Video Import Quality

I'm importing video into Powerpoint with Presenter. Is FLV files the only file type I can import without losing quality? I've tried importing with a couple of different video file types (avi, mp4) and the quality decreases a lot.

Lennart Thelander wrote:
The LCD in the camera is designed to be used outdoors, so it's naturally much brighter than any computer.
Yes, but that wouldn't explain the difference between this and material imported into previous projects.
Calibrate your monitor:
http://www.danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6008.shtml
Actually, that made it worse, unfortunately.
Any specific reason you are using an old QT version?
I use a professional audio recording software and the QT upgrades are continuously giving it fits. I wait until I get the "all clear" signal from others on my list.

Similar Messages

Video import quality poor on iMovie 4.0.1

Hi-
I've not imported video from my miniDV camera for awhile and I seem to have a serious reduction in quality from previous projects. The images on the LCD of the camera are nice and bright and crisp but the images in iMovie are dark and grainy. I've played with all camera settings that I think might be at fault but there really isn't much to adjust in that regard. I'm wondering if it might be a QT compatibility issue. Here are the details:
MDD G4 1.25ghz MP
OS 10.4.8
QT 7.1.5
iMovie 4.0.1
Sony DCR-TRV11
Thanks - JAY

Lennart Thelander wrote:
The LCD in the camera is designed to be used outdoors, so it's naturally much brighter than any computer.
Yes, but that wouldn't explain the difference between this and material imported into previous projects.
Calibrate your monitor:
http://www.danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6008.shtml
Actually, that made it worse, unfortunately.
Any specific reason you are using an old QT version?
I use a professional audio recording software and the QT upgrades are continuously giving it fits. I wait until I get the "all clear" signal from others on my list.

IMovie 11 DV video import quality

I have a lot of VHS and mini DV tapes I want to convert to digital to preserve them. I have been frustrated with PC issues for the past 15 years and I just made the switch from PC to Mac. All I have ever heard about is the quality of video editing capabilities of a Mac! So I bought a new Mac mini and was planning to get the Elgato video capture cable for the VHS tapes, but thought I would try the DV tapes first. I Hooked the firewire up to my JVC mini DV camera and was anticipating a great import into IMovie only to be sooo disappointed by the grainy dingy results. The transfer quality is better in my dinosaur HP using Arcsoft Showbiz! From what I have been reading this may be a problem with the new IMovie version. Mine is a new Mac Mini so I believe it is IMovie 11. I was hoping someone could tell me how to change some settings but I think I may have made a mistake switching to a Mac! Can anyone help me here???
Signed, very disappointed and frustrated New Mac User

but I think I may have made a mistake switching to a Mac!
You did not.
and was planning to get the Elgato video capture cable for the VHS tapes
A USB device (like Elgato) can't "keep up" with a video stream, unless it uses single-field processing. This means every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage.
I have done LOTS of this. Here is how to do it.
To get your VHS video into iMovie, look at the Grassvally ADVC300. Audio and Video go in, FireWire comes out. It also comes with a nice Macintosh application that works flawlessly with iMovie 06 and iDVD 09/11 (I have used it a few times with iMovie 09 and 11).
The program that comes with the ADVC300 has some nice filters that can improve video and audio of the source material. The ADVC300 will take Audio and Video from any source (VCR, Tivo, Satellite Receiver) and convert it to FireWire (iMovie will treat it like a camera).
http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc300
I would use iMovie 06 with iDVD 09/11, why?
iMovie 09/11 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage. 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 09/11, it gets re-rendered at 640x480 or less, and then iDVD upscales it back to 720x480. The end result is obviously not as good.
iMovie 06 and iDVD 09/11 is a "lossless" combination. My movies are diamond sharp, with the same quality you get from Hollywood.
You can get iMovie 06 in a number of ways. You cannot download it FROM APPLE any longer (it was free for a time). You can also find iMovie 06 on the iLife 06 install disc. You can buy iLife 06 on Amazon or eBay.

Two questions: how do Skype and iChat compare for group video? quality, reliability, cost, etc are important. 2) Is my MobileMe ID what I need to use in the window in making an iChat buddy? It only says AIM above the window, online tutorial differs.

