Importing video as one clip

I edit items on a PC in Avid, an excellent professional editing system, mastering to DV tape. I've worked on Avid since 1998 and unfortunately worked in a PC environment for too long. I wanted to use iMovie to compress those movies to Quicktime to make use of Apple's excellent dvd authoring program by importing my master video which is on DV tape. My PC does a lousy job of compressing to Quicktime (it takes forever) and Apple's dvd authoring is excellent. Unfortunately the way iMovie works now makes it almost impossible to do this. Earlier versions of iMovie, specifically 6, allowed import of video material as one clip no matter how many shots and/or effects were in the footage. Now version 8, which I have, divides and rearranges those clips sporadically. Clips with dissolves or other effects are taken completely out of sequence and deposited at the end of the movie sequence. The other video is broken into unjoined clips for no apparent reason. I have unchecked the box arranging clips by date. It is nearly impossible to rearrange the clips for a smooth flow. This is all very unfortunate. Apple has effectively reduced the flexibility of version 8 from version 6. I can't understand why they would do this. It seems to be a step backward for iMovie and Apple and very disappointing. I'd love to see an update to fix this. Has anyone found a way to import video as one clip with no breaks in version 8?

I didn't realize it was still available. I've done that and it should work. Thanks.

Similar Messages

Video imported as only one clip on iMovie 08

I imported video from a Canon Elura 100 that consisted of many clips(100+) that showed up as only one long clip. I found info that suggested that it could be that the camera's date and time wasn't set. I tried another DV tape (camera's date & time is set) with the same result. Any suggestions on what went wrong and is there an easy way to separate into clips?

I imported video from a Canon Elura 100 that consisted of many clips(100+) that showed up as only one long clip.
Strange how you complain about getting a single file while others are complaining that their content is broken into dozens if not hundreds of segments.
Any suggestions on what went wrong and is there an easy way to separate into clips?
Have no idea why you have been so "blessed" or "cursed" (depending on you point of view) but see no real difference in editing other than an individual's personal point of view when it comes to managing the content as source material. iMovie will handle the content equally well whether the project resource pointers point to various segments of a single long file or to separate segments in separate files. If you have to physically separate your files, you can always trim and segment the raw files any way you want to dispose of the dross you will never need or use. I would not, however, recommend using a physical/file destructive work flow within iMovie '08 as it is a bad habit to get into if you ever work with anamorphic source material (i.e., you can lose your flag and iMovie with thereafter treat your files as 4:3 content).

Video imported all on one clip..

Video did not import into separate clips. Its all on one clip. How can I get imovie to make separate clips for editing? Original video is gone. Its on imovie6.

Hi Dixie
Where Do Your material originate from ?
• miniDV tape Camera (recorde with this live)
• from VHS/VCR via miniDV Camera or A/D box
If the latter - there are no Time & Date code that gives info to iMovie where to cut.
There is no function in iMovie that can produce couts from variations in picture or audio. (either in FinalCut Express/pro as I'm aware of)
It has been reported that it can be done on PC-Window platform and by programs like
Pinnacle, Adobe Premiere etc. NEVER Confirmed though.
If timecode not present - Manual cutting up only way. (As I know of)
Yours Bengt W

Selecting/importing more than one clip from camcorder using check boxes

Hi.
I've just bought a new camcorder (SD Card) based. I used to use Mini DV tapes.
Now when I import into iMovie9 I am able to select which clips I import. I always choose manual import because I like to save different clips into different topics.
I am able to uncheck all the clips and individually select each one I want to import but I'm baffled about how to select more than one clip at a time and then check the import box. e.g. select clips 3 to 15 and then having to check the box once instead of checking ever box for each clip. There must be something like hold shift down while selecting but I've not managed to work it out yet!
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Paul

Hi Paul,
I import clips as you do - by manually ticking the box in each clip. Like you, I haven't figured out a way to select a group of clips in one go - that would be very handy! Sorry I can't help - I'll be interested to see what answers you get.
John

General questions about imported video and audio clips

Hey guys. I'm a new Apple convert so forgive me if I ask extremely stupid questions.
1. If I import a video file that has audio in it, am I able to separate the audio from the video? I want to edit in pictures over some of the video but keep the audio playing over it. Is this possible in FCE?
2. I've started a project on FCE and I can't hear the audio from an mp3 file I downloaded. I know I have to convert it to an AIFF file (which I thought I did, at 16bits), but I still can't hear it. Is there something I'm missing?
Thanks for the help guys!

