New iMovie- Good or Bad?

[magicjames92]

I briefly looked and it looked a lot different. I dunno if it looked better though. Is it worth upgrading?

[monke]

The new iMovie looks amazing, and I'm glad they dropped the 'HD' in it's name.

It's worth upgrading if you have an HD camcorder, or if you want more effects/themes/options etc.

If you don't really need any of those things, or any of the other apps, than you should be fine.

[yoyo5280]

I am wondering the same, it has some really great new features, but lost old ones. For example, EFFECTS!!! Whats up with that.... lets wait and see I guess.


(Ugly icon BTW [I mean iMovie's])

[magicjames92]

i agree the icon is ugly. i have fce but i stll occasionaly use imovie for importing etc

[MacFan782040]

I do not have the new iLife, but I'm going off what I have read and seen on the internet.

It looks like iMovie has been stripped down clean from what is used to be.

So far, I think there are no:

-Themes
-Transitions
-Audio Rubberbanding
-Multiple Audio Tracks
-Extracting Audio
-Video Effects (even fast/slow/reverse?)
-Timeline
-Insert Black
-Start music before video

This is rediculous. Apple made a huge mistake with this. iMovie 08 now has less features than iMovie 1 came out back on OS 9! :confused::confused:

[j/k/Andy]

does it fix the audio echo with most of the transitions!!!!

This is a major issue with '06, messed up a bunch of my home movies

Hopefully they redid the whole engine and fixed all the rendering issues.

[yoyo5280]

I do not have the new iLife, but I'm going off what I have read and seen on the internet.

It looks like iMovie has been stripped down clean from what is used to be.

So far, I think there are no:

-Themes
-Transitions
-Audio Rubberbanding
-Multiple Audio Tracks
-Extracting Audio
-Video Effects (even fast/slow/reverse?)
-Timeline
-Insert Black
-Start music before video

This is rediculous. Apple made a huge mistake with this. iMovie 08 now has less features than iMovie 1 came out back on OS 9! :confused::confused:
Maybe to make it more average Computer user friendly. Apple's way of saying "You want to make GREAT MOVIES!? Get FCE!!" There is transitions.

[SWC]

I do not have the new iLife, but I'm going off what I have read and seen on the internet.

It looks like iMovie has been stripped down clean from what is used to be.

So far, I think there are no:

-Themes
-Transitions
-Audio Rubberbanding
-Multiple Audio Tracks
-Extracting Audio
-Video Effects (even fast/slow/reverse?)
-Timeline
-Insert Black
-Start music before video

This is rediculous. Apple made a huge mistake with this. iMovie 08 now has less features than iMovie 1 came out back on OS 9! :confused::confused:

Insert black, transitions and themes are all there he demoed them during the keynote.

EDIT: multiple audio tracks as well just not sure if you can actually edit any of them. For example in the video he made he had the movie audio and the song.

[MacFan782040]

Maybe to make it more average Computer user friendly. Apple's way of saying "You want to make GREAT MOVIES!? Get FCE!!" There is transitions.

Sorry there are transitions. But everything else is not there. They dumbed it down so much it's pathetic. iMovie used to be a great tool for editing simple movies on for somebody like me who doesn't have the time or need to earn Final Cut Express.

Why in the world would they even consider taking out something like audio rubber banding or video effects?

This is 10 years behind iMovie HD 07. What were they thinking????

[MacFan782040]

Insert black, transitions and themes are all there he demoed them during the keynote.

EDIT: multiple audio tracks as well just not sure if you can actually edit any of them. For example in the video he made he had the movie audio and the song.

Right, but I do not believe that the rubber banding is there, so there is no way to fade down the music bed so that you can hear the clip audio.

Further, it appears you cannot extract the audio on clips, so you can say goodbye to doing interviews on iMovie or anything similar.

[SWC]

Right, but I do not believe that the rubber banding is there, so there is no way to fade down the music bed so that you can hear the clip audio.

