IMovie clips are black

I have the same problem. Videos in some "events" can play normally while others just have sound. Somewhere I read this has to do with the 10.5.5 update, but there's so little discussion about this yet.

Help.

I'm not sure if the following is a permanent fix, but so far it has solved my problem.

Mine is MBP CoreDuo 2.0Ghz with 2GB ram / iMovie'08 on Leopard 10.5.5

Here's what I did to work around the "black preview" in my iMovie, and it's easy.

1. First, move the entire "iMovie Events" folder (in the Username/Movies by default) somewhere else. (I put it on my desktop)

2. Then, reimport each event back to iMovie using iMovie's "Import Movies" feature. Do import events individually although it takes more time.

3. During import, select only the clips you want. Don't select "iMovie Cache" & "iMovie Thumbnails" created by the first import.

4. Voila! Those black clips should appear again in the iMovie's preview window.

Extra finding:

Before making the steps above, I had an iMovie project whose edited content wouldn't display either. After moving the "iMovie Events" folder to my desktop, the project showed a warning sign (little yellow triangle).

However, after reimporting the exact clips back to iMovie, not only can I view the clips separately again, the original project plays normally again.

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Hope my experience helps.

This is very similar to what I had to do to help my dad recover footage from his DV Tape Camera. It doesn't seem to happen as much on cameras with a "digital" media. It's a HUGE bug that Apple REALLY needs to fix. The Fix should not wait until iLife '09!

I was having the same problem and followed some of these steps,

but I didn't move the entire "iMovie Events" folder, only the folder of the clips that weren't playing in the Preview Pane.

then I closed iMovie and reopened it and those clips were gone.

So I went to "Import Movies" and chose all the videos from the folder I had moved to my Desktop and imported them.

Those clips were not viewable in the Preview Pane.

Thanks for your help.

I too am having this problem. I edit a clip, make a movie, then post it to my mobile.me account. Later when I make any changes it states that it is out of date and more importantly blacks out the video clips.