Sharing (Export) Quality in iMovie 10

When selecting the Share/File in iMovie, what is the difference in Quality between "High" and "Best (ProRes)"? I have a 20 min movie taken with a Sony RX100 M2 using AVCHD 60i. Selecting the High resolution results in a file size of 3 GB file. Selecting the Best (ProRes) results in a file size of 23 GB. Is the difference in quality worth the difference in file size?

This is why you can't export 4K resolution in iMovie 10.0.06 ...(from apple's site):
http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.0.6/#/move6e0cb2ad
To set the resolution of the shared movie: Choose an option from the Resolution pop-up menu.Unavailable resolutions appear dimmed.
Tip: You can export a 4K clip in its native resolution by selecting a 4K clip in the browser.
To set the output quality of the shared movie: Choose an option from the Quality pop-up menu.To manually set the output quality of the shared movie, choose Custom from the Quality pop-up menu, and drag the slider to set the target bit rate.As you drag the slider, the estimated file size that appears below the preview thumbnail is updated.
So you can export a single 4K clip from the browser at its native size, but not the project.
This now makes sense to me because I have been trying every way to export a couple of goPro hero4 and gh4 4K clips in a project without any luck. You can export it in proRes but only at 1080p.
no 4K exporting or sharing in iMovie.

Similar Messages

Trouble With Exporting Quality with iMovie HD

Hi,
Im a first time user of iMovie HD and was having trouble with the qqaulity of my footage when im exporting or sharing it out to quicktime in a dv file.
When i connect my camera to a TV and watch the footage it seems a lot clearer in comparison to when i 'share' it out of iMovie HD. It seems to lose a lot of its quality. Does anyone have any suggestions? I obviously want to get the best quality i can, can anyone help???

Don't worry, it's a bit on illusion!
The quality that you see in iMovie is not representative of the quality you will see on your TV from the final DVD. This shoulkd be almost indistinguishable from what you see on your TV from the camera.
This is intentional, in that the quality is reduced (as far as what you see is concerned) in order to save 'extra labour' in the Mac's processor.

Sharing/Exporting files from iMovie?

Is there a way to share/export all the individual clips all at once w/ out iMovie making the file one long movie with all the clips?

iMovie offers no way to export a collection of clips in batch mode, exporting each to a separate file.
Note that dragging a clip from iMovie to the Desktop copies the entire source file to the Desktop, not just the clip. (If the clip is the entire file, of course, that is not a problem.)
FCP should be able to accept iMovie source files, the files created when importing from a camera. (I don't use FCP so I have no experience.) In fact, you should be able to import to iMovie from the camera, open the Media folder inside the iMovie project and import those files directly to FCP without exporting from iMovie.
To look inside the iMovie project, Control-click on the project in the Finder and choose "Show Package Contents".
This must be a Frequently Asked Question in the Final Cut Pro discussion forum. I suggest you check there.
Karl

Poor export quality from imovie to idvd

Can someone help me. I have perfect photos with iphoto, transfer them to imovie (still clear), but when i finally send them to idvd and create my movie, all of my photos get digitalized. I've checked all 3 programs, and they all appear to be set at the highest quality. Is there a way to create a dvd with the same quality of photos that I have with my other programs?
Thanks, Brent

A few things to consider:
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/SVCDon_aMacintosh.html#slideshow

Low quality in iMovie Export

iMovie is a great program. Unfortunately the export quality is not very good. I have tried several codecs (Apple Intermediate Codec, H.264, ++), but the result is drastic quality reduction. Very visible in dark areas and peoples faces were the no. of colors are too low. Filesize is reduced too.
The imported file (from Sony Handycam HD (CX550)) is an apple intermediate codec and the quality is great.
When exporting from iMovie useing Apple Intermediate Codec the quality setting is "medium" with no option to change this.
I also use Final Cut Express which gives much better export quality. But the program is not as intuitive and easy to use so I prefer iMovie.
The solution is to edit the movie in iMovie, export the project to Final Cut (by XML) and export QuickTime movie. With XML export all fancy transmissions are lost, but the picture quality is great. The final movie file is 3-4 times larger.
Anyone with similar experience or a solution?

