import mpg video into imovie 09

[tedesco24]

I have several short video clips, probably no longer than 3-4 minutes each, of my daughter taken with a Sony camcorder. I've copied the files, file type .mpg, onto an external hard drive.

How do I get the videos into iMovie?
Does it matter if the videos are located on the camcorder or the external hard drive?
Do I need to convert the file types?
If so, what format do I need?
How can I convert without losing image quality?
Can I change the video settings on my Sony camcorder to make it more compatible with my mac?

When I open the Get Info data for each video, it shows the codecs as MPEG-2. Does this mean anything?

I just got this mac and I'm trying to learn all the cool things I can do as compared to my old PC, so any suggestions are much appreciated!

 

[Xavier]

Just drag the media into the media library, located the the upper lefthand corner of the iMovie app.

Any .mpg format should import into iMovie.

 

[tedesco24]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not having any luck with the drag and drop. When I try to drag and drop the files just bounce back to the original location.

I've tried to use this method as well:
file - import - movies....however all of the movies on the external drive are grayed out and I can't reach them.