Two questions: 1) How do Skype and iChat compare for group video? Quality, reliability, cost, etc are important. 2) Is my MobileMe ID what I need to input in the window in making an iChat buddy? It only says AIM above the window, online tutorial differs, saying MobileMe, AIM, GoogleTalk (Jabber) all work. Thnx

Hi,
IChat uses better Video Compression than Skype does.
On a top flight Mac you can send a 640 X 480 pixel frame up to 30 frames a sec.
Skype can't match this.
iChat in Video is Peer to Peer. (you can actually Log out of the Buddy list)
Skype seems to borrow something from everyone's bandwidth to make connections.
What do you mean by Business account Tracking ?
iChat Adds (or can add) the First Name, Last Name of your Buddies and create an Address Book Entry
Whether you mark those cards connected with a company is up to you.
(I have heard of issues with earlier version of iChat and the Address Book that "saw" the Company Name as the part of the Name and linking several Screen Names to the one name
Audio on a Mac using Skype tend to be the same as the streaming needs are less.
However you have to rely on any PCs audio abilities from PCs which may not be to the same standard.
Mac to PCs in iChat and AIM can be difficult though. (It should work but it rarely as simple as Plug and go)
Skype may suit your needs better on ocassions.
9:11 PM Thursday; May 5, 2011
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.7)
, Mac OS X (10.6.7),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Import quality issue with AVC/H.264 and workaround

When I import from my Sanyo Xacti HD700 using "Import from Camera..." the import quality has significant blocking / compression artifacts. However, if I copy the same file off the SD card from the camera and play it back in QTplayer it does not have this same blocking / compression artifacts.
The file is a .MP4 container using H.264 codec for video and AAC for audio. The resolution is 1280x720p and framerate 30fps.
After spending a significant portion of time messing around with iMovie 08 trying to get it to import without the quality loss I have discovered that "Import from Camera..." and "Import Movies..." have different behavior (in terms of video quality) on the SAME FILE.
*To reproduce*:
1) Record a video with Sanyo Xacti HD700 camera. (One with a nice color gradient is good because it will make the compression artifacts more obvious).
2) Import the video from the camera using "Import from Camera..." (Name the event "Import from Camera" so you can remember which is which)
3) Copy the .MP4 file from the mounted drive onto your local harddrive. (Not sure if this step is actually necessary, but haven't tried without)
4) Import the video from the .MP4 on your desktop using "Import Movies..." (Name the event "Import Movies") Notice that this completes much quicker than step 2.
5) Find the two imported movies in your "iMovie Events" folder. You will notice that both movies are different sizes when you would expect them to be identical. (In my case the movie from "Import from Camera" was 47.4MB while the movie from "import movies" was 33.1MB, and the file on the SD card was 33.1 MB)
6) At this point you will also notice that the movie imported from camera will have a custom name like clip-2007-12-26 14;41;44.mov while the movie from "import movies" will have the same filename as it did on the camera i.e SANY0025.MP4.
7) Now open both files in QTplayer and arrange them side by side showing the same frame. You will see that the quality is much worse in the file from "Import from Camera".
Hypothesis:
My guess is that when you select "Import from Camera" it does some transcoding on these files that it doesn't do when you select "Import Movies". (Maybe Import from Camera always transcodes, whereas Import Movies checks to see if it needs to transcode or not?) I believe this because it takes significantly longer using the "Import from Camera" during which time it would appear to be performing some type of transformation on the movie. Also, because the file name in the folder is different.
I believe that either this transcoding is flawed or of poor quality which leads to the poor quality video when importing.
*Work around*:
Use "Import Movies..." instead of "Import from Camera..."
Note that I have not yet taken this through the export process to know how this will impact the final output.
Finally, for the skeptics, here is a screengrab of the two movies side by side in QTplayer on the same frame. The one on the left was imported with "Import from Camera" and the one on the right with "Import Movies". Look at the right side of the yellow playset and also at the hair. In motion it looks quite bad.
Thoughts?

Really? You don't see the difference?
Ok, well here is it blown up to 2X to make it more obvious:
and here it is blown up to 2X and with the contrast increased to make it even more apparent:
I perhaps didn't pick the best frame as an example, but it is very obvious in motion. If necessary I suppose I could post a small movie clip to show.
Message was edited by: Richard_

FCE import quality vs. iMovie

Is FCE capable of capturing/importing video at an improved quality level than iMovie 6?
I understand the superior editing & functionality aspects of FCE, but am trying to see if using FCE also gives you the ability to produce a higher quality video. FYI, I will be working with a bunch of MiniDV tapes.

