Can't find "Unlock Audio Clip" option in iMovie HD 6.0.3

Hi all,

I'm attempting to make clips from a number of not-so-well-made DVDs on which the video leads the audio by approximately 1:10. So, I did the obvious: I chose "Extract Audio," selected the audio clip, and used the arrow keys to shift it left by that amount. The problem is that I now find myself completely unable to rid myself of that unwanted 1:10 of audio at the beginning of the clip. If I split the clip at the beginning of the video and attempt to remove the audio-only portion, iMovie warns me that this will invalidate one or more audio locks -- and if I proceed, the tracks get right back out of sync again. The same thing happens if I move that portion out of the timeline and into the Clips pane (though without a warning in that case).

From what I've read so far, there is supposed to be an Advanced->Unlock Audio Clip option that will solve this problem, but I'm quite certain that I've never seen it. My Advanced menu has only four items: Extract Audio, Paste Over at Playhead, Lock Audio Clip at Playhead, and Revert Clip to Original. This doesn't seem to change regardless of context or preferences settings.

I've been browsing the support area and Googling like mad and generally trying to figure this one out for at least a couple hours now. I suppose my next step will be to export the clip as DV, import it back in, cut the first 1:10, and export again. Still, given the amount of content I need to fix in this manner, that's going to get extremely painful and time-consuming, and clearly there must be a better way. Can anyone help?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.11), iMovie HD 6.0.3

Posted on Dec 18, 2007 6:22 PM

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3 replies

Dec 18, 2007 9:46 PM in response to Ethan Straffin

Thanks to you both for your suggestions. tscott222's suggestion that the "Lock" menu item can be used to "Unlock" as well is correct. I didn't realize this earlier since that item is only active when the audio tracks are highlighted, and my intuition had been to use it when the "primary" video track was highlighted, just as when the "Lock" option was initially invoked. (Meanwhile, the whole shebang seems to be in violation of Apple's general guidelines that either a checkmark should be provided or the text should be changed to indicate "on/off" status.)

Sadly, it doesn't seem to make any difference whether the tracks are locked or unlocked: pushpins or no, deleting that initial segment still reverts me back to square one with respect to the bad sync.

I tried the addition of blank video to match the audio also. Rather clever idea, tscott222, but I'm sorry to say that it has not gone well so far.

I'm officially giving up and falling back on the export-import-export last resort, because this has to be done soon.

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Can't find "Unlock Audio Clip" option in iMovie HD 6.0.3

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