How do I export to DV "Full Quality" in iMovie 2009?

Question

How do I export to DV "Full Quality" in iMovie 2009?

The old iMovie used to have a full quality export that would produce a .dv file.

Newer versions of iMovie have a "DV Stream" option, with settings (Progressive, Interlaced, Audio rate, etc.)

I want an absolute, full quality archive of my iMovie project, as sharp and perfect as I see it in iMovie. None of the DV Stream options seem to produce that. The titles look jagged, for one thing.

I want to export my iMovie project so that if I need to re-import it later into iMovie, no quality is lost. I don't care how big the files are, I want FULL QUALITY.

iMac, 2.93 Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.5.8), iMovie 8.0.4

Posted on Oct 7, 2009 4:39 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Oct 7, 2009 5:03 AM in response to Douglas Beagley

Have you tried exporting as AIC?

Reply

Answer 2

Ziatron

Level 5

4,186 points

Oct 7, 2009 9:32 AM in response to Douglas Beagley

I don't care how big the files are, I want FULL QUALITY.

Can't do this with iMovie 09.

You can have "FULL QUALITY" with iMovie 06 or Final Cut Express.

iMovie 09 uses 'single field processing' meaning every other horizontal line of the video is thrown out, which reduces the sharpness of the footage.

I like to use iMovie 09 occasionally for quick short videos, but for longer projects or where I want to make a DVD (with Full Quality), I use iMovie 06 with iDVD 09.

iMovie 06 uses ALL of the image to form the video.

Reply

Answer 3

Oct 7, 2009 11:27 AM in response to Sheryl Kingstone

AIC: no, what's that?

Reply

Answer 4

Oct 7, 2009 11:32 AM in response to Ziatron

Ziatron:

...huh.

Seriously?

That's... I'm just stunned.

So. What AM I getting when I select a DV Stream export in iMovie 09? Some compression algorithm that I have no control over? Do the meager options (progressive, interlaced) do anything interesting?

I do not have time to re-import all my clips and refit this together using iMovie 06, so I've got to do the best I can with iMovie 09 and prepare a DV file for a local television studio.

Any recommendations?

Is purchasing Final Cut Express worth it?

I've heard FC can open iMovie projects as-is, which would at least be one saving grace.

Reply

Answer 5

alangsam

Level 1

23 points

Oct 7, 2009 12:01 PM in response to Douglas Beagley

My personal opinion is that if you need this capability you should be using Final Cut. its a production quality tool to solve production quality problems. imovie 09 is a great tool for the home user and ease of use was the design point vs supporting all of the formats. Again just my opinion.

Reply

Answer 6

Oct 7, 2009 2:35 PM in response to alangsam

Thank you for your thoughts.

In the meantime, I need to get a video out of iMovie '09 at the best possible quality.

Any tips?

Thanks,
d

Reply

Answer 7

alangsam

Level 1

23 points

Oct 7, 2009 2:43 PM in response to Douglas Beagley

960x540 is as good as it gets

Reply

Answer 8

J M H

Level 1

9 points

Oct 7, 2009 3:26 PM in response to alangsam

I don't think that's true. For movies where the source video is in HD, iMovie gives me a 1280 x 720 HD option.

Reply

Answer 9

Oct 7, 2009 4:12 PM in response to Douglas Beagley

ziatron is right, imovie is very harsh on material for exports. If you use HD material and stay away from any effects that scale the footage, then you can export the project using AIC in Quicktime. AIC is the codec that imovie uses as an intermediate codec for editing. You can store the raw footage that way. If you use any scalable FX, then the footage immediately drops in resolution to 540 vs 1080.

Its very harsh on DV material on export also. The best way is too just save the raw footage in the event for future use. Final Cut Express is an option.

Reply

Answer 10

Oct 7, 2009 7:03 PM in response to alangsam

Thank you for the resolution advice.

I am more concerned with compression codec and the myriad of different formats and settings available for each pattern when "export using Quicktime" is chosen. There's probably a billion different options, and I don't know which ones will give me maximum quality.

Anyone with a knowledge of those formats have advice?

BTW: my movie is standard definition.

Reply

Answer 11

Ziatron

Level 5

4,186 points

Oct 7, 2009 7:35 PM in response to Douglas Beagley

Any recommendations?

iMovie 06, you can buy iLife 06 on Amazon and ebay.

