Mini DV video to new iMovie

[slimjim]

Im currently running iMovie 10.1.2 El Capitan 10.11.6. I notice with this version of iMovie it only gives you 520p 720p 1080p. I currently have old home movies that I import a while back on the older version I'm not sure which one of iMovie and they are mini DV tape. My question is what is the best way to get the best quality when I export it to a usb drive as a file for the final movie. Ive noticed the quality is not as good id rather it just be the native 480p SD but the new iMovie doesn't seem to offer that.

Ive tried google but i come up with a lot of people showing how to transfer the footage from a mini DV but I have already done that and its all on a external hard drive.

Thanks for the help.

 

[dandeco]

If they are MiniDV tapes, are they standard definition, or HDV? If it doesn't offer 480p, I would go with 520p if it's standard-def MiniDV.
I've used MiniDV for years, but not on the current iMovie (on the Mac, I mainly used it with iMovie HD 6, iMovie '09 and iMovie '11.)

 

[slimjim]

They are standard definition MiniDV and the new iMovie only offers 520p, 720p, 1080p. I was reading i thought the 520p people said use that for youtube. Ill try the 520p see if the quality changes which i think it should i was just doing a test to see. Thanks for the info much appreciated.

Does the video stabilization take away from the quality of the video?

 

[ColdCase]

Stabilization usually makes the video a bit fuzzy, but that depends on how much stabilization is needed. Stabilization crops the video and moves the center point counter to the movement. So you lose pixels.

Does your iMovie have a "NTSC SD" setting, thats 480. (720x480)

What I do with FCPX is use NTSC SD for the project timeline and export/share it as a master file. That file is 480.

 

[slimjim]

 

[Dave Braine]

My question is what is the best way to get the best quality when I export it to a usb drive as a file for the final movie.

Just use the 520 setting. 720 and 1080 will just give you larger files.

Does the video stabilization take away from the quality of the video?

Depends on how much stabilisation is required, as it entails zooming in on the image and then cropping it as part of the process.

 

[slimjim]

This is screen shot of my options for format just so you guys can see what I'm looking at in the new iMovie.

 

[Dave Braine]

Yes, that's the normal options. 540p is probably the original resolution of your imported video, but iMovie will produce a 720 or 1080 version as well. All with various options of quality and compression. You choose the one that pleases you most. I suggest you make a 5 minute Project and then try each one in turn. That way you can compare the quality, resolution and resultant file size and then decide which is best for you.