Screen resolution problems - Keynote to iMovie HD to Quicktime to DVD

Thanks for responding Karsten. I see your point with HDV720 vs. HDV1080. I've actually tried every different exporting scenario that is offered with keynote, quicktime, and iMovie just the same, and am still missing something somewhere along the line.

Kirk did have me make sure to check "include transparency" when exporting from keynote, so I am doing that.

I've tried to compare the specs & settings from the successful files that I was able to create with Kirk a week ago, to the unsuccessful ones that I've created this week. Even when the settings appear to be identical, this week's image clarity is far worse once the final QT presentation is played.

This self running QT movie will ultimately be viewed by a number of attorneys who most likely have PC equipment. I want to be able to send a marketing packet with a dvd of the movie, and I also want to be able to send the movie as an attachment to an email letter.

Hi Kirk. It's a relief to find you again! Actually, I scoured the directions you wrote in that last discussion. I've spent the entire week so far trying all the different compression settings starting with the Keynote files. I'm exporting them successfully (with super resolution) now to QT with the following settings:

Control: Interactive Slide Show
Include Transparency checked
Formats: Custom
Video: Full size - 1920x1080 pixels
Audio: No audio
NEXT......
Compression: H264
Frame Rate: 30
Key Frame Rate: 24
EXPORT....
Data Rate: Automatic
Compressor/Quality: Best

When I try to import the new, perfectly clear QT file to iMovie, I get an error message saying "The file could not be imported: Unknown Error".

What the heck is happening? I went out and bought the Missing Manual for iMovie '08 and even after studying this compression chapter, I'm getting nothing more.

Can you help?

Rarely am I able to solve my own problems, regardless of how much effort. But I did figure this one out, simply by trial and error. *To recap... I have created a sample slide show to use as a test run through Keynote (to get the best builds and transitions), to Quicktime Pro, into iMovie (to marry the features of iMovie with the Keynote slides) then back to Quicktime Pro as a final product.* It was a crash course with all 3 applications, so a huge learning curve for me.

Quicktime Kirk helped me successfully with my first go round with this. But with so many nested compression windows and so many combinations of choices, I eventually forgot which settings had worked correctly to give me the quality resolution that I had achieved the first time.

So I posted several messages asking for some clue where I was going wrong. Kirk did get back to me, but told me that I needed to create my project entirely without iMovie. Very frustrating because I knew I had done it before with iMovie.

After literally hours of analyzing all the working files and duplicating the exact settings I used before, two scenarios were happening. One, the end product had terrible resolution quality (not even close to the first time around). *Or two, when trying to import the first Quicktime file created from Keynote into iMovie, there was an error message saying that the file could not be imported*.

So, I eventually decided to try the following:

*1. Create Keynote file*
*2. Export to QT with "Full Quality/Large" setting checked, and "Include Transparency" checked.*
*3. Open QT file to check quality. If acceptable, export this QT file as a QT file again using the highest quality settings - preferably ones that match the first export from Keynote to QT.*
*4. Open iMovie file and import this new QT file.*
*5. Do my thing with it.*
*6. Export (Share) iMovie file as a final QT file with "Full Quality" setting checked in the first pop-up compression window.*

This sequence proved to be successful with the same high quality resolution as the very first go round with it. I KNOW, though, that this wasn't the sequence I used the first time because I didn't do step 3.

I am just happy that I got what I needed. Now I can create my full presentation without worrying about the outcome in the end.

*Because I'm on a Mac, and the AIC default is used, my next feat is going to be identifying codec settings that are going to work both on Mac and PC (newer machines AND older machines).*

*So, does anyone have a clue how to do this?*

Hi Kirk! Actually, I posted there a few days ago and never got any response. I also scoured the existing posts and found nothing. The most frustrating part was that I couldn't duplicate the sequence like I had done to begin with. And knowing that it COULD be done, I became obsessed about doing it again.

I understand what you're saying about compressing more than once. But if the keynote file is very high res to begin with, and compressing twice is the only way to get the QT file into iMovie (remember, I kept getting error messages and was unable to get it into iMovie), then it would seem OK to do it twice. Particularly when the image quality totally holds up in the final product.

Is there something I'm missing in my logic?

OK - now about the Mac-PC thing. I actually did use the H.264 codec whenever there was the choice to do it. But when I have the final QT file closed and click to get the specs on it, curiously it says it's AIC. What's up with that?

I just reviewed my last posts. I incorrectly stated that the file was exported as AIC, when it was actually exported as H.264.

It's a MacBook Pro. So I think my profile is outdated. I am using iMovie HD - haven't upgraded. I upgraded to QT Pro last week when you suggested that would be best though I'm not clear on whether it's QT 7 - where would I confirm that? After that upgrade, I created the first movie with the desired quality.

Next, like I had said in my latest post, I selected the H.264 codec in each application that it was available (I think it was just Keynote and iMovie only, but it may be in QT also). I selected "no audio" in Keynote and AAC sound codec in iMovie.

Again, when I click to get info on the final QT file, it still says it's AIC instead of H.264. I don't know why, but how do I change it at this point?

First off, thanks for all the time you're putting into this for me. As I said before, you can see how remedial I am with all of this. So, iMovie HD that comes with the macbook pro is actually version 6? I just figured it was identified as "HD". Duh...

So, yes - it's iMovie 6 then.
QT Pro Version 7.5.
Yes, the Keynote project is sized at 1920x1080, and when I export it, I select no audio at all because I'm doing the audio in iMovie.

Point taken, and perhaps I'll end up going in that direction.

Since I'm still learning and would like to get a better understanding of this stuff, can you tell me if my logic is wrong about starting with a super high res Keynote file of 1920x1080? Unless there's something else about compression functions that I'm obviously not understanding it would seem logical that despite all the recompression, the final resolution would still be decent.

Another question, and speaking of older codecs on the PC. Is it reasonable to assume that newer and older PCs would have QT7 or QT6? Or would it be safer to use that mpeg export like you mentioned before? Or maybe I would just include all viewing options by including QT6 & QT7 for them to download first.

Sorry to be so stubborn about this....