iMovie 11 and Stabilization

Hey all,

I just shot a wedding video on Saturday. (I have five videos prior to this already uploaded on the respective three websites, all through iMovie 11 using the same method of clicking Share then each site).

Now, whenever I upload my latest video (fully edited, stabilized, etc.) the stabilization is gone by the time the video is to each site. The quality actually ends up worse than before it was stabilized. I use camera stabilizing equipmnt so there is hardly any tremor or sway in any of my shots so this should not be an issue. Some of my shots now shake like someone was jumping up and down very quickly. I rewatched an unstabilized version of my video in iMovie 11, QuickTime and I made a DVD to test on the TV. Yes there is some shakyness (because it is unstabilized) but, it's far superior than what is being uploaded into Vimeo/Facebook and Youtube.

So I tested a stabilized version doing the same three methods. Turns out near perfect. No shaking, very stable and smooth pans and shots. I reuploaded to Vimeo/YouTube and Facebook again last night. Same results, all stabilization gone and what appears to be an over exaggerated shaking of the camera.

Any ideas? I have never had this problem before this latest upload. I have OSX Snow Leapord up to date (refuse to buy Lion) and iMovie 11 up to date. It's becoming rather aggrivating as I rely on these sites to work correctly to help promote my business.

You thoughts and exptertise are greatly appreciated.

Liz

Zwhaler,

Thanks for responding. I actually just tried exporting through Quicktime as an .mp4 and a .mov file. Both did not work. The shakiness is there as always.

On a side note, I spent 45 minutes on the line with Apple Tech Support. The woman walked me through deleting cache files in the library and another area. Unfortunately that did not work.

The end result is...anything using direct upload to a website or Export through Quicktime is still not keeping the stabilization.

The tech support woman mentioned deleting iMovie 11 and reinstalling it fresh. She did say it would not delete any of my projects (including the current one). Is that true? If so would you say give it a shot?

I don't want to lose this video as it took around 30 hours to make. Thank you.

Update:

I tried recreating the entire project. (Apple Tech support after a 2nd 30 minute wait 5 minute coversation) told me to recreate the project and try it again. It worked...almost.

Now only certain clips within the 5 minute video are shaky. Others are not. However, anything now with black or a darker background has some very strange shading in it. Almost like a deeper black within the darkened background. The video also colored any "skin" an almost salmon color instead of typical color of skin. Any thoughts?

Should I just delete the app and reinstall from scratch?

Thank you.

Unfortunately my husband and I do not know enough about macs to figure this out. It appears I will be calling Tech Support again this evening after I attempt to uninstall the app and reinstall it. I'll keep the forum updated. Praying this fixes the issue. I need to get this video posted with 1080p quality before we leave for Hawaii on Saturday. Heres to trying.

mBox said:

Do you have access to another computer? To test this project.

Click to expand...

Yes. My husband has his PC. Which we could transfer the quicktime movie over on a Flash Drive to see if the quality is the same. Is that what you are referring to?

Haha. It's okay. Thanks for trying. If the uninstall/reinstall does not work. I will give tech support a call. If that does not work, i'll take it to the apple store to see if someone there might be a little more intelligent than the tech support.

Unfortunately Exporting to Quicktime or .mp4 extensions do not work. Nor does sharing it directly to Vimeo/Facebook/YouTube.

I have a 2009 Macbook Pro, silver edition. I'm at work so I can't get the exact specs for you.

As far as length of video, I am just trying to put a 5 minute highlight video. The actual length of the final product is generally 30-45 minutes depending on how much footage we took throughout the day.

The fact that iMovie (which has been flawless for us until now) is not rendering the picture quality as it should be (we shoot at 1080p 30fps), and as it has been is discouraging. I made sure everything was up to date last night, which it is. Again, just praying it's a glitch in the application, and not the mac itself.

mBox said:

Im running FCPX on the same MBP. I am curious to see if you can import that project into FCPX.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately we don't have FCPX. We would like it, but do not have it. We are debating on getting Sony Vegas Pro or Adobe Suite. Undecided.

I have two different versions of the same project. One that was not working. Now the new one with the rendering issues and less shakiness than the first.

Suppose I could always try and make a third version and see what happens.

Also a note, the Rolling Shutter helped on the 2nd version of the project but not the first. I do drive by's of the different locations a wedding is shot at. There was severe motion blur on the first video. The second, it worked great.
Not sure if that might tell anyone anything?

mBox said:

I was suggesting FCPX 30-day trial.

Click to expand...

I'll download it right now. Thank you.

I tried downloading Final Cut Pro Free Trial. Worked for about 15 minutes then said my free trial was up. I am trying to upload the original to Vimeo again to see if it's still having stabilization issues. Will know in about 30 minutes.

I haven't tried uninstalling iMovie for fear of losing all of my previous projects.

mBox said:

Now thats strange? You shouldn't have to uninstall iMovie.

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Hmm. That's what the tech support at apple said to do if I can't get this to work. Waiting to see what this latest attempt via imovie will turn out. Fingers crossed.

mBox said:

What thats crazy? Why would you have to do that? Well you can always install iMove anytime. You wont lose your project since the resources arent imbedded into the app.

Click to expand...

I just finished my upload into Vimeo. All but two clips worked this time. Two of the smoothest panning clips are stuttering messes. However, all of the other clips rendered correctly. Not sure why iMovie isn' working as intended and wont just stabilize all the clips.