Thanks for the reply. As to my first question, I assume then when I import a video clip with audio on it, FCE will automatically split the two?
As to my second question, thanks for the link, but I already tried it and still no audio. Is there something I need to fix in the playback? I'm still not clear on what the RT tab does. Maybe it's something with that?

Why does iMovie chop my dv import video into tiny clips?

I have been trying to import a dv movie but it gets broken into some split second shots and some over 17 seconds; not related to when I started and stopped filming. The playback is then very choppy and unuseable

I've given up with Final Cut X. For the beginner it may be an easy way to learn to edit video but it is far removed from the professional editors such as Mediacomposer, Finalcut Pro, Premier Pro etc, that we were hoping it could grow towards in the future.
I know that Apple decided they wanted to deal only with the consumer and created an enormous backlash from the broadcast TV community who had invested in Macs and FCP but I would have expected the application to have been tested properly with all versions of the OS. Apple afterall have full control of the platform unlike any other software developer.
What greatly disappoints me though is to come to this app and to immediately find a problem with it. I can only assume this has been broken by Mountain Lion as it did work briefly under Lion.
So, back to Final Cut Pro, which incidently ingested all the clips that failed under FC X without issue.
Richard.

What is the easiest way to cut imported video into shorter clips?

For Christmas I am converting old family movies from 8mm tapes to an external hard drive for my parents. I have done some research and found that the external hard drive will be able to work with their blu ray player if it is reformatted to Fat 32. That part I have done--unfortunately Fat 32 will only save files up to 4 GB in size, and the videos I am importing are about 30 GB for each tape. Is there a simple way to break each import down to 4 GB a clip that is less time consuming than me overviewing every import and stopping it every 10-15 minutes? Thank you for your time everyone!

If each tape is 30GB I guess my first question would be what format are they saved in? And MP4 file might only be 600MBytes and playback for just over an hour. I don't know if the Blu-ray would play all file formats but MP4 might be an option and it would help shrink those file sizes a bit.

How do I keep the vocal soundtrack from on imported video while inserting clips from another video?

I'm new to iMovie10 and this is a first for me to ask a question on the community support site. Anyway, I have this video of a stationary shot of a demonstration with the presentor giving his vocal explanation of how to perform the task at hand. I also have a video of hand-held shots with close ups and different angles of the same presentation filmed simultaneously. How do I insert the clips from the hand-held video into the main video without losing the audio of the main video? Thanks ahead of time for any help.

First, go to iMovie/Preferences and make sure the Advanced Tools are enabled.
If so, you can use the Cutaway Feature.
Drag the second clip and drop it on the first clip at the frame where you want the second clip's video to start playing. A popup menu will appear. Choose Cutaway.
Here is a good Tutorial on the Cutaway Feature.

Flicking entire video over one clip!