Further, it appears you cannot extract the audio on clips, so you can say goodbye to doing interviews on iMovie or anything similar.

I've never used garage band so im not sure if its good for editing or just creation. Is this something where you can export the video to garage band edit the audio then take it back over like FCP > Soundtrack

[MacFan782040]

I've never used garage band so im not sure if its good for editing or just creation. Is this something where you can export the video to garage band edit the audio then take it back over like FCP > Soundtrack

Not that I'm aware of. You *might* be able to export the full movie as an AIFF, import it into Garageband, play with the levels, export it, import it back into iMovie again and drag it into the clip box, then turn off all clip audio......but that's extra steps that did not need to be taken before.

[SWC]

Not that I'm aware of. You *might* be able to export the full movie as an AIFF, import it into Garageband, play with the levels, export it, import it back into iMovie again and drag it into the clip box, then turn off all clip audio......but that's extra steps that did not need to be taken before.

No doubt that is a crappy solution. I am shocked there is no kind of audio duckng or anything like that. This is such an obvious and prevelant feature. I guess apple hates when people talk on camera and want to drown them out with music.

Any of this give you the functionality needed? It's hard for me to judge since I don't have a copy of the software yet.

iMovie gives you two simple ways to adjust sound levels in your video clips: reducing
the maximum volume or adjusting clip volumes to fit within a normalized range.
You make both of these adjustments in the Audio Adjustments window.
To open the Audio Adjustments window:
Click a clip and then click the Audio Adjustments button.

Setting Clip Volume
If you have a clip that simply is too loud compared to all the other clips or, conversely,
if you find that the sound in one of your clips is too quiet, you can simply increase or
decrease the clips volume.
To set the clips volume:
With the Audio Adjustments window open, click a clip to select it.
Drag the Volume slider to the level you want.
Click Done to close the Audio Adjustments window, or click another clip to adjust its
volume.
An audio adjustments icon appears at the beginning of the clip, which you can click to
open the Audio Adjustments window and change or remove any audio adjustments
youve made. You can restore the clips original volume by clicking Revert to Original
in the Audio Adjustments window.

Normalizing Clip Volumes
If you have a clip in which the subject is speaking too loudly and another in which t
subject is speaking too softly, normalizing the volume lets you easily reset volumes
fit within the volume range that you prefer.
To normalize volumes across clips:
With the Audio Adjustments window open, click a clip to select it.
Click Normalize Volume.
This sets the clip volume to its maximum level without distortion.
Select another clip, and then click Normalize Volume again.
The volumes of the two clips are adjusted to the same range.
Repeat steps 2 and 3 for any additional clips to bring them into the same range.
You can undo audio normalization at any time by clicking Remove Normalization o
Revert to Original in the Audio Adjustments window.

[Macintoshgeek]

Is there anyway to have a normal looking timeline?I think the new way would be really hard to get used to.

[Daveway]

I knew from the moment they chopped the timeline this would be a train wreck.

[belovedmonster]

I've never used garage band so im not sure if its good for editing or just creation. Is this something where you can export the video to garage band edit the audio then take it back over like FCP > Soundtrack

Yes!

One of the big features introduced into Garageband last year was the feature to load up an iMovie in Garageband to compose and record audio for it.

Also, before we condemn the new iMovie lets wait and see what features it has. Job's has a history of only talking about the new features in any given product, so the fact he didn't mention video effects for example doesn't mean they aren't there necessarily, it might just be he never mentioned them because that's nothing new.

Update: I just watched a couple of the tutorial videos and it seems that if you drag a sound effect or piece of music you can set the volume as well as click a check box for a given clip to tell it to drop the audio during that particular clip. I would be surprised as well if there wasn't some fade in and out transition for audio where you can set the length.