I went to FCE because I was disappointed with the DVD final results of iMovie 06 at its best setting (at least what I think is the best). Thinking Imovie was just a poor factory add-on program I got FCE and on my initial tests with the same footage imported then exported through their respective programs, I saw great differences in the picture. Viewed back on a good Panasonic Gaoo 37 inch TV.
Smoke or fog, trees, anything with a lot of detail seemed less vibrant with iMovie.
I am open to opposition on these findings as perhaps something wasn't set right, but to date I have not been able to encode a DVD from Imovie as well as that from FCE
I suppose this is off topic since the question was of import quality, not export.
Cheers

Artifacts upon video import

My source files are mp4's at 24 fps. The quality is good. My iMovie 11 video import settings are at "original size", but tremendous pixilation occurs upon import. The original movie clip is 1080, the size in iMovie is 960 (I think, not sure where to check that). The screenshot shows how the imported file looks like, as well as any output I choose. The screenshot was taken after export to 960. Does anybody know where this extreme compression comes from and how to avoid it?
Thanks.

As a test you can try pre-converting the MP4's to Apple Intermedia Codec format .mov files. A converter that is most often recommended by long time contributors on the iMovie Discussion Group is: MPEG Streamclip. This program is free, and allows you to drag and drop a clip directly into the Application's window. Then Export it, click on the Pull-down list in the Export dialog box, and choose Apple Intermediate Codec. And save it to the desktop. Import the converted clip into a new Event in iMovie and then drag the clip into a new iMovie Project and see if the pixellation still occurs.

Video imported is blurry !??!

I am using iMovie '11 version 9.0.4. I am using a Sony Handycam DCR-SX63 digital movie camera and capturing video in the highest quality. All video, when viewed on a 50" TV is crystal clear. However, ALL video imported to iMovie'11 is very, very blurry and poor quality. Any and all video imported is fuzzy and blurry. Any projects created are fuzzy and blurry. Any DVDs burnt are fuzzy and blurry. I have tried importing to both my Macbook and my new iMac and there is no difference in the poor quality. I have also tried importing directly from the camera and also by importing from the SD card. I don't expect movie theatre quality but I would like to have reasonably clear projects and DVDs. Can someone please help?? Again, please note that video viewed by plugging the camera directly into the TV is flawless. Any video transferred to iMovie is horrible. (yes I have tried the stabilization mode and non stabilization mode). Thanks for any help that can be offered.

Thanks, but for $300 I'd almost be better off finding a video camera that recorded in a compatible format. I'm just an amateur trying to do home movies. Aren't there any programs that will convert my MPEG2 Sony video to a type that will look good in iMovie and iDVD??

Poor video recording quality with Presenter 9

I'm trialling Presenter 9 and Captivate 7.
I have a Compaq CQ61-320SA latop with a 2.2 Ghz dual core processor and 8 Gb RAM. It's 3 or 4 years old. The Display Adaptor entry in Device Manager says it has Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family (Microsoft) and the driver is up to date. (I should say that HP's product spec page for my laptop says that 'Video Graphics - NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G which confuses me as Device manager is listing it as Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family?)
When I record full screen in Presenter (it seems you are restricted to full screen recording in Presenter, unlike in Captivate), the resulting MP4 is rendered in high quality. The fonts in the video look nice and sharp. However, if I import the video into Powerpoint with the Adobe Presenter add in and then publish it to a folder on my PC with the 'lossless' setting and then click on the file 'index.html' the playback quality in my browser (Internet Explorer 11) is much lower. The fonts look 'blocky'.
I don't think it can be PC specification because if I record full screen in Captivate 7 and import the MP4 file into a new project and publish it, the quality of the published slide is great. (Again, I click on the 'index.html' file to play the published video).
Does this mean that Presenter is not as good as Captivate in terms of its video recording quality? Are the encoding engines different?
I love the webcam PIP functionality and simplicity of Presenter but the seemingly low video quality versus Captivate is an issue for me.
Any ideas/thoughts would be appreciated.
Peter

