iMovie Driving Me Up the Wall!!

[malexandria]

Why won't iMovie let me do something as simple as Import Videos from my camcorder into a folder/HD that I want??? I have a 500 GB Drive on my Macbook and a 500GB External drive, my Macbook Drive is down to 40 GB. All I want to do is import video from my Camcorder Directly to my External HD and work with the files there. As usual Apple forces users to do things THEIR way and not the way I want to. It's driving me insane.

I know that theoretically iMovie would let me select the HD as an Import option if I formatted the entire HD in Mac Journal format but if I do that would a) Erase all my data and b) Windows would no longer recognize it. This is unacceptable since I transfer files between my Windows and Macbook using external drives all the time. I was at the Apple store and the Tech told me my only option was to purchase Final Cut Express which is just a dumb answer. Why would I pay $200 for an application that hasn't been updated in over 2 years just to get the ability to tell the program where to import files????

I have Premiere Pro, but that isn't as elegant as iMovie in terms of seamless YouTube integration and how it visually imports video. In Premiere I have to look at a the camera's directory and figure out which generic file name matches which clip I want. It's a mess. But I do like that I can set where my scratch discs are and not have it be on my internal drive. Does anyone have any suggestions other than getting an External HD dedicated to all things Mac? I'm ready to throw this computer out the window and just go back to the Windows world, at least there I don't have to continue to do everything the way Big Brother Jobs wants me to.

After two years, I'm finally, finally starting to like my Mac but then stuff like this happens that reminds me why I like the Windows World better. I'm just tired of being told how to do stuff and being forced to continue to pay more money just to do some simple no brainer task...

 

[sup3r1or]

Why won't iMovie let me do something as simple as Import Videos from my camcorder into a folder/HD that I want??? I have a 500 GB Drive on my Macbook and a 500GB External drive, my Macbook Drive is down to 40 GB. All I want to do is import video from my Camcorder Directly to my External HD and work with the files there. As usual Apple forces users to do things THEIR way and not the way I want to. It's driving me insane.

I know that theoretically iMovie would let me select the HD as an Import option if I formatted the entire HD in Mac Journal format but if I do that would a) Erase all my data and b) Windows would no longer recognize it. This is unacceptable since I transfer files between my Windows and Macbook using external drives all the time. I was at the Apple store and the Tech told me my only option was to purchase Final Cut Express which is just a dumb answer. Why would I pay $200 for an application that hasn't been updated in over 2 years just to get the ability to tell the program where to import files????

I have Premiere Pro, but that isn't as elegant as iMovie in terms of seamless YouTube integration and how it visually imports video. In Premiere I have to look at a the camera's directory and figure out which generic file name matches which clip I want. It's a mess. But I do like that I can set where my scratch discs are and not have it be on my internal drive. Does anyone have any suggestions other than getting an External HD dedicated to all things Mac? I'm ready to throw this computer out the window and just go back to the Windows world, at least there I don't have to continue to do everything the way Big Brother Jobs wants me to.

After two years, I'm finally, finally starting to like my Mac but then stuff like this happens that reminds me why I like the Windows World better. I'm just tired of being told how to do stuff and being forced to continue to pay more money just to do some simple no brainer task...

I understand how you feel, I have the same issue. Feel a bit cheated payed a fortune for sub-par hardware. I;am looking for a way to back up system to NTFS drive.

Had countless headaches in terms of always finding a way or separate application to do different things.

On windows you can find MAC Drive and install it that way you will see your Mac drives.
Have you also tried to bootcamp windows 7?

 

[malexandria]

Thanks

for the Reply. I have Windows running in Parallels but really if I'm going to go back to Windows, I'm just going to get a Windows Machine. I really like iMovie and would like to stay with it but the way Apple is forcing me to use it it's way is one of the reasons why I may go back to windows.

 

[MrCheeto]

Yeah, I hate when I'm forced to do things for my own good. Like not being allowed into the gate at the airport before the plane has arrived. Dammit! I want my foot to get caught in the retracting corridor or slip and fall ten feet! I wunna I wunna!

Basically, there's a reason for this, even if you don't know it. Just as there was a reason the iPhone was unable to multitask and G5's never made it into notebooks.

Drive format is a major factor.

 

[advres]

So you're mad that a $15.80 application (unless you got it bundled free) doesn't have a certain feature a $200 app has? And of course premiere has that ability, it is more expensive even than that.

Guess what, there is a reason it comes in a 5 application bundle for $79.