Update on test of iMovie 09 verses FCP

I'm glad you said all this.

What hurts people is Apple has never used iLife as anything more than a good demo for MacWorld. It has never invested in anything more than marketing. It made the change from iMovie 06 to iMovie 08 with nothing more than tutorials which skimmed over everything complicated.

The same for 08 to 09. And, with 8.0.1 Apple sent what folks expected was a bug-fix, but which totally changed the way iM09 works. (I had to do a major re-write of my eBook.) Yet, no communication from Apple. Nothing!

Yet, as a book writer I understand why Apple believes there is no point in writing anything. Far too many people don't read manuals and don't even watch the Apple tutorials. So, there are all these media tools that become more complicated every year, yet neither Apple nor its customers will invest in learning activities.

First, a question. How do you think Z3 looks compared to Z1 and Z2?

Z3 is from iMovie 09 as is Z1. (Z2 is from FCP.) However, I added a few seconds of Black FX at the end of Z1 to create Z3. Adding this one "bad" FX causes iM to downscale all video to 960x540. Which should cause exactly what you all reported -- less clear video.

This is the "cost" Apple wants you to pay if you shoot INTERLACED HD and you want to use all the power of iMovie 09 -- v8.0.1. However, the difference is not huge and for the internet it may not really matter.

Here are some options:

1) Import at LARGE, not FULL. This saves lots of space. You can use all FX and know you can post to the internet without too much quality loss.

2) Import at FULL. For an HQ version, use only "good" FX. For the internet, you can replace the "good" FX with "bad" effects. The obvious issues are:

a) Stabilization is most important for the big screen movies -- but you can't use it. (Which means you need a camcorder with great OIS!)

b) Fancy FX don't compress well and so don't look good on internet video. Yet, this is exactly when you'll be able to use them.

3) Limit yourself to only "good" FX -- which, for many, defeats the reason for iMovie 09.

4) Roll-back to version v8.0.0. Now you can use all FX, but some FX may not look all that great.

5) Shoot 1080p25 or 1080p30. (But, you'll have less smooth motion and you really need to be able to SET the shutter-speed to 1/60th -- which leaves you with Canon camcorders (HDV or AVCHD).

6) Shoot 720p25 or 720p30. The new Digital Still cameras -- except those that shoot AVCHD Lite (Panasonic) and Canon's Motion JPEG. (But, you'll have less smooth motion and you really need to be able to SET the shutter-speed to 1/60th -- which leaves out Sony and Casio.)

7) Shoot 720p50 or 720p60. Panasonic's $1500 GH1 -- not yet available -- is the only one I know of. Panasonic's expensive AVCCAM camcorders likely will not work with iMovie.

8) Convert 1080i to 1080p. You can use Toast to go directly from AVCHD to AIC, but it takes a very long time!!! (That's why I didn't document it in my eBook.)

Bottom-line -- if you want it all, the only camcorder you can use with iMovie 09 is a Canon. And, guess which is the only HD brand Apple sells in its stores?

With DV you can use any FX you want because:

1) either iM discards a field (and line-doubles the other field) so you have progressive video

2) Or, you use the procedure in my book that creates progressive video