After playing with Presenter more, I've come to the conclusion that the degradation in quality from the original MP4 video file (that Presenter generates with its video creator tool) to the reduced quality after importing the MP4 into PowerPoint and publishing the course to HTML is probably due to a scaling issue. I've read elsewhere on this forum and on the Camtasia forum that whenever you re-scale a video, you lose clarity. The fact is that Presenter only allows recording of the entitre screen. When you import a full screen recording into a PowerPoint slide, because the slide itself is of a size lower than full screen, the original full screen dimension in the video is scaled down.
I'm thinking that the higher specification graphics card in the new laptop I talked about in the previous post produces a higher quality MP4 video in the first place so that the effect of the scaling down when imported into PowerPoint is more acceptable.
Any comments?
Peter

Hardware to Maximize Skype Video Call Quality

Looking to build two Windows desktop computers solely to Skype between them. Both machines will have Internet at 20 Mbps up and down, and two-to-three selectable (one-at-a-time) webcams per machine. Want to absolutely maximize video call quality; audio and overall cost are less important. What specifications for the motherboards/cards/webcams would you suggest? Suggestions of brand and model are acceptable, but detailed specifications are more important. Replies very much appreciated.

I answered a similar question to this in the past, so you may find this thread helpful:
http://community.skype.com/t5/Hardware/Buying-Computer-for-Skype/m-p/1662779/highlight/true#M4076
Do understand that unless you have something managing the feed for multiple webcams/video feeds prior to coming into your machine, the load will be put on your processor. Webcams can be very resource demanding. If you chose to run multiple versions of Skype that may be as well. I wouldn't expect 1080p or in some cases HD video in scenarios where you may be taxing even a very fast processor. Since there can be many variables it's hard to say what will work in your scenario.

New Macbook video import problem.

Hi all,
I have just gone and bought myself a new Macbook Pro and I am very pleased with it. From a video standpoint I plan to use it to import and edit HD video from my Canon HV20. The new Macbook only has a Firewire 800 port and so the cable that I would normally use to connect computer and camcorder will not work as it is 'mini' Firewire to Firewire 400. I am assuming that there is/will be a 'mini' to FW800 cable available, but in the interim I am using a Firewire hub that is connected to the Macbook by a 400-800 cable. And herein lies my problem ! Although iMovie8 detects my HV20, it will not display or play or import any footage from the tape ! It just remains on the blue import screen and although the camcorder is merrily 'playing', no footage is actually making it across to the computer. I think the issue is the Firewire hub part of the connection but I thought it best to garner an opinion from users of this forum. Help !!
Many thanks in advance, kroguk
PS
I will also post this on the Macbook forum, so apologies if you see this post twice

Well, I can't find my Belkin FW800-to-4-pin (9-pin-to-4-pin) cable right now ..I'm doing some "tidying up" ..which is always hopeless for finding things afterwards!.. but I DID buy the other day - in the German Mac specialists, erm, can't remember the name - a Sonnet Fast-something (..which I've just put down, and now can't find..) teeny 9-pin-to-6-pin adapter (..so small that I can't find it!..) and I've just tested that with a Sony HC1 HDV camcorder.
Using the Sonnet adaptor..
..which is mentioned on their website at top-left here: http://www.sonnettech.com/product/adapters/index.html ..on a normal 6-pin-to-4-pin FireWire cable.. I just connected my camcorder and successfully imported HDV from the Sony.
I tested it twice with iMovie HD 6, in the most adverse conditions: 1; connecting to the 9-pin FW800 socket on a G4 17" laptop (..which is generally too slow to import HDV in real-time..) and 2; looped ("daisy-chained") through the 9-pin FW800 sockets (..one socket from the drive to my Mac, the other socket from the drive to the camcorder..) of an external iOmega FireWire drive connected to my Quad G5 Mac, also with iMovie HD 6. Both imports worked perfectly.
I'm also trying it as I write this - I just found the adapter again! - to import into iMovie '08 on the G5, daisy-chained through the external disc (..the G4 is too old or underpowered to run iMovie '08..) and that works as well ..though I did have to "kick" the program into starting a new Event; at first the camera transport ran, but no video imported, so I just Stopped and re-imported.
I bought this adaptor "on spec", as no previous device or adapter had worked properly for me (..converting between 4-pin on a camcorder and 9-pin on a Mac..) and this is the first to have worked, for me. But I have great faith in Sonnet, as they make the extra S-ATA driver card and other bits and bobs which I put in my floorstander G5, and that all "just works".
Ah; the shop where I bought it is ..hold on a moment.. the "m store" in Munich. (Karsten may know them: when Gravis moved from Lindwurmstrasse to Im Tal, the m store opened up right next door to where Gravis had been before) and they're at Lindwurmstrasse 5a, their phone number - they speak English, too - is 0049 89 24 22 35 24 and their website is ..aaaarggh; they don't seem to have one.
Anyway; the Sonnet SimplyFast FireWire 400-to-800 Adapter works perfectly - for me - on the end of a normal 4-pin-to-6-pin FireWire 400 cable, and importing works flawlessly every way I've tried it ..even daisy-chained through an external drive.
I can heartily recommend it.
But - as always - "your mileage may vary" ..meaning that it might not work so smoothly for you.

