quality loss after upload into imovie 08

[Keeahskreations]

The quality of my videos are horrible after they are imported into imovie 08. I am not sure if it is the camera or the settings somewhere in imovie. I am very new to video editing.
My camera is a Sony DCR-HC26 Mini DV. The settings in imovie are at the aspect ratio 4:3, standard video NTSC, which is what the camera records in. IF I'm saying this correctly..
I have connected the camera directly to the TV to see what it would look like and the quality is great, crisp. Once it is imported its grainy and detail is gone.
Has anyone had this problem? I am prepared to buy a new camera, but would prefer not to since this one still works fine.. Please help..

 

[bearcatrp]

Since its a Standard Def camcorder, the quality will be good but not real great. Can you tell me when you import, what settings are you using?

 

[MisterMe]

...
Has anyone had this problem? I am prepared to buy a new camera, but would prefer not to since this one still works fine.. Please help..

You must be the 673rd newbie to panic over this "problem"? iMovie is an editor not a viewer. iMovie's preview function is an aid to editing. It is not intended to be used like a standalone viewer like the QuickTime Player or VLC.

Edit a clip. Save it. Play the clip in the QuickTime Player. Does it look OK? If so, then relax.

 

[Keeahskreations]

Quicktime/settings

I do not have quicktime, and i am not going to buy it. I understand imovie is an editing tool. I have made several DVD's using imovie and the quality looks the same as whats in imovie, after it was burned to disc and played on a television.

Here is where my knowledge gets lacking.... The settings you are asking for,
the only place I can see where I can change anything that has to do with the video is once its imported.. which its set for NTSC (the same as my camera). The import screen will not let me change anything.....
I have the aspect ratio at 4:3.. Does this help or am I helpless?

 

[MisterMe]

I do not have quicktime, and i am not going to buy it. I understand imovie is an editing tool. ...

Huh? The QuickTime Player has shipped with every Mac sold for nearly two decades. Apparently you are confusing the QuickTime Player with QuickTime Pro. When you pay the fee and enter then serialize the QuickTime Player, you convert it to QuickTime Pro. QTPro merely enables the built-in editing functions. As a viewer, QTPro is no better than the unserialized QuickTime Player.

 

[bearcatrp]

My bad, forgot you have DV and you cannot change anything. What you can try to do is after import, export it out to a .mov format. There are filters and such to make corrections before you export. I would say try a small clip and play with the settings. Do a 2 pass export though. Other than that, its the cam.

 

[Keeahskreations]

The QuickTime Player has shipped with every Mac sold for nearly two decades. Apparently you are confusing the QuickTime Player with QuickTime Pro.

When I opened my mac (8months ago) and turned it on and tried to watch something using QuickTime it wouldn't open or play anything. I even searched the computer. I tried downloading it but it wants me to purchase PRO. IDK I am 8 months new to MAC, so I may not have looked in the right place. I know that QuickTime isn't on mine..or at last on it correctly..
Aside from using QuickTIme, I have made DVD's using iDVD once I edited in iMovie. The picture came out the same. Why would importing it into the computer be so different then connecting it straight to the TV?? quality wise?

 

[DoFoT9]

you have the wrong project settings, you need to select something that is more "high definition". make sure that your exporting selections are correct too

 

[MisterMe]

...

When I opened my mac (8months ago) and turned it on and tried to watch something using QuickTime it wouldn't open or play anything. I even searched the computer. I tried downloading it but it wants me to purchase PRO. IDK I am 8 months new to MAC, so I may not have looked in the right place. I know that QuickTime isn't on mine.....

It is possible that you do not have the proper codecs installed to play the particular video or that you do not have the video file type associated with the QuickTime Player. It is not possible that you do not have QuickTime.

QuickTime is not an application. QuickTime is the name of the audio-visual frameworks of MacOS X. The QuickTime Player/QuickTime Pro is an application that is based on these frameworks. Other QuickTime-based apps include Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, and (drumroll) iMovie and iDVD.

Except for apps like VLC that use internal codec clones, virtually every MacOS X app that handles AV content relies on QuickTime to do so. These include Microsoft Office, ArchiCAD, Poser, and most others.

 

[bearcatrp]

The QuickTime Player has shipped with every Mac sold for nearly two decades. Apparently you are confusing the QuickTime Player with QuickTime Pro.

When I opened my mac (8months ago) and turned it on and tried to watch something using QuickTime it wouldn't open or play anything. I even searched the computer. I tried downloading it but it wants me to purchase PRO. IDK I am 8 months new to MAC, so I may not have looked in the right place. I know that QuickTime isn't on mine..or at last on it correctly..
Aside from using QuickTIme, I have made DVD's using iDVD once I edited in iMovie. The picture came out the same. Why would importing it into the computer be so different then connecting it straight to the TV?? quality wise?

Quicktime player should be in your applications folder. As for the difference, when you import in iMovie, it gets converted to be edited. When you watch it from tape, its the original footage. You always loose quality when video gets converted. You can either accept what you get, buy better software to make it look better, or buy a better camcorder. Even on a better camcorder, you still have to learn proper shooting techniques such as proper lighting, slow pans and changing settings on the cam for different scenes. Its a never ending process. An addicting one at that.

 

[sdp]

Quicktime player should be in your applications folder. As for the difference, when you import in iMovie, it gets converted to be edited. When you watch it from tape, its the original footage. You always loose quality when video gets converted. You can either accept what you get, buy better software to make it look better, or buy a better camcorder. Even on a better camcorder, you still have to learn proper shooting techniques such as proper lighting, slow pans and changing settings on the cam for different scenes. Its a never ending process. An addicting one at that.

