iMovie 09 & HD Footage not really HD?

[smogsy]

i imported some true 1080p footage into imovie done my editing etc fine, however when it came to exporting i look at the advanced options and it said Export to 9xx x 8xxx, i looked at current footage & it also said 9xxx x 8xx

why is that? shouldnt current footage be 1920x1080? or does imovie 09 not support HD footage?

do i need FCE?

can you please move this to video section mods

thanks.

 

[ildondeigiocchi]

Did you import the video at Full Size 1920 by 1080 or at half the size. You may have imported it as the latter. Check preferences in iMovie.

 

[bkspero]

i imported some true 1080p footage into imovie done my editing etc fine, however when it came to exporting i look at the advanced options and it said Export to 9xx x 8xxx, i looked at current footage & it also said 9xxx x 8xx

why is that? shouldnt current footage be 1920x1080? or does imovie 09 not support HD footage?

do i need FCE?

can you please move this to video section mods

thanks.

Neither iMovie 09 or FCE handle AVCHD 1080 video very well. They rerender it to AIC, and in most cases export to lower resolution. I am directly familiar with 1080i video where they strip every 2nd line of resolution to convert it to 540p. You can get details on the iMovie discussion area in the Apple.com/support forum.

There really aren't any consumer level HD video editors for OSX that preserve resolution. FCPro will work in ProRes...if you want to spend $1000. You might consider installing Win7 under Boot Camp and get Sony Vegas. Will cost a total of $200 to $300. Both are rock solid and handle AVCHD natively. Produce great looking and sounding video.

After going thru my issues with iMovie, I wound up getting my first new PC after 4 Macs. A quad core with 4 gigs of memory, Win7, and Vegas for less than the price of a Mac Mini and half the price of FCPro. Win7 has been great.