I have exactly the same issues
'Very visible in dark areas and peoples faces where the no. of colors are too low. Filesize is reduced too.'
In light you won't notice but the dark is just terrible.
Important: It has not to do with interlace. Interlacing is not the problem. It's the dark areas en people faces!
I thought I found the solution.
Wat I did was:
- Export as Quictime Apple Intermediate Codec
- > If I use the Dimensions 'HD 1920 x 1080 16:9" it was terrible
If I use the Dimension '1920 x 1080 HD' it was perfect.
(Also I set the compressor to 'other' and 'interlaced' and 'top field first')
But the strange thing is: When I do it on a small piece of footage. It works perfect. When I do it on a longer project: the footage is crappy again.
I worked a week on different home video stuff and it's not fun to see this decrease of quality.
I didn't missed a toppic where someone found the solution?
I will keep you informed about my investigations...

Export "full-quality" in iMovie '09.

Using iMovie HD, I used to export my footage as a full-quality QuickTime movie so I could archive it to disk and access it later. However, in iMovie '09, the "full-quality QuickTime" preset seems to have been removed.
What export settings in iMovie '09 will allow me to achieve the highest possible quality? I'd like to archive my footage to disk so that I'll always have a digital file to work with.
Thank you.

Welcome BarrenRegions to the  iMovie boards ..
no way to answer that question.. you have to compare apples with peaches.. (German proverb):
iMHD≥6 was a dv-only editor (and AIC, but this is another story...); it handles dv lossless.. frequent contributor lennart once made a test of ex- and reimporting a few dozends time the same clip = no loss of pic quality.
now iM08/09:
it handles dv not as dv internally anymore; therefore it accepts lots of other codecs (mp2, avchd, h264...).. so, depending of your source, the export can be lossy.
we have mile-long threads about that, search for posts from Steve Mullen and Euisung Lee who did research this issue +ad nauseam+
as far as I followed that discussion: there's a 'trick', to convert - after import into iM08/09 - the imports to AppleIntermediate with tools as QTpro or Mpeg Streamclip. that blows-up size, but forces iM08/09 to keep quality a 100%...
.. sorry for being less helpful, even as a 'Silverback' on this board, all that is +a bit+ beyond my skills, needs and understanding.. to be honest: I switched awhile ago to FinalCutExpress, and will use iM09 when I'll get a new rec-device.. hopefully this year (Santa! do you listen?!...)

IMovie trouble sharing/exporting

hi i am having issues with sharing/exporting the movie. i can see the full version run through well in iMovie, however when it comes to sharing/exporting, i can hear the audio but the images arent coming through- they are distorted. i have prepared for publishing as well, turned it into 720 and 1080 but still no joy.

I'm not too well up on Mac OS X Error Codes - even though I've googled this for you, and suggestions seem to indicate that Error 0 means "no error", but that doesn't sound right - so all I can offer is:
Error codes are 'pre-written' and have to cover a wide range of circumstances, so they're not always appropriate to the actual problem (..like in DOS, "Bad command or filename" could mean almost anything: mistyped word, command term is missing or in the wrong place, program doesn't exist or has been moved, etc).
So the actual wording of an Error message may imply something quite different, e.g; you "don't have permission" to write to a disc may mean that the disc is actually full, so there's no more room to write to it.
If you've already made three iMovie projects, and created two iDVD projects from those, and none of that material has been deleted from your Mac, then perhaps you're running short of space. Why not check and see how much free space you have on your iMac, as burning a DVD can need up to about 4.5 GB of empty space to build the DVD "disc image" (..depending on how long the DVD runs for).
Not having "permission" to do something can also mean that various files may be in the wrong places ..which sounds like the consequence of renaming folders, or moving programs out of the folder where the system expects to find them. Could you have renamed any other folders, beside the 'Pictures' which you've now corrected? Could you have moved the iDVD program - or any other item which iDVD is trying to use - from its original position?
Not having "permission" to do something is such a catch-all, that you'd really have to narrow things down to what exactly is different, or what changes you've made on your Mac, between earlier projects and this latest one.
Sorry not to be any more helpful than that!

FCE export quality worse than iMovie with same settings

Hi, I'm having real problems exporting video from FCE. If I import an HD clip from my Panasonic sd200 into iMovie and export it as a .mov and do exactly the same in FCE using the same export settings, the quality of the exported movie from FCE is much worse than the same from iMovie. I have been struggling with this problem for months and cannot seem to get any sort of decent quality export from FCE (using H264) and spent hours trying different settings.
Also, the colours in the exported videos from iMovie and FCE are less saturated and look really bland next to the same clip in FCE canvas.
Please can anyone help? Even the guys in the Apple shop could not figure this one out.

