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I have MacBook Pro 17" 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
3GB RAM VRAM 256 MB
Since the Camera is HD I want to keep it 1920x1080 in the finished Movie. When I start the Project I elect "Full Resolution" but I am then informed that "choosing this on this computer will result in degraded playback". I persist however, and at the start all goes smoothly, I can do everything that i-Movie provides (and almost instantaneously too) However, as I progress, everything slows and slows. Editing Audio becomes painful- adjusting the sound level does not work at all! Even if I choose to mute the music it still plays full blast. Is this, in fact down to the limitations of the computer? Will I succeed if I upgrade to an i-Mac 2.66GHz 512 VRAM 4GB RAM and an Intel i5 Quad Core?
My finished Movie is 31 minutes long and about 35 GB. Many thanks for any help and suggestions

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Hi Vermeille,

Editing 1920x1080 is going to strain your system using iMovie as you have found out... especially for a 31 minute movie!

How much free disk space do you have?

Is your footage on a firewire external drive or on the internal system drive? If so, how fast is your HD (5400 or 7200?)

Can I also ask, why are you choosing the Full size not the large size?

What is your final destination / mode of delivery for the footage? e.g. iPod, DVD, etc?

For a long 30 minute movie I would suggest looking into Final Cut Express or Pro as a means to edit... but until I know more about what you want to do with your final movie it's hard to suggest something specific.

Finally, yes, the new iMacs with 4/8GB of ram and a more ram on the Graphics card will help in theory...

Cheers
Rounik

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Many thanks Rounik, for your reply.
I am using a 1TB External Disk 7200 rpm with Firewire 800 connexion. I have 900GB free on it !
I choose Full size because my Canon HV20 records at 1920x1080 and I would prefer not to lose any quality.
Final Destination is to a Samsung HD Television via the MacBook Pro.
You say that the new i-Mac 27" will help "in theory"; do you not think it will, in practice? I am attracted to its screen size and Hardware spec, but 1800 € is a lot to pay if it doesn't completely cope with my absorbing hobby of Movie making.
How would Final Cut Express cope better than i-Movie 09?
Regards

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Hi Vermeille,

In terms of quality, I imagine 1920x1080i is going to look great, but you may not notice any significant difference between it and 960x540... best to test it out.

If you can convert your footage to 1280x720 you should notice a significant improvement in editing speed... this should be easier to do in Final Cut (I use Pro, not Express).

Also, I have not tried editing 30 minutes worth of 1080i footage in iMovie 09, so I couldn't really provide any real-world feedback. But I use an HV20 and have had decent performance in Final Cut.

I would imagine that the iMac you mention will help as it has a better graphics card and more ram and a faster processor. Is there a way you can visit a local Apple store? The may be kind enough to let you take your external HD and plug it in to an iMac in store and test out the performance in iMovie 09.

Hope that helps
Rounik

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Hullo Rounik,
Thanks for reply.
I will try taking my External HD to the store.
I am re-doing the Movie in 960x540 and, at this stage, I can't really see any real difference in quality.

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Hi Vermeille,

Let me know how you get on!

btw, you may be interested in checking out this free switchers guide video about Final Cut:
https://www.macprovideo.com/tutorial/iMovieFCP

:)

Rounik

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Rounik,
To bring you up to date- I now have my new 27"i-Mac. !
I have to say that some things are much better than my MacBook Pro but there are some strange anomalies that persist. First, on a 9 minute film, everything is perfect. I can scroll thro' the Project with the mouse; I have control over clip volume and music volume, just as the Tutorials say ( both MacPro i-Movie 9 AND Ken Stone. However, if I make a film of 12 minutes or more, everything goes to pot.I can't scroll smoothly, and I can't control any volume UNLESS I use the "Green/Purple" method of adding.
Do you have any thoughts? I now have 4GB of RAM (rather than 3GB) but considering the huge size of HD VIdeo files, do you think more would produce results?

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Hi Vermeille

Glad to know in general everything is better...

So,

- does this 'volume' issue happen when editing clips in a project or in an Event?

- What format did you shoot your video in?

- What format have you imported it into iMovie?

- Does this happen on all projects which exceed 12 minutes?

4GB is good. I can't see that adding more ram would solve your issue in this instance...

