iMovie to Receive Update and Move Online?

[iMacmatician]

They wouldn't. This is obvious.

Snow Leopard is based around the speed of the OS. Not the internet connection. So why would they put these apps in the cloud, because if they did, snow leopard would have nothing to show. Apart from how fast it loads safari.

Anyone with me?

I'm with you. At least Apple can then say "Safari is snappier."

Whats up with 9to5 these days.. first its the "two-tone" MB/P and now this!

They also said the notebooks would be 16:9.

I definately agree that Apple shoudl make a bunch of Apps to allow users to edit and save Keynote/Pages files, etc on an iphone, but I don't even see the point of an iPhone version of iMovie.

Mobile iMovie would be better suited for a mini-tablet or such.

And yes, the rumor doesn't say that iMovie will go entirely online, but there is a possibility. And that is enough for me to be worried.

 

[IJ Reilly]

And yes, the rumor doesn't say that iMovie will go entirely online, but there is a possibility. And that is enough for me to be worried.

Anything is possible, but even the original article on which this rumor is based does not suggest this. He says he's got no idea. The concept that an online version of iMovie is being created means that it is going "entirely" online is really just a fabrication of some overly active imaginations on this forum. That idea isn't even based on a rumor. It's completely non-fact-based speculation.

 

[robogobo]

in a word: nof*ckingway

 

[alansky]

Er - you mean like what happens now with software update? They're not online apps if you have to download them and run them offline, are they?

Right. If footage doesn't have to be uploaded, then the app has to live on the local hard disk, doesn't it? In which case, what's the benefit? iPhoto, for example, already interfaces seamlessly with MobileMe, but the iPhoto app lives on the computer, not on the server. What would be the benefit of moving iPhoto to the Cloud? For the average iPhoto user, there would be no benefit at all.

 

[thedarkhorse]

Web technologies such as Javascript are totally unsuited to processing video files. This is one area where you most definitely want to be running native code. For example a Javascript H.264 encoder would be magnitudes slower and use many times the memory of a native one (if it is actually possible to write one.)

The only way of doing this with a web app would be to upload the video to the server and have it perform any actions on the video. Then you could download the result. The other possibility would be to allow native code to be run by the browser but, as Microsoft has seen with ActiveX, this would be an act of lunacy. Plus it wouldn't really be a web app.

But couldn't the javascript just direct the video to be transcoded through the quicktime components installed on the local machine? The javascript would just be the front end, the interface you use, the actual crunching would be done by quicktime in the background. Anyone with a mac already has quicktime, and most pc users with itunes have it too.

 

[raytube]

The rumour of an online version of iMovie are dumb because of one reason: Bandwidth.

I don’t think that Apple will release ‘iMovie in the Cloud’ for one reason: Bandwidth.

For anything other than simple low-resolution web video editing it would be completely impractical even using the fastest available broadband.

I've written a wee post about it here: http://suburbia.org.uk/blog/2009/01/03/055107.html

I could be wrong, but I can't see it happening, we'll see on Monday I guess!

 

[spydr]

Moving it up to the cloud would connote that you would have to upload your footage in order to edit/convert?

My canon HF10 records around 8-10 Gb of video in an hour - that will take weeks to upload

 

[philo23]

Clearly iMovie on the web would not require you to upload your video in order to edit it. My first reaction was to unilaterally reject the story as well because of this. But when I stop and think about it you may not have to upload your video files in order to edit them.

With new web technologies I imagine it is possible to create a web application that works with video files stored on your local system. You wouldn't have to upload anything unless you want to share it publicly ala YouTube. Whether or not having a web application for editing video is very useful is a whole different discussion but I think it is doable...

Apart from through flash this is impossible, for security reasons web pages cannot load or display anything from your computer directly, the only way they can is through uploads.

 

[Sweetfeld28]

in a word: nof*ckingway

hhahahha. Thats exactly what i was thinking. They must have one hell-of-a Server farm.

 

[charlituna]

I
"Cloud" based movie editing would gain a potential huge increase in speed

except that the cloud in question is the same one that MobileMe etc are running off. And not very well. Most folks would rather see that sitch improved than adding something that would strain the system even more. And I have to agree with them

Cloud based services, ...
Then again Open Office works well enough, no need for iWork.

CBS is a rumor beyond mobileme. as for open office, it doesn't have the integration with the media browser etc which is actually rather nice at times

Only a low quality version would be streamed via the web for editing. You could edit your videos from anywhere, and then when you get home export the final video and you are done.

sorry but I don't see how that is better. as a video editor I particularly don't want to be working with lower quality anything.

The iMovie '08 hate. What's so bad about it? It's completely functional and a wonderful way to edit for it's intended audience.

actually it is not. well not in all forms. as I mentioned before the whole events/projects is great. especially for new consumers, because it mirrors iphoto etc. but the audio editing was easier in imovie HD. in '08 it is a pain to get things exactly how you want them. what they need, I and many feel, is to have an option to work in an HD style timeline with that programs extraction etc tools. but the rest is fine to stay the '08 way.

