Apple updates iMovie with support for 4K video, 3D Touch and more
As part of Wednesday's iOS 9 release, Apple updated its portable version of iMovie with support for editing 4K video and new UI gestures to be introduced alongside iPhone 6s and iPad Pro.
The biggest addition to iMovie is 4K video support, a feature that will no doubt come in handy once the 4K-capable iPhone 6s and 6s Plus launch next week. Apple notes the feature is restricted to iPhone 6s, 6s Plus and iPad Pro.
The new editor can also crunch through 1080p video at 60 frames per second, an enhancement over previous versions that allows moviemakers to edit action content for upload to supporting services like YouTube.
Other device-specific features include 3D Touch gestures for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. It seems Apple is using the pressure-sensitive input method as an integrated shortcut system, as it can be used to start a new movie project directly from the home screen.
For the forthcoming iPad Pro, which sports an all-new A9X SoC, iMovie is able to cut multiple 4K video streams, a processor-intensive task even for desktops. The app also supports a full-height Media Browser, pixel-for-pixel 1080 HD Viewer and keyboard shortcuts mapped to iPad Pro's Smart Keyboard.
Other features include:
The biggest addition to iMovie is 4K video support, a feature that will no doubt come in handy once the 4K-capable iPhone 6s and 6s Plus launch next week. Apple notes the feature is restricted to iPhone 6s, 6s Plus and iPad Pro.
The new editor can also crunch through 1080p video at 60 frames per second, an enhancement over previous versions that allows moviemakers to edit action content for upload to supporting services like YouTube.
Other device-specific features include 3D Touch gestures for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. It seems Apple is using the pressure-sensitive input method as an integrated shortcut system, as it can be used to start a new movie project directly from the home screen.
For the forthcoming iPad Pro, which sports an all-new A9X SoC, iMovie is able to cut multiple 4K video streams, a processor-intensive task even for desktops. The app also supports a full-height Media Browser, pixel-for-pixel 1080 HD Viewer and keyboard shortcuts mapped to iPad Pro's Smart Keyboard.
Other features include:
- Option to hide Media Browser while editing a movie
- Option to disable Ken Burns animation on a photo
- Redesigned Project Details view lets you watch movies and trailers before opening them
- Redesigned Video view lets you see more of your library while browsing videos and photos on iPad
- Improved Inspector controls with easy-to-read text labels on iPad
- Support for Slide Over and Split View when multitasking with the iMovie Extension for Photos
- Redesigned Audio browser in the iMovie Extension lets you easily browse and hear music
- Performance and stability improvements
- Support for Canadian French, Hindi, and Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong)
Comments
Are you sure you're opening it right? You don't want to just "open" a video file in iMovie, that's for opening iMovie files. You'll want to instead import your video files into your open iMovie doc so you can then work on them.
It has seen your posts. It knows.
2) Any word if this is using H.265/HEVC?
edit: 3) Today's iTunes update does not support HEVC in an MPEG-4 container so I'm going to wager that the 6S-series will en/decode in HEVC, but rather H.264.
Also Mac OS X?
Apple is now a phone manufacturer that does computers as an afterthought.
Yeah, this is what I need too. Imo it will be with the new Mac OS
1) Am I the only one who is a little baffled that next week I'll be able to shoot and edit 4K video on my iPhone, but then in October when the new Apple TV launches I'll only be able to output 1080p to my 70" 4K UHDTV?
No, you are not. For all the whining about 4K specs still being in flux, 4K TVs not being widely adopted, blah, blah, blah... Apple is touting the ability to create 4K content while their fancy new aTV can't display it. That ain't right.
Apple is touting the ability to create 4K content while their fancy new aTV can't display it. That ain't right.
Actually that doesn't matter at all, and there is precedent for it.
Quote:
1) Am I the only one who is a little baffled that next week I'll be able to shoot and edit 4K video on my iPhone, but then in October when the new Apple TV launches I'll only be able to output 1080p to my 70" 4K UHDTV?
Yes.
I'm not baffled. When the AppleTV went from 720p to 1080p, on that same day the entire iTunes Store video content library was upgraded to 1080p too. It has nothing to do with the quality an iPhone can record, and everything to do with the playback content available. Apple is not going to join the fledgling 4K market. They will release the second generation of this new AppleTV in 12-24 months, and that one will have 4K.
2 more years of people buying 4K TVs and more time for other content providers to work up to providing 4K content.
I have no interest in reliving the 720p-upscaled-to-1080p-illusion again. I'll happily wait until the 4K market is mature.
my 70" 4K UHDTV?
But seriously...how much 4K do you take in? And how much of it is actually 1080p upscaled to fill the display and you don't notice the difference?
I have a few hypothesis for this unbalanced release:
1) Apple wanted to release an Apple TV with 4K support but will not do it until they can flip the switch on their iTunes Store content at the same time, of which they haven't converted enough of the content due to rights issues or perhaps just time, and don't want to have the sporadic mishmash of 4K content support that we see elsewhere, like Netflix.
2) Apple doesn't have a problem with getting iTunes Store rights for having enough 4K content, but they want all the content encoded in H.265 so that the files are no more than double their size for 4x the resolution of 1080p. With the iPhone they may be abel to get away with that by a tick/tock method of introducing 4K video one year and then telling you those file sizes are halved the following year, but with an Apple TV it's for consumption and they want you have access to the iTunes Store for content so that can't be confusing.
3) They want developers to build apps with the greatest focus possible. Right now, it's 1080p resolution, I assume they don't have to build for 720p. In a year or two they make it 2160p which will then mean established apps just need to update their graphic elements one the Apple TV goes "Retina," as in 2x elements for developers.
