What is the best workflow for AVCHD and iMovie/iDVD 09?

I am recording AVCHD video with a Sony HDR-SR11. I don't have a blu-ray burner yet, so I want to create the highest quality DVD's I can from this source video using my MacBook and the software I have (iMovie 09 and iDVD 09).
Currently I am importing the video clips into iMovie 09 at the 1920x1200 setting. After creating a 16:9 movie I choose "Share to Media Browser" and export at the highest setting I see (I think 1280x720, I'm not on the MacBook at the moment).
After a long while this completes and I launch iDVD 09. I drag the movie I exported above into the theme and burn at Professional Quality. After another long wait I have my DVD but I'm quite disappointed with the video quality.
Even taking into account that DVD is not a hi-def disc format it seems like the video quality should be better. Is there a better workflow I should be using with this combination of software? Maybe some way to avoid scaling/compressing the video twice? Or is this as good as it gets with iMovie 09 and iDVD 09? I may have access to iMovie 06, if that would help.
Thanks,
Gerald

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What is the best workflow for AVCHD with iMovie/iDVD 09?

I am recording AVCHD video with a Sony HDR-SR11. I don't have a blu-ray burner yet, so I want to create the highest quality DVD's I can from this source video using my MacBook and the software I have (iMovie 09 and iDVD 09).
Currently I am importing the video clips into iMovie 09 at the 1920x1200 setting. After creating a 16:9 movie I choose "Share to Media Browser" and export at the highest setting I see (I think 1280x720, I'm not on the MacBook at the moment).
After a long while this completes and I launch iDVD 09. I drag the movie I exported above into the theme and burn at Professional Quality. After another long wait I have my DVD but I'm quite disappointed with the video quality.
Even taking into account that DVD is not a hi-def disc format it seems like the video quality should be better. Is there a better workflow I should be using with this combination of software? Maybe some way to avoid scaling/compressing the video twice? Or is this as good as it gets with iMovie 09 and iDVD 09? I may have access to iMovie 06, if that would help.
Thanks,
Gerald

3) Share to Media Browser with Best Quality
For folks like me that wonder exactly how did you do this:
(I don't know what Media Browser is yet.)
I did this: (I got some warnings - did you?)
In iMovie:
Selected my 1280x720 "HD" video in the Project panel,
Share->Media Browser...
- if HD is greyed out, you already shared this size to Media Browser, go to next step,
or select "Remove from Media Browser, check HD, click Remove"
- if HD is not greyed, but is not check marked,
select Computer icon, then uncheck Mobile, Med, and Lrg, leaving only HD checked
With HD checked, Click Publish - watch "Creating the HD movie.."
Bring up iDVD, Select Create a new project, browse for location and enter project name
If Themes at bottom right is not selected (Dark), click it
Double click a theme - for example under Revolution, choose Chapters.
At bottom right, select Media, At top right, select Movies
Under iMovie should be your iMovie project - mine says "My First Project" (I didn't name iMovie proj)
Select your iMovie Project,
you should see a thumb of your video with dimension, size listed
(movie duration is down at bottom right.)
Drag the thumbnail onto the iDVD preview window (I don't what that window is officially called)
drop it under the theme title "Revolution Chapters" for this example
You should see a running preview of your video with the project name below it.
Important step: Project->Project Info, Under Encoding: select Best or Professional Quality
Ok re-encoding warning, close Proj Info window.
File->Burn DVD... Popup says "Warnings in Project", select Continue Burning
Insert DVD (Apple designed sharp edges on the SuperDrive on purpose?)
I used Staples 4x DVD-RW first.
Watch process proceed till DVD is ejected...Don't believe "Time remaining: about one minute"
My DVD-R120 player-recorder would not load the disk. It played fine on iMac, a WindowsXP laptop, and a Windows XP desktop. This DVD machine only likes old 1X RW media for some reason. I wish someone made a standalone Blu-Ray recorder/player. I burned a second copy to some gold Sony 1X/2X DVD-RW media, and this disk played fine.
Picture quality is soft compared to HD material, but the moire patterns on some edges is only somewhat reduced over the Share to iDVD version. This Share to Media Browser version is acceptable for folks that won't go to Vimeo or YouTube to see my videos in HD.

