iMovie 08 - where'd the chapter markers go ??
Hi,
I was anxious to get the new iLife (and also iWork - but haven't tried it yet) - specifically for editing some home movies.
I was disappointed to see that chapter markers have gone away. All I want to do is to pull in a video, separate it into chapters (Christmas, Birthday, Spring Break, Trip to Grandparents, etc) and burn it out to DVD and also pipe it over to my Apple TV. Well, I can't seem to do that - the help makes no mention of it either.
I like the new interface and all - but PLEASE make it easier to make a simple DVD with chapter markers.
As a matter of fact - I think iMovie and iDVD should be combined - I just want to set up my videos with chapters, add some of the nice templates that Apple provides for menus and then click "Burn". That'll cover 99% of what I need to do - and I dare say a lot of what most people want to do.
Now, I think I have to create a separate project for each chapter, export it, then import to iDVD and then burn.
Am I missing something here ??
Phil
I was anxious to get the new iLife (and also iWork - but haven't tried it yet) - specifically for editing some home movies.
I was disappointed to see that chapter markers have gone away. All I want to do is to pull in a video, separate it into chapters (Christmas, Birthday, Spring Break, Trip to Grandparents, etc) and burn it out to DVD and also pipe it over to my Apple TV. Well, I can't seem to do that - the help makes no mention of it either.
I like the new interface and all - but PLEASE make it easier to make a simple DVD with chapter markers.
As a matter of fact - I think iMovie and iDVD should be combined - I just want to set up my videos with chapters, add some of the nice templates that Apple provides for menus and then click "Burn". That'll cover 99% of what I need to do - and I dare say a lot of what most people want to do.
Now, I think I have to create a separate project for each chapter, export it, then import to iDVD and then burn.
Am I missing something here ??
Phil
Comments
Take a look for yourselves.
Fireworks Movie
Can you make any recommendations aside from discontinuing use of iMovie? iMovie HD never looked like this! I certainly hope Apple steps up and gets an major update to iMovie in order to fix this. It's simply not functional in my opinion.
Please help me with this.
I'd like everyone's opinion on this. I downloaded some High Definition footage of the 4th of July fireworks (1080i) and made a simple 2:36 movie of just the grand finale. The editing process went great and I was pleased until I saw the final result. It looked absolutely HORRIBLE as rendered to Web Gallery. Furthermore, it seems to even export horribly in the same choppy and pixelated mess to the desktop.
Take a look for yourselves.
Fireworks Movie
Can you make any recommendations aside from discontinuing use of iMovie? iMovie HD never looked like this! I certainly hope Apple steps up and gets an major update to iMovie in order to fix this. It's simply not functional in my opinion.
Please help me with this.
I tried it all over again with the exact same results.
http://gallery.mac.com/brian_green#100062
I hope Apple gets on this quickly because it's simply unacceptable as it currently is.
That does look horrible. How are you exporting it? Using the built in web gallery export? Or any custom export options?
It's High Definition Video that I exported directly to Web Gallery with their own process under "Share".
I've loaded two small videos, both shot in High Definition, onto my Web Gallery. You can clearly see that iMovie is really messing them up.
http://gallery.mac.com/brian_green#gallery
I don't know what's wrong, but Apple needs to get on this quickly. I want these things to be crystal clear.
It's High Definition Video that I exported directly to Web Gallery with their own process under "Share".
I've loaded two small videos, both shot in High Definition, onto my Web Gallery. You can clearly see that iMovie is really messing them up.
http://gallery.mac.com/brian_green#gallery
I don't know what's wrong, but Apple needs to get on this quickly. I want these things to be crystal clear.
There's nothing wrong with iMovie: it's highly compressing your files.
Your "My First Project - Large.m4v" movie is 317 kilobits/second. The "Gasworks Fireworks - Large.m4v" file is 319 kb/sec. The 720p HD film trailers on Apple are 5,000 kb/sec.
I don't have iMovie '08, but in the Share settings there should be an Advanced button or somesuch. Increase the data rate to 2000 kilobits (250 kilobytes) per second and see what happens. You got 10GB - use them.
FYI, those fireworks will be difficult to compress really cleanly - all those dots, moving in different trajectories, in different speeds, in different colors.
I think you have a very interesting idea of combining iDVD with IMovie. iMovie finally organizes and tracts all your movie clips and also edited projects. It makes sense to then group projects together and export/share them by DVD.
I agree that most user just select a template in iDVD and drop in a few movies and hit burn. Apple talks about doing a movie in 30 minutes and that is a great idea. But how about doing a DVD in another 5 minutes? It would take longer to burn but I am talking about authoring.
iDVD, just like the old iMovie takes too long to do quick work. Apple should give us a Studio DVD Express just like they give us Final Cut Express. That way if people want more power than the new iMovie/iDVD, they can always step up.
There's nothing wrong with iMovie: it's highly compressing your files.
An appropriate answer if you're blind, or don't mind looking at the possibly the most blurry clips imaginable. I'm sure you prefer quality video as much as I do. I'd much rather have larger file sizes as an option for Web Gallery than what is offered. As it is, I'm going to disregard the feature until they fix the problem. It's simply not watchable in it's current condition.
An appropriate answer if you're blind, or don't mind looking at the possibly the most blurry clips imaginable. I'm sure you prefer quality video as much as I do. I'd much rather have larger file sizes as an option for Web Gallery than what is offered. As it is, I'm going to disregard the feature until they fix the problem. It's simply not watchable in it's current condition.
Hi Brian,
I see you have posted the same topic at the Apple Support forums, and they've come the same conclusion that I did - a too low bit rate.
I'm sure they'll help you sort it out.
Cheers...
Hi Brian,
I see you have posted the same topic at the Apple Support forums, and they've come the same conclusion that I did - a too low bit rate.
I'm sure they'll help you sort it out.
Cheers...
That's correct. I've posted at both sites and you seem to be correct in that it's a low bitrate issue. The next step is solving the problem, and no one has yet stepped forward with a solution to it. I'm thinking it's a bug with the 8-Core Mac Pro and iMovie. I've imported the same footage through iPhoto and it looks great. I've been through all of the menus in iMovie and there's not a single option to change the bitrate of any file (you can change dimensions but not bitrate) uploaded through iMovie into Web Gallery. Other people on other Macs (like an iMac) have not had any problems uploading at high bitrates without actually specifying a specific bitrate. For some odd reason the 8-Core Mac Pro iMovie doesn't seem to want to upload in high bitrate. I'll have to wait for Apple to provide a fix to it before I'll be able to use that part of the software.