Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Best Video Editing Software for a G4?

adcx64

adcx64

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 17, 2008
1,270
124
Philadelphia
Hi guys,

For a small project, I need to use my eMac to merge an audio track with a .mov video file. What do you think is the best software to do this?

Also, what do you guys think of Copernicus as a screen video capture program? Do you know of any better software?

Thanks!
 
Quicktime Pro, and or older versions of iMovie may be your best bet. They are both supported and optimized for the G4 processor, and should be easy to come by.

HTH
 
Are those software's obtainable for free? I forgot to add in the original post I am looking for free software. But thanks! I will look into it!
 
The editing in QT Pro is basic at best. I find it very limited and I'm not even sure if you can actually do exactly what you want with it.

I recommend an older version of iMovie from around iLife 05. iMovie is the best and easiest all round tool to do exactly what you want. I bet you could find iLife 05 for 10-20 bucks on ebay or even here in the marketplace possibly.
 
Thanks for the info, but I am trying to avoid spending money for this project. I have seen many programs online, but none that are of a decent quality. Does anyone know of a decent piece of software that is free?

Thanks guys! :D
 
never found a decent alternative to AVID , sorry cost a bit but its worth every pence or cent when it comes to editing , cutting.....videos in HD
its like with everything good software has its price most of the time, if you want a decent end result
and the older versions that run on G4's of avid's software are quiet cheap to get now
after all most of hollywoods film studios use avid and i use it too on 4 of my emac 1.42's and on my rig the newest windows version ok thats a bit more on the expensive side
 
Last edited:
MacHamster68 said:
never found a decent alternative to AVID , sorry cost a bit but its worth every pence or cent when it comes to editing , cutting.....videos in HD
its like with everything good software has its price most of the time, if you want a decent end result
and the older versions that run on G4's of avid's software are quiet cheap to get now
after all most of hollywoods film studios use avid and i use it too on 4 of my emac 1.42's and on my rig the newest windows version ok thats a bit more on the expensive side
Click to expand...

Please don't take this the wrong way, but did you even read the thread? :confused:

adcx64 indicated that they didn't even want to buy a cheap, older copy of iMovie, so I think AVID is far outside their range of interest.
 
For serious video editing I would instead suggest finding a local video editing group, and go around and beg someone for a cheap/free copy of an older version of either AVID or Final Cut Pro. (I got my copy of Final Cut Pro 3 for free, including the box, serials, manuals and disks), as those give you world-class editing environments.

If your just doing consumer video editing, I recommend iMovie 3.0.3 for Mac OS X, which is avaliable as a free download from Apple here, and was the last pre-iLife version which was free for download (It says update, but I recall thats a full version, and its the same version as distributed for free on Mac OS X Panther retail CDs): http://support.apple.com/downloads/iMovie_3_0_3
 
chrismacguy said:
For serious video editing I would instead suggest finding a local video editing group, and go around and beg someone for a cheap/free copy of an older version of either AVID or Final Cut Pro. (I got my copy of Final Cut Pro 3 for free, including the box, serials, manuals and disks), as those give you world-class editing environments.

If your just doing consumer video editing, I recommend iMovie 3.0.3 for Mac OS X, which is avaliable as a free download from Apple here, and was the last pre-iLife version which was free for download (It says update, but I recall thats a full version, and its the same version as distributed for free on Mac OS X Panther retail CDs): http://support.apple.com/downloads/iMovie_3_0_3
Click to expand...

thanks for all the help. iMovie 3 worked great! Thanks everyone else for the help!
 
adcx64 said:
thanks for all the help. iMovie 3 worked great! Thanks everyone else for the help!
Click to expand...

iMovie 3.0.3 still being available for free is one of the best kept secrets of the Mac world. Not enough people remember iMovie 3 and iPhoto 2 are free to download and were always freeware.
 
zen.state said:
Thats very cool that they offer iMovie 3 for free now. Good on you Apple.
Click to expand...

They've actually offered iMovie 3 and iPhoto 2 for free since they were released back in about 2001 (Or there abouts), and they have always been freeware, just never really publicised by Apple as they really want you to buy iLife. They are also both included in the Optional Applications installer in Panther (CD #2) and I believe possibly also Jaguar, although Im not sure of that.
 
chrismacguy said:
They've actually offered iMovie 3 and iPhoto 2 for free since they were released back in about 2001 (Or there abouts), and they have always been freeware, just never really publicised by Apple as they really want you to buy iLife. They are also both included in the Optional Applications installer in Panther (CD #2) and I believe possibly also Jaguar, although Im not sure of that.
Click to expand...

I missed your other post explaining that. I personally didn't switch from OS9 to X till late 2003. I think the first time I used anything iLife other than iTunes was iLife 06. Aperture removed my need for iphoto a couple years ago.
 
zen.state said:
I missed your other post explaining that. I personally didn't switch from OS9 to X till late 2003. I think the first time I used anything iLife other than iTunes was iLife 06. Aperture removed my need for iphoto a couple years ago.
Click to expand...

