Why is importing MPEG 4 files into iMovie so slow

I have just got my first Mac and very happy except that when I try to import video from my camera which records in MPEG 4 the time taken is 10 - 15 minutes for the smallest of clips. I tried importing 5 clips at once of about 10 mins total video and the extimated import time was over 3 hours !!! am I dong something wrong ?, do I need a different editing package ? The same operation in Ulead on the PC took no more than a few minutes Any help appreciated .. Kevin

Hi Kevin,
to my knowledge, iM is converting anything, which is not dv, into socalled Apple Intermediate Codec.
as the name implies, that is an internal codec, to make mpegs editable... dv stores every single frame of a movie, mpeg (any flavor, 1/2/4,h264, divx...) uses a socalled inter-frame compression technique, which results in much smaller files, but your poor Mac has now first "estimate" what is happening in every frame..
besides: on the right "View My Profile", you can add some valueable info for us about your system... if, as an example, your problem occurs on one of the new quad-über-Macs, the answers would be quite different from "I'm using a iBookG3/500MHz"...

Similar Messages

How can i import mpeg files into iMovie?

how can i import mpeg files into iMovie?

Where are your MPEG stored?
I have hundreds of old MPEGs stored in my nexternal drive, but unfortunatly i was not able import them into iMovie. I did the following trick: I created a new set of a folder and subfolder and called it "Virtual_CAM/DCIM" and saved it on my desktop. Then went to Disk Utilities>File Menue>New>Disk Image from Folder. Then selected the folder on my desktop and clicked enter. I moved the .dmg file to my external (or just keep it on your desktop). I clicked on the .dmg file. It shoud be visible on the Finder. Open your Imovie and import as you do from your camera.

When I try to import mov files into iMovie'08 (7.1.4) the files are greyed out. Any suggestions?

When I try to import mov files into iMovie '08 (7.1.4) the files are greyed out. Any suggestions?

Hi Appleman - thanks for your guidance.
OK RealTime Inspector: Dimensions of my clips - as I don't know which bit this is I will list everything under Inspector, including Format:
00117
00117
33.30
Format:MPEG-4 Video, 1280 x 720 millions
AAC, 2channels, 44100Hz
FPS29.97
Data Size2.57GB
Data Rate 10.20 Mbits/s
Current size 1280 x 720 pixels (Actual)
And re the types of tracks you mention that iMovie '08 can't import, I don't much about film clips so haven't yet made sense of this, tho I do see that the clips are organised into chapters, so presumably this is 'chapter tracks'?
Thanks - I'll await your further instructions :-)

How can I import vob files into imovie 09?

how can I import vob files into imovie 09? i have some home movies on dvd that i want to edit.

You might want to look at this one too. Very easy to use and it doesn't require the Apple MPEG-2 playback component.
http://www.dvdxdv.com/NewFolderLookSite/Products/DVDxDV.overview.htm

Importing a file into iMovie

Hi All,
I am trying to import a file into imovie and it imports with the sound. The file was originally a MUXED file, than I used bbDemux which created 2 seperate files (video & audio) for me. I than brought them back into quicktime pro, combined them and save them as a .MOV file. The file is no longer muxxed but the sound is still missing when I import into iMovie. Any suggestions... Do I need to compress this file, and if so... How?

The file was originally a MUXED file, than I used bbDemux which created 2 seperate files (video & audio) for me.
What are the audio and video formats at this point? (I.e., did you simply demux the data or perform any sort of conversion as part of the process?)
I than brought them back into quicktime pro, combined them and save them as a .MOV file.
Are you using "Paste" or "Add" to combine the two tracks at this point? (I.e., if the files were demuxed and converted to a QT format, are you merging them sequentially or symchronized "frame-to-frame" here? If not performing any conversion as part of the demux process, switch to an application/utility like MPEG Streamclip that does both as a seamless process that produces an iMovie compatible file in a single step.

Importing quicktime file into iMovie 11 resulting in distortion

After having trouble importing Quicktime files into iMovie hd6, I decided to buy iMovie 11. So the file imports without squishing the image into 4:3 as it did in iMovie hd6, but now the movie has a strange strobe like flashing that is not present in the original.
Any ideas?

