WARNING - Compatibility of Canon Legria HF20 / HF200 with iMovie 11

Question

I just noticed that the Canon Legria HF20/HF200 (PAL) is now included in list of supported camcorders for iMovie 11. Refer link below:
http://help.apple.com/imovie/cameras/en/index.html?lang=en_US
Previously, for iMovie 09, only the NTSC Version of the camcorder (which is referred to as the Vixia HF20/HF200) was listed as compatible. I suspected that this was due to the quirky issue that I once again will repeat below.
+With the PAL version, iMovie 09 incorrectly tags the 50i content as being progressive, and the 25p content as being interlaced. In contrast, with the NTSC version, iMovie apparently correctly identifies the 60i content as being interlaced and the 30p content as being progressive.+
+This results in the following outcomes:+
+For 50i content:+
+- When the 50i content is previewed in iMovie, it shows the horizontal combing effect on fast motion content as iMovie thinks that it is progressive and doesn’t do its normal adjustments (as it does for the Vixia version) when displaying interlaced footage.+
+- If you play the AIC file in Quicktime X, the interlacing lines also are visible, as Quicktime doesn’t know that it is interlaced footage.+
+- When the 50i content is exported from iMovie, the progressive tag remains on the file. Therefore, if the footage is played in Quicktime X the horizontal combing effect remains, as Quicktime once again doesn’t know that it is interlaced footage.+
+- When the ‘Deinterlace Source Video’ option is selected when exporting from iMovie using 'Export using Quicktime', the footage doesn’t get deinterlaced as iMovie identifies the footage as being progressive.+
+For 25p content:+
+- When 25p content is displayed in iMovie, it appears to display properly. It also displays properly if exported from iMovie and viewed in Quicktime X, despite the fact that it is incorrectly tagged as being interlaced.+
+- However, an issue arises with the 25p content if a special effect is applied within iMovie that alters frame size (ie. Stabilize, PIP, Crop, Ken Burns effect, Wipes, Ripple, Zoom etc). These special effects are referred to as scaling effects. Normally, if scaling effects are applied to interlaced 1080 footage, iMovie deinterlaces the content from 1080i to 540p. This has been a deliberate feature in iMovie since iMovie 09 (Version 8.0.0) to avoid scaling artifacts associated with interlaced footage when a scaling effect has been applied.+
+- In relation to progressive content, iMovie doesn’t normally make any adjustment to the resolution when scaling effects are applied as scaling artifacts aren’t an issue for progressive content. However, as a consequence of iMovie incorrectly tagging the 25p content as being interlaced, iMovie will treat the footage as interlaced footage when special effects are applied, and unnecessarily reduce the resolution from 1080 to 540. Obviously, this is a bad outcome as it means that the resolution is unnecessarily reduced by half.+
I haven't had the opportunity to test iMovie 11, but I just wanted to post a warning to anyone that may be influenced by the official list of supported camcorders that they should confirm whether this issue has been resolved in iMovie 11 before they purchase the camcorder.
As I not intending to use iMovie going forward (as I can't look past the lack of native AVCHD editing) it would be great if someone else who own this camcorder could confirm whether this issue has been resolved in iMovie 11. If the problem remains, the issue should really be highlighted to Apple, and the camcorder removed from the list.

Answer 1

A warning doesn't solve the problem, but using a software utility can.
This is the cause of the problem:
"With the PAL version, iMovie 09 incorrectly tags the 50i content as being progressive, and the 25p content as being interlaced. In contrast, with the NTSC version, iMovie correctly identifies the 60i content as being interlaced and the 30p content as being progressive."
When iMovie detects interlaced video it deinterlaces it causing a loss of vertical resolution. (BAD) But, deinterlaced video can have effects that "scale" video applied without ugly artifacts. (GOOD)
When iMovie detects progressive video it does NOT deinterlace video. (GOOD) And, because it IS progressive video, scaling FX do not cause ugly artifacts. (GOOD)
So the best solution is to shoot 30p. iMovie will detect progressive video and NOT deinterlace video. (GOOD) And, because it IS progressive video, scaling FX do not cause ugly artifacts. (GOOD)
The next best solution is to shoot 60i and use NO scaling FX.
The next best solution is to shoot 60i and use "iMakeFullHD" to re-tag 60i as 30p. Now iMovie will not deinterlace causing a loss in vertical resolution, but you MAY still see artifacts when you use scaling FX.
For PAL shooters, you can shoot 50i which iMovie will think is 25p and so will not deinterlace causing a loss in vertical resolution, but you MAY still see artifacts when you use scaling FX.
Or, you can use "iMakeFullHD" to tag as 50i -- which iMovie will deinterlace, causing a loss of vertical resolution but also preventing any artifacts.
However, the best solution is to shoot 25p and then use "iMakeFullHD" to tag as 25p. When iMovie detects progressive video it does NOT deinterlace video. (GOOD) And, because it IS progressive video, scaling FX do not cause ugly artifacts. (GOOD)
So there is a solution for both NTSC and PAL shooters -- shoot progressive. PAL users, however, must use "iMakeFullHD" to tag as 25p.
If you have already shot 60i, use "iMakeFullHD" to re-tag as 30p and be careful in your use of scaling FX.
Follow this link to learn more:
http://home.mindspring.com/~d-v-c/
The solutions are SO simple IMHO it would be a shame to give up.
PS: you should use "iMakeFullHD" to re-tag ALL interlace (50i/60i) video as progressive so iMovie will not deinterlace your video! It's not just for the Canon Legria HF20 / HF200.