Question for Sue and others - Problems exporting back to Mini DV tape

Question

Hi there Sue
This is a very interesting concept that you have mentioned in another of your posts:
"In the past, many posters reported this type of problem. There is a workaround that I realize should not be necessary, but it has helped many.
Instead of exporting to the camera, "Share" your iMovie video as a QuickTime Full Quality DV
Import this QT movie into a NEW iMovie project.
Then export (share) that to your camcorder.
It does take time to convert the imovie to QuickTime, but in the end it should work."
I have a similar problem where that when I want to back up by edited movie back to mini DV tape, there might be the occasional 'dropped frame' or image break up that appears from time to time on my back up tape. This then renders this back up useless for my purpose. Currently I select 'share' and then 'video camera' to perform this action. Sometimes I think that its Imovie's fault that these errors occur and sometimes I blame the video camera - who knows?!! One thing I do notice is that when looking at the video transferring from Imovie to Video tape, any error wont show on the Imovie window, but will show on the video camera flip out screen. I wonder if it means that it is the video camera's fault?
Do you think that your process might cure this problem?
Many thanks
Daniel
MacBook Pro 17" Intel & Powerbook 17" 1.67 mhz   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

Answer 1

Hi lorddim1,
In addition to Sue's great advice, another method of exporting to your camera may solve your problem - a method which I always use with success. In iMovie's Preferences (Menu>Preferences), check the box "Play DV project video through to DV camera". Set your camera to the VCR (Play) position and simultaneously click the Play button in iMovie and the Record button on the camera (or camera remote).
After exporting to tape, it's best to then un-check the Preferences box, as leaving it checked can sometimes mute the audio playback in iMovie in some versions.
The quality of the export is identical to that using the "Share" feature in iMovie. It may also help to set the iMovie Preference for Playback to "Standard (smoother motion)" and to ensure that, in the Timeline, "Show Clip Volume Levels" and "Show Audio Waveforms" are not activated (go to the View menu for these or Control-Click on the audio track/s). The less iMovie has to worry about, often the smoother the playback. Please note that the Playback preference has no effect on the quality of the export - it's only a setting for playback on the monitor.
Hope this helps!
John