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Just Installed iLife '08 - Avi no Play?

Rapmastac1

Rapmastac1

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 5, 2006
1,120
47
In the Depths of the SLC!
I just got a great camera that records in the .AVI format. I used it in imovie 06 just fine on my Macbook Core Duo. But, I just installed iLife 08 for the updated Garageband and iMovie. After going through figuring out how to import in imovie, I can't play AVI files anymore. I have quicktime pro and I just re-entered my info after the installation, but the problem persists! What is going on?

EDIT - After a brief restart (again), I got AVI working in Quicktime, but darnit it won't import them into iMovie, whether I drag them in, file search for them, or have them in iPhoto! I am regretting spending 80 bucks for this stupid update!
 
.avi compatibility

If I'm not mistaken, .AVI is just a wrapper around a number of specific formats. Perhaps your new camera uses a different underlying format which neither iMovie '06 nor '08 can handle. Since you changed cameras and software, it's unclear which is to blame for your new problem. I've just started using both versions of iMovie and have been unable to import .AVI files created by my Flip Video digital camcorder despite being able to play them in QuickTime. In iMovie (both versions), I get audio with no picture. I had to convert them to mp4 file formats to use them in iMovie. Since I never used these clips in iMovie '06 before upgrading to '08, I don't know if anything really changed.
 
Yes, I do have Flip for Mac installed and I have the Darian (wutever it's called) working too. I can play them just fine in quicktime. I had my camera for a bit before and I was able to put my stuff in iMovie just fine, then I upgraded to iLife '08 (from the '06 that was on my Macbook) and now it doesn't let me import Avi, saying it doesn't support that format - which is so stupid. Now I have to go through another encoding process which takes more time and degrades the quality...
 
imovie 08 finds/plays all of my iphoto movies (also avi) just fine.

most of those avi's were taken off my canon point & shooter..

like GratefulMed pointed out, avi's are just wrappers for the actual codec used, so be sure to check what actual codec is being used.
not 100% sure, but i think my canon uses motion jpeg..
 
I reinstalled the newest version and it didn't have any effect. I looked in the manual for the camera and no mention of the file type. So I found the website and I found my model. It records in MPEG4 video with WAV audio. Do you think it won't accept it becuase of the WAV part? I'm confused as to what this really tells me...
 
Rapmastac1 said:
I reinstalled the newest version and it didn't have any effect. I looked in the manual for the camera and no mention of the file type. So I found the website and I found my model. It records in MPEG4 video with WAV audio. Do you think it won't accept it becuase of the WAV part? I'm confused as to what this really tells me...
Click to expand...

the .wav shouldn't matter, try just changing the extension to .mp4 from .avi and see if it will play it in QT, then see if iMovie might import it. iMovie plays pretty nicely with .mp4 normally.

Also, I've read a few threads where people have installed '08 and then had to delete the plist files, reboot, and everything started working.

Brian
 
I am returning my flip camcorder today

Thanks everyone for the tidbits of info- I was about to cry when I couldn't get my videos to transfer to imovie 08 (damn those .avi files) I doesn't make sense to me that you can playback in quicktime but not in imovie or itunes for that matter. Luckily I had save a backup of imovie 06, so at least this one event is saved. But '06 is just as slow as ever. Honestly some products (FLIP) need to update their compatibility list (like remove mac osx leopard from the box) or better yet, iphone should record video. :eek:
 
AVI won't play in iPhoto, and video of same clip not in iMovie

Go figure... same issue. upgraded to '08. Video in avi. Plays nice in quicktime. imports fine in iPhoto, but doesn't play in iPhoto (other movie formats do). Shows up in the iMovie '08 library (from the iPhoto events), and the clips will play (audio) in the iMovie when played directly from the events library -- but there is no video played in the video viewer area.

WTF?

Any idea what I am doing wrong?
 
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