While you cant hold me to this since I've not used the the software yet it seems to me that for 95% who might of wanting to use the audio rubber band you have options here that meet your needs far easier than rubber banding, and if you really are someone who wants complete control over the mix then as I say above, you can open your iMovie up in Garageband and score and do the mix how ever you like, which in truth is a far better option than using rubberbanding in a video editing app anyways. A professional video production would use an audio app to do the mixing, not FCP.

Also I read in another thread some guy moaning that you cant start the music before the video, well just stick a black picture at the start, set it to the length you want, then bung your titles over it. Hell, you might be able to just bung the text effect down at the start of the video and it knows to have it over black. Fact is, whatever is "missing" probably isnt missing persay, you just gotta do it a different way (and in the case of having to use Garageband to do a proper audio mix the solution is arguably far better)

[J-Squire]

I am very worried about installing iLife 08, because I am really worried about the new iMovie.
Yes, it looks sweet, and yes there are certainly some awesome pieces of functionality in it, but it definitely hasn't excited me as a user who has basically exhausted the current functionality of iMovie.

I use FCP for professional editing, but iMovie has always been so much quicker and less hassle, that I often choose it over FCP to put together projects quickly. But this update seems to strip a lot of functionality out.

....I guess it didn't stop me buying iLife 08 today

[Richard Richard]

anyway of running both apps side by side ? iMovie HD and iMovie 08

[belovedmonster]

From what I understand installing iMovie 08 doesnt kill iMovie 07, so you can have both.

[thefunkymunky]

From what I understand installing iMovie 08 doesnt kill iMovie 07, so you can have both.

iMovie 07???:p

[belovedmonster]

06? :rolleyes:

HD? :D

[Wayfarer]

I do not have the new iLife, but I'm going off what I have read and seen on the internet.

It looks like iMovie has been stripped down clean from what is used to be.

So far, I think there are no:

-Themes
-Transitions
-Audio Rubberbanding
-Multiple Audio Tracks
-Extracting Audio
-Video Effects (even fast/slow/reverse?)
-Timeline
-Insert Black
-Start music before video

This is rediculous. Apple made a huge mistake with this. iMovie 08 now has less features than iMovie 1 came out back on OS 9! :confused::confused:

How could it be iMovie without if it lacks those basic features? I REALLY suggest you do your research instead of spreading false information. :mad: That doesn't make sense. I'm sure they've implemented it one way or another...

[Dagless]

So much fud. Can people please get their facts straight?

[belovedmonster]

Well that list is clearly wrong since there are transitions. And you can have multiple audio tracks in so much as you have a sound effect track and a background music track.

Why don't we just wait until someone gets a copy and can tell us one way or the other.

[Wayfarer]

http://images.apple.com/ilife/guidedtour/images/index_title20070807.png

Apple has posted a guided tour. Check it out, it's pretty cool.

http://www.apple.com/ilife/guidedtour/

[GFLPraxis]

What's with all the FUD? I'm trying to figure out what iMovie legitamitely has, and I'm seeing posts that claim it doesn't have stuff I saw Steve Jobs do during the keynote (transitions, for example), so I don't know what to believe.

Honestly, the old iMovie was NOT that intuitive (nor were other video editors); the new interface looks easier than every other video editor I've ever used.

I'm curious about system requirements. FCP required a good GPU for real time effects. Will iMovie support skimming on my MacBook with a GMA 950?

I figure there might be less transitions and effects than iMovie HD, which I'm fine with; they did say they started over from scratch. I want to know, though, if it supports two audio tracks; I want to do a podcast with both a voiceover and music.

[Artful Dodger]

I figure there might be less transitions and effects than iMovie HD, which I'm fine with; they did say they started over from scratch. I want to know, though, if it supports two audio tracks; I want to do a podcast with both a voiceover and music.

