The best way to manage home video albums?

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Level 1

141 points

The best way to manage home video albums?

I know its very late that I am asking this question considering I switched to mac more than a year back but I had been busy exploring other areas.

Now with iTunes,iMovie, QuickTime and Front Row all capable of playing videos and to that iPhoto being somehow capable of importing videos from camera but not being able to play it, I have been left royally confused! At preset I manage my home videos in Finder and play them directly in quick time. But I would like to manage them in a better way like iPhoto manages Photos.

Here is the deal...
iPhoto can import videos but can't play them! They appear in front row if they are in iPhoto, but again, can't be played!
iMovie allows Video Events but they dont appear in front row!
iTunes can import my videos but they can be only be tagged either as Movies or TV shows and I cant make them stand out distinctly in the iTunes window.

SO can someone tell me what is the best way to manage home and vacation videos?

Also, I want to get them on my iphone.

I have iLife' 09

Neerav Kothari

Message was edited by: AceNeerav

MacBook5,1, Mac OS X (10.5.7),  rocks!

Posted on Jul 17, 2009 2:17 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 17, 2009 4:54 AM in response to AceNeerav

What format are your videos in?

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Answer 2

AceNeerav Author

Level 1

141 points

Jul 18, 2009 2:50 AM in response to Noiseboy2006

MOV

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Answer 3

Yer_Man

Level 10

162,408 points

Jul 18, 2009 3:07 AM in response to AceNeerav

Some possibilities:

yflicks: http://www.manytricks.com/yflicks/

iDive: http://www.manytricks.com/yflicks/

Regards

TD

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Answer 4

Jul 18, 2009 3:36 AM in response to AceNeerav

I was referring to the codec rather than the file extension. I ask because there if they are in a supported format there is no reason they shouldn't play in Front Row.

If your movies will play in iTunes you could make a smart playlist for your home movies.

Set the Genre to "Home Movies" and use this as the basis for your smart playlist.

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Answer 5

AceNeerav Author

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141 points

Jul 18, 2009 12:30 PM in response to Noiseboy2006

How do I find the codec? The Properties window in quick time shows the 'Format' of the video track as Photo -JPEG.

Neerav Kothari

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Answer 6

AceNeerav Author

Level 1

141 points

Aug 18, 2009 10:50 AM in response to AceNeerav

bump!

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Answer 7

Aug 18, 2009 11:00 AM in response to AceNeerav

HI Ace,

Try this. Right or control click a .mov file and select: Get Info

In the Get Info window click the discovery triangle where you see: Open with

Click the pop up menu and select QuickTime Player. If it's not listed, click Other and navigate to the Applications folder and select QuickTime Player.

Theoretically you should be able to play the .mov files even if you imported then into iPhoto.

At the bottom of the Get Info window click Preview. You can play the video there also.

As for importing video from your Mac to your iPhone, start a new topic in the iPhone forum here.
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=201

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 8

AceNeerav Author

Level 1

141 points

Sep 24, 2009 11:36 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Hi Carolyn,

Sorry for being so late in replying. I totally forgot about this thread,

I imported them in iphoto 09 and when i double clicked they opened with QT just fine. However, they dont play with front row. What format should i convert them into so that they...
1. can be still imported in iphoto
2. can play in front row
3. can be synced with the iphone

thanks

Neerav

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Answer 9

Sep 24, 2009 11:46 PM in response to AceNeerav

Hi Neerav,
Lets start from scratch. What camera recorded these movies and how did you import them onto your mac?
DM

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Answer 10

AceNeerav Author

Level 1

141 points

Sep 25, 2009 12:00 AM in response to David Mclaine

Nikon Cool Pix L6
Imported from memory card into iphoto 08
currently using iphoto 09

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Answer 11

AceNeerav Author

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141 points

Oct 10, 2009 10:43 AM in response to AceNeerav

I think its something to do with the encoding used by my stupid camera. I better get a canon. anyway, what i do now is export the videos for iphone using QT X in Snow Leopard and then import them into the respective iphoto events. For now, that does it.

Neerav

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Answer 12

Oct 11, 2009 9:48 AM in response to AceNeerav

iMovie 9, which you have, has a video library simular to iPhoto. Import your movies into iMovie. From there you can edit and/or export directly to iDVD, iTunes, iPhone or AppleTV.

iMovie is a very simple and complex program. imported movies stay in the library in their orginal content for use in multiple edited projects. I was throughly lost when I first moved from iMovie HD to iMovie 9 then I found MacProVideo and bought their iMove 9 tutorial ($30). This 6.5 hour tutorial goes into great detail of every element of iMovie. I suppose that I would have eventually learned/discovered the functions over time but it cut the learning curve to 6.5 hours. I highly recomend it. Disclamer: I have no interest in this company except as a satisfied cutomer.

http://www.macprovideo.com/

Hope this helps
Mike

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Answer 13

AceNeerav Author

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141 points

Oct 11, 2009 10:39 AM in response to Mike Riordan

Hi Mike,

Thanks for sharing your experience. Honestly, I don't want to edit any videos. I believe in keeping the clips intact to recall the exact experience I had while recording them. Besides, they are home videos, so who cares.

But I would definitely think about the tutorial if I plan to get into deeper aspects of iMovie.

Neerav

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Answer 14

Oct 11, 2009 12:38 PM in response to AceNeerav

Actually, that's what iMovie does. iMovie has two basic elements: library and projects.

The library contains the intact original videos which can be arranged pretty much like the iPhoto and iTunes libraries. The videos in the library cannot be edited. In order to edit you must move a copy of your video into your project pane. The original remains in the library unchanged.

in order to what you want regarding the iPhone, you would move the video to a project and publish it to iTune with an iPhone format. It would appear in iTunes under movies and you just would sync to your iPhone. It takes longer to tell you about than it takes to do it.

As far as editing goes, I understand what you want. You could, however, combine several videos together into one movie for viewing on your iPhone.

Mike

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Answer 15

AceNeerav Author

Level 1

141 points

Oct 11, 2009 7:38 PM in response to Mike Riordan

What I did was exported the videos to iphone format using snow leopards export movies automator action and then imported them into my iphone event. now when i sync my iphone, they appear in my photos library and even play.

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