Final Cut Express vs iMovie 09

[SteveMischief]

I'm developing my video editing and am looking to upgrade from iMovie 06 and 08.

I have a Sony HDR5 camera and over 100gig of footage saved as .mts files - i need to know that the editing software is compatible with this camera (currently having troubles with needing to convert .mts files)

Also - I want a program that will allow me to import footage directly to, work from and export to an external hard drive

Is final cut express my best bet for more advanced hobbyist?

Cheers,

S...

 

[ChrisA]

Is final cut express my best bet for more advanced hobbyist?

In a word "Yes".

FCE is a true multi-track editor that allows you to combine multiple audio and video time lines. iMove is a "cut and paste" editor for working on a single time line. For any kind of serious ork you are going to need multiple tracks at least for the audio (music, dalog, effects,...) and most "advanced hobbyists" are likey doing multiple camera setup for each scene of if not using multiple cameras and likely too more then one mic and recorded audio track. iMovie just is not made for this

The best way to learn about what FCP andiMove do is to download and read the user manuals, they are on eht Apple web site. After that buy a $25 subscription to Lynda.com and watch the tutorials there.

 

[CaptainChunk]

FCE will capture/transcode straight from an AVCHD camera, but if you already have footage stored as .mts files on a hard drive, you would need to use a program like VoltaicHD to transcode them for editing. And it's a slow process, unfortunately.

 

[eclipse]

Isn't there some way to do imovie editing with multiple sound tracks in Garage band? I made the mistake of editing my kids Star Wars movie with all the extra light sabre effects, and after 30 or so extra effects in a scene it would suddenly get all digitized and rubbishy sounding. I ended up having to save and export the file once a few scenes were finished, and then reimport it to start again. (You can imagine how pixilated and grainy it ended up looking after a few repetitions of this).

So... is there a way to do sound in Garage band while watching video timing?

 

[Courtaj]

So... is there a way to do sound in Garage band while watching video timing?

Yes, once you've finished editing in iMovie you can export your movie and then drag-and-drop the generated .mov file into GB to arrange and mix the audio. GB gives you a small preview window in the top right to monitor your video. Then you can export ("share") from GB just as you would from iMovie and the job is done.