Cheers
Rounik

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Thanks for reply, Rounik.

The 'Volume' issue only arises when editing in the Project (I don't ever edit in the 'Event').
The video was shot in 1080i format and imported in exactly the same format.(Canon HV20)
Actually, I find that the problem arises on all Projects over 9 minutes
Some "curiosities" (to me, at least).
The 9 min Video is 4.73GB of Event. Scrolling is perfectly smooth in the Project.
A 12min Video is 22.3GB of Event. In the Project, scrolling is only 20% smooth at the start, 75% smooth at the 12th row of clips; 90% at the 16th row and 95% smooth at the 18th(last) row.
A 20 min Video is 29.9GB of Event. Scrolling is only 5-10% smooth at the start. By the 16th row it is 30% smooth. By the 21st row 50%, and by the 33rd row (last) it is 95% smooth.
Can you make anything of that?

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Hi Vermeille,

To be honest, I'm not sure... An interesting test would be to import the same footage in 'large' as opposed to 1080i and see if you get the same issue when a project exceeds 9 minutes in length.

I tend to do all my longer than 3/4 minute video editing tasks in Final Cut, but I haven't come across this particular issue before...

Keep me posted.

Best
Rounik

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Rounik,

I imported the raw material at full 1080i from my Canon HV20. From there I made one Project at "Full" - where the problem arose. Using the original raw material, I made another Project at "Large". It made no difference. The problem was the same in all respects.
Can I ask you about "Final Cut", please? Are the differences between "Express" and "Pro" really only such as would be noticeable by a Professional Editor( such as my grandson, who uses "Pro" to edit TV programmes professionally?) Would I, as an amateur, be satisfied with "Express"? I have watched Tutorials on FCPro and it really does have much better editing procedures than i-Movie 9 - ought to considering the cost!

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Hi Vermeille

Final Cut Express is very good for the price! You'll notice there are some different ways to approach editing to iMovie 09. The quality from Express and Pro will be essentially the same for your needs... editing wise you should be fine with Express!

:)

R

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Hullo again, Rounik.
Thought I'd bring you up to date.
I now shoot with a Panasonic HDC-SD700 and the video is marvellous (better, I think, than the Canon HV20); I have an i-Mac 27"
I am still on i-Movie 09, but I'm reading avidly about i-Movie 11 AND FC Express.
Anyway, up to now I have only been able to shoot in 1080i - because that is AVCHD which i-Movie 09 can handle. However, I've always wanted to use 1080p (which the Pan can do at 28mbs)as this is the better quality-for which I'm always searching! As you probably know, there has been considerable discussion on how to get 1080p into Mac editing programs. I have now been successful by using "Voltaic"to convert the 1080p to Apple I Codec and thence to i-Movie 09 for editing. The results are amazing.The resulting files are enormous, of course, but that is no problem.
Your help and advice was always an inspiration to me.

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Hi Vermeille,

This is great news. Thanks so much for posting back with this info!

Well, I am jealous now of your Pan HDC-SD7000 - but really I'm still happy with my HV20 ... although it is gathering dust because most of my snippets of HD video these days are being captured on my iPhone 4 (!).... just because it's always with me :)

It's useful to know about Voltaic. Thanks for the recommendation there too. I guess if file size is not an issue then your workflow sounds great!

I haven't got my hands on iLife '11 yet but am keen to try out the new audio editing features in iMovie '11... doesn't it look great!

Would love to hear more of your experiences too!

Best
Rounik

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Hullo Rounik,
It's me again, with another problem!
I am trying out Final Cut Express but I'm so frustrated I don't know whether I'll stay with it.
It's a steep learning curve and I've got so far, but I'm stuck on Inserting Transitions. It should be simple, according to the Manual and the tutorial, but it isn't!
First, if I go to the Effects Menu, they are listed in black, but when I choose, say "Dissolve" the list becomes greyed-out and I can't choose anything.
If I go to the Effects tab, I can choose "Cross Dissolve" (which says it is 1 second in length) When I drag it between two clips (of 25 and 35 secs) it becomes 03 frames! If I go to Modify and try to change the duration to 2 secs, it has no effect at all. Obviously, if I can't do Transitions simply (like the tutorial says) then FCE 4.0.1 is useless to me. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp ! Thanks.