See if you can open the file in QuickTIme PLayer. Click Command-I (or WINDOW/INSPECTOR) in QuickTime Player. Tell us what is listed by the word FORMAT:

Importing mov files into iMovie events

Hi
This is my first post ever on this site. Here goes!
I am new to iMovie, but have had someone more experienced trying to help but to no avail!
I am trying to import mov files into iMovie Events. However in the file menu there is no "events' option, so I chose 'Import Movies'. But ultimately when I click on the mov files they are greyed out.
The version of iMovie I have is iMovie '08 - 7.1.4
When I first opened iMovie it offered to update to the latest version, but in the end it said 'No updates available'. When I looked into this in the Apple Store, it said you need Mac OSX 10.7 or above to get the latest version. My Mac is 10.6.8, so won't support the latest version. However, can I not still use the version I have? What is wrong here?
Any help much appreciated - thanks.
Ermina.

If you don't get an answer here, you might want to post your question in the iMovie discussion here.

Import .VOB files into iMovie?

I have copied footage from my camera (don't have that tapes anymore!) to a DVD. Now I want to import the files into iMovie to edit and so but iMovie doesn't recognize the file-formats on my DVD: .VOB
Can anyone tell me how I can convert these files so I can import them?
Thank you very much...
Marcha
MacMini Mac OS X (10.4)

Ok I was right, the stretching is coming from importing it directly into imovies folder. Unfortunately when I drag the dv file into imovies the quality was not as good as HB.
Now trying the crop method directly into imovies to see if that fixes the stretching as the picture quality seemed much better, if that don't work I'll save it to my desktop using HB at 100% quality as that seems to be the best and then drag it into imovies quality.
How, if it was you, would you convert the files back to mpeg2? Is there a free converter as I don't have QT pro? Will SC do it in good quality?
I also thought (hate to use the pc word) but I may store the file in my external hard drive as a quicktime or divx or another format (what will give me the best quality from the other formats) and then do the conversion to mpeg2. Then use something like dvdshrink to make the file dvd size
Gees what a bummer man! Just as well I have 2 weeks off work. Not quite the way I was hoping to spend it though!

Why does it take hours to import mp4 files into iMovie

I have some home movies I imported from VHS-C and compressed to mp4 files and now I want to start going through them in iMovie but it takes hours just to import a single clip (~575 meg).
What can I do to speed this up? Would getting a Mac Pro with loads of RAM and CPU's help? Would converting to a different video format before I import work?
Right now I have all this video I converted to digital and thus far spent days just importing and haven't been able to do anything with it yet!
I'm using an iMac core duo with 2 gig RAM and the upgraded video card (best one they had at the time).
Any help is appreciated!

This worked fine for me, was exactly what I wanted.
1 - Create the project in iMovie HD and then save and close.
2 - Locate the file on your computer. Ctrl-click on the file and it will say "show package contents". Click on that.
3 - You will then see some folder items inside that. Open up "Media" and then drag and drop your mpeg file into it.
4 - When you reopen the project, you will be notified that there are files in your trash. You want to view them to find the file you just moved there.
5 - Take that file and drag it back onto the project and you're in.
A major blessing!

Why can't i import .mov files into imovie

Everytime recently I've tried to import a .mov file into imovie, its come up with the optimizing video box but nothing happens, I used to import straight from the camera, but I've recently emptied my camera onto my hard drive after a trip to New Zealand and now, when I have tried to import the footage from my hard drive, it does the optimizing video freeze on me. I would like to be able to get these movies into Imovie without having to pay a rediculous amount of money for some little converting program. I originally bought a apple computer, because I thought everything worked with each other, but now, I'm not so sure about that anymore.
Also, I've tried MPEG streamclip and all that did was either freeze on me or make the video size smaller, as in, the sides were pushed in and it ruined the video.
Camera: Canon HD Legria HFR38

What codec are the files? .mov is a container that can house many different video codecs.
Is your camera supported?
iMovie 11 - cameras supported:
http://help.apple.com/imovie/cameras/en/index.html?lang=en_US
iMovie 9 - cameras supported:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3290?viewlocale=en_US

How to import mpg files into imove

trying to import Sony MPG files into imove anyone got some good software to use?

