOB,VTS_01_0.BUP, VTS_01_0.IFO, VTS_01_1.VOB, VTS_01_2.VB, VTS_01_3.VOB. All of which cannot be opened or selected.
Opening it in Idvd and folllowing your suggestion works and I get a format code of NTSC. Is that the same? Thank you for your time and response.
CaCanuck

Importing VHS tape into iMovie.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for