iMovie '08 Rewrite Fully Supports AVCHD & Radically Improves Making Good Movies Fast

[megfilmworks]

I was hoping this would be more like FCP but I guess that's the point.
If you are serious, then use FCP. If you are a hobbyist, then iMovie is probably better. Like one poster mentioned, they are trying to separate the two apps.

 

[telecomm]

If anyone installs the new iLife on a G4 be sure to let us know. I'm curious as to whether or not it will even open the app. Apple seems to be dropping the idea of supporting older computers and os. For example I don't know how many programs I've come across that are only for 10.4 or higher. I'd hate to find out that my computer can run FCP 5, yet not be able to run imovie 08.

Apparently it won't install (see here), though one poster did cryptically suggest that it could be made to work.

Edit: Apparently Apple has now made iMovie HD available for download to those who buy iLife 08. (link) So those with an underpowered dual 1.8 Ghz G5 PowerMac can still use iMovie, and all the intel, etc., folks can have both the old iMovie and the new iMovie lite that everyone keeps complaining about.

 

[derheld]

what did I wait for?

I am extremly disappointed with the new iLife08.

Hoped also for a iMoiveHD with new themes and transitions, but this new imovie - maybe its good for the extremly-low-end-user, but we all who used imovie will be dissappointed. And I also do not buy the FCE argument, I owned it and it had no advantage to offer except that the usage is much more complicated!!!

Apple should have made an PhotoBooth for Video instead - there they would have covered the low-end and with imovie the DVD-Making users. (I like the argument with imovie now being like WindowsMovieMaker - because it is so true)

I personally have NO interest in youtube, etc, and since I want to make DVDs the new imovie is useless ....

and 2 points annoy me very much about ilife08:
1) the only useful extension is html-snippets in iweb
2) the other is that the update of .mac requires the new iphoto - hello !??!? either you update .mac and enable webgalleries there OR you dont speak of an .mac update and give iweb/iphoto that feature!

so - why should I upgrade to ilife08, steve?
for me thereis no obvious reason, but disadvantages ...

 

[belovedmonster]

Hoped also for a iMoiveHD with new themes and transitions

If all you wanted was more eye candy then fear not... the $79 you would have spent on iLife 08 will buy you a bunch of transitions and other eye candy in the form of 3rd party plugins for iMovie HD.

 

[ibglowin]

And we still can't burn anything in HD...........

Weve been able to import and edit HDV for years. When oh when can we actually burn a Blu-Ray (or anything HD) disc from our HD video?

BD burners are now less than $500 and availble from several makers. I paid that for my first CD burner 9 years ago.

Come on Apple.

 

[ftaok]

Weve been able to import and edit HDV for years. When oh when can we actually burn a Blu-Ray (or anything HD) disc from our HD video?

BD burners are now less than $500 and availble from several makers. I paid that for my first CD burner 9 years ago.

Come on Apple.

I though iDVD is able to burn HD-DVD discs onto standard DVD-R's that are playable on HD-DVD players? I remember reading something about CES2006 where Toshiba's HD-DVD players was running a demo and the disc inside was a DVD-R burned as an HD-DVD using iDVD (or maybe it was DVD Studio).

Anyways, I know it's not the best option, but it's out there.

 

[Multimedia]

AVCHD Owners May Have To Be Double Dippers For Apple's Bottom Line

So now when's FCE4 coming out with AVCHD support?

After they sell a ton of iLife '08 copies to all the frustrated AVCHD camcorder owners who can't wait.

 

[ibglowin]

Nope.

iDVD can't burn anything in HD. Zip, zilch, nada.

DVD Studio Pro/Final Cut Pro can burn some sort of HD-DVD (or so I've read).

I though iDVD is able to burn HD-DVD discs onto standard DVD-R's that are playable on HD-DVD players? I remember reading something about CES2006 where Toshiba's HD-DVD players was running a demo and the disc inside was a DVD-R burned as an HD-DVD using iDVD (or maybe it was DVD Studio).

Anyways, I know it's not the best option, but it's out there.

 

[sknifton]

imovie 08

i never, EVER thought i'd say this: imovie 08 makes imovie 06 look good.

what a scam ... no timeline ? no chapter markers / makers ? i CAN'T EVEN DRAG A .MOV FILE INTO IT ?? !!


i used to create enhanced podcasts on imovie hd, this new version is completely useless for that purpose. after wasting an entire night on imovie, i can't quite figure out WHAT it's good for ....

they dropped the ball on this one. bad, bad, bad thievery.

waste of money.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Today iLife 08 arrived. It is just fantastic. Including iMovie. I just created an movie and shared it on youtube. That took me like no time. I used some pictures from an event in iPhoto and really BOOM. Placed them into the new "timeline" - choose a Intro and a song and BOOM. Movie ready to upload on youtube. Apple is sooo far ahead of the competition here. Unbelievable.

