iMovieHD & compressing

[mac2thefuture]

I have an iMac 24" 1 gig, a Sony Digi Cam using DV tape and transfer via firewire.
I play and import at same time so a 60 min tape will take 60 mins, it then does letterboxing which takes perhaps another 1hr and then i make a quicktime version (full quality) which again takes at least an 1hr. This is a huge amount of time which really stretches my system to the max, virtually all other applications can't be run / lag/ beach ball due to cpu usage etc and for the first time ever i was getting frustrated with my fairly new mac. Can anyone tell me if i'm doing something wrong? Am i using the wrong application or anything else you could think of. I've just got back of a family holiday and and 6 hrs worth of DV tapes to copy/compress but i'm losing the will to live / can't aford my system to hogged up doing only this.
Helpfull assistance sought.
Thanks

 

[MisterMe]

Small file size, image quality, render speed--take two. Video editing is not a 5 minute job. It is most certainly not a quick job if you want video that anyone other than you will want to watch. My recommendation is that you do not compress your video until the end of the process. My other recommendation is that you delete as much boring stuff as possible. Archive the raw video so that you can always get it back if you want it. After you do all that and begin to edit your video, be prepared to wait. Video editing is a job that takes time and lots of it.

 

[mac2thefuture]

ok so the idea is to be patient.
I assusme then that i'm doing things in the correct manor and it's normal for my system to be usless for anything else then whilst i'm using iMovie HD??
Is this statement correct??