[SCOTT TEAGUE]

I can't believe that something so good could get so bad.
I been using older MAC's to edit on and using IMOVIE in the past with IDVD for the final step. I get the IMOVIE 09 and download my footage and make my movie and send it to IDVD when i'm done. I burn a dvd of my finishrd movie and I couldn't believe what it looked like. It looked like you shot the program with a old VHS camcoder. It was BAD!! I shoot with a SONY DCR-VX2100 camcoder. I called Apple about the problem and they pretty much said "that's about as good as it's going to get" I can't believe that, The older version of IMOVIE and IDVD where better than this with the finished product looking as good as the original footage you started with. What's wrong with this picture.

Scott

[ibook_steve]

First of all, some correct spelling:

MAC should be Mac.
IMOVIE should be iMovie.
IDVD should be iDVD.

With that out of the way, it might help if you could describe your workflow a little better. I'm assuming you are importing video over Firewire. Is that true?

At what point does it look "BAD"? In iMovie or on the finished DVD? If you're trying to compress a lot of video onto a DVD, of course the results are not going to look that great. A little more info about exactly what you are trying to do, how much video you are trying to put on the DVD, and how you are doing it will help.

Steve

[carterx]

From what I understand Apple has released a good working version that does what everyone wants of iMovie since iLife 06. Apple released iLife 06 for a while on their site for free because so many people complained about the newer versions having options removed that were used in iLife 06.

Sounds like they have yet to learn. I have a new copy of iLife 09 here and have yet to install it.

[Spheric Harlot]

iMovie '09 rocks my world, far more than iMovie HD and previous ever did.

[clarkgoble]

I agree. While the switch from iLife 06 was painful because so many features were lost I found that iMovie HD did a great job of just getting data off my camcorder which had only light editing requirements. With the switch to iMovie09 a lot of the missing features from 06 were restored. I still have a few grumbles but I find now that I really don't have much of a need for FCE.

However one should note that iMovie really is oriented around light editing and downloading camcorder home movies. If you have more serious needs you really should look at Final Cut Express. (Which is about due for an update I believe) It used to be there was more overlap between iMovie and FCE but that's less true now.

I should note that I really, really like FCE but find that it's just too much overhead for 95% of what I do.

[SCOTT TEAGUE]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

First of all, some correct spelling:

MAC should be Mac.
IMOVIE should be iMovie.
IDVD should be iDVD.

With that out of the way, it might help if you could describe your workflow a little better. I'm assuming you are importing video over Firewire. Is that true?

At what point does it look "BAD"? In iMovie or on the finished DVD? If you're trying to compress a lot of video onto a DVD, of course the results are not going to look that great. A little more info about exactly what you are trying to do, how much video you are trying to put on the DVD, and how you are doing it will help.

Steve

Well, here is your answers to your question. I did a test and put 2 minutes of dv footage into iMovie and then put it into iDVD. The finished dvd still is not as sharp as the original. Then I did a test using the same 2 minutes of dv footage and loaded it to iDVD. it looked a lot better. The problem is in iMovie.

Scott

[SCOTT TEAGUE]

Also, can you export your movie back to your camcorder??? I know you could with earlier iMovie software.

Scott

[besson3c]

You realize that somewhere along the way your DV video needs to be compressed as MPEG-2 for your DVD, right?

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by SCOTT TEAGUE 

Also, can you export your movie back to your camcorder??? I know you could with earlier iMovie software.

Scott

If you could, the results would be poor since you'd be working with a compressed copy of your footage.

[SCOTT TEAGUE]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

You realize that somewhere along the way your DV video needs to be compressed as MPEG-2 for your DVD, right?

All my question is, why is the older version a lot better in quaity ( The finished product ) than now?? That's my grip.

[mduell]

The issue is iDVD... the encoding quality is just utter **** even for a 40 minute (so max DVD bitrate is available) disk.