iMovie 5.0.2 vs 6.0 which is best?

Does your current version "see" your camera and allow you to import into imovie? That would be the big issue.

welcome air-time to the  iMovie boards ..

.. I bought a Canon DC50 mini DVD camera

both versions, 5 & 6, do NOT support DVDcorders.. only miniDV .. (DVDcorder=iM08)
vers. 6 added 'Themes' to iM ..
vers. 6 allows to open two/many iM projects simultanously..
vers. 6 supports copy/paste between those projects ..

Hi air-time and welcome to discussions.

I recently went from 5 to 6 and it is all good. In addition to Karsten's list, you also get some video fx, such as slo-mo, speed up, reverse and time lapse. For some reason, the workflow seemed to go faster for me too, although that may just be the result of having done a number of movies now, but my last was the first on iMovie 06 and it went easily. I'd recommend it.

I would also echo Karsten about your choice of camcorder. Bad choice. IF you can still return it, that would be the best option. You want a miniDV tape cam with a Firewire port.

Forest

"should I download iM 60 or stay with what I've got?"

Either way, you will be no farther ahead with your problem. Best solution for you, in the long and happy run, would be, sell the cam on eBay, buy a miniDV tape cam and get the free iMovie 06 download.

Workarounds for editing your MPEG2 are out there, but you will waste time, lose video quality and probably not be happy with the results in the end. Time to bite a bullet!

UMMMM . . . . I'm not sure if you can get the free download of 06 without having 08 already installed on your computer?? Since you can't install iLife 08 on your G4, this could be a problem that maybe someone else may know the answer to.

IF you could find a copy of iLife 06, maybe lying on a storeroom shelf at an Apple dealer, or on eBay, that would be the next best solution. Failing that, or a solution to the first problem above, you may be using iMovie HD (05) a while longer. Not that there's anything wrong with that, for you could go to the Gee Three website and find a whole lot of plug-ins, for a fee, that provide extra transitions, titles, video and audio effects that will work with your iMovie.

Good choice on the camera too, although I have seen threads here that talk of issues with getting the most out of a high def camcorder vis a vis the computer handling the files and also the availability and cost of HD DVD burners. Just a heads up on that one.

Forest

Hi air-time,

Get the free download here:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovieHD6.html

Look at my earlier comments again regarding the advantages of 06 over 05.