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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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ThinkSecret reports that Apple is wrapping up development on what appears to be iMovie 3.5.

ThinkSecret is unable to provide details as to specific improvements found in the upcoming iMovie revision, but speculates it may be released at MacWorld San Francisco 2004.

The last major revision to Apple's consumer DV editing application came at MacWorld San Francisco 2003 with the release of iMovie 3.0.
 

Doctor Q

Administrator
Staff member
Sep 19, 2002
39,782
7,514
Los Angeles
If there are no details about the changes in iMovie, I guess it's up to us to speculate. Apple could easily add features beyond previous versions, but it has to maintain the distinction between iMovie and the "prosumer" Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro, so Apple's motto should not be "the sky's the limit" for iMovie. Apple should add features to keep iMovie up to date and "best of breed", while resisting the temptation to add features that will complicate the interface and reduce ease of use for the majority of users.

So what features do we WANT to see?
 

johnnyjibbs

macrumors 68030
Sep 18, 2003
2,964
122
London, UK
It would be nice for it to be a little faster. In comparison to Final Cut Express it's pretty slow on my machine, but then I do only have 256MB RAM (FCE is fine though, and you're supposed to have >384!)
 

liloconf

macrumors newbie
Sep 23, 2002
14
0
hmm...

i'd rather have a final cut express 1.5 but hey thats cool, i like ken and his effects :)
 

Swinny

macrumors regular
Jul 12, 2002
109
0
Oxford, UK
This is good news...would be nice to see iMovie getting a bit of a push on its own like the other iLife Apps have in recent times - seems to have become the poor relative of the 4...If they can match at least some of the functionality of Avid's Free DV then that'd be cool!

-----------------------------------
Webmaster // http://www.iMovie-user.com
The only iMovie resource.
 

crawdad62

macrumors regular
Jan 26, 2002
168
18
Greencastle, IN
I certainly hope so. iMovie3 when it was released was buggy as heck. They (Apple) have kind of put it on the back burner with the release of FCE. While FCE is certainly much cheaper than FCP it's learning curve is fairly steep and more than most people need for putting together a home movie. iMovie fits the bill quite nicely.
 

Bandit

macrumors member
Dec 31, 2001
41
0
iLife Update

Maybe we will see an entire ilife update on MWSF. It seems like iPhoto is about due for an update. I'd be happy with an updated iLife aat MWSF and nothing else. I don't have the money to buy any new hardware announcements.
 

SeaFox

macrumors 68030
Jul 22, 2003
2,619
954
Somewhere Else
Sounds like it's going to be a real movie-oriented Macworld SF. Final Cut Pro being a major topic and now this.

...and NO everyone, that does not mean video iPods.
 

entropy1980

macrumors regular
May 14, 2003
213
0
Canyon Country, CA
Doubt it would happen but.... I would love it if they would add a feature like Muvee Auto-Producer...http://www.muvee.com/
If you haven't heard of it, it's a pretty sweet piece of windows software I wish they had a mac version, Windows crappy built-in Movie editor even has a similar feature that takes raw footage and "magically" cuts out junk and matches the tempo of the music... pretty neat that's my wish for iMovie 3.5 :D
 

Gymnut

macrumors 68000
Apr 18, 2003
1,887
28
Well I use FCP 3 but considering I started using iMovie and then eventually outgrew it, any updates to this fantastic beginner editor is good news.
 

MCCFR

macrumors regular
Nov 6, 2003
108
0
Guildford, Surrey, UK
G5-savvy and designed for a 970FX iMac announced at MWSF to mark the 20th anniversary of the original Mac.

All the signs point to this, you mark my words.;)
 

Trowaman

macrumors 6502a
Nov 3, 2003
598
0
CD: TX-14
Agreed, I use FCP 3 as well, but let's give the newbies some more stuff to work with. I think people in iMovie should finally get the ability to use infinate video and audio tracks. We gave them audio pen points in iMovie 3.0.

Enjoy your new toys :D

andyeah, let's update the entire iLife.
 

lewdvig

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2002
1,416
75
South Pole
Hopefully they get some of the annoying audio sync issues fixed. I have read all the tips on the subject, but I still find that anything over 40 minutes loses sync whther its output to tape or DVD. Argh!

I have FCE now, so hopefully I can try a few of the audio track tricks I have read.
 

JoeRadar

macrumors regular
May 28, 2003
153
0
Originally posted by SeaFox
...and NO everyone, that does not mean video iPods.
It is called an iBook.

Seriously, I would like to see a sub-12" iBook with a low power G3-based chip. The goal: small, good battery life, email & web. Maybe call it the iTraveler. Add iTunes and ripped DVDs, and you have an iPod-like that does video.
 

sethypoo

macrumors 68000
Oct 8, 2003
1,583
5
Sacramento, CA, USA
An update for iLife would be awesome. iPhoto needs help, it's due for an update.

I'd like to see some tutorials for switching from iMovie to FCP or FCE built into iMovie, that would help a lot of comsumer users switch (eventually) over to the pro line.
 

memphismac

macrumors member
Oct 22, 2003
86
3
Potentially stupid question:

I just ordered Panther (upgrading my 400mhz DVSE iMac).

