"No matching video" after import

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Level 1

10 points

"No matching video" after import

Recently, I have been having some odd issues with iMovie importing movies from the camera, creating the event, etc. but once the import is finished, there is nothing in there. Selecting the event displays the following message in the edit bay:
"No matching video. Choose a different option from the Show pop-up menu at the lower left corner." (All Clips is selected in that pop-up menu).

The video file (.mov) is saved and visible in the iMovie Events folder on the drive I saved the import to. It will save it under a name such as "clip-2008-10-14 12;00;12.mov". After importing, I can even select it as a movie to import (Import Movies). I have noticed this problem on other files on my hard drive that iMovie recognizes and allows me to select for import, but when it is done, the event is empty.

I have imported movies in the past with the same video camera (Sony Handycam HDR-SR11) as recently as last week.

I also have an ancillary problem that seems suspect: the video imported was only 2 hours and has gobbled up 20 GB on my hard drive. I just want to make sure that is accurate for this length of video.

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.5), Sony Handycam HDR-SR11

Posted on Oct 15, 2008 6:56 AM

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Answer 1

tamashii Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 21, 2008 1:20 PM in response to tamashii

I have not yet received an absolute answer to this issue. Additionally, I had a secondary issue whereby existing events imported after the initial issue (reported above) would drop video out of the Event Clip Viewer.

After some serious clean up of the disk being used to store the video, I have considered any issues that occur like this again can be resolved with ample disk space being made available. For whatever reason, even if there is still room on the disk, if there isn't enough room to "add" more information, it will have this "empty event" problem (or drop random bits out of clips in the Event Clip Viewer).

Also, to be very clear, I am not referring to the Event Library that is seen on the far left side of iMovie '08. I am talking about the view area directly to the right of that; of which I refer to as the Event Clip Viewer because that is where you can see/edit the clips contained in that event. I am definitely not referring to the Project Library or the Project Clip Viewer that resides above the Event Library and Viewer area. When on the phone with Apple Support, this was apparently confused for the majority of my call despite my thinking I couldn't have been more clear about the details of the issue.

My call was ultimately passed up to a specialist (for iLife) and even he was unable to even address the issue, much less solve it. If you can help it, upon import, insure that at least 10 gigs of storage is still available on your hard drive. It would be helpful if Apple would follow up on this and address the issue in a later version or even just a comment in a FAQ here or something.

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Answer 2

SDIllini

Level 6

16,675 points

Oct 21, 2008 1:32 PM in response to tamashii

So, it isn't this-right?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iMovie/7.0/en/11924.html

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Answer 3

tamashii Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 21, 2008 1:36 PM in response to SDIllini

No, it is not. In both instances, the pull-down menu displayed "All Clips" and it does so as a default upon import (at least on my machine). While not an expert, I was not suffering from an id10t error.

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Answer 4

SDIllini

Level 6

16,675 points

Oct 21, 2008 1:44 PM in response to tamashii

My apologies. I certainly did NOT mean to imply anything like that.

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Answer 5

Suggsy

Level 1

0 points

Oct 22, 2008 1:46 AM in response to tamashii

Hi tamashii

sorry I can't help - but I did have the exact same problem - still searching for a answer!

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Answer 6

tamashii Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 22, 2008 7:13 AM in response to tamashii

@SDIllini :: No offense taken, nor inferred. Was just pointing out that, in this case, I made sure all the simple answers weren't my problem.

@Suggsy :: Like I said, I don't think there is a specific answer (Applecare couldn't even provide one on the phone). My only suggestion (and current solution) is to make sure you have almost double the free space on the target disk being used. Even if you have a gig left over after the import, iMovie might think that's not enough and you'll encounter the missing clips/"No matching video" issue. Good luck!

null

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Answer 7

Oct 24, 2008 6:19 PM in response to tamashii

I had a very similar situation where I imported video fine, but then received the message "no matching video". The file existed in the right location (e.g., iMovie Events). However, if I removed the thumbnails, iMovie wouldn't recreate them when I opened it. Finally, I tried renaming the file. By simply changing the date, it triggered iMovie to rescan and recreate the thumbnails. All is well...

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Answer 8

tamashii Author

Level 1

10 points

Nov 3, 2008 12:43 PM in response to CanyonMan

When I experience my problem again, I will employ this method, CanyonMan. I look forward to it working for me as it appears it did for you.

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Answer 9

dnaman

Level 1

0 points

Nov 3, 2008 4:00 PM in response to tamashii

I'm having the exact same problem. I imported 4 movies. With only one of them do I get the "No matching video" message. The clip (.dv) shows up on the hard drive. The other three show up.

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Answer 10

Feanix82

Level 1

0 points

Nov 3, 2008 7:27 PM in response to tamashii

SAME PROBLEM HERE! I just imported an MP4 video that is only a few minutes long. I have 665gigs available so THAT isn't the problem. I've got "all clips" selected in the "show" drop down. This is ridiculous. We need an ANSWER!

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Answer 11

jklmn

Level 1

0 points

Nov 4, 2008 3:18 AM in response to CanyonMan

CanyonMan: I am having similar issues with my movie importing. I am interested in more details in your solution noted below. I tried renaming the file, but it didn't generate new thumbnails. How did you change the date? Thanks!

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Answer 12

Nov 4, 2008 4:37 PM in response to Feanix82

Hi, I was having the same problem and then I found another thread back from 2007 that worked for me. Here it is:

"I figured out what to do. i removed to .mov file out of the events folder onto the desktop, opened imovie and clicked on the event in the event library which showed this message, "No matching video". i then closed imovie and moved the .mov file back into the events folder, reopened imovie and viola, video now plays back properly."

I found that .mov file under my user name, under movies>imovie events>the name you gave your import>imovie cache>cache.mov

Just move this cache.mov file onto the desk top, shut down imovie, then move the file back into the place it was before and restart imovie. It'll then start to create thumbnails. Good luck.

Mac needs to make a plug for this bug, but for now, this seems to work.

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Answer 13

jklmn

Level 1

0 points

Nov 4, 2008 5:27 PM in response to DancingJohnnyRingo

DancingJohnny: Can you point me to the original posting? I tried your trick, but it didn't work for me. I am looking for other solutions.

Thanks!

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Answer 14

Nov 7, 2008 10:07 PM in response to jklmn

I'm having this same issue on my macbook.

I'm resorting to dragging the file folder that isn't showing from the movies>imovie events folder to the desktop, the reimporting the whole video. Just dragging the cache file in/out and restarting imovie definitely did not work for me.

This seems like a workaround, but it can take a while to re-import, which is rather annoying.

A real solution for this would be nice.

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Answer 15

k8fin

Level 1

0 points

Nov 23, 2008 12:14 PM in response to the_error_king

This worked for me also... although it did take some time to reimport the video. In my case, I just had video clips that went "missing"... they showed up in iMovie Events file... but not in my events window in iMovie 7.1.4... I was VERY frustrated as this was rare footage imported from a VHS tape of my wedding that had taken a long time for me just to originally import. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! for this work around... What is so crazy is that until I did this work around, I could import the .dv footage into iMovie 06 and work with it there, but not in 08... so weird! Anyway, just good to know that there is even a work around.

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