Hello everyone.
I've done everything I can think of, including browsing all forums and trying things others have suggested that are close to my issue. Nothing works.
I have clips in a timeline, with title clips for text and such. Standard stuff. On some clips, I can set speed to 90% and set clip to "always deinterlace" and they work fine, no flicker. Other clips I do the same thing and the entire video flickers horribly. I checked the specs on both clips and they are the same. The only difference I can see is that the clips that don't flicker when speed changed to under 100% were captured a year or so ago. The flicking clips were captured this week. Same camera for both. I did upgrade to CS5 between these captures, but can't see how that would make a difference?
I did an entirely different project with recent clips just fine a couple months ago. No idea why I have problems now -- unless it's a combination of older and newer captured clips? But that still doesn't make sense?
All display fine at 100% speed.
The biggest thing I don't understand is why the entire video flickers? The titles (with text) flicker really badly. Changing the speed of the clip (track 1) changes the flickering in the titles (tracks 3 and 4). How could a clip affect other tracks?
I've spent hours on this already and I'm at a loss. Attempted time remapping instead of speed, tried every combination of de-interlacing, anti-flicker, etc.
I have a new machine, Win 7 Pro 64, 8GB ram, i7 quad, big video card/ram, etc. CS5 with all latest updates. I run nothing but CS5 on this machine. Sequence settings 29.97 drop-frame, DV Widescreen, NTSC.

hi
i think it's a premiere problem (unfurtunatly not the only) not your
i have win 7 with cs 5.0.3 + nvidia 470 + matrox rtx2 and i've the same problem, when i change the speed or i put PIP sometimes video flickering, my video arePAL SD, IT'S VERY sad, i think cs3+matrox rtx2 was the best solution, unfortunately missed full hd, now premiere prefer nvidia than matrox but nvidia help you just in preview but matrox help you in rendering and more

Import video comes in as one entire clip

I just purchased a new iMac which came with iLife 09. I have been using an older version of iMovie. I am a football coach and use the iMovie to import video and break clips into groups. Offense, Defense, Special Teams, etc. The new iMovie imports my video as an entire clip and I must go through and piece it together. I hate it! Am I doing something wrong? I have a Sony DCR-TRV38 mini DV camera. Always worked fine before. Just hook up to the firewire and go. If anyone can help me out, I would be in your debt.
Casey in Pleasanton CA

Normally, iMovie will start a new clip every time that the camera is started and stopped.
If you have to assemble movies in groups, watch these two video tutorials. They may help.
[Favorites|http://www.apple.com/findouthow/movies/imovie08.html#advmark]
[Keywords|http://www.apple.com/findouthow/movies/imovie08.html#tag]
The second video tutorial is what you need, but you should also understand the simpler method.

Capture MiniDV tape as one clip

I am doing my first MiniDV tape capture. I rewound the tape, clicked play and Capture Now. When the tape was done, it was divided up into clips. I don't want this. How do I import it as one clip? (it broke it up into 5 clips of varying length) this is a friends home video.

If you are working with DV/NTSC or DV/PAL material, Final Cut Pro does not automatically segment the capture (unless there are time code breaks).
If you have HDV footage, I believe there is a check box somewhere in the capture settings to turn off the automatic clip generation.
x

Why does my imported video appear on only one clip?

I had only made a few in the past but I remember well that the footages appeared as several clips on the pane window.On this occasion I have but only one clip, despite the fact i wasnt running the camera constantly and took several bits of film footage.Rather confused by it

Actually i just finished importing in and it has appeared as two clips which still isnt much good as it limits my editing options somewhat.There area few bits i would like to remove , then add trans and effects as well