 

[Multimedia]

Good News. iMovie '08 Will Install On All The 1.8GHz G5 iMacs & PowerMacs

Misinformation from Apple says minimum is 1.9GHz G5. It's a Typo. We have a report over in Apple Software that it installs fine on 1.8GHz iMacs as well. There never was a 1.9GHz G5 and a whole lot of 1.8GHz G5 iMacs as well as PowerMacs.

 

[Multimedia]

It Blows - It Goes. We Hate It - We Love It. Man This Is One Weird Software Package

i never, EVER thought i'd say this: imovie 08 makes imovie 06 look good.

what a scam ... no timeline ? no chapter markers / makers ? i CAN'T EVEN DRAG A .MOV FILE INTO IT ?? !!

i used to create enhanced podcasts on imovie hd, this new version is completely useless for that purpose. after wasting an entire night on imovie, i can't quite figure out WHAT it's good for ....

they dropped the ball on this one. bad, bad, bad thievery.

waste of money.

Did you even open GarageBand yet?

OK so that's one vote for "It Blows". Now for the rebuttal take it away Commander LaForge:

Today iLife 08 arrived. It is just fantastic. Including iMovie. I just created an movie and shared it on youtube. That took me like no time. I used some pictures from an event in iPhoto and really BOOM. Placed them into the new "timeline" - choose a Intro and a song and BOOM. Movie ready to upload on youtube. Apple is sooo far ahead of the competition here. Unbelievable.

OK so now we know that software quality is in the eye of the user who knows what he/she is doing or something like that ...

Thank you both for a totally confusing pair of conclusions. My money's on the Commander BTW.

 

[Ghibli]

I do not like it

From what I've seen on the web I'm very sad to say that I do not like it at all. I'm sure that the new iMovie is wonderful to edit a 5 minute video to share on youtube, but it seems that it lacks all the features that are needed for longer projects...

iDVD is the only app that may make me buy iLife08... really sad... (numbers, on the other side may be the reason for buy iWork08...)

 

[vandlism]

Anyone else wondering if iMovie could have quite a few Leopard technologies built-in that they're just waiting to release?

 

[Chundles]

There never was a 1.9GHz G5

HAHAH!!!

At last I can prove you unequivocally wrong!! I am the king!!

No but seriously, it's a bit rich that they took a lot of the cool stuff out of iMovie - hopefully they add some of the control features back into it. Can you even fade music in and out during a film?

 

[Glenn Wolsey]

Misinformation from Apple says minimum is 1.9GHz G5. It's a Typo. We have a report over in Apple Software that it installs fine on 1.8GHz iMacs as well. There never was a 1.9GHz G5 and a whole lot of 1.8GHz G5 iMacs as well as PowerMacs.

Actually, there was a 1.9Ghz G5 iMac. When Apple reshaped the machine with a slimmer trim, added an in-built iSight and Front Row, the G5 iMac could be had in 1.9Ghz and 2.1Ghz flavors.

 

[scotthayes]

Why all the moaning???

Can't see what everyone is moaning about. iMovie 08 does what it says on the tin, and that is, it lets you create a little 5 minute video in no time at all. So there is no time line, and there are not as many this or not as much of that, but let's be honest, who cares? It's a fantastic program for creating little 5 minute or so videos in no time at all.


Seems I keep repeating the "little 5 minute video bit" well, that's because iMovie is for that, if you want to make huge impressive videos with loads of different effects and have to spend hours doing so, then go buy FCE or FCP (I will admit I've told my wife I want FCE for christmas )

But one of the best thing about iMovie 08 is the support for AVCHD, I plugged my Sony HDR-SR5 in to my MacBook Pro yesterday (after taking the 10 minutes to install iLife 08 with out a single issue, note to Vista users, can you do that with MS software???) and it just downloaded the videos and off I went, not big manuals to read, not clicking on help. IT JUST WORKED.

So to finish off, quit your moaning about iMovie 08, if you want to be the next Oscar winning film editor buy the big boys toys, if you want to make a movie of your friend falling on their arse while trying to show off, get iMovie 08

 

[ozruru]

keep iMovie 6(rename it); work on iMovie 8 with HD--- so you got both

I agreed. we somehow get used to old version lots of functions, when new version did not keep them they have their reasons. Let's just keep old iMovie ( I will rename it to"iMovie 6" ) then work on new iMovie 8.
All I want to know is how to get best output --- a real hde DVD from Mac (or PC) by using existing stuffs is possible.

 

[derheld]

Weve been able to import and edit HDV for years. When oh when can we actually burn a Blu-Ray (or anything HD) disc from our HD video?

Full Ack!
What do we get HD support for if we are not able to save the data?
I use iMovieHD and the only option I have so far ist to save it to a Harddisk and play the video by connecting my mac to the TV - that is not Apple-like :-(

 

[derheld]

Can't see what everyone is moaning about. iMovie 08 does what it says on the tin, and that is, it lets you create a little 5 minute video in no time at all. So there is no time line, and there are not as many this or not as much of that, but let's be honest, who cares? It's a fantastic program for creating little 5 minute or so videos in no time at all.

