iMovie 08: can't get the format (wide) right when importing from cam

[Taustin Powers]

I'm really not happy with this new iMovie, I thought the old version was a lot more intuitive. But anyway, here goes:

I am importing video from my Canon HV10 camcorder. The project is set to 16:9. The camera is sending a 16:9 signal. While importing, it show me a 16:9 window with the video in it, everything looks fine.

THEN, after the import, the video footage in the "event browser" (wtf) is not the right format anymore. It's the original video footage squished into 4:3, with black bars on the sides to fill the rest of the 16:9 screen. So the video as a whole is still 16:9, but the actual image is only 4:3, plus black bars.

Any idea what I am doing wrong?

 

[Taustin Powers]

Well, it looks like I got it working now.

I changed the cam settings to send an "HDV" signal instead of a "DV" signal. So now the camera is sending in 1080i, and then iMovie is downscaling to 540.

But the normal "DV" setting should have sent a 540-scale 16:9 picture, shouldn't it? I wonder why iMovie handled it the way it did...