Why does iMoive make things so big?

[zap2]

So I'm was doing some vidoe work for my brother and I put a video in iMoive from my Mac(Family Guy, outside of iMoive its 180Mbs) it goes in fine, I save and go look at new files and its 4.5(ish)Gbs...why?

I was just testing it, and its not a big deal, but when we are going to be importing 24+hrs of video, were going to out grow the HD space we have very very fast!

Anyone know why this happens, and either another program that doesn't do this(but I can't see Apple making iMoive beef up the file on purpose, so I'd guess theres a reason and so other vidoe editing programs will do the same) or a way to just get the file into a smaller size, so my harddrive isn't eatten up.

I know when its in iMoive it will be forced to be a larger file, but I need a way to store 24rs+ of vidoe, taking up less space,which I'll slowly import into iMoive and cut it down.

 

[speakerwizard]

hi, i dont think imovie is the app your after, it will convert anything you import into dv footage (what its made to edit) this increases the file size, toast might be more the sort of app you want

 

[Multimedia]

You're Post #1 Is Incredibly Confusing With Little Real Information

If you're gonna start a new thread, you might want to be very specific with all the details of what you're trying to discuss in your first post.

What Video of Family guy From What source?
Into iMovie HOW?
What did you start your iMovie project in what format?
Do you know Toast and Handbrake?

 

[zap2]

If you're gonna start a new thread, you might want to be very specific with all the details of what you're trying to discuss in your first post.

What Video of Family guy From What source?
Into iMovie HOW?
What did you start your iMovie project in what format?
Do you know Toast and Handbrake?

Family Guy, from my Mac...it was on the Mac(as stated in my first post) it was a ripped froma DVD using handbrake, and I dragged it into iMoive.

I used DV, as thats the format iMovie has alway been set to...would Mpeg-4 still work with a vidoe camera using FW?


Yes, I "know" handbrake(as in I have it), and I know of Toast, although I don't have it.


The family guy thing wasn't the point, the point was how do I make the files in iMoive smaller...I think I got it, I just choice the format to be Mpeg-4.

My main question was...

Why do files in iMoive become so BIG? It seem that you may have answer my question, the format I was using, but speakerwizard also seemed to hit the nail on the head.

 

[speakerwizard]

yes, use toast or something similar to put mpegs to dvds, imove is really meant for dv editing, and adds an unnecessary step to the process your trying.

 

[-DH]

The Dv format takes up about 13.3gb per hour. Do the math.

-DH

 

[zap2]

yes, use toast or something similar to put mpegs to dvds, imove is really meant for dv editing, and adds an unnecessary step to the process your trying.

Great, so can importan things from a FW Vidoe camera , encode with Mpeg 4, then later put it into iMoive( with the format DV )for edtiing?

The Dv format takes up about 13.3gb per hour. Do the math.

-DH

Read that some where, and with the storage space we have, we would be force to store thing on 5 different computer, and 2 external HDs

 

[-DH]

we would be force to store thing on 5 different computer, and 2 external HDs

Huh?? 24 hours of DV footage should only take up about 320gb. One 500gb FW drive should handle that just fine ... with room for a few other things + the recommended 10% free space. If you have a G5 or G4, you can just add an additional 500gb drive internally. I can't imagine why you think you'd need 5 computers!

Great, so can importan things from a FW Vidoe camera , encode with Mpeg 4, then later put it into iMoive( with the format DV )for edtiing?

If you're importing video from a DV camera, why are you compressing to MPEG-4 before editing? That makes no sense at all ... or perhaps I'm just not understanding what you're trying to do.

-DH

 

[zap2]

Huh?? 24 hours of DV footage should only take up about 320gb. One 500gb FW drive should handle that just fine ... with room for a few other things + the recommended 10% free space. If you have a G5 or G4, you can just add an additional 500gb drive internally. I can't imagine why you think you'd need 5 computers!

-DH

The computer simply have small drive...I don't want to go buy a 500GB harddrive, neither does my brother. And the other drive in our house are all use, so its all out computer to hold those things.

If you're importing video from a DV camera, why are you compressing to MPEG-4 before editing? That makes no sense at all ... or perhaps I'm just not understanding what you're trying to do.

-DH

To save space

 

[-DH]

Well ... as long as you're aware of the quality hit you'll take, then by all means compress, upscale and recompress again. As for not wanting to purchase the hard drive space you'd need to do it properly ... what can I say? If you don't want to spend the bucks, why bother with editing at all? Sell all of your computers and buy a DVD recorder.

-DH

 

[zap2]

Well ... as long as you're aware of the quality hit you'll take, then by all means compress, upscale and recompress again. As for not wanting to purchase the hard drive space you'd need to do it properly ... what can I say? If you don't want to spend the bucks, why bother with editing at all? Sell all of your computers and buy a DVD recorder.

-DH

Edit..got rid of what I was saying early...I was think I should get one, I should do it right. I might go MyBook 500Gb from buy.com, or Costco, either the Mybook, or a 300GB USB 2.0..its slow, but its not a huge deal.

 

[-DH]

Edit..got rid of what I was saying early...I was think I should get one, I should do it right. I might go MyBook 500Gb from buy.com, or Costco, either the Mybook, or a 300GB USB 2.0..its slow, but its not a huge deal.

If you decide to get an external hard drive, only use one that is Firewire capable. While USB 2 is relatively fast, it transfers data in packets (short bursts) instead of a continuous stream that Firewire does - and most NLE systems need that sustained data flow to keep from dropping frames.

-DH

 

[zap2]

If you decide to get an external hard drive, only use one that is Firewire capable. While USB 2 is relatively fast, it transfers data in packets (short bursts) instead of a continuous stream that Firewire does - and most NLE systems need that sustained data flow to keep from dropping frames.

-DH

Yup FW-400 mb/s, USB 2.0-480 mb/s, FW stays goes for a longer amount of time.

My camera is FW, and since we'll be using a MacBook(as one of the Mac to important to) USB 2.0 would be my only choice.(only one FW port on the MacBook) I guess I'll just put the video on the main harddrive while importing, then put them on the USB harddrive later. I'm looking at a MyBook 250GB..its 99 at Circuit City this week.