If upgrades come in January, will I be able to upgrade the iLife apps that I'll be getting in Panther? Say I get iMovie 3 in Panther, will I able to up it to iMovie 4?

(can you tell that I've been behind the iLife/OSX revolution?)


Brian
 

mkaake

macrumors 65816
Apr 10, 2003
1,153
0
mi
Originally posted by memphismac
Potentially stupid question:

I just ordered Panther (upgrading my 400mhz DVSE iMac).

If upgrades come in January, will I be able to upgrade the iLife apps that I'll be getting in Panther? Say I get iMovie 3 in Panther, will I able to up it to iMovie 4?

(can you tell that I've been behind the iLife/OSX revolution?)


Brian

yeah, the iapps are free for download (kind of... if you don't have a superdrive on your mac, there't no idvd in your future, but other than that)... so upgrading them is always free...

matt
 

javabear90

macrumors 6502a
Dec 7, 2003
512
0
Houston, TX
Does apple have things up their sleeve's?

Somtime awhile ago, I heard somthing about Steve having some intresting things up their sleeves involving iLife. I wonder if these things could be released at MWSF. that would be cool:)

Da Tedsta
 

zaphoyd

macrumors regular
Jun 25, 2002
121
32
Wisconsin/Illinois
Originally posted by milatchi
It's about time because iMovie 3 is a P.O.S. Oh Well, good thing I use Fianl Cut Express.

Amen

FCE is fast, non buggy, and a joy to use.

iMovie may be easy, but it's performance is so bad that it frustrates the people who it is designed for. I have used it on a dual 2.0Ghz G5 with 2GB of ram. It is still unbelievably sluggish and annoying. The window mode introduced in version 3 I think has something to do with it. 2.1 was a full screen app and seemed to hog the processor and actually work. 3.x went to window mode and performance dropped off a cliff. How can FCE be soooo fast, and iMovie sooooo slow?

Once I needed to use imovie's fairy dust effect [one of iMovie's high points is it's great effects, and all the effects avaliable via third parties] getting a clip into imovie, applying the fairy dust in the right place, then exporting it back to FCE was almost an all day task.

One thing I would like to see in a new iMovie is the ability to play your iMovies back on a TV. This feature was present in 2.x and to an extent in 3.0.0, but apple promptly killed it with 3.0.1.


[rant about Apple's stupidity with the above tv issue, feel free to skip]
In 2.x you could plug a TV into your mac's video out port, mirror the display and press the full screen preview button, thus playing the movie on the tv. No need go buy a DVD burner or waste a dvd on it. In 3.0.0 you couldnt launch the program on a mac whos resolution was less than 1024x768 [now my ibook is effectively locked out of iMovie BOO ONTO YOU APPLE] however, Apple in it's infinite wisdom forgot one little thing. The most common TV resolution is 800x600. 3.0.0 let you change your resolution back to 800x600 after you launched it [letting you go into tv mirror and play full screen] 3.0.1 pops up a cute little box that says [HI THIS IS APPLE, ENOUGH FULL SCREEN FUN, WE ARE GOING TO SCREW YOU OVER NOW HAAHAHHAHAHA] when you try to change the screen resolution, then proceeds to force quit the app without a chance to save.
[/rant]


so yeah, my iMovie wish list:
  • Make it fast enough so I can show it to pc people and have them actually be impressed.
  • Fix full screen output to tv
  • higher quality ken burns effects
  • better titling support. like let you have two titles that are the same size on the screen at once... [is it *that* hard]
  • a box that warns you when you try to capture video to a device that is not fast enough [laptop hard drive].
  • a feature that tells you when its about to unexpectantly quit, so you can save your work before it does.

iMovie is pretty decent feature wise, it is free, but free is no excuse for crappy buggy performance.


Oh, and my FCE wishlist:
  • scroll wheel support for the browser, please please please please
thats it, FCE is great!
 

johnnyjibbs

macrumors 68030
Sep 18, 2003
2,964
122
London, UK
Originally posted by zaphoyd
FCE is fast, non buggy, and a joy to use.

iMovie is pretty decent feature wise, it is free, but free is no excuse for crappy buggy performance.
Agreed. With FCE so good there is no reason for iMovie to be so bad.


Oh, and my FCE wishlist:
  • scroll wheel support for the browser, please please please please
thats it, FCE is great!
Yes! I could do with AAC support as well but I found that MP3s played in dire quality (skipping all the time) so now I have to use AIFFs (better quality anyway) for music.
 

legion

macrumors 6502a
Jul 31, 2003
516
0
Re: hmm...

Originally posted by liloconf
i'd rather have a final cut express 1.5 but hey thats cool, i like ken and his effects :)

At some level, I've always thought that the "Ken Burns" Effect should really be an effect/process that turns a 5 minute storyline into a 20hr multivolume documentary....:D
 

Macco

macrumors regular
Jun 15, 2003
164
0
Originally posted by mkaake
yeah, the iapps are free for download (kind of... if you don't have a superdrive on your mac, there't no idvd in your future, but other than that)... so upgrading them is always free...

matt

Actually, not quite. You can only upgrade iDVD by buying the iLife box. iDVD is over a gigabyte in size, so even if Apple wanted to make it free, people wouldn't be able to download it.
 
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