In Windows 8.1 Premiere Pro video imported clips shows up black screen in Source & Work space. Everything is updated on my PC.

In Windows 8.1 Premiere Pro video imported clips shows up black screen in Source & Work space. Everything is updated on my PC. They say it could have been a Windows update? Is anyone else having this problem and found a solution any suggestions.. Thank you.

Hello, thank you for your help. I finally was able to contact someone from Adobe on line.. It took about 1 hour on hold but I finally won the lotto...Lol. Pr.. /Project/Project Settings/General/ I had the (Mercury Playback Engine GPU Accelerated (CUDA) and not the (Mercury Playback Engine Software Only) It only took 1 second for Adobe to figure it out...Lol.
Although I have a high rated Nvidia card that did handle the software for some time after a hack, I believe a Windows update may have altered my Premiere Pro CS6 settings.
Video card is Geforce Nvidia GTX 765M non compatible with (Mercury Playback Engine GPU Accelerated (CUDA). Thank Ronin Edits and cvid01

I'm having trouble with video imported from my camera memory card.

I'm having trouble with video imported from my camera memory card.The video breaks up and pixelizes when it's directly imported from the memory card. That makes the video useless. Why does this happen? It doesn't do that in any other video editing software. Thanks for the help.

More info please:
Type of camera?
Was the card formatted in the camera doing the shooting?
Type of files the camera is set to record?
Al

Video import from PAL camcorder

I have just bought a Canopus ADVC110 which converts analog video to digital and have it hooked into my Powerbook Pro via a firewire lead.
I have my analog PAL camcorder tied into the canopus and am attempting to import some PAL video but not getting very far.
I fire up iMovie and it does indeed detect the camera but when I create a new project it appears as DV-NTSC and not DV-PAL. I have changed the 'New Project frame rate' preference from 29.97 to 25 but still no good. When I click on Import I get the video/audio but the video is VERY jumpy and in black and white and the audio is totally garbled. As the video is PAL and the project says DV-NTSC this might be the issue? I would have thought that the Canopus would remove any PAL/NTSC issues as it is being converted to digital anyway? I don't know how to change the new project from DV-NTSC to DV-PAL, again I thought switching frame rate to 25 would have done this?
So, can anyone help me get a smooth video import onto the Apple? I dont care what resulting file format is as long as I can import and play it. I don't mind buying a different video application if necessary and do have Toast Titanium if that helps.
Many thanks,

It sounds like you may not have set the dip switches of the Canopus correctly to PAL.
See page 16 of instruction manual for the canopus ADVC110!
(I use the same one)

Aperture Video Import Problem - from Lumix GH4: Imported clips have their dates changed to the import date. The files show up on the hard drive but many are not showing up in Aperture.

Aperture Video Import Problem - from Lumix GH4: Imported clips have their dates changed to the import date. The files show up on the hard drive with import date not created date, but many of these same files are not showing up in Aperture. Sometimes the clips actually show up with the current import but take on the video information from a previously imported file.

It was suggested I move this question to IPhoto or IMovie which I did.
Well moving to a different discussion group did not provide an answer to this question either. But what I finally did was import one batch of photos and videos into IPhoto for a given day at a time. Working with these I could change the date and times in order to get them in the original sequench taken. Then I would create an album with that batch. These would all be on the same day (IMove was closed for this phase). Then I would open IMovie, generate the thumbnails for that album, and select the album I had created. This was necessary because the importing process in IPhoto was using incorrect dates for my video so it was a real struggle finding them in IMove until I developed this approach.
I believe that this whole process was so screwy because I was importing from an external hard drive not a camera. I had these photos on a PC and did not have the original cameras to use to import directly which I am fairly sure would have made this easier!

Video Import Quality

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