any iMovie experts out there? can't see videos...

[mickeysworld]

So, after a day of searching and one applecare phone call, I'm still not sure if I'm missing something or not.

Using an iPad2, a Panasonic FH25 camera, and apple's camera connection kit, I have no problem getting video and photos off the camera and onto the iPad, but when I try to open the video in iMovie they are not there. Applecare says it's because the camera is saving the video in a different format and that the videos need to be in .mov format. When I look on my pc, the photos are saved as Quicktime .mov files so I'm confused? (as you can probably tell!).

Is the consensus that unless the video is recorded from an iOS device such as an iphone4 or ipod touch, I will not be able to see/edit the video (from my camera) in iMovie? If so, I'm really bummed!

Thanks in advance for any insight!

 

[poloponies]

They're probably mixed in with your photos in the Photos App. Look for the little movie camera symbol in the lower left corner of the image, that means it's a video.

 

[mickeysworld]

thought of something else I forgot to ask, are all movies or slideshows made in iMovie a much lower quality than the originals? the photo quality seems much less crisp and clear than the original photo taken with the iphone4. this too is pretty disappointing. again, maybe I'm missing something or doing something wrong?

 

[mickeysworld]

poloponies, thanks for the suggestion, the videos are there along with the photos, iMovie just refuses to see them. videos that were taken with my iphone4 show up in iMovie, no problem. It's the video that comes from my Panasonic digital camera that iMovie does not recognize.

 

[urkel]

Here's the thing about iMovie. It's a very impressive bit of software that demos well and is so easy that a grandma can use it. But due to the weak onboard camera then we are reliant on external video capture in order to produce anything worthwhile. And it even goes deeper than that because not only is iMovie extremely finicky as to what files it will read, even if you downgrade them to a "compatible" resolution then they still dont appear in iMovie without some complicated hoop jumping.

So unfortunately your only answers are these:

1) Use an iPhone.
I absolutely HATE when people claim this is an answer because I dont own an iPhone, but it does work as promised

2) Use the onboard camera.
I also hate when people dismiss the importance of a good onboard camera because as "awkward" as it may be to hold a 10" screen, its better than nothing.

3) Use Desktop iMovie
I also hate this one, but when you question Apples decisions you have to deal with the stupid cliche answers people give. And while Desktop iMovie WILL handle your files, its not the answer you or I are looking for.

4) Tic Tac Toe.
I couldnt believe this is the only solution for me, but someone found this to be the only way to get non-native files into iMovie. First you need to downgrade the files to something iPad compatible using VisualHub or VideoMonkey. Then you need to use this Tic Tac Toe app in order to TRICK iMovie into seeing the converted files.


Okay. Well good luck.

 

[ckorhonen]

Are you using one of the new iOS 5 beta's by any chance? I noticed a similar issue the other day - video which was previously supported was not showing up.

 

[mickeysworld]

No, I'm on 4.3. I'm coming to the conclusion that iMovie sucks for me! Even my photos that are off my iPhone 4 are looking terrible once in iMovie. Such a disappointment.

 

[silroc]

Longshot but try turning on location services for iMovie.