Sorry the camera is actually a Panasonic HS200.
The native format is .MTS and films in 1920x1080 50i. Imported via iMovie as a .MOV which gives the same quality footage as if I imported via Log and Transfer.
I will expand on the problem I am experiencing. When I export from FCE4 using "QuickTime conversion" I use the following settings:
Codec: h.264 Key Frames: every 25
Frame rate: 25fps Frame Reordering: on
Data Rate Restricted to: 10mbps
Optimised for: Download
Quality: High Encoding: Best quality (multi-pass)
Dimensions: 1920x1080
Deinterlace Source Video: ticked
When the deinterlacing is ticked, the final exported video appears ghosted, with two of the same images projected side by side rather than one on top of the other, creating a very bad image. However when deinterlacing is not ticked the final exported video ends up with horizontal lines across the entire image. This is seen even more clearly when not in full screen.
When I export from iMovie 09, using Share>Export using QuickTime using the same settings as in FCE4 (deinterlacing ticked) the footage is very clear and there is no noticeable ghosting or horizontal lines.
When I export footage from FCE the video also end up desaturated and washed out, with low contrast. The same happens when I export from iMovie, but to an even greater extent!
My 'Easy Setup' for FCE4 is:
Format: Apple intermediate Codec Rate: 25fps
Use: AVCHD- Apple Intermediate Codec 1920x1080i50
These are the problems I experience; described above.
I do no know whether the problem is something to do with my export settings; settings in FCE; or whether FCE exaggerates the quality of my images (which i highly doubt); or if it is because FCE4 is now around 4 years old, and iMovie is from 2009, and therefore has more advanced settings for AVCHD?
I am by no means a professional when it comes to talking video jargon.
Any help is truly appreciated as i have completed over 150 test exports in FCE and the Final Cut experts at the Apple store spent almost 2 hours trying to work something about, but could not think of anything!
Thanks in advance.

IMovie vs FCPX export quality

Afternoon/morning all.
Question I have is regarding the export quality of FCPX vs iMovie!!
I've been using iMovie for over a year now but only recently started to publish my work.
I get on with iMovie great but the one issue that let's it down is the export quality, it's been driving me crazy but after finally looking into it seems that iMovie is the problem and reduces the footage quality.
I'm just thinking about upgrading to FCPX the extra editing features and functions will be great too.
I just want to know that the exporting footage in FCPX won't reduce the quality of the footage!
Can anybody help!!
Thanks

'quality' is a very complex issue.
Most consumer IMPORTS do look nice, when the cam is connected straight to a telly.
… but those recordings contain tons of 'flaws'. (low bitrates, artefacts due to wrong exposure etc)
the difference, how iMovie and FCPX handle that:
• iM uses as intermediate AppleIntermediateCodec - which does marvel with all the diff. flavors of video, a consumer wants to edit ... but it is far from perfect.
• … and iMovie deinterlaces interlaced material = reducing vertical resolution by half
• FCPX transcodes to proRes or even handles codecs 'natively' - which reduces transcoding errors (dramatically)
on export, both apps use the same Quicktime-engine, I dare to say no difference.
using the wrong export settings, multiplies bad imports …
the 'hurt' is done on import, …
and most damage, in terms of quality, is done on recording ....

IMovie'08 low export quality

Hi!
I have recorded a video on my Canon A630 photocam. Of course it's not pro videocam, but video quality in 640x480 is quite good. I imported this movie into iPhoto (it actually just copies AVI files from cam to hdd) an previewed it in iPhoto. Quality was good.
Then I created a new project in iMovie with this video, trimed it a bit. And exported to iTunes in 640x480 res. When I opened in iTunes I was very surprised by such a low quality: video became lighter, colors were washed out, there were more compression artifacts! Compare it yourself: http://idisk.mac.com/hardwarrior/Public/Pictures/Skitch/Skitch-20081229-142253.j pg right is from iMovie and left one is from cam. Is there a way to increase encoding quality in iMovie'08?

Hi,I am new to iMac and need help. I have HD 1080i tape camera, I have recorded some water polo games and have been importing that to iMovie. No problem there. Created project, actually no editing as I needed it all, no transitions,no music added . I had a preview and quality was perfect. I clicked share- Media bowser , Large . I have opened iDVD and created DVD using existing Theme-revolution.
I have burned DVD. I have done this for 3-4 recorded games and DVD video quality was excellent.
I have not done any changes to setting either to my iMac or video Camera since, however now when I am doing the same with a new recorded game and go through same steps quality of video is very poor. You can not see players faces everything is blurred.
Also for 40min of video it takes 110 minutes of burning time.

