Resolved iMovie performance issues

[Merode]

I'm running late 2013 13" rMBP 2,4/8/256 and I'm experiencing quite large performance issues. Let's start from the beginning.

I've downloaded trial version of FCP X and used it recently for a small project. The software is amazing and worked really well. Unfortunately I have more pressing expanses right now rather than 270€ software.

There's another project that I decided to do in iMovie 10 as FCP X is due to expire this week. This project is much longer - the video is 2 hours and 20 minutes long.

THE ISSUE: The video is imported and ready to go. I know that because external HDD's LED is still so it's not working anymore. If I try scrolling the timeline I get a slideshow with framrate below 1 per second. Dragging parts of clips to the timeline is even worse (wow, that's really possible).

I've discovered that if I zoom out (so long clips are short on the timeline) the program is starting to work a bit more fluent. And yes, I don't have to drag clips to timeline - there's shortcut for that.

Here's the funny part - I tried doing the same thing with FCP X as the trial has not yet expired. It works brilliantly. Not even a frame dropped. I thought that maybe iMovie has issues running in HiRes, so I've forced it to run in LowRes - it's the same.

Here's my conclusion - I know that Apple has to somehow encourage people to buy FCP X. I just wish it wasn't performance of timeline scrolling. Or is it just me?

EDIT: Could it be that unlike FCP X, iMovie has issues working with library/files residing on external HDD (USB 3.0)?

 

[Merode]

To make a long story short - I found a solution.

iMovie has issues coping with long timelines (I had 2h 20min one). The solution is to split long movie into smaller events (with maybe up to 50 clips) and to create movie projects in each seperate event.

I think it's possible to copy all the work later with cmd+a and cmd+c after clicking on the timeline in each project to paste it later with cmd+v in initial movie project.

The alternative would be to export each project separately and then combine them in new project. I don't think it's great idea due to double exporting which might reduce quality.