iMovie and importing movie file types

[karavite]

I'm not a digital video guy, so please excuse me if this is a dumb question.

Why in the world can't I import Quicktime files into iMovie? I'm guessing it has to do with frame rates or something. Or can I and am I just missing something?

If not, is there a file conversion tool anyone could recommend to convert Quicktime or other movie file types? Or do I have to somehow record out to a video to a deck and then import it back in to my iMovie?

I guess I expected iMovie to be something like Premiere. Would Final Cut allow me to do this?

Thanks

[jove]

Hello,

I am not certain why Apple did not include this feature.

If possible:
Use QT Pro to export a QT movie to a DV file.
Move the DV file into the Media folder.
See if the iMovie document detects it.

[rharder]

I think jove has it. iMovie works with DV files, so if you want to import a movie, you have to convert it to DV first (with QuickTime Player Pro).

-Rob

[karavite]

Yep, thanks for the advice. Quicktime Pro and saving as a DV stream seems to be it - though even a dinky QT file ends up as one darn big file and QT sure seems to take its time doing it. Oh well, I'm sure there are better tools, but I'm just an amatuer and Final Cut is beyond my means or needs.

I risk being flamed here, but anyone remember the Amiga? I had two and I have to wonder why editing video on my Amiga 10 years ago was easier than it is now. I guess the Amiga's display output was NTSC, so all the conversion that, I would assume, takes place on Macs and PCs takes a lot of processing power.

Come to think of it, OS X is the closest thing to an Amiga yet - Unix vairant with a pretty GUI...

[jove]

Hello

I have been told there is a HUGE difference between encoding movies on a G4 vs a G3. Most likely the Altavec (sp?) unit in the G4s makes the difference.

My stats for a 14 minute movie

iMovie to "CDROM Medium" quality - 1.5 hours
Toast Titanium encoding to VCD compatible format - 2.5 hours
The actual burn process, two minutes :-)

When did the iMovie document detec t the new manually placed DV clips?

[rharder]

An hour and a half? Good grief. What patience you must have.

I haven't done any hard testing, but I encode 60 second clips to the "CD-ROM" setting in about two minutes I think.

-Rob

[jove]

Hello

2/1 = x/14 where x is encoding time of 14 minute clip
x = 28 minutes!

And mine takes 90 minutes :-(

What is your configuration?

My 14 minute movie had about 75 parts (clips, transitions, and etc). That may have slowed it down - but all that should be calculated ahead of time.

BTW - Lesson learned *Keep it rolling*. I managed to hit the record button 102 times in a matter of three hours. When I imported into iMovie I had all those clips to sort through. That took a long time :-)

[jove]

Hello,

And to import MP3s, use iTunes to convert them to AIFs and have iMove "Import from file".