MPEG Streamclip.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/11428534

Cannot import .mov file into iMovie '08

I have about 50 .mov files that I need to import into iMovie '08. I am unable to drag-and-drop or import the .mov files into iMovie.
The files originated from a Flip video camera. Is it possible that maybe Flip and iMovie '08 do not interface? Please let me know if you have encountered this before. Thanks!

is this also the case for imovie '09?
i've taken some video with my digital camera that's been imported into iphoto along with pics. i've been trying to get them into imovie for editing purposes, but have had 0 luck...the files aren't selectable when attempting to import.
you're saying that the solution is to buy yet ANOTHER piece of software to convert the file to something else that imovie will read? what the..?!?
it's rhetorical, but why wouldn't they enable imovie do this for you?!?
not sure why it's this difficult and/or why anyone would want to go thru that effort. i "need" to be that much more educated about file types and compression and tween tracks and all that nonsense? seems both counterintuitive and counterproductive.
look, i just want to take some video and edit it...why do i need all the other headache?

What is the best way to import m2ts files into iMovie?

I have spent the afternoon reading various forums about converting m2ts files into iMovie. Transferring the files back onto the HD Sony Handicam is not an option. I therefore need to somehow convert the files as they stand. There seems to be 2 main options to convert files from .m2ts to .mov:
1. Download MPEG Streamclip; drag clips into window; export to QuickTime and choose Apple Intermediate Codec.
2. Download Clip Wrap ($50) to rewrap m2ts files into mov files.
It seems that option 2 is likely to be quicker and easier. Is this other people's experience? Any feedback would be extremely helpful.....I am a fairly new Mac user.
Cheers.

MPEG Streamclip cannot do m2ts files.
Your options are ClipWrap and Voltaic HD. Both cost money but should work fine.
I believe Karsten Schlüter has posted some free alternatives on his website. Let me see if I can find his link.
Here it is. http://sites.google.com/site/karstenschluter/mts-to-mov
You should only need to do this for your existing files. For any files you shoot in the future, you can import them into iMovie directly from your camera, or easier still, from your SDHC card.
A good tip is to create an archive of your clips so that you have the original clips along with the original folder structure. That way you will not have to use ClipWrap or Voltaic on future shoots. You will find the Archive function on the iMovie Import screen when your camera is attached. I am in the habit of 1) creating an archive. 2) Importing to iMovie from the Archive. 3) Making a backup copy of the archive off-site 4) Only then, reformat the camera to clear it out for the next shoot.

Importing MPEG4 file into iMovie

Hello,
I've been trying to import an MPEG4 file into iMovie 09 without success. No matter what the extension (.mov, .mp4) iMovie always displays the file greyed out in the file selector (in the import screen). As a result I can't select it.
I even converted the file into DV format, but with the same result. Is it at all possible to import an MPEG4 file into iMovie, and if yes, can anybody provide me with the exact procedure?
I'm really puzzled because the Quicktime player has absolutely no problem reading the file but iMovie just can't...
Thanks.

Have you tried converting with an application called mpeg streamclip yet?

Unkown error importing avi files into imovie

I'm having unkown errors importing any of my avi files into imovie all of a sudden. I have imported these files to make movies previously (all the files are straight from my Canon digital camera).
Any Ideas?

Muddguts,
did you discover why you received an import error message? I'm getting the same thing and I don't know why.

Importing .mp4 files into iMovie takes too long. Is there a quicker method?

Basically what the title asks. Would it be quicker for me to burn the mp4 onto a dvd and then rip it into iMovie? Currently, my import wait is 1784 minutes, and I really don't have this long to wait.
Help would be wonderful.

I'm not sure how many songs your importing, nor how much cache your Mac has...But In case this is your first time using Itunes M4p files in your Imovies, I'll give you this heads up....Imovie will let you import M4p files from Itunes into your movie and you can watch it and listen to the song fine. When you try to export it to IDVD and burn a movie, you might have problems. It will b*tch about "this computer is not authorized" for this song or something. Unless Imovie '08 fixes this, you have to burn the songs you want to use in your Imove to a CD, then import them back into Imovie. It will not let you burn a DVD from Imovie/IDVD with songs you paid for directly from your Itunes Library. Unless you're importing from a slow external hard drive and have low system memory on your Mac, I don't see why it should take so long to import songs from your Itunes library. If you already knew of the copyright problem Imovie has, my apologies.....And it is a problem. You shouldn't have to burn to disc and re-import songs from Itunes, that you already legitimately paid for with your Itunes account.

Why is importing MPEG 4 files into iMovie so slow

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for