Backing up iMovie footage

[jaseman]

I have a mini dv camcorder and use iMovie to import the footage I take. When I have edited the footage I normally use iDVD to create a DVD for family to see.

Because I am collecting more video footage I need a way of backing some of the video clips up. My iMovie files are around 8GB, so they are too big to backup onto DVD, so they are currently stored on my hard disk.

I was looking at converting the dv files used in iMovie to a different format to make them smaller so I can back them up. I looked into converting them to mpeg4, the size is better but the quality is a lot worse.

Converting them to mov files saves space and the quality still seems to look OK on screen.

I want to be able to re-use these backup files in the future, so I can import them back into iMovie to create DVD's.

What is the best way to convert the video files, making them small enough to be backed up to DVD but still good enough quality for re-use in the future? Is mov the best format for this?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Jason

 

[Texas04]

If they are multiple projects just keep a few backup DVD's around... but if not get an External Drive and just backup the iMovie file... and also keep them on your internal drive in case one or the other fails... thats what I do..

 

[Applespider]

You could put the finished iMovie file back onto DV tape. That would mean it was exactly the same quality as the original and you could reimport it in the future to re-use.

 

[LethalWolfe]

You could put the finished iMovie file back onto DV tape. That would mean it was exactly the same quality as the original and you could reimport it in the future to re-use.

Agreed 100%. Putting the finished video back to MiniDV is the best way to go.


Lethal

 

[jaseman]

OK cool, sounds like I will need to buy a few more tapes. Do you loose much quality converting to mov format then?

 

[Applespider]

OK cool, sounds like I will need to buy a few more tapes. Do you loose much quality converting to mov format then?

It depends what quality level you set the export to - but to get excellent quality will still take a fair amount of disk space and can take a while to encode.

It's quicker and easier (especially if you might re-use sections) to just export it back to the camera - and also saves the disk space!