I'm very interested in this also as I would hope it still has two if not maybe four audio tracks to support. If not this new iLife might not be for me after all. I don't do heavy things but some stuff I do would be nice to "add in" extra audio tracks at the least.
I think this is like other new things where I have to go and play around with it at the Apple Store for my own peace of mind :cool:

[GFLPraxis]

There's an easier solution. When I installed iLife with iMovie 4 on my Pismo, I had noticed that iMovie 2 was pretty fast and had sound effects iMovie 4 didn't, so I simply renamed iMovie.app to iMovie2.app and when I installed iLife I suddenly had two versions of iMovie, both 2 and 4.

It shouldn't be hard; rename iMovie to iMovieHD.app. Install the new iLife and bam, you've got two versions of iMovie.


Really, if it supports two audio tracks, I'll be perfectly happy with deleting the old iMovie for it. I LOVE this new interface; I was always frustrated with how long it took to edit video in the past. And iMovie's encoder is HORRIBLE, iSquint is easily four times faster when encoding MPEG-4. I'm glad to see it die as long as this new one isn't missing anything major. It looks amazing.

[belovedmonster]

I want to do a podcast with both a voiceover and music.

Yes it will. Having a background tune picked for the video doesn't stop you from then using the voice over recording feature. If you watch the new iLife 08 tutorials for iMovie there is a video on how you record voice over.

Though you might wanna consider using garageband if voice over is like super important to the video. Just open the iMovie into Garageband and then use the dedicated audio app to do the audio :-)

[GFLPraxis]

Yes it will. Having a background tune picked for the video doesn't stop you from then using the voice over recording feature. If you watch the new iLife 08 tutorials for iMovie there is a video on how you record voice over.

Though you might wanna consider using garageband if voice over is like super important to the video. Just open the iMovie into Garageband and then use the dedicated audio app to do the audio :-)

Perfect; and if I already have the recording as an audio file, I can overlay that over the part of the video I want, right?

[belovedmonster]

Yup.

Worst come to worst... Apple is allowing people to download iMovie 06 for free if you have iLife 08. Maybe because they knew people would moan? :confused:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html

[GFLPraxis]

Then why the heck are people complaining? As far as I can tell, this has MOST of the features of iMovie 6, + a ton of incredible new things, and Apple is making the old one available for free if what you want to do is one of those few old features that it lacks.

Sigh. FUD is stupid.

[dswoodley]

So much fud. Can people please get their facts straight?

exactly what facts are in contention?

[sigamy]

Then why the heck are people complaining? As far as I can tell, this has MOST of the features of iMovie 6, + a ton of incredible new things, and Apple is making the old one available for free if what you want to do is one of those few old features that it lacks.

Sigh. FUD is stupid.

Sigh. iMovie '08 does not have MOST of the features of iMovie HD. Not even close. iMovie HD gave us full motion graphics themes, basic color correction, audio filters, video effects and a plugin architecture. Most iMovie fans were looking for more of the same in addition to more stability and improved performance.

And what incredible new things does iMovie '08 have? New ways to scub and trim video? Please.

This is similar to Apple including TextEdit in iWork and calling it Pages '08.

[yoyo5280]

Well, iMovie 08 has BETTER color correction, and do you know for sure that it can't use plugins??? It can also use kind of motion effects, and it does have audio editing. Want to really edit, you can put your audio track in garageband.

[faustfire]

I use FCP for professional editing, but iMovie has always been so much quicker and less hassle, that I often choose it over FCP to put together projects quickly.

I call B.S. on this one. Anyone who is at all proficient at FCP would not find iMovie to be quicker and less of a hassle. iMovie has the most backward, god awful workflow I have ever worked with. iMovie would only be quicker if you were extremely unknowledgeable within FCP.

[jd1]

I call B.S. on this one. Anyone who is at all proficient at FCP would not find iMovie to be quicker and less of a hassle. iMovie has the most backward, god awful workflow I have ever worked with. iMovie would only be quicker if you were extremely unknowledgeable within FCP.

Or FCE (for those not so rich) i personally like the look of it, not the features. but the new name (excluding HD) was a smart decidsion.

[SWC]

exactly what facts are in contention?

