iMovie exporting questions

[ero87]

Hi,

I'm trying to transfer a home movie from a video camera and make it a quicktime file.

1st of all: Do I have to go through iMovie? Or can it just import as a quicktime movie?

2nd of all: in iMovie, is the only way to import it to import it as it plays? For long movies, this takes a while- is there a faster way?

3rd of all: Once I have the iMovie project, and I want to make it a quicktime file, i'm faced with this dilemma. I find "CD-ROM quality" slightly unacceptable, and "Full Quality" takes up about 1 GB per hour of movie . I see that there is an "Expert Settings" option; how can i use this option to find a middle ground?

Thanks so much!

 

[ero87]

anybody?

 

[nfcatt]

Hi,

The time it takes to import video depends entirely on the length of your video - it has to be done in real time.. ie if you have a 30min video it will take 30mins..no way around this!!

I personally use iMovie - it's a great app for general home use.. The problem with any video compression is that it is a compromise - you can have high quality video or you can have a small file size - not both.. As you have discovered full quality video takes up an enormous amount of space, and compressing it down to fit on a CD, depending on how long your movie is, can be very poor quality. You have to experiment with the settings in expert to achieve the compromise that is aceptable to you. This will depend on what the video is - action, mainly still, etc..
I personally use H.264 compression and leave my audio at pretty much full quality - but play around with the compression settings under H.264, you will find the size/quality compromise that suits you pretty quickly..

If you want a more in depth look at this sort of stuff I can reccommend iMovie 6 & iDVD - The Missing Manual by David Pogue.. It gives a fairly detailed overview of the apps as well as a good look at the various compression codecs and their uses, advantages, and disadvantages..

Good luck,

Nelson.

 

[jan08]

Can someone help me with a related, really daft question? I've just ordered an MBP with a new Firewire 800 cable thinking this is what I'd need to hook up my aging Sony PCR110E. Was that the right thing to do? If it makes transfers no quicker then I may as well get a cheaper cable than the £30 affair that I've gone for. Its awful having so little knowledge