Best workflow for using iMovie as a long term home video storage
I want to store all my home videos in iMovie since it's organizes them well and integrates with Front Row and iLife.
As we know iMovie converts videos to AIC codec when importing which makes them insanely large. AIC is quick and good for editing but it makes no sense to store videos like that.
On the other hand H.264 codec is good for storing and playing videos. iMovie can work with H.264 .mov but it makes editing just a little slower.
I suggest the following workflow:
- Import videos from a camcorder.
- Edit imported videos - remove junk, trim, etc.
- Make iMovie project to produce nice movie for family (if needed).
- Batch convert imported videos to H.264.
This will make iMovie library up to 80% smaller in size. And videos will still be available for playing and editing in iLife.
Can you suggest a better workflow?
As we know iMovie converts videos to AIC codec when importing which makes them insanely large. AIC is quick and good for editing but it makes no sense to store videos like that.
On the other hand H.264 codec is good for storing and playing videos. iMovie can work with H.264 .mov but it makes editing just a little slower.
I suggest the following workflow:
- Import videos from a camcorder.
- Edit imported videos - remove junk, trim, etc.
- Make iMovie project to produce nice movie for family (if needed).
- Batch convert imported videos to H.264.
This will make iMovie library up to 80% smaller in size. And videos will still be available for playing and editing in iLife.
Can you suggest a better workflow?
iMac Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz 4Gb, Mac OS X (10.5.8)
