Is there any software that will delete video after I crop in iMovie

Question

Ok, I've spent days reading posts and googling for answers. I'm ready to spend $$ if I need to. We're all aware of how iMovie won't let us delete unwanted video. I'm trying to fix a wedding video some hack did in SVHS. I got it from DVD to Video_TS to DV using MPEG Streamline and imported the video clips to iMovie. (By "video clips", I am mean the DV files.)
There are 7 DV files from a 69-minute video. I am creating tons of smaller "clips" from these DV files - like 5 to 15-second clips - because I want to use transitions in between them.
My understanding of what's happening in iMovie as I do this is as follows:
- Let's say I begin with the first DV file that is 1.9 GB, about 10 minutes long.
- I create a 10-second clip from that by (a) selecting my start and end points, (b) clicking Edit>copy, (c) clicking on the clip pane, (d) clicking Edit>paste.
- Now I have a new 10-second clip.
- But! I also have 1.9 GB of unused video behind that clip, right?
- I repeat the process maybe 30 or 40 more times until I've edited the original 10-minute DV file (clip) and what do I have?
- Do I have 40 10-second clips each with 1.9 GB of unwanted video behind it??
As I said, with 7 DV files at 1.9 GB each that need to be sliced into multiple clips for transition effects, etc, this will shut down my MB quick. I've only done this with 3 DV files so far and I have 12 GB of HD space left. I will obviously not be able to finish the project this way. What a disaster!
So here's the million dollar question -- Is there ANY 3rd party software that will allow me to slice these DV files into small clips and permanently delete the unused video?
I don't care if I use something that "replaces" iMovie or something that works with iMovie. Like I said, I'm ready to spend the money to save the time, disk space, and aggravation. Note I worked in video production (many) years ago so I'm not afraid of something "technical" (editing concepts aren't new to me). However, I'm far from being an expert on what's out there these days.
I should also note that the original wedding video (DVD) did not have any chapters or anything of the sort. The ONLY way I can edit this is to import the entire file as it was converted to DV. It's not like I can import only the video I want to use. I hope that makes sense. I do not have access to the source video either - only this pathetic DVD he calls a wedding video.
Thanks in advance so much for any help. I never would've gotten this far without all the posts!
MacBook   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   2 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM
MacBook   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   2 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM
MacBook   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   2 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM

Answer 1

- Do I have 40 10-second clips each with 1.9 GB of unwanted video behind it??
Not to worry. When we Copy and Paste within a project, iMovie HD creates a new clip thumbnail for the Timeline/Clips pane, then simply adds a new pointer to the source video. The source material is not duplicated.
When you Copy a clip and Paste a clip to a DIFFERENT project then Yes, the clip's entire source video file is duplicated. (When Copying between projects, be sure to Copy and Paste all the clips together so iMovie duplicates the source files just one time.)
Next time, you might consider setting your iMovie 6 preferences to limit the length of imported clips to 3 minutes — or whatever duration you want. Then each imported clip will have its own source file. When you discard an entire clip its file will be discarded too, shrinking the size of the project.
If you have no need to preserve the clips as clips you could export the project to a Full Quality movie that you import to a new project. Everything will arrive as a single clip, which may be okay here. Then discard your old project. The project will be smaller, containing just the stuff on the Timeline.
If the Timeline contains most of the source material — just split into small clips — there may not be a lot of "extra" material in the project. To get an estimate of how large the Timeline really is, open the "Timeline Movie.mov" that's inside the Cache folder of the project in QuickTime Player. QT Player's Show Movie Info window will show the size of the material it represents.
Karl