The end of jagged edges in iMovie using stills

Question

It took an astonishing 14 months, but I have finally beaten the dreaded jagged edge quality issue in iMovie when using still photos. If you're reading this, you're a sufferer. How could the software be so bad as to ruin every picture you put in there? It's all about knowing the settings, and that can be difficult without some help.
It feels as though I've really gone through the mill with this programme, but here's your fix - or at least, a fix that worked for me.
Initially, I was using the first version of iMovie and the first version of OSX. In that environment I found the problem unsolvable. I didn't get anywhere until I upgraded to Panther (10.3.9) and iMovie HD 5.0.2. Here there are many more options and settings, but it is still a minefield. I tried almost every setting there is, and have the 'coasters' to prove it.
My fix is for widescreen. Choose HDV720P. Select your frame rate in the preferences box at 25 (which is PAL for use in the UK) And that's it. It produces a stable, high quality movie where all the effects available work perfectly - and no jagged edges!
If, as I do, you use Photo to Movie for more adventurous multiple pan and scans for sections of your movie, export from that software using 'higher quality' on rendering, select 16.9 widescreen, and DV stream PAL as your export format. This stops iMovie from trying to resample it, and very possibly giving a choppy or jerky movement to your imports. Using the above settings will give a perfect result, and you can freely use iMovie's transitions to join an imported item to footage created in iMovie.
I've now produced many very successful movies on these settings. It works for me, I really hope it works for you. iMovie can drive you up the wall when it doesn't give the results you know it can be capable of.
Quicksilver G4   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

Answer 1

Thanks for the idea, Steve. I like working with the HDV 720P high def projects for slideshows too. The quality is awfully nice to work with and it delivers projects that will work far better with tomorrow's hardware. Although we can't burn HD DVDs yet, hopefully that day will come soon, and the HDV slideshows we create today will look very good on the HDTVs we own tomorrow. They look good today, but they will look even better tomorrow.
It should be noted, however, that it's not necessary to create an HDV project to avoid the jaggies on still images. The cause of the jaggies in DV projects -- the type of projects we mostly make -- is well known and can be avoided. It doesn't require third-party software like Photo to Movie, but it does require avoiding a bug.
iMovie adds the jaggies after we press the Create iDVD Project button in the iDVD tab of iMovie. When that button is pressed, iMovie will ask permission to render any UN-rendered clips, including any unrendered KB images. If you grant permission to render, iMovie adds the jaggies while rendering those images.
If the clips have been previously rendered by Ken Burns, or if you refuse permission to render after pressing the button so iDVD renders them later, you don't get the jaggies.
I use Ken Burns to render images as they are imported, which it does with great quality. Once rendered, iMovie won't ask to render those images again. One reason I render with Ken Burns is so I can grant iMovie to render OTHER clips when it asks permission.
Ken Burns will render the image if the KB checkbox is turned ON when the image is imported. So turning on the checkbox avoids the bug.
If the checkbox isn't on when you import an image, you can select that KB clip in the timeline later, turn the checkbox ON, and Update the image.
Regrettably, once iMovie has added jaggies to clips they cannot be repaired. It's necessary to re-import the image and discard the flawed clip.
Karl