DV is not supposed to lose quality coming into the program through firewire. it's virtually identical to the original. there is no way to "make it look better" other then color correction and things like that. there is something else going on here.

I don't know Imovie one bit, but dv is dv is dv. the video in the computer (when watched on an NTSC "tv" monitor) should look exactly the same as the original. Any image degradation should be imperceptible.

i mention all of this because he should consider this as his base assumption and work from there. like looking into the FW cable or any settings on the software side. Although i would bet that imovie has no settings in terms of DV quality. It's not needed.

i would also suggest trying to find another DV camera or deck to just test how they preform over the camera you have.

 

[Keeahskreations]

i mention all of this because he should consider this as his base assumption and work from there. like looking into the FW cable or any settings on the software side. Although i would bet that imovie has no settings in terms of DV quality. It's not needed.

i would also suggest trying to find another DV camera or deck to just test how they preform over the camera you have.

I can't believe I didn't think to test another camera to see if its the camera.. As I am in love with my Mac I did assume it was my camera, but still didn't think to test with another. I was just willing to spend $2000 on a Prosumer video camera to hopefully correct the problem.. Let's say I have tested the camera and find that mine is crap.. so now I need to buy a new one.. Should I stick with tape? I have searched Forums and mini DVDs are not popular among the masses. And Hard Drive Cams are somewhere in between. Thoughts?
This is the one I am looking at:Sony HDR-FX7 3CMOS HDV 1080i Camcorder, 16:9, includes Focus Assist, ClearVID Sensors, HDMI, Optical Stabilization and 20x Fixed Lens

 

[CaptainChunk]

I can't believe I didn't think to test another camera to see if its the camera.. As I am in love with my Mac I did assume it was my camera, but still didn't think to test with another. I was just willing to spend $2000 on a Prosumer video camera to hopefully correct the problem.. Let's say I have tested the camera and find that mine is crap.. so now I need to buy a new one.. Should I stick with tape? I have searched Forums and mini DVDs are not popular among the masses. And Hard Drive Cams are somewhere in between. Thoughts?
This is the one I am looking at:Sony HDR-FX7 3CMOS HDV 1080i Camcorder, 16:9, includes Focus Assist, ClearVID Sensors, HDMI, Optical Stabilization and 20x Fixed Lens

The tape vs. tapeless discussion has gone on forever here and seems like a new thread is posted about it at least once per week.

For the most part, it's personal preference. With today's cameras, there's little discernible visual difference between the two formats.

1. Most HDV cameras are tape-based and use the same MiniDV tapes you're used to. They are also backward-compatible with your old SD MiniDV tapes, which could be an advantage in your case. HDV has an identical bitrate to DV (25 Mbps), so therefore, you'll still get an hour of HDV per 60-min MiniDV tape, with about a 12GB/hour disk space requirement on capture. Tapes have an advantage of giving you instant masters.

2. AVCHD cameras are typically hard disk based, flash-memory based or both. Instead of capturing, you simply transfer the video from the camera to your NLE. Supporters of AVCHD often argue that hard drive space is cheaper than buying tapes, but tapes are far less prone to failure than mechanical hard drives, so it's a trade-off.

Another part of this debate is the space requirements of AVCHD on the Mac platform, since the video has to be transcoded to AIC to be edited (which makes the files 4-5x as big). But this is a moot point for iMovie and FCE users, because HDV has to be transcoded to AIC in those apps as well.

 

[bearcatrp]

I can't believe I didn't think to test another camera to see if its the camera.. As I am in love with my Mac I did assume it was my camera, but still didn't think to test with another. I was just willing to spend $2000 on a Prosumer video camera to hopefully correct the problem.. Let's say I have tested the camera and find that mine is crap.. so now I need to buy a new one.. Should I stick with tape? I have searched Forums and mini DVDs are not popular among the masses. And Hard Drive Cams are somewhere in between. Thoughts?
This is the one I am looking at:Sony HDR-FX7 3CMOS HDV 1080i Camcorder, 16:9, includes Focus Assist, ClearVID Sensors, HDMI, Optical Stabilization and 20x Fixed Lens

You might want to take a look at the new panasonic HMC40 thats about to be released. 1999.00 at amazon. I was considering this cam, coming from a sony SR11 but spent 3400 for the panasonic HMC150 instead. Records to SDHC. The reviews should be out soon as the release date is around the end of august. http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-Professional-AG-HMC40-Camcorder-Optical/dp/B002I9S9PE

 

[xStep]

Just an FYI: iM08/09 DV video quality LOSS - Apple - Support - Discussions

I don't know if that is your problem. I'd try what others suggested and do a full quality export (of a small clip) to see if the quality improves.

 

[bearcatrp]

After iMovie 6HD, apple developed iMovie 8/9 for the utube generation. So when you save your files for utube, which is a smaller format, the clips will look pretty good. They suck in DVD format. Thats why I only use iMovie 9 to import AVCHD, then export out to h.264 (aka HD) and import into iMovie 6HD or FCE. You can try this method with your SD clips, do a 2 pass encode, and see what happens (test with small clip). BUT, it has allot to do with the cam. I still own a Sony SR100 (SD) and had the exact same problem as the op. One of the reason why I moved to AVCHD.