I would wager fewer people had 1080p TVs when the 2nd gen Apple TV came out, and 720p TVs when than the original Apple TV, than have 2160p TVs today.
$1200 Sony. An amazing deal. I can get 4K Netflix on the built-in app, but I'd rather not have to do that for Netflix as I much prefer the Apple TV app for that. But to answer your question: Not as much as I could with a 4K UHD Apple TV. Photos will all have to be downscaled to 2Mpx quality, and none of the video shot (and edited) on the iPhone 6S-series will show up in the 4K it was shot in, which really just makes those files with 4x the resolution and no device in which to watch them in their full glory.
That's the odd part of it. If Apple had no 4K this year, fine, but to have the iPhone 6S-series sporting 12Mpx pictures and 4K video, and apps to edit that 4K video on a phone, then what's the point? At point it sounds like something other OEMs would do in an attempt to "show off" a feature while ignoring more important ones. This being Apple and having looked closely at the other aspects I don't think Apple was neglectful in other areas of the 6S-series, and having higher res pics uploaded to Instagram and Flickr, having Live Photos on FaceBook (I have to assume Apple is working with them to add that this year), and being able to upload 21060p video to YouTube is still going to be a smash hit.
PS: Amazon Fire TV got 4K support today.
You're not the only one baffled by Apple's lack of 4K support for Apple TV. It's bizarre that Amazon laps Apple with their Fire TV.
1) Am I the only one who is a little baffled that next week I'll be able to shoot and edit 4K video on my iPhone, but then in October when the new Apple TV launches I'll only be able to output 1080p to my 70" 4K UHDTV?
2) Any word if this is using H.265/HEVC?
edit: 3) Today's iTunes update does not support HEVC in an MPEG-4 container so I'm going to wager that the 6S-series will en/decode in HEVC, but rather H.264.
Yes.
I'm not baffled. When the AppleTV went from 720p to 1080p, on that same day the entire iTunes Store video content library was upgraded to 1080p too. It has nothing to do with the quality an iPhone can record, and everything to do with the playback content available....
I'd say the 720p to 1080p comparison is appropriate. Sure, AppleTV can play customer created content, but that's not the content Apple's selling, is it? Unless there's some significant rumor to the contrary, I'd guess we'll see a 4k AppleTV when the Apple store has H.265 encoded 4k content.
That's my problem with the whole Apple TV concept from the beginning. They aren't carrying about the customer, they are carrying about selling content from the iTunes Store.
I'd say the 720p to 1080p comparison is appropriate. Sure, AppleTV can play customer created content, but that's not the content Apple's selling, is it?
That is very sad. Apple used to be aimed at creators not consumers.
Apple used to prominently feature people taking pictures, shooting movies, composing music, etc. and provided the tools for people to create and display their works of art. Not having a way to display 4K content on a large screen goes against that ethos.
Take pictures and shoot video with your iPhone - and show it off to your friends and family using an Amazon Fire TV.
Apple used to prominently feature people taking pictures, shooting movies, composing music, etc. and provided the tools for people to create and display their works of art. Not having a way to display 4K content on a large screen goes against that ethos.
Take pictures and shoot video with your iPhone - and show it off to your friends and family using an Amazon Fire TV.
Pretty much. Customer content was conspicuously absent from the "Hey, Siri" AppleTV segment.
1) Has anyone with the ?TV Dev Kit ripped it open or X-Rayed it to see what chips it has in it?
2) What's to stop Apple from doing a firmware update if the chip(s) are on board?
3) Maybe a software encoder/decoder update? Below is a link to just one of many companies that make embedded software solutions.
http://www.intecoretech.com/hevc-decoder-ip
H.265 can deliver a picture of the same perceived visual quality as H.264 but using only half the transmitted volume of data and therefore half the bandwidth. HEVC can support 8K Ultra High Definition video, with a resolution up to 8192x4320 pixels. HEVC is well suited for various applications including such as videoconferencing, digital storage media, television broadcasting, internet streaming and communications.
H.265 / HEVC 4K (UHD) Real-Time Software Decoder for Intel and ARM Platforms:
Intecore's HEVC Software Decoder IP is developed from scratch and as per the specification standard “Recommendation ITU-T H.265” for Video bit streams encoded with HEVC/H.265”. The Decoder is written in ANSI C, Assembly and fully exploits today's multi-core processor architectures.
For Intel platforms, it extensively uses Intel SSEx & AVX2 SIMD Instructions and Multithreading Technologies to achieve its required functionality and performance goals.
For ARM Platforms on Embedded Linux, it extensively uses ARM NEON SIMD Instructions across most of the key HEVC Kernels alongwith robust POSIX based Multithreading architecture to achieve its required functionality and performance goals.
That is very sad. Apple used to be aimed at creators not consumers.
Apple used to prominently feature people taking pictures, shooting movies, composing music, etc. and provided the tools for people to create and display their works of art. Not having a way to display 4K content on a large screen goes against that ethos.
Take pictures and shoot video with your iPhone - and show it off to your friends and family using an Amazon Fire TV.
But you can ask your phone it's raining, even when you're standing in front of a window!
That is very sad. Apple used to be aimed at creators not consumers.
Apple used to prominently feature people taking pictures, shooting movies, composing music, etc. and provided the tools for people to create and display their works of art. Not having a way to display 4K content on a large screen goes against that ethos.
Take pictures and shoot video with your iPhone - and show it off to your friends and family using an Amazon Fire TV.
Or just hook your Mac up to your TV and display it that way.
The AppleTV is obviously a consumer device, but the Mac (and soon the iPad Pro) are clearly aimed at the pro/creator market. I think you guys are overreacting.