Audio distorted after import (in iMovie not in QuickTime).

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Level 1

51 points

Audio distorted after import (in iMovie not in QuickTime).

I've just bought a Canon HV30 camcorder and everything seems to work fine - EXCEPT the audio quality after import to iMovie HD6. First thing I've noticed is that, while importing, the audio sounds normal on the camcorder but NO sound can be heard transferring into iMovie (with my other Canons MV630i & MVX25i the sound CAN be heard during the import). However, after importing & saving the project the sound is there but my voice is often distorted to a very strange science fiction base. SOMETIMES after quitting iMovie & re-opening the project the sound is quite normal - other times the sound is distorted again. I want to finally use iDVD to burn this to a DVD but don't want to waste so much time doing it if the DVD will have this problem on it. I have read several posts about audio problems in QuickTime Player (I never get involved with QT) but can't find any relating to this - apologies if I've missed any. I just want to use iMovie HD6 for editing then burn to DVDs so I would really appreciate any advice.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.6), iMovie HD 6.0.4

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 4:33 AM

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Answer 1

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Jan 24, 2009 9:15 AM in response to makey

If your iMovie project plays the audio normally sometimes but distorted other times, then
I would try the oft applied maintenance of deleting preferences and doing a permissions repair. To delete preferences, close iMovie and trash the file named com.apple.iMovie.plist found in User (the house icon)/Library/Preferences. Then do a permissions repair using the Disk Utility app found in HD/Applications/Utilities. In the left hand pane of the Disk Utility window select your hard drive icon and then click on repair permissions. Takes about 3 minutes to repair. Then relaunch iMovie and see if you still have the problem. iMovie will recreate the .plist file that you deleted.

Also, makes sure that you have sufficient free space on your boot disk for iMovie to function efficiently. 20GB to 25GB often is recommended by contributors to this forum.

Sometimes updating Quicktime resolves problems.

Temporarily disabling 3rd party and/or Quicktime plug-ins, if you have any, might help.

Starting over with a completely new project might cure it as well. The problem may be project related and not occur in other projects. You could also check this out with a test project.

Recording in other than 16bit sound or in long play can cause sound problems.

Finally, it is possilbe that the distorted audio is only a playback issue and will sound normal on your final burned DVD. You might do a quick Share of your iMovie project to iDVD and play it back in iDVD to see if the sound distorts there. Takes just a few minutes. From there you could burn a DVD to see what the final product sounds like.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 2

makey Author

Level 1

51 points

Jan 25, 2009 3:31 AM in response to Rich839

Many thanks for your quick reply Rich839.

I've got 119.29GB on the HD and I do a repair permissions every day. I've got the latest update of QuickTime (7.6) so I'll first try dumping the iMovie.plist file then another repair.

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Answer 3

makey Author

Level 1

51 points

Jan 31, 2009 7:09 AM in response to makey

It gets worse!! Having done everything suggested, I tried the project out in iDVD and, not only was the sound distorted but the video is all pixellated. Is there anything else I can do? Please help.

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Answer 4

makey Author

Level 1

51 points

Jan 31, 2009 7:53 AM in response to makey

Since my last post several minutes ago I've now played the whole project in iDVD and the strange image effect (which I can now see is a sort of 'streaking' effect) ONLY seems to be where I'm panning from side to side or, in low light levels, when the focusing system is trying to do its work. Scenes without a lot of movement of the camera seem to be O.K. Is this perhaps a clue?

Another thought, might I solve all these problems with the HV30 camcorder if I first import into iMovie 08 then transfer the project over to iMovie HD6?

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Answer 5

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Jan 31, 2009 8:16 AM in response to makey

This could be a camera problem and not an iM6 problem.

In any event, you might want to try taking a short piece of the distorted clip and drag it into a new iMovie project and see what you get. Then drag the iMovie icon (the one with the star on it) into the edge of the main menu window of an iDVD project. Burn from there and see what you get.

Otherwise, I have run out of suggestions. Good luck with this.

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Answer 6

Jan 31, 2009 8:20 AM in response to makey

strange image effect (which I can now see is a sort of 'streaking' effect) ONLY seems to be where I'm panning from side to side

That can occur if you have a PAL camera but created an NTSC project i iDVD or vice versa.

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Answer 7

makey Author

Level 1

51 points

Feb 1, 2009 3:01 AM in response to makey

Thank you both for your quick replies. I'll try your suggestions and hope for the best!

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Answer 8

makey Author

Level 1

51 points

Feb 18, 2009 4:00 AM in response to makey

Makey here again. I had my Canon HV30 replaced under warranty but the Audio problem still exists (distorted voice). So I still have this problem with importing from HV30 to iMovie HD (I've got the latest version (HD 6.0.4). Canon assure me that the HV30 camera is fully compatible with iMove HD6 and I've also tried everything suggested in this forum so far, including running the project in iDVD (latest version 7.0.3) and the distorted sound is there. As it seems a lot of people use this combination so is there something I'm doing wrong? Is it some form of work around I should be using? Please help!

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Answer 9

makey Author

Level 1

51 points

Feb 18, 2009 6:26 AM in response to makey

Makey again and it's a desperate situation now! Since my previous post I decided to actually try burning to DVD then try it out on my TV. The video played back normally BUT - the audio problem is there. Even worse, a lot of the audio is entirely missing. I recorded a bit outside without talking and although there is sound (e.g. birds singing) in the camera and in iMovie HD it's totally silent when the DVD is played. Is it the versions of iMovie HD (6.0.4) or iDVD (7.0.3) that are the problem? Please can someone help me sort this out?

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