iMovie HD stretches vision during transitions

[Courtaj]

While waiting for Final Cut Express to arrive in the post, I'm attempting to finish off a job I started in iMovie HD.

Problem: although the project is 16x9, when I export to QuickTime the result (regardless of which settings I select) is that the vision is stretched horizontally during dissolves and any other rendered editing effect (e.g. speed changes). Vision that's not part of the dissolve or effect comes out perfectly normal.

My source footage was 1920x1080i50 AVCHD imported through iMovie 08 and copied across to iMovie HD. I'm wondering if the problem is that iMovie HD supports HDV 1440x1080 rather than 1920x1080, but this doesn't seem to explain why it's only vision that's part of a transition or effect that is exported in the wrong aspect.

Any thoughts?

 

[Courtaj]

Well, I've tried every combination of export settings (within reason), and even a permutation or two as well. I tried exporting on a Mac running Tiger rather than Leopard in case it was an OS issue (like the similarly weird Ken Burns stretching of a year or so ago). Same result.

A shame, really, since I liked iMovie HD until now.

Roll on FCE.