The ones I can remember that are there but people say arent are:

-Transitions
-Multiple Audio Tracks
-Video Effects
-Insert Black
-Start music before video (just insert black)

there are some others. It looks like some of the audio editing features that are missing you can handle in garage band according to some other members.

While I won't really use these I find it a better workflow as I go from FCP <-> soundtrack a lot as both tools are meant for different things rather than trying to cram tons of crap into one app.

Also what exactly do themes do in imovie? I can't really see them adding anything that isn't titling (which is there) or a menu (which is in idvd). I've never used it so I'm just asking.

[GFLPraxis]

The ones I can remember that are there but people say arent are:

-Transitions
-Multiple Audio Tracks
-Video Effects
-Insert Black
-Start music before video (just insert black)

there are some others. It looks like some of the audio editing features that are missing you can handle in garage band according to some other members.

While I won't really use these I find it a better workflow as I go from FCP <-> soundtrack a lot as both tools are meant for different things rather than trying to cram tons of crap into one app.

Also what exactly do themes do in imovie? I can't really see them adding anything that isn't titling (which is there) or a menu (which is in idvd). I've never used it so I'm just asking.

Never did figure out what the themes did.

And yeah, that's the stuff I was referring to. As far as I can tell, most of it is wrong; transitions, multiple audio tracks, etc are there. Audio rubberbanding isn't though, but you can have it fade.

[SWC]

Honestly my biggest fears about all of this is that apple is starting to abandon optical media creation. They pretty much left iDVD untouched (from what I gather) and they didn't touch DVD Studio Pro with the last FCS update. The only thing I can figure if they aren't abandoning it is that they are completely revamping their tools to take advantage of HD burners they will add to their lines.

[Ghibli]

I'm not a professional user, but I love to do some small demo videos for some friends (at present time I'm editing a wedding video for a friend of mine). Using more than an audio track and the ability to fade in and out them is a must for me. From what I've read this seems to be not possible anymore (unless opening the audio track in garageband- which is so time consuming when you try to adjust video and audio on the fly). Is anyone with a REAL copy of iMovie 08 at hand able to confirm this? Please do not respond just to say "I saw SJ do this and that". I watched the keynote too, but that isn't clear.

Thanks in advance for any reply.

[Cormac]

Well, iMovie 08 has BETTER color correction, and do you know for sure that it can't use plugins??? It can also use kind of motion effects, and it does have audio editing. Want to really edit, you can put your audio track in garageband.

>We got our copy of iLife '08 today. The new release of iMovie '08 is a
>complete rewrite from the ground up and lacks the support for plug-ins.
>There are just a handful of transitions and titles, and no effects in this
>new version. It is nice if you need to create a very basic video quickly,
>but you will likely want to keep using iMovie 6 for most of your video
>projects. Fortunately, if you install iLife 08, a copy of iMovie 6 stays on
>your system. Please bug Apple to update iMovie'08 to support third party
>plug-ins. Hope this info helps.

>Best Regards,

>GeeThree Customer Service

************

I have @ $150 worth of plugins from GeeThree that are now worthless in iMovie 08. For right now, I am sticking with iMovie 6. Probably will if and when I get iLife 08.

[imacanyone]

i do not like the new imovie at all. i have used imovie for years. i will continue to use the "old" imovie. in my opinion the "new" additions do not out weigh how basic the program has become. if the old imovie is english then the new imovie is spanish.

[Father Jack]

Has anyone else discovered that the help files in iMovie 08 are the iMovie 06 ones !!!!! (or at least the ones I checked. e.g. Fading music tracks etc.) ... :confused::confused:

[DavidLeblond]

Ok, so I just used iMovie '08 for the first time and I thought I'd share my thoughts.

I had about an hour of footage of my daughter's birth that people have been wanting to see. So I loaded it into iMovie. This took some time because iMovie crashed about 10 times while trying to import it (each time I had to wipe the preferences file to get it to load again.) I figure this will be fixed in the next patch, so I'm not worried.