Sure for 5min Videos it will be fine - so Apple shoul have named it PhotoBoothForVideo, but since they sold us our Macs and telling us to create our DVDs with iLife and then removing the essential part of cutting our vacation video - that is the wrong move!

 

[Multimedia]

I Did Not Remember That 1.9GHz iMac

Actually, there was a 1.9Ghz G5 iMac. When Apple reshaped the machine with a slimmer trim, added an in-built iSight and Front Row, the G5 iMac could be had in 1.9Ghz and 2.1Ghz flavors.

I sit corrected. Thanks guys.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Did you even open GarageBand yet?

OK so that's one vote for "It Blows". Now for the rebuttal take it away Commander LaForge:OK so now we know that software quality is in the eye of the user who knows what he/she is doing or something like that ...

Thank you both for a totally confusing pair of conclusions. My money's on the Commander BTW.

Hi again.

I would like to comment on my comment. First I have to say that I use Final Cut to edit my movies. Love FCS 2 so far beside Motion because it constantly crashes on my Macbook Pro. But today Apple released a fix and hope it works now.

Anyway - I am amazed by iMovie. Of course not by the lack of features that it obviously has but really by the way Apple realizes and implements the Zeitgeist into this App.

This is not a NLE for semi-Pros or Pros. Maybe even not for the more enthusiastic home movie maker but for the ton of people who create little movies and post them on youtube.

You can really make a little movie in no time. As I said I created this in about 3 minutes. I took pictures from an event (iMovie as well sorts the pictures by events) and moved them on the "timeline". Selected an Apple Loop. Added a title and published on youtube. The integration is fantastic.

Now - you have like no creative controls over the thing. That makes it fast. For example Ken Burns effect. You can only select if you want the effect or not. In the old iMovie you could and had to choose start and stop and by that determine the Zoom and Pan. Gone in '08.

I am amazed how Apple comes up with new concepts and throughs proves ones away. That makes Apple Apple. This the current Zeitgeist in app.

Edit: after the latest update for the Macbook Pro 17" 2.4 GHz SR Motion 3 works. Thats great. I have it for quite some time now and couldn't use it.

 

[macbotics]

Dont get me started on the new icon!
It doent match any of the other ilife members!

 

[sigamy]

Hi again.

This is not a NLE for semi-Pros or Pros. Maybe even not for the more enthusiastic home movie maker but for the ton of people who create little movies and post them on youtube.

You can really make a little movie in no time. As I said I created this in about 3 minutes. I took pictures from an event (iMovie as well sorts the pictures by events) and moved them on the "timeline". Selected an Apple Loop. Added a title and published on youtube. The integration is fantastic.

I agree with everything you've said...iMovie '08 is great for small, quick & dirty little videos or slideshows.

But slideshows are not movies. And when did this pressing need for getting things done in 20 minutes arrive to the world? Doesn't art take time?

Most people complaining have really no issues with this brand new application. It introduces some great new features like the library, scrubbing and drag selections.

We have issues with the fact that it has replaced iMovie HD and that version 6 is the last version we will probably see.

It is just very curious how we got from iMovie HD 6 with themes, which is basically motion graphics templates, video and audio effects, and iDVD support to this new iMovie '08.

 

[mrgreen4242]

I agree with everything you've said...iMovie '08 is great for small, quick & dirty little videos or slideshows.

But slideshows are not movies. And when did this pressing need for getting things done in 20 minutes arrive to the world? Doesn't art take time?

Since YouTube. I've been thinking about this, and I really think that 80% of all the camcorders in the world are owned by people who want to edit quick little vids like this... there's a relatively small number of people who really edit their video into "works of art".

Most people complaining have really no issues with this brand new application. It introduces some great new features like the library, scrubbing and drag selections.

We have issues with the fact that it has replaced iMovie HD and that version 6 is the last version we will probably see.

It is just very curious how we got from iMovie HD 6 with themes, which is basically motion graphics templates, video and audio effects, and iDVD support to this new iMovie '08.

Since '06 is being made available I think Apple has done a great thing. They're giving people choices, and hopefully the new iMovie will grow to incorporate the features that people miss from '06 eventually.

Anyways, I had a quick question about AVCHD support: does iMovie import that format as AIC like it does HDV (which is ~36gb/hour right for HD correct?) or is it editing on those files directly somehow? Also, can it export to AVCHD? Since iMovie is built to work with that format I'd be interested in archiving HDV footage on DVD in AVCHD.

I know there will be detail loss, but for some/many things that are only moderately important it would be a cheap and convenient way to archive pretty high quality original/unedited video. What I mean is keeping the DV tape ($4 a pop for good ones you'd want to use in an HDV cam) is an expensive thing to do if you shoot a lot, in my opinion. Keeping "important" tapes is one thing (a couple tapes from a vacation, weddings, etc) but just everyday little things would add up and it would be nice to throw 45-60 minutes of "raw" video onto a DVD-R and reuse the tape.