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Why jpeg file exported from Aperture with 300 dpi's it opens with 72 dpi's on PS ( image size)? I've tried several combinations and all give different results. And I am confused on what is the best workflow for me.

Ok.
My workflow is
RAW > Aperture Library > export jpeg high resolution 300 dpi's > one file on PS > edit > Save us jpeg. The I realised that files from PS were being save in a smaller size from the ones exported form Aperture. That is when I went o see <image size> on PS and files were with 72.
Since ten I've trying different things
1. Aperture > export as PSD > open on PS > edit > Save us jpeg = small file (around 15 MB)
2. Aperture > export as jpeg high resolution 300 dpi's > open on PS > CHANGE dpi's to 300 on <image size> edit > Save us jpeg = big file (Huge, actually)
What am I doing wrong? Would someone give me guidance and tell me what is the best workflow, considering I edit photos to deliver to my clients and I shall give them 300 dpi's.
Thank you

This is a known Aperture issue: Problem with Aperture 3.6 preset exports. | Apple Support Communities
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My first question would be how well 5.1 would work with SL. People have reported problems.
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If you want broad access to tapeless and advanced formats try to locate and purchase an upgrade disk to 6 or 7.
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What's the best workflow for Home Movie Importing and Enjoying?

I'm new to iMovie (and the mac) and have started importing all my home movies from my camcorder into iMovie. I quickly realized that movies take a huge amount of disk space and it may or may not be reasonable to import all my movies and keep them on the hard disk in .dv format. At 12GB/Hour I would need 1.2 Terabytes of storage (plus backup). If that is the best workflow, i'm happy to invest in a few terabytes of storage and back up. But before I do that, I want to check to see if there is a different workflow I should follow given my use case.
Here is my use case:
I have 100 hours of 8mm and miniDV tapes already and plan to continue creating more.
I want to import them all into the iMac for ease of organization, searching for the clips of interest, and watch them either on my iMAC and also on my TV (via TIVO).
I may do some editing, but this is not a big priority for me at this time. I may do more editing in the distant future when I have more time. My editing for now will be limited to rejecting portions of clips I don't want.
I plan to watch the movies from my iMac on my TV via my TIVO (i've already ordered the Roxio Toast software that I understand I need, per the Tivo web site).
The final piece of my use case is back-up. I'd prefer to back up my movies on disk this way I maintain any editing i've done in case of a disk failure. Depending on what video format is recommended, this may bump me into a RAID multi-terabyte system as both working and automatic backup?
Here are my questions:
Should I maintain my event library in .dv format? (and bite the bullet on the storage)
Or is the .dv format intended only for temporary editing and users are expected to compress into another format after editing? if so, what format and which tool is recommended? (keeping in mind that I want to view the clips via Tivo and Roxio/Toast).
If I need to byte the bullet and invest in storage, my quick math suggests I'll need about 2 terabytes for the library and 2 more for back up for a total of 4 terabytes!?. Is a RAID system recommended for this? (I was surprised that the Apple store did not carry such a system, so perhaps that is not the best option). What would you recommend?
Anyone out there with a similar use case? I know I've asked a lot of questions here. I'd appreciate any recommendations you may have, even if you cant answer all of them.
Thank you.