(iMovie 06 is very easy to use) iMovie 06 and iDVD 09 is a "lossless" combination.

Is purchasing Final Cut Express worth it?

Maybe, harder to use. It does way more than I need.

Reply

Answer 12

Oct 8, 2009 4:26 AM in response to Ziatron

I'm probably asking this wrong, I'll try again:

I have several movies created in iMovie 09. I need to share them with other people, for their own editing (at a television studio, or possibly in iMovie or FC or something else). I can not give them all the source files for re-importing and editing, and would like to preserve all the editing/effects/etc. work done in iMovie 09.

Therefore, I am looking for a way to export the best possible quality from iMovie 09. Having iLife 06 at this point would not help, as I still need to know how to export best quality out of iMovie 09, and their are hundreds of possible export settings.

Any recommendations?

Reply

Answer 13

Oct 8, 2009 7:29 AM in response to Douglas Beagley

Honestly, imovie9 completely limits you to less than an ideal situation, especially for DV.

If you are importing Raw DV files that have not be preprocessed yet to a single field/progressive, then imovie will drop a field on export using all export settings except potentially AIC. (I know scream....we've all been there). The best chance you have to maintain best quality is using AIC...apple intermediate codec. However, this only works if they are using MAC's. If they are using imovie9, you can also use consolidate media function to consolidate the project. This function is used when you need to move a full copy of the project to another computer using imovie9. BEST OPTION IF BOTH ARE USING IMOVIE. Then put it on an external drive.

another option would be doing quick edits and cross dissolves in imovie 9, then doing an XML transfer within imovie9 to Final Cut Express. Then you can do more editing in FCE (complex package) and export the full project from there for other people to use. You can't do anything more than edits, pic placements and cross dissolves. Music, titles and other FX will get stripped out on export using XML.

Reply

Answer 14

Oct 8, 2009 9:02 AM in response to Sheryl Kingstone

Thanks for breaking this down for me, Sheryl, and thanks to everyone who took time to read my quest and fire off suggestions.

I will look for the AIC export option and try to select the maximum quality settings available for it, and then hand that resulting file to my producer.

I have an old Mac with iMovie HD on it, so I will also try importing the AIC export into that and the exporting to DV, as that DV seems like it would be better quality than the DV coming out of iMovie 09. (I seem to remember doing DV exports back in 2006 and being quite happy with the results, which is why this process has been so confusing for me now.) If the producer NEEDS a DV file, I reckon that's the best I can give them right now.

The consolidate project option sounds VERY COOL. I had no idea that was possible! For working between Mac users, that might be just the ticket I need. That also sounds useful when trying to throw away all the extra, unused footage and just keep the parts of the footage that I actually ended up using, but may want to tweak titles and effects later.

Long term, it sounds like I am going to have to transition to FCE or FCP. I will go surf the Web for reviews and impressions of it. I'd be happy to hear more about people's opinions. Investing time, energy and money into a new tool does not appeal to me, but I am definitely going to need full quality DV exports sometimes (anytime we want to get our PSA on the local television channel, for one).

I guess iMovie is still useful for my mini-YouTube fun time projects, (my latest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9TrAZ4yCDQ), but it is a shame that it can't produce something in which the future-proofing is limited only by source quality, not the software's output quality.

(I don't mind limitations based on source quality, them's the breaks! But potentially losing source quality forever because of shackled software is... GAH unforgivable.)

-D

Reply

Answer 15

Oct 8, 2009 9:11 AM in response to Douglas Beagley

Amswer: iMovie 09 is incapable of producing full quality (or original-source-quality) output. The program is shackled in order to encourage the purchase of Final Cut Express or another product.

The best possible iMovie export appears to be a .mov file using the AIC codec. (So far as any respondent knew)

The "DV Stream" video file format, which was full quality from iMovie HD/6, is actually crippled coming out of iMovie 09 and should probably be avoided.

If you require a DV file of top quality, one option for iMovie users is to export using the AIC encoding, reimport into iMovie HD on an old Macintosh, and then export to Full Quality (a DV file).

If you are worried about maintaining source quality control moving forward, you may want not want to use iMovie 09 as your editing tool.

Reply