Importing video clips in AVCHD (Lite) into Aperture vs iMovie

I'm trying to figure out which application I should use for importing and storing video clips shot on my Panasonic DMC-ZS7 camera. This camera can shoot in AVCHD (Lite) or in Motion JPEG. I use the AVCHD (Lite) format to shoot the videos with this camera.
The two application options I currently have for importing video clips from this camera are:
a. Aperture 3.5.1 (I'm not using iPhoto since I have Aperture).
b. iMovie 10.0.1 (I'm not using Final Cut Pro)
When I first got this camera, Aperture 3 did not support the AVCHD Lite codec. Back then, iMovie could import video clips shot in AVCHD Lite, but it had to transcode the AVCHD video clips into AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec). Some time later, one of the Aperture 3 updates made it possible to import AVCHD Lite into Aperture (without having to transode into an intermediate codec), so we started importing our video clips shot in AVCHD Lite (together with our photos shot by the same camera) directly into Aperture.
iMovie 10 released in 2013 supports importing video clips shot in AVCHD Lite without having to transode them to AIC for storing these video clips in iMovie. So, now we have a dilemma that we need help with. Which application should we use going forward for importing video clips from this camera?
When I look at the metadata for the imported videos in Aperture, I see that the format of the imported video clips is listed as H.264. However, I can't seem to be able to find any information about the format in which iMovie stores imported videos. I can "Reveal in Finder" a video that I import into iMovie, and I see the size of the file and the .mov extension assigned to the file. With video files, the extension does not always determine the codec of the file, but in my non-expert opinion, the .mov extension is not H.264; I may be totally wrong here, though. What I have noticed, though, is that a video clip imported into iMovie has the file size that is about 10% larger than the same video clip imported into Aperture.
Therefore, I have three questions:
1. What format is a video clip (shot in AVCHD Lite) stored in Aperture 3.5.1 and in iMovie 10.0.1
2. Which format (the one used by Aperture or the one used in iMovie) is better suited for transoding AVCHD videos into? The balance of the quality and file size is the main consideration for us.
3. Which applications would you personally prefer using for importing video clips to and why?
I do want to use some of these video clips to make home videos in the future, utillizing iMovie. However, it seems I can still store the raw footage in Aperture and access this raw footage from iMovie to be able to create an iMovie project and a final home video. One of the concerns is that if we keep importing our video clips into Aperture, the Aperture library could grow beyond the size that Aperture can support and we may end up losing our photos due to the database corruption. Is this a real risk?
Thank you!

I had the same question recently. Go to the right of this box and a little above, into the Search Discussions window. Type in this: Is MPEG2 the answer
You will find my question, and the great answers I got. Follow those directions and you will be all set!

I can't Import Video, Transitions & Audio From One Project To Another

I've been working on this video all day and I’m finally in the home stretch but I've encountered my biggest problem yet. This is what I want to do. I have a series of clips, transitions, and separate music track in 1 open project and I want to transfer the whole kit and caboodle to another open project. For some reason when I do it only imports the video and some audio that's in track 1. I have tried locking audio clips to the video but it doesn't seem to be working. Can anyone help me!? I'm bleary eyed already I've been at this so long. Thanks!

catspaw: Thanks for replying!!! I think I was unclear as to what my problem was. The way I work is to have one Master project open and I then import various clips from other secondary projects as I build my movie. I know . . . this might seem nutty it’s just how I work. The clips, sound and transition were from a separate project but they were only part of the main movie I was building in my Master Project. Am I making any since? Anyway, I couldn’t take it any more so I rolled up my sleeves and went 1 by 1 through the audio clips and lined them up by hand with the imported video. I know this must be almost INPOSSIBLE to understand the way I’m explaining it, sorry! Basically, though, for now, I’ve solved the problem. Thanks so much! I’ll post again when I have my next iMovie anxiety attack.

How import from camcorder to iMovie as one clip?

When I import from my mini-dv camcorder (Canon) into iMovie '09, iMovie splits into many clips. The problem is, it gets confused and about 10% of the clips are like 0.1 sec and named something not related to date/time like the rest of the clips. As a result, they appear in the event library out of order, creating a mess. I just want to import as one clip to avoid this misordering. My objective is archive video from tape to hard drive. As background, I suspect the timecodes may be wacky on the mini-dv tape because it is a copy from an 8mm tape.
I have many of these mini-dv tapes so an answer to this problem will save me many hours. I can achieve a 1-clip import using Vidi, but it won't automatically stop recording so I can't start one importing when I go to bed.
Thanks

I have the same problem. The video was created with a sony hcr-dc96 using the "smth int rec" mode. The would be a "time lapse video" in English. I suspect every frame looks like a new scene to the importer.
It imports and creates an even, but if I click on the event I get the beach ball and unresponsiveness, and eventual crash. Looking at the even library I can see there are 3249 files in the folder corresponding to that event.
Is there any way to recover using imovie? Do I need to import using some other means?

Importing video as one clip

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