I was afraid of the lack of a timeline, but for doing what I was doing I think '08 has it spot on. And I understand why Apple is going away from the timeline. iMovie isn't necessarily for the creative, just like iPhoto isn't. iMovie is geared at editing home movies.

This video (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5600358818929269149) took me about 10 minutes to create. (not including importing) The same video would have taken me at least an hour on iMovie '06. I see why they did what they did. Who needs themes and effects? All that does it put the "I made this in iMovie!" stamp all over it.

[dextertangocci]

I do not have the new iLife, but I'm going off what I have read and seen on the internet.

It looks like iMovie has been stripped down clean from what is used to be.

So far, I think there are no:

-Themes
-Transitions
-Audio Rubberbanding
-Multiple Audio Tracks
-Extracting Audio
-Video Effects (even fast/slow/reverse?)
-Timeline
-Insert Black
-Start music before video

This is rediculous. Apple made a huge mistake with this. iMovie 08 now has less features than iMovie 1 came out back on OS 9! :confused::confused:

Yay! That means I'll be able to understand it now:)

[DavidLeblond]

Yay! That means I'll be able to understand it now:)

Yeah, seriously.

I remember I was going to edit my wedding video in old iMovie, thats 3 hours of video... wasn't happening.

New iMovie > old iMovie.

Let me go over some of the "missing features."

Themes: Not available in iMovie '08, so you can't make your road trip movie look like every other iMovie road trip movie.

Transitions: Nope, they're there.

Audio rubberbanding: ??? not sure what this is.

Multiple Audio Tracks: Technically, they're there.

Extracting Audio: Not sure, haven't tried it.

Video Effects: Not there. Not missed either. Again, this is for home movies... why do you need to make your home movie go in reverse?

Timeline: It may not look like a traditional timeline, but the project view is pretty much a timeline... and it is so much more usable too.

Insert Black: I didn't even look for this. I just made a black jpg and threw it in there......... is that REALLY that difficult?

Start Music Before Video: As mentioned before, just do an insert black (see previous point) at the beginning of the movie.


This is from someone who has used both programs... I admit when I saw the preview of iMovie during the keynote, I thought the same things. "No theme? No timeline? This is a HUGE step backward." But now that I've used it, I see exactly what he meant when he told the story about the engineer who couldn't make a home movie in old iMovie. It was cumbersome as hell to work with clips. Working with clips in '08 is easy as hell.

Give iMovie '08 a shot before you shoot it down and then download '06 if you still feel like it sucks.

[sushi]

Yeah, seriously.

I remember I was going to edit my wedding video in old iMovie, thats 3 hours of video... wasn't happening.

New iMovie > old iMovie.

<snip>

Give iMovie '08 a shot before you shoot it down and then download '06 if you still feel like it sucks.
Good informative post.

However, I would add that Apple must have anticipated folks not wanting to switch so when you install iMovie 08 they keep iMovie 06 installed as well.

My guess is that they will update iMovie O8 with the "missing features" based upon customer feedback.

As for me, I will wait judgement until after I've had more time to play with iMovie 08.

[Applespider]

Just because you're not using some of those features doesn't mean that others aren't. I'd be happy to use iMovie 08 for some quickie projects where the output is under 2-3 minutes. That's what I used to use the old iMovie non-timeline view for. But I can't see using it for making holiday trips where I really want to end up with a 10 minutes DVD for the holiday participants since there the timeline feature is critical.

Themes: Not available in iMovie '08, so you can't make your road trip movie look like every other iMovie road trip movie.
I never used the roadtrip themes but the white/black reflections and the other big letter theme were useful on occasion.

Transitions: Nope, they're there.

But not all of them - and they are more limited than they were before in terms of timings etc.

Extracting Audio: Not sure, haven't tried it.[/quote
It's not there and that's annoying. It was really useful to be able to take the background noise from one clip (say of the sea crashing onto the beach and overlay it on the other beach clips where the wind or speech interrupted the sound).

