Why the Hate for iMovie '08?

[nakile]

I'm watching the video tutorials about it's features and how to use them on Apple.com.

It looks very advanced and very professional. Why do people keep complain about it? I go read reviews on iLife 08, and people constantly ignore the other programs in iLife and move right on to iMovie 08, bashing it to no end, complaining the Apple "gutted" it, saying that it's the worse mistake Apple has done.

I don't get it. I do know that Apple totally changed the layout and how you use it. Do they just not know how to use the new interface? If not, what exactly did Apple do to make everybody angry?

 

[r.j.s]

The biggest problem is that is such a change from '06. iMovie '06 is like a feature stripped FCE, where the things are more familiar to the people that use pro editors. '08 on the other hand was made for people approaching movie editing with no experience whatsoever, people that don't know what the timeline should look like and what b roll is. I think it is a change for the better, because honestly if you need semi pro editing capabilities, stick with '06 - it's free, or go FCE or FCP.

 

[QuarterSwede]

If all you want to do is edit some home videos iMovie 08 is perfect. I've used both iMovie HD and iMovie 08 to edit the same video clips and iMovie 08's workflow is a whole lot faster. What took me 30 minutes to do in iMovie HD I did in 5 minutes in iMovie 08.

The people complaining about iMovie 08 are the ones who want to use it as a cheap alternative to Final Cut.

 

[sammyman]

I'm watching the video tutorials about it's features and how to use them on Apple.com.

It looks very advanced and very professional. Why do people keep complain about it? I go read reviews on iLife 08, and people constantly ignore the other programs in iLife and move right on to iMovie 08, bashing it to no end, complaining the Apple "gutted" it, saying that it's the worse mistake Apple has done.

I don't get it. I do know that Apple totally changed the layout and how you use it. Do they just not know how to use the new interface? If not, what exactly did Apple do to make everybody angry?

I still haven't figured out how to adjust the volumes on a music track that I would like to add to imovie 08. I actually don't think you can control the sound very well (fade in and out of tracks), which is my main gripe. It does seem like it is a nice program.

 

[Vanilla]

If they had called it something completely new it would have been accepted more as a new entry level video editing tool, to sit alongside iMovie and FCE.

Call me old-fashioned but when a product you have invested time and energy in to master is 'upgraded' you expect to see an improvement in features etc. NOT a significant step backwards, which is what happened here.

The fact that you could still download and continue to use iMovie HD(06) implies they understand the issue themselves.

Vanilla

 

[RumMunkey]

I agree the new iMovie probably could have been a product unto itself, rather than presented as an upgrade. Maybe "iMovie Xpress" or "iVideo" or something.

That said, I'd probably choose iMovie as it is now over the older version anyway, even if it's far more basic.

That's the appeal to me, and I suspect many others. They've tried (and succeeded monumentally if you ask me) to make throwing together a quick good-looking video about as simple as dumping and sorting your photos from your digital camera.

I can come home from a birthday party, dump my clips, drag & drop, arrange, add some sound, drop in some polish (transitions, titles, etc) and export it. Done. I don't need to set aside a weekend to edit video.

 

[Bunker]

I am with RumMonkey on this.

At this very moment of typing this reply, I am importing DVs from my viewcam with iMovie.

I am not an expert in video editing and do not intend to be one.

All I want (for christmas) is to simply convert all my DVs into digital form, snip away sections I do not want and burn them into DVD for safe keeping.

Along the process, I may add in a title screen or two. There are ready made template for this and I am quite happy with it.

4 days ago, I made my first video clip for Podcast using iWeb. That's taking the AVI file from my digital camera, imported with iPhoto, open and edited with iMovie. All done in a jiffy and without all the complex technical thingy.

I learn iWeb, iPhoto and iMovie within couple of hours and made my first web production for my family (with a new born baby) in a total of 4 hours.

I tried this on XP and I gave up half way. The production from AVI to clips to webstreaming is just too cumbersome. Not to mention web authoring.

I just love the Mac.

By the way, I bought my first Mac only 3 weeks ago.

Regret that I didn't get it sooner.

 

[r.j.s]

I think that the above responses are now the majority of what you see from the users of '08.

When it was released, many people expected it to take another step closer to FCE, but when it didn't things got ugly.

I even thought that it was a huge step backwards and a mistake on Apple's part. I didn't want to relearn everything about editing video.

After playing around with it, l love it. I have yet to make a movie with it, but importing video clips - especially the ones from iPhoto (automatically) and skimming through them, I can see that making a short video of my daughters will be quick and painless.

Now, when I need something more I have '06 or, if I feel like working in xp (at work), Avid Xpress ProHD for the really complex videos. For the quick family videos though - '08 gets the job done fast and easy.

 

[phoxrenvatio]

i agree with almost everybody on this post.

yeah, i would've liked more features like '06 had, or at least a way to have plugins.... but '08 works really well, and fast. it dosn't take FOREVER to import video (i'd have to leave '06 running for hours, the over-night, then wait some more....) '08 simply copies the file and "creates thumbnails" (which, depending on length can take awhile) but then you're done, no converting the source video to dv, mp4, ect. 'till you're exporting the video

 

[nakile]

I still haven't figured out how to adjust the volumes on a music track that I would like to add to imovie 08. I actually don't think you can control the sound very well (fade in and out of tracks), which is my main gripe. It does seem like it is a nice program.

From what I understand, you select the audio track you want to change and press the audio adjustment button.

Then a window pops up allowing you to change all of that. That is, unless your thinking of something else...

 

[Vanilla]

Okay, after reading the subsequent responses let me rephrase my comment..:

The app that calls itself iMovie08 is a great, intuitive, fast, simple, stripped-back basic video editing tool that will admirably serve a number of users.

iMovie HD(06) was/is a great, flexible, feature-rich video editing application with a slew of plug-ins to supplement its core semi-professional heart.

What users of iMovie HD(06) were hoping for in the next release was another step towards official semi-pro status, perhaps ultimately replacing FCE with a truly friendly, intuitive yet powerful video editing tool.

What we got was a completely different approach to video editing, that simplified/dumbed-down the whole process, reduced the core feature set and imposed a new workflow process.

The net result was/is in essence a brand new application, which would be fine save for the fact that they have insisted on calling this iMovie 08. This at heart is the insult that I was referring to.

Call it a brand new application and give us a structured upgrade to iMovie06 in tandem and everything is fine with the world.

But, truly, I have never ever come across any company offering a downgrade as their official upgrade. That is what continues to irritate the hell out of me.

Vanilla

 

[Muzzway]

The one thing that I really miss from iMovie HD: adjusting speed of clips. Is it correct that there is no way to do this in '08?

Anyway, along with others it seems, I really like iMovie '08. I'm willing to bet that your average Joe also likes it better; he doesn't want powerful editing tools, but he wants a quick way to put together a cool movie. This seems to be the market that Apple targets for iLife.