I am in a similar mode, though about half as much existing DV footage.
+Should I maintain my event library in .dv format? (and bite the bullet on the storage)+
Short answer, yes; long answer:
I did "bite the bullet" since 1T drives are at or just over $100. I'm using a MacBook Pro so I bought an 2 port eSATA card for my cardbus slot ($34), and a 1T eSATA/Firewire/USB drive ($119). I don't plan to "back up" as I am not going to get rid of my Mini DV tapes/vhs/analog tapes, etc. Those will be in an off-site dark cool closet elsewhere. I don't want to do RAID or such as it still puts everything in the same drive unit, in the same location. Basically I'm splitting my video import to two different physical drives. So if lightning, thieves, personal incompetence or whatever strikes, there's more chance it'll only affect one of the drives. I've thought about a Drobo, which you might consider. It is unique device that offers a spin on RAID that offers some advantages.
Everything I read here on these boards suggests that it is best to grab the source video in the original format whenever possible. Since storage is cheap, makes sense to me.
It is likely you wouldn't compress your video unless you were going to edit it. For example if you wanted to make a video of the kids growing up to give the relatives you'd likely end up compressing to burn them a dvd. You would compress if you were going to use MobileMe, YouTube, etc. to post some footage. Whether you watch the video from home, or output to DVD for others, or post online, at least you'll have the source video in it's best possible original format to work with.
This is an aside, but might be useful, I imported one tape at a time, let iM09 create a new event and split per each day. THen I renamed every event based on what the content was before doing the next tape. This really helps later on once yo realize you have a hard drive with 50 hours + of everything in your life on it. I included the year in the name in some way, for example, John's wedding 1994, Hawaii 2000, Hawaii 2004. Then I ended up drag/dropping Hawaii to one event.

What's the best camcorder for mac and quicktime or youtube?

Aloha all,
Instead of iSight,,,, what is the best camcorder compatible for mac and transfering video to powerbook G4 and PPC G5 Quad and for use with youtube and or CitizenTube.... ?
I have a Canon SD 500 this should be enough because only can down load a max of 10mb to youtube. But I cannot use as a webcam to pass straight to computer which is fine,. Any Suggestions???
Mahalo REID

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Which microphone you use is your decision based on what you want to do and the level of quality you need. As explained in this kBase document, you have a wide range of choices of connections:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=165044
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if the mic ... hooks up to the digital ... or the analog audio input?
The simplest way to connect a mic to your G5 is via USB. That simplicity, adequate sound quality, and low price are the main reasons I chose my Logitech.
If you need a higher quality (and price) mic for more critical applications, this site offers more information about GarageBand, including this page about microphones.
... are there digital optical microphones for the digital in on the G5?
If there are, I would suggest you stay with analog microphones. I may be wrong, but from this Google search for digital microphones, it seems to me that digital microphones are largely subjects of engineering studies at this time. You might find a microphone pre-amp that takes analog microphone inputs but provides a digital output signal you could connect to your Mac's digital input if you really want or need to use your digital in port.
Enjoy shopping,
Jim
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After I am done with the subject, I usually inverse to the background and de-noise and/or blurr and desaturate to punch up the subject.
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Hi Barbara,
I am humbled to be communicating with someone who wrote such and incredible book! Ok, enough blathering.
This will also answer Andrewzaye's question about output.
Maybe I shouldn't be resampling but here is my rationale. Most of my best pics I like to show occasionally on my HTDV which has a resolution of 1920x 1080. I resample my pics to get them down to that 1080 vertical resolution so that they will fit the native resolution of the screen. (The sides often don't extend the full 1920 but I don't have a problem with the black space on the sides.) This is based on my believe that images on LCDs look best at the LCDs native resolution (and I like to think I know about this because, as a sales mgr for Toshiba, I used to sell notebook computer LCDs by the tens of thousands to big computer companies.) Sometimes I resample and downsize again to email pics as n x 680. It seems to work fine with decent results but I am certainly open to suggestion.
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I recently filmed a video where a person was in front of a green screen. The camera broke the video up into several clips. I am going to chroma key out the green screen and there are a lot of effects I want to do.
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I recently filmed a video where a person was in front of a green screen.
Using what kind of camera? What's the footage's acquisition codec? I'll assume that you're well-versed in lighting for green screen.
I'd like to skip straight to AE because I know it better and I have a lot of work there to do. The problem is, I can't hear the audio and it plays real slow.
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http://help.adobe.com/en_US/aftereffects/cs/using/WS3878526689cb91655866c1103906c6dea-7ec9 a.html
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What is the best workflow for AVCHD and iMovie/iDVD 09?

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