[quote]Video Effects: Not there. Not missed either. Again, this is for home movies... why do you need to make your home movie go in reverse?
When you realise that it would have looked better to pan from left to right rather than right to left when you put the movie together or zoom out rather than in? When you want to speed up the footage for amusement factor? And yes, I've used a few of the others too.

Timeline: It may not look like a traditional timeline, but the project view is pretty much a timeline... and it is so much more usable too.
It's usable for very short pieces. It doesn't work so well when trying to cue music in exactly etc.

Not being able to set the photos start/stop for Ken Burns is bugging too. I rarely used the default option and tweaked it.

Give iMovie '08 a shot before you shoot it down and then download '06 if you still feel like it sucks.

I'd be delighted too for shorter projects except it doesn't work on my G4 so I'll have to finish the current piece in iMovie HD. I had a quick play with it in a store to try out a few things.

Overall, I think iMovie has been dumbed down - which isn't too bad since they're still giving out iMovie 06. It is a v1 app again so let's see how it develops.

But there are a lot of semi-serious users who don't need the power of FCE (or the cost) who now can't work as they used to.

[liketom]

not keen on iMovie 08 - for a basic user it is kinda nice if you just want simple things - but i think Final Cut Pro features wrapped around the new interface of imovie would be a killer app

but that will not happen will it :rolleyes:, o well hello iMovie 06:(

[tweakers_suck]

I bought iLife '08 on the release date. At first I was disappointed with iM '08. It was different from iM HD and there was a learning curve. I wasn't sure that I liked it or thought it to be an improvement worth the upgrade fee. But after playing around with iM '08, sharing my experiments with the media browser, then using Garage Band for audio and chapter marking I find that overall iM '08 is an improvement for me and my purposes.

Skimming is a great benefit in reducing time spent editing.

I don't miss the video FX -- never used them.
I don't miss themes -- never used them.

Using GB is an extra step for audio adjustments and adding chapter marker for iDVD, but overall iLife '08 will be a nice upgrade for me.

I especially like the sharing capabilities now. The preset options for apple tv, ipod, computer exporting of various sizes really results in nice looking projects with small file sizes. This is much easier than using Expert mode when sharing as a Quicktime file.

Sorry to those of you who like iM HD better. You can still use that...

[AppleEater]

I still prefer iMovie '07 HD. It had a solid interface, great features, and created a profession-looking product in a relatively short amount of time. I haven't gotten my hands on the new version yet, but from what I've heard, the lack of features, more difficult interface, and disgruntled customers who've bought it already speak for themselves. For now, I'm sticking with iMovie HD.:apple:

[faustfire]

Honestly my biggest fears about all of this is that apple is starting to abandon optical media creation. They pretty much left iDVD untouched (from what I gather) and they didn't touch DVD Studio Pro with the last FCS update. The only thing I can figure if they aren't abandoning it is that they are completely revamping their tools to take advantage of HD burners they will add to their lines.

I think your probably right. I think apple is quietly waiting for HD burners to become more common and then introduce their new versions of DVDSP and iDVD. The authoring environment, from what I have seen, is completely different when it comes to HD DVD and BRay. I think we will see some incredible new features when these new versions hit the stores.

[xplainwhy]

I tried iMovie 08 over the weekend and i think was great.

It was quick and easy to select and drop clips together and i had a movie done in 3 hours that took me 8 or 9 hours in iMovie 06. The thing that made the biggest difference was the ability to "skim" over a clip to find the exact bit that i wanted to include in the video.

It even had the options to automatically add in your transition of choice so that you don't have to drag and drop the same transition between every clip (i like to keep movies simple by using just one transition =).

Sure, there's no audio rubber banding, but there's something even better... pick a clip you want, and you can tell it to "duck" audio from other sources automatically. Easy. It can even normalise audio so that all your clips have a consistent volume.

Sure, there aren't any themes, go use iMovie 06 if you want them.