How can you keep the highest iphone 4s Video quality the same when exporting it from iMovie.

How can you keep the highest iphone 4s Video quality the same when exporting it from iMovie.

InDesign's PDF export engine does not transcode your videos, they are embedded exactly as they were in the original file. The Flash Player runtime which displays video inside PDF files may not show a perfect match to Quicktime etc. because most video playback tools aren't designed for a color-calibrated workflow, but they should be close.
The playback quality (blocking and aliasing) will be affected if the clip is not playing at 100% (screen pixels != video pixels) and in PDFs with the standard video player widget, that will only ever happen when you use 'floating window' mode. PDF pages have physical dimensions, so viewing them at "100%" does not make them match screen pixels.
If you don't mind the video clip being smaller than the media annotation in which it's playing, then use my free upgrade to the Acrobat playback widget - VideoPlayerX - which maintains 1:1 pixel scale until the page is zoomed out too far for it to fit. You can install the widget into InDesign so it's used by default when exporting.

Can I improve iMovie file export quality?

I’ve captured my old home videos as mp4 files using Elgato Video Capture, and the quality is quite good. But if I import a capture to iMovie, edit, and export as “High” quality, there is considerable degradation of video quality. Furthermore, the original file is less than half as large as the iMovie export version. I haven’t tried the next step up in quality, but iMovie estimates that the file size would be 32 GB, which is out of the question.
Is this what one should expect of iMovie, or am I missing something?

That could be related to your connection.
If streaming via Internet what is your speed via speedtest.net
Check istumbler or netstumbler to check for interference
Ensure there are no other network activities

Export quality in AppleTV

The quality of the video when using the.. ermmm... high quality export is dreadful. I was hoping that these new claims of professional encoding quality Apple's been claiming this week would allow me to have DVD-quality home movies exported from iMovie. You've removed DVD sharing export from iMovie, and hacked back maximum quality.
I AM VERY CONFUSED. WHAT'S GOING ON ?

Correct. Use Share -> Export using Quicktime -> Movie to Quicktime Movie -> Options. Then pick H.264, and set the Data Rate to Restrict to ... kbits/s. AppleTV will accept up to 5000 kbits/s - I usually pick 4800 to be safe. Don't forget to check the size - it sometimes carries over inappropriate settings from the previous export.

Video Quality in imovie

I am capturing video using a Sony HDR-SR12 Handycam, converting the video using QT in a MPEG4 format, so can use the file with imovie. Once I transfer over to imovie the video quality is very bad. Playing the video out of the camera on to the TV the picture is perfect, also the video seems fine in the Microsoft Picture Browser.
Is this an imovie issue or a conversion issue? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi John
Sorry i don't have the answer, but i'm interested in your question because i have the same kind of issue when i import in iMovie 08, 09 and iMovie HD from my Sony SR10 AVCDH camera.
I just can say that when i export directly from iMovie to iDVD the quality is bad; this seems to be a well known problem and it is recommended to export video using the Quicktime with H264. With that method, i can obtain good quality in the STATIC images, but during the panoramic movements of the camera the final result (i mean a DVD on my cathodic TV) is disappointing, with a "jerky" rendering.
You can download on my iDisk an exemple of it at: http://public.me.com/leclercqpascal
When i compare with the same sequence treated on the PC Sony's software, i find in the latter case a perfectly smooth result.
The problem is the same when i import from the camera to FCE.
Help welcome, because i would be disappointed to resort to a PC software!

So what's the export quality like???

Hi, after the 'pain' of i-movie 8, what's the view on the export quality in 9?
Does it export high enough quality to look good when burnt to dvd and played back on tv?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
It looks the same as iMovie 08.
I did a compare one day using the same clip burned to DVD from iMovie 06 and from iMovie '08.
The iMovie 06 clip looked like it came from the DV camera directly and the iMovie 08 clip looked much worse. The difference is the single field processing used by iMovie 08/09 and the fact that it throws out every other horizontal line.
Because the two softwares handle the imported video differently - single field processing is how iMovie 08 / 09 handles the video, meaning that one of every two lines of the image is ignored. 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 '08 / 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.

Sharing (Export) Quality in iMovie 10

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