[MacNNUK]

Just got new (to me) refurbished G5 (I call it that anyway) iMac, actually a refurbished iMac 17-inch 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SuperDrive , which came with 10.4.10, and iMovie HD6.

Fortunately, only downloaded clips from DV camera and little bit of rough editing of home (bunny) movies to length, before I ............

Discovered that the non-destructive editing in HD6 was not reducing HDD space as I went along, I came up with the solution of using iMovie3 for importing, and rough cut to length of my clips, which frees up HDD space upon emptying trash.

Question, do I actually need to edit using HD6 later on, or should I just stick to iM3, once clips in movies cut to length.

Your experiences welcome.

PS, my old G3 was quite happily chuntering away today in another room, importing clips from other domestic DVD recordings of bunnies, and rough cutting to length. (using Formac studio) using IM3. DVD recorder just left recording for 2-4 hours at a time, to capture all those interesting bits, using Bunny Cam CCTV installed, and viewable throughout the house !

Wouldn't it be nice if iMacs had built in Video (and audio) ins and outs.

Sorely missed omission.

[adamfishercox]

What's the problem? I don't see the problem with the non-destructive editing. Why don't you like it?

And there's no such thing as an iMac G5 Intel Core Duo... either you have an iMac G5, or you have an iMac Core Duo.

[MacNNUK]

Originally Posted by adamfishercox 

What's the problem? I don't see the problem with the non-destructive editing. Why don't you like it?

Because when I've downloaded 5 hours of DV tape, my HD is full, ( along with other iMovies and Digital photo's) and rough cut editing doesn't release HD space.

As it is, I will probably spend a month or so editing down, and wish to add other DV tapes to my iMac as I go along.

PS, just released extra 7gb from 1st rough cut of iMovie (Bunny 1) down from 16gb

Bunny 2 is currently 25gb, pre rough cut.

Bunny 3 (ex-DVDx29) is currently 28gb, on G3.

I waited for new iMac, thinking I could import DVD's directly into iMovie, was disappointed to find I couldn't

At least I had my trusty old Formac Studio system for importing.

Tried ffmpeg and handbrake for conversion, so slow, especially on the G3, and much lower quality than openshiva, which converted at approx 1% per minute on 60 minute DVD recording, at least my 17" translated the .vob's at 7x the old G3.

Much quicker to spool through DVD, through Formac Studio, import then rough cut beginning and end, to save on HD space, otherwise there is no way I would get approx 80 hours of home DVD's onto iMac, either one.

Bunnies (sometimes hyperactive Netherland Dwarfs) here for 18 months now, so quite a lot of recordings to import !

PS, I call it G5, cos it takes up less room on Desktop and Ethernet titles, and "T"arget mode, calling my old one G3 ! May not be entirely correct, but it works for me.

[adamfishercox]

I see your point, but it seems the easiest way around this would be to increase your hard drive space with an external drive as opposed to editing it on one system and software and then bringing that product to another editing software...

EDIT: I see you have a few externals already... I would say go for a 500 GB one just for your video, but I'm sure that's not really another thing you want to buy.

[MacNNUK]

I've replaced my HD6 copies with original IM3 versions I kept on external HDD's. (Thank God)

Most of the HD6 copies were of completed, or nearly completed IM's anyway. So no real problems with "wasted" disk space.

I like to keep completed IM's on HDD, I've learnt from the past not to delete them, once copied to DVD, VHS etc.

For me, that is a better use of my external HDD's.

I probably won't transfer iMovies to HD6, I don't really see a reason.

[MacNNUK]

Problems: Buzzing on playback with media captured using Formac Studio DV/TV.

This is an old problem for me, as it has been noted here before.

I found the best solution, and it seems to work every time, is to open iMovie 2, import a short segment, delete, then re-open iMovie 3.

However, major problem last night, not sure what happened.

Whilst rough cut editing 25gb, just after selecting part of clip to delete, (alt X as usual) only a few minutes of my time into project, I did the Ctrl & Eject shutdown combination, iMac shutdown, however upon re-opening iMovie 3 this morning, it couldn't find clips, any clips in that project, and in fact the HD had an extra 25gb free space, and my media folder was empty.

Any ideas, not sure what happened, never happened to me before in several years of editing.

I can only imagine the shut down was too quick whilst deleting portion of clip, but why the trash was empty I do not understand.

Fortunately, I had backed up project onto external HDD just before, and was able to recover project.

Only lost a few minutes of my time.

It's pretty standard for me to also copy and paste backup copies of iMovie projects, space allowing, as I go along, similarly with my digital photo's.

Of course, also rotating onto my external HDD's.

I do find the iMovie 3 requiring precise positioning of the cursor under the frame to select edit points in any clip a bit annoying, forever moving the iMovie window, perhaps a migration back to iMovie 2 is next.


For those following this thread, my 4 bunny movies, loaded onto iMac yesterday, are now down from 60gb to 49gb, getting there slowly.

Which of course is the main reason I reverted back to iM3, to reclaim the disk space, for copies etc.

[adamfishercox]

You sound like you're putting yourself through way too much for this. If you edit so much video, I'd suggest investing in Final Cut Express and a big (500 GB and up) Scratch Disc.