Also, I do not like the idea of Apple subtly forcing Mac users to pay $99/year for MobileMe. If they make iMovie, iWork and potentially the rest of the iLife suite web-based, then users will practically be forced to subscribe to MobileMe.

yes but right now you are paying for a new computer to get ilife, or $79 if you have a computer that will work it. plus $79 for iwork which isn't on their machines.

so the $99 a year, given the additional functionality, appears the better deal.

not that I want this whole cloud thing. not if it is THE way to use them (as an addon, sure, go for it. as long as you don't neglect my standalones)

Ever heard of Genius?

heard of it. I just used it 5 minutes ago. It has nothing to do with syncing. It is basically a tool to recommend more stuff for you to buy based on your library and what stuff other folks that have some of your stuff also have that you don't. In other words, it's a sales tool

iMovie08 was obviously a big mistake on their part, evidenced by the fact that they had to offer iMovieHD as a free download to people with iLife08 installed.

actually no. the free download had NOTHING to do with iMovie '08 being sucky. It had to do with the fact that it can't run on a PPC computer and so they shut out a still large part of their market. So to keep those folks coming back to Mac, they gave them back the one bit they couldn't use after paying for the new suite.

I left this bit separate because I think it is really important. especially the line I highlighted (and tweaked just a tad)

And I think they need to seriously re-think their "cloud" efforts. We all saw what a fiasco MobileMe was. They need to master the ... technology they have now before taking anything else on.

I think that this is the theme for at least the first part of this year. master the technology they have.

I think that come next week there will be no new products announced. New as in the next killer toy. It will be a collection of adjustments and improvements to what we have now. Some of them might be big, some of them small.

things like
1. release date for a 17inch MBP with the new graphics cards and perhaps retaining the dvi port as well as adding a mini-display port. plus bigger harddrives etc

2. new graphics for the imacs. new pricing structure perhaps even. let it start at $1199 but with the basic stats of the $1499. either drop the current $1199 (which I think is a joke anyway) or let it to to $999 and see what happens. if no one buys it by WWDC they can always quietly end it. put a new 20 inch in the line up that falls between the two sets so there's still 2 and 2 (or 3 and 2 at least for now)

3. better apple tv.

4. mac mini with all over betterness. those things are too slow and too small to really be any good.

5. a vow to devote serious time and manpower to mobile me. perhaps even bringing the folks in charge on the stage to make that vow

6. sneak peek snow leopard which is the improvements project for the Mac OS X (and part of why I think this is the year of improvement over the next big thing)

and so on

 

[html]

Not a Chance! (Words may be eaten)

I don't see this happening until most people get bandwidth upwards of 1 gb a minute, and that is not going to happen for a long long long long long time.

 

[iMacmatician]

actually no. the free download had NOTHING to do with iMovie '08 being sucky. It had to do with the fact that it can't run on a PPC computer and so they shut out a still large part of their market. So to keep those folks coming back to Mac, they gave them back the one bit they couldn't use after paying for the new suite.

Not only the PPC Macs, but G4s and some G5s (sub-1.9 GHz) too.

 

[czachorski]

but the audio editing was easier in imovie HD.

I actually think the audio editing is easier in 08. For me, 99% of the time, I am editing audio to duck the audio of the soundtrack down to hear the dialog on the video clip. With the '08 ducking tool, I can do this in 1 click, instead of fiddling with the finicky audio levels tool in iMovie HD. But I can understand how someone who wants detailed frame by frame control of the audio would find it to be a downgrade. I just don't see '08 as being intended for those types, but more for those who want to put together movies very quickly with lots of common items automated, like the ducking tool.

I actually have them both on my Mac, and use each one, depending on the purpose of the editing, but very much appreciate how well the '08 workflows help me do my projects.

 

[charlituna]

Not only the PPC Macs, but G4s and some G5s (sub-1.9 GHz) too.

as I recall the specs, those G4 and G5 machines were PPC also. they renamed everything with the switch to Intel. so the imacs were now the Intel iMac and not the Gx iMac and the PowerMac became the Mac Pro

 

[haravikk]

Network/internet technology just isn't reliable enough to be transitioning desktop applications "to the cloud" (which is a term I ***** hate). It makes no sense! They don't have anything that intrinsically benefits them from being online, whereas mail-apps, and calendars make sense for being web-based things in the first place, or for rapid synchronisation of light data.

All you'd be doing with an online iMovie is wasting hours of time trying to upload/download things only to edit them in a cut-down web-app. Until internet connections catch-up in speed to the internal buses of proper workstation computers, I think I'm going to give them a miss for anything but simple tasks.

I think more likely is a web-kit-based app for the iPhone that lets you edit videos you've recorded on it and publish them to the web on-the-go. But for more serious video editing, a true web-app makes zero sense at all, unless the data is kept on your machine and only uploaded if you want to share/synchronise it.

 

[schneb]

I actually like iMovie '08 in terms of navigation and the overall interface, but it needs some serious work like the inclusion of a Timeline Mode and Video Effects to name two major omissions. Tagging video clips would be great as well so you can search across the various events.

How many third-party effects creators went out of business due to iMovie 08? Wasn't that a nice confidence-building decision of Apple.

The only redeeming quality of iMovie '08 was the color corrector. Everything else was a nightmare. The only hope is to go back to iMovie HD and add stability tweaks and the color correcting feature.

 

[Grasbak]

Strangely enough just today i was listening to the Steve Jobs & Bill Gates interview at 'all things d' last year (at least i think it was last year!)

Suddenly they started talking about the cloud and cloud computing.

Steve said a lot about the MARRIGE of the cloud and the client (i assume thats the computer). He cited google maps on the iphone as an example.

Seemed to me he was saying at the moment you need the 2 together, but that together you can have a lot more than keeping them separate.

Maybe you can stil download the podcast - it was about 40mins in - i will check when i get home!

you can still download the podcast - search for Steve Jobs and Bill Gates on the iTunes store. About 38mins in they talk about cloud computing.

 

[thithi]

iWeb on MobileMe

Actually, iWeb on MobileMe might be the only one that actually makes perfect sense.

Indead that would be a good thing. So you can post items on your site (blog) from anywhere.