Heh, I did the kindve half-switching between 2000 and well now really (My MDD runs 9.2.2 natively, and I use it daily for Audio Software that is 9 only) - Although I went Full-time X for my daily use with Panther I think... as before then I was happy with whatever my G4 had on it when I got it, which I think was 9.1, I just got X when it came out, thought "thats neat", messed with it, went back to 9, and did the same with Puma and Jaguar, and I think it was with Jaguar I found iMovie and iPhoto on the Install Disk, which is why I knew they were there, and then I happened to find them on Apple Support when I was configuring a few iMac G3s for friends a few years ago and they didnt want to pay for iLife, so I just threw iMovie 3, iPhoto 2 and iTunes on there.
 
chrismacguy said:
... and I think it was with Jaguar I found iMovie and iPhoto on the Install Disk, ...
Click to expand...

you recall that right!

Wasn't there a time, when iMovieHD 6 was free as a stubstitute for a broken iMovieHD 8 version for PPCs? I just can't find the download (apple only offers an update. PS: Would version 6 be better than version 5 anyway?)
 
Cox Orange said:
you recall that right!

Wasn't there a time, when iMovieHD 6 was free as a stubstitute for a broken iMovieHD 8 version for PPCs? I just can't find the download (apple only offers an update. PS: Would version 6 be better than version 5 anyway?)
Click to expand...

Actually what it was was that there was a huge outcry over iMovie '08 being useless/ nowhere near as good as iMovie '06, so they brought out a customized DMG of iMovie '06 that would only install if iMovie '08 was installed on the system, and when iMovie '09 came out they removed that download as '09 was deemed to have "enough" of the features of '06 that they didnt need to host it anymore (iMovie '06 was an incremental upgrade over '05 but nice to have none-the-less). Personally Im just glad I have a retail box copy of iLife '06 that is universal, as it means I just install iMovie HD '06 from that onto all my new Macs.
 
Thanks you and if I may ask one last question: in iMovie 5 one can't delete deleted footage from the projects trash bin, the cause is, that the file size stays the same no matter how much you delete. I read that this was a decision made by apple to leave the source intact and I found a work around to delete files permanently, which seems to work. I learned in this forum, that in iMovie 6 you can delete things the way it was possible from version 1-4.
My question is, whether this is true that its not a bug and if it is known whether the work-around is the same as doing it the "normal" way and the file one gets is a real 1:1 copy just without the deleted parts.

PS: work-around is, opening a new project, then drag the timeline-file from the cache folder in the package folder to the window of the new project and drop. The result is that one gets a file called timeline.dv in the media-folder of the new projects package.
 
Cox Orange said:
Thanks you and if I may ask one last question: in iMovie 5 one can't delete deleted footage from the projects trash bin, the cause is, that the file size stays the same no matter how much you delete. I read that this was a decision made by apple to leave the source intact and I found a work around to delete files permanently, which seems to work. I learned in this forum, that in iMovie 6 you can delete things the way it was possible from version 1-4.
My question is, whether this is true that its not a bug and if it is known whether the work-around is the same as doing it the "normal" way and the file one gets is a real 1:1 copy just without the deleted parts.

PS: work-around is, opening a new project, then drag the timeline-file from the cache folder in the package folder to the window of the new project and drop. The result is that one gets a file called timeline.dv in the media-folder of the new projects package.
Click to expand...

The reason the file size never really reduces is you have to have not used that clip in the Timeline for it to actually delete that imported material. The reason for this is that iMovie HD is a non-linear editor, and the idea is that once you've added and cut a clip, you might trash the stuff from the project to get it out of view or whatever, but if the clip is in use iMovie keeps all of it on hand incase you want to go back in and re-edit it using some of the footage your "chucked" by dragging the clips endpoints around in the timeline.

Personally I have always just left the extra video data intact in my iMovie Projects and preferred to just add storage, especially given as it is so very cheap these days, I tend to (now) buy an extra internal/external HD for my Mac Pro (current editing station) or (before) buy an extra internal HD for my G4, or an external 1TB or similar size HD and add it to one of the 3 USB 2 cards that G4 eventually had inside it, so that I could keep editing and Id just archive projects off of my main system once they were no longer being worked on, this way I never had to lose source data, hand a project over and either be told or decide it needed a reedit and have to go and reimport the data in again from tape or other source media.
 
chrismacguy said:
The reason the file size never really reduces is you have to have not used that clip in the Timeline for it to actually delete that imported material. The reason for this is that iMovie HD is a non-linear editor, and ...
Click to expand...
you referring to version 5, as I was, right? Since in version 1-4 and 6 you can delete parts and the overall file size gets smaller.
chrismacguy said:
Personally I have always just left the extra video data intact in my iMovie Projects and preferred to just add storage,...
Click to expand...
well, that is true, but there are instances, where there are things you know you will never ever need in the source (like hissing and blackscreen, before the actual material to be used starts). I would like to permanently delete such things.
 
chrismacguy said:
If your just doing consumer video editing, I recommend iMovie 3.0.3 for Mac OS X, which is avaliable as a free download from Apple here, and was the last pre-iLife version which was free for download (It says update, but I recall thats a full version, and its the same version as distributed for free on Mac OS X Panther retail CDs): http://support.apple.com/downloads/iMovie_3_0_3
Click to expand...

Awesome, did not know that they had an older version for download for free. I'd download but I've already got these or better from my powerbook panther dvds.

I missed out on purchasing iLife '09 for $20-30.
 
Out of curiosity, I used Handbrake on my 1.25ghz eMac to rip a DVD. The estimated time to finish was approx 22 hours :eek: The same operation in my MBP17 took approx 18 minutes.

If your are going to use a G4 for intensive tasks, you best be patient. Plus you will pay in your power bill.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back