[swiz]

Ok so my iMac G5 previews my importing HD footage at 3/4 speed, I realize there is alot of caching and bufferring going on but I need to know what the proper method is for completing my import.

Do I press stop on the import window when the camera preview is at the end of the clip or do I press stop when the 3/4 speed iMovie preview reaches the end of the clip?

If I go the second route can I press stop on the playing camera footage or will this cause a hiccup with the still processing iMovie import?

Make sense?
Thanks

[Big Mac]

Stop on import.

[swiz]

Little more clarification please

1. Click stop in the import window when the camera playback reaches the end of footage?
or
2. Click stop in the import window when iMovie import preview reaches the end of footage?
(iMovie preview lags behind camera play so if this is the method to use can I stop camera play and iMovie will still continue importing properly?)

It's difficult to word all this.

[Big Mac]

How can you tell where the iMovie preview is in comparison to the actual place on the tape? There shouldn't be that much lag. What version of iMovie?

[swiz]

Its iMovie 7.1

Importing HD footage from my Sony HDR-HC1 via Firewire
Computer is a 2.1Gz 20"iMac with 1.5g ram

The import window shows "Capturing HD footage at 3/4 Speed"

So, at the end of say a 20 minute capture iMovie's import preview is quite far behind the cameras playback, hence my dilemma of not knowing the proper method to successfully import the full clip.

I'll probably just have to experiment with a few different methods to find which is correct.

I'll post back the results to this thread in the event that someone searches.

[Big Mac]

Oh, I can see how that's confusing but I don't think that's what it means. What iMovie is showing you is what it's importing. It's just telling you that's not importing in real time, but it's not necessarily dropping footage or lagging behind the tape. When importing HD my G5 sometimes slips below real time import, but it still imports everything. Apple should definitely make that a lot clearer. Now if you actually see reduced frame rates or out of sync audio that is a problem, but AFAIK you can import clips fine even if it's indicating it's importing in less than real time.

[swiz]

I just did a small capture of 59 seconds and clicked stop in the iMovie import window when it reached the end of the clip, the cameras playback was at the end of the clip 6.5 seconds earlier.

When I viewed the footage in iMovie after it processed, iMovie imported that additional 6.5 seconds.

Next test, click stop in iMovie when camera playback reaches end of footage...
brb

[swiz]

Ok,

I imported while monitoring the camera playback and hit stop in the iMovie import window when the camera playback reached the end of the clip.

All went well!

So, in summation,
Use camera playback for monitoring and click stop import in iMovie window when camera playback reaches the end of your footage, not iMovie import play-through cause you'll end up with too much footage(WAY too much if your import is long).

[Big Mac]

Okay, sorry I was mixed up on that point; thanks for figuring it out.