Why is it importing so slow?

my HV-10 is going at 1/2 on my G5 imac with imovie6.

Maybe you're better off updating directly to FCE instead of iMovie6

bozigle

 

This is probably because of the slow iBook HD... I could be wrong though...

I was capturing miniDV from my Panasonic NV-DS65 into my old eMac 700 MHz and into my current G5 iMac at real-time speed via FireWire

Maybe something funny is in the import settings?

 

FCE and iMovie transcode the footage into the Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) upon import (they don't use the native HDV signal) so the faster your computer the shorter the transcoding process on importing.


Lethal

 

i'm not sure if that would solve your problem but in preference you can specify the Max time for your clip.
Choose something quite small depending of your resolution (5-10 mins) and see if this is helping

 

I use iMovie 6.0.3, but the speed problem lies with the hardware, not the software. I also have a HV20 and have no problem importing SD footage on a G5 iMac, but HD video is a whole different story (as you have discovered.) HD footage imports at 1/2 speed...if I am lucky. The same HD footage imports to the MacPro 2.6 GHz in real time with no slow down.

 

I'm currious there
you didn't have any problem importing SD ... did you do it through the HV-20 or did you use an other non hd camcoder?

 

It was SD footage (DV-wide) that I shot with the HV-20. I carry at least two tapes with me, one for HD and one for SD. I figure that there is no reason to shoot HD when I know the content/project is destined for SD and won't be used beyond the next year.

 

imovie HD 06 is very slow to import as it always tries to convert the video first.

I've found a good solution is to get the movies into DV or mp4 format first and then actually place the files directly into the package in the "Media" directory. Then when you open the movie, it thinks the movies are lost and shows you them in the trash. You can drag them out of the trash and put them back into your timeline.

Exact steps are as follows. This does not work for imovie 08, only the older iMovie HD (06).

- Open imovie HD (06).
- Click "Create a New Project".
- Change the Video format to mp4 format then click the Create button.
- Save the video and then close imovie.
- Find the movie you just created in the Finder, then hold down Ctrl and click the movie name. You should see an option called 'Show package contents'. -- Choose this and it should open the inside of the imovie's contents.
- There is a directory inside your movie package called "Media".
- Drag your mp4 formats into the Media directory.
- Close the package (close the window)
- Open your movie again. imovie should tell you that movies were found in the trash. Open the trash and then drag the movies back into your timeline.
- You're done. Save the movie and you should have an mp4 imovie.