Sure, Video FX are now gone, that might not necessarily be a bad thing... videos should be simple... just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Sure, there's no timecode, and at first i was a bit annoyed with this, but really, you don't need it... the aim here is to get the clips you want to put into the movie you're creating. Skimming is actually really good at letting you find the bits you want... and even after you've added a clip, you can change the start and end point of that clip with footage from the original footage! Magic.

So my impression is, sure, iMovie 08 may lack a few features that iMovie 06 had, but in my opinion, those features took away from the actual task of creating a movie. iMovie 08 really puts the focus on creating a movie that you can send around to all your friends and relatives, and it achieves this every well.

Well worth the upgrade, IMHO. =)

[GFLPraxis]

I still prefer iMovie '07 HD. It had a solid interface, great features, and created a profession-looking product in a relatively short amount of time. I haven't gotten my hands on the new version yet, but from what I've heard, the lack of features, more difficult interface, and disgruntled customers who've bought it already speak for themselves. For now, I'm sticking with iMovie HD.:apple:

Then you're falling for the FUD.

The interface is spectacular; those that complain about it have not actually tried it and are going off of hearsay. I VASTLY prefer iMovie 08. I've made a total of two videos for each version if iMovie and everything I've done on 08 has been vastly easier.

[mrgreen4242]

Hm, I was just thinking about how Apple combined all the pro media applications into FCS a few years back and made them available only as a bundle. I wonder if they have plans to do a Final Cut Studio Express?

I could see them updating iMovie '08 to include a basic DVD authoring system, which really would make more sense now that it's also a video library. Offer some templates, add a few options to customize those templates, etc. It seems like it would make much more sense to combine all of this together.

Then, take iMovie '06 and FCE and sort of combine them. Give people the FCE features and power but put it into the old iMovie mold to make it easier to use and more flexible in terms of how much of that power you want to use. They could update iDVD '08 to be more full featured - not quite DVDSP, but more than iDVD can do now. Build your own templates/layouts, basic HDDVD/BD support, etc.

Maybe add in some other nearly-pro level media app (not sure what... maybe a GarageBand Pro type sound editor, or even just an expanded library of music loops and effects for GB) and sell it for somewhere between $149 and the current $299 that FCE sells for (I could see a price drop in order to pick up more customers who used to use iMovie and iDVD to their fullest capacity but weren't willing shell out $300 for FCE).

[Wild-Bill]

Can you export an iMovie 8 project into a format that will be accepted by iMovie HD 6 ???? I'm thinking, for workflow purposes, you can scrub and trim your video to your heart's content, then import the scrubbed piece into iMovie 6 and then split it up, add video FX and transitions, chapter markers, and do other things. Possible???

[Artofilm]

I can understand why some people are upset about the new iMovie and how it works. Others are confused at how to use it and work with it like the old versions of iMovie, but here's the thing.

iMovie 08 was created because iMovie was becoming far too complicated for a simple "consumer" program, along with all the bugs and errors that it had as well.

The new iMovie promises quick, fast, automated-editing, so a consumer that knows nothing about computers, can make a fairly nice looking video.

On the other hand, no, it does not have much control to what you can do with it. This is what Final Cut Express is around for. It has much better layout, control, speed and not to mention a lot less bugs.

If you want control and customization, buy Final Cut Express.
If you want quick automated editing, get iMovie.

[oduinnin]

:confused:Can you export an iMovie 8 project into a format that will be accepted by iMovie HD 6 ???? I'm thinking, for workflow purposes, you can scrub and trim your video to your heart's content, then import the scrubbed piece into iMovie 6 and then split it up, add video FX and transitions, chapter markers, and do other things. Possible???

This is the #1 question I'd like answered. I couldn't find anything on the Apple web support site. Has anyone tried?

I'm still waiting on the new 24" iMac I ordered last wednesday, which will come with iLife '08 installed. Then I could give it a try. :confused: