iMovie project file sizes in the GB range...what on earth have I done?

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Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
I have been working on a rather elaborate (for an Mac newbie, anyway) movies of vacation photographs using iMovie. I have been using iMovie to create separate projects with the ultimate aim to have each represent a chapter on a DVD.



Based on recommendations I've received somewhere, I selected "DV" as the format for the movies.



Anyway, as I am nearing the end of my creative process I happened to glance at the file sizes of the iMovie projects. They are huge, between 1-4 GB. Obviously with around 10 "chapters", there's no way this is going to fit on a 4.7 GB DVD (unless I am missing something).



Most of the photographs I used were high-resolution digitial photos (4-5 megapixels). Each chapter incorporates between 30-80 pictures and include Ken Burns was well as transitions.



My questions are:



[1] What has let to the huge size of the projects: the original photo size, the choice of "DV" format, or merely the number of photos used?



[2] If these are then burned using iDVD, I assume it doesn't magically compress the iMovie projects to be able to fit on a DVD.



[3] I am guessing I am hosed, since I know once you've started a project you cant change the format. (Guess that wasn't a statement).



[4] So, assuming there is no way to rescue me from my bloated project, if I start from scratch what do I need to do to bring my files sizes down to reality?



Thanks!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    eek.



    iMovie uses the DV format which rounded off is about 3 MB/sec.



    iDVD and all DVDs use MPEG2 encoding. There are various settings and data rates for MPEG 2. I believe iDVD offers too settings.



    So your iMovie will be compressed by iDVD to MPEG2 for DVD and it will fit fine.



    1-4GB for an iMovie project is actually really small. Most of mine are over 40GBs.
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  • Reply 2 of 4
    iMovie is taking those still photos and converting them to Video .... so the "Video" version of your project is going to consume WAY more space than your "photos" did.



    Now don't give up on your DVD just yet .... when the DV footage is compressed to a DVD format, it will take up less space. I'm not sure just what the ratio is though.



    ok... a little research ...

    I have an iMovie file, for a total of 8GB of DV... this was sent to iDVD and successfully burned onto a SINGLE layer DVD at 3.6 GB. So, it seems the DV footage should compress to DVD at about 2:1.
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  • Reply 3 of 4
    Cool...thanks for your help!
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  • Reply 4 of 4
    ibuzzibuzz Posts: 135member
    I routinely burn 1 hour worth of video to dvd via iDVD. the last one was 16GB. I have successfully burned an hour and a half video. i don't remember the size of the file but i think that is approaching the limit of the dvd (single sided 4.7GB).

    there are ways i think to compress a movie down even after it's been edited, but you would lose resolution.
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