What kind of MPEG-2 does iMovie support?

abrotherus01 wrote:
.. What kind of MPEG-2 does iMovie support?

none.
and: no codec nor format is supported.

😉

iM is meant for camcorders. list of tested devices:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3290?viewlocale=en_US

this does NOT mean, mp2 is supported, although mp2-corders are on that list. the internal workflow of handling such formats makes it necessary , that the stream comes via that way/camcorder.

so, a few formats are in a .. ehm, format, which iM can handle without conversions, basicly dv-stream, mpeg4, h264, appleintermediate, m-jpeg, .. any format, which has video+audio not separately or contains additional tracks (e.g. text tracks, chapters etc) is not accepted as 'file'.

I definitely wouldn't answer "None" as Karsten did...

When you buy a Mac and open iMovie '09 for the very first time, you are shown a message telling you iMovie '09 now supports MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. After reading this message, the question no longer is "Does iMovie '09 support MPEG?" but rather "How can I take advantage of this feature?"

I'm struggling with this, as the OP is. My consumer JVC Everio records video as MPEG which I simply copy/paste from my camera to my Mac's hard drive. I open iMovie '09, see the message about being able to use MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, click File | Import | Movies, browse to the folder containing my *.MPG files, click Import... iMovie shows me a message saying the folder has no importable files.

The iMovie '09 Help article titled "If iMovie doesn't recognize your camcorder" clearly says "If you’re importing video from a camera or other flash memory device, make sure the file format of your video is compatible with iMovie: MPEG-2 or MPEG-4."

However, the iMovie '09 Help article titled "Importing video from movie files" states "You can import some kinds of video directly into iMovie from most discs or hard disks, including video from MPEG-4 or DV file formats, and from some .mov file formats."

My "camera or other flash memory device" (JVC Everio) uses MPEG-2 format, which the first article says is compatible with iMovie. However, I am also "Importing video from movie files" and that article says MPEG-4 but doesn't mention MPEG-2.

The help articles don't mention anything about needing to purchase the MPEG-2 plug-in for QuickTime. The articles say the files should just work with iMovie '09. Is anyone out there actually using MPEG files with iMovie '09? I am lost. According to the iMovie '09 Help documentation, this should just work.

Avai:

I am experiencing the same issue with mpeg-2 files that I copy to the mac. iMovie does not recognize them. However - when I connect my JVC everio camcorder directly to my imac and open imovie, click the camera icon (for import) it recognizes the camera and nicely reads in the videos into iMovie '09.

I'm stuck figuring out how to get my videos that I have already moved from my camcorder to my pc over to my mac.

Avai wrote:
I definitely wouldn't answer "None" as Karsten did...

When you buy a Mac and open iMovie '09 for the very first time, you are shown a message telling you iMovie '09 now supports MPEG-2 and MPEG-4. After reading this message, the question no longer is "Does iMovie '09 support MPEG?" but rather "How can I take advantage of this feature?"

I'm struggling with this, as the OP is. My consumer JVC Everio records video as MPEG which I simply copy/paste from my camera to my Mac's hard drive. I open iMovie '09, see the message about being able to use MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, click File | Import | Movies, browse to the folder containing my *.MPG files, click Import... iMovie shows me a message saying the folder has no importable files.

The iMovie '09 Help article titled "If iMovie doesn't recognize your camcorder" clearly says "If you’re importing video from a camera or other flash memory device, make sure the file format of your video is compatible with iMovie: MPEG-2 or MPEG-4."

However, the iMovie '09 Help article titled "Importing video from movie files" states "You can import some kinds of video directly into iMovie from most discs or hard disks, including video from MPEG-4 or DV file formats, and from some .mov file formats."

My "camera or other flash memory device" (JVC Everio) uses MPEG-2 format, which the first article says is compatible with iMovie. However, I am also "Importing video from movie files" and that article says MPEG-4 but doesn't mention MPEG-2.

The help articles don't mention anything about needing to purchase the MPEG-2 plug-in for QuickTime. The articles say the files should just work with iMovie '09. Is anyone out there actually using MPEG files with iMovie '09? I am lost. According to the iMovie '09 Help documentation, this should just work.

You've now figured out that iMovie will only import directly from your camera.
But there is a way to "trick" iMovie into thinking a camera has been detected and all you need is a sheet of paper, pencil and some patience.
What you want to do is carefully examine the folder structure of your current camera when it is connected to your Mac. Make a list of the folder names as you open them (cAsE sensitive names) and drill down until you find the .MOD (I think that is what JVC uses) file. This is your MPEG-2 file.
Recreate this folder structure (nested folders) with the proper names and place your blah.MOD in the proper place. Better to work with a "copy" (rename it after you move it). Leave the other folders empty. All of this is done in your User Account and on your "Desktop".
Got it all done? Double check the folder names.
Open Disk Utility.
File menu / New / Disk Image from Folder
Navigate to the new Desktop folder and wait for Disk Utility to do its work.
Launch iMovie and keep your fingers crossed.

QuickTimeKirk -

In my case, it turned out "fooling" iMovie into thinking my memory stick was a camera was to create a folder named "DCIM". At that point, I could copy an old MPEG-2 I had created with video capture hardware to the memory stick (Sony Pro Duo) and instantly import into iMovie. The same .mpg file sitting on my desktop was not recognized at all!

I'm trying to get some old captured video tapes into iMovie. Looks like I can launder the clips through my memory stick - ridiculous!!

I've just had another discovery - the "DCIM" trick works for external hard drives, as well. With the caveat that iMovie only seems to find some of the files and not others... not sure why at this point.
Thought maybe it was related to file names, but that doesn't appear to be the case... maybe different flavors of mpeg-2 in the different files?

Well, gotta go! Thanks QuickTimeKirk - you're my hero!

QuickTimeKirk, you are a genius! I am now able to import all my MPEG files into iMovie by creating Disk Images from Folders. Thank you so much!

Holy crap!!!! You're a genius!!! I have been going absolutely crazy for the last couple of days trying to get the best conversion for mpeg-2 to something iMovie will use (not dv since I don't want to fill up my entire hard drive with 40 movie clips) and then I came across this discussion!

It worked great! I created a DCIM folder on a 4GB flash drive and was able to import a 1.75GB MPEG-2 in about 6 minutes!

THANK YOU!

What kind of MPEG-2 does iMovie support?

FourCC: m2v1 (MPEG-2 SD) but if, and only if, 1) the MPEG-2 elementary track is all I-frame (i.e., editable at the frame level), 2) the elementary audio track is QT edit compatible, and 3) these tracks are wrapped in a QT compatible file container (usually MOV). Unfortunately, the best way to create such a file is using the special "Camcorder Import" component which is built into iMovie '08/'09 which means you either have to import the content directly from a camcorder or trick the import routine into thinking it is importing the content from a camcorder.

Jon Walker in the house! Welcome back.

Welcome back.

Hi again, AppleMan. I see you've kept very busy. Just making a quick visit while awaiting release of the iPad. (Anxious to combine reading and movie viewing on a larger screen device and am already compiling content for testing.) Take care...

Hi all, I was hoping that QuickTimeKirk's solution was the answer to my problems but it didn't work for me. I tried it with some .MOD files from my camcorder SD card and Disk Utility got hung up, iMovie hung and the Mac wouldn't switch off!

Of course there is no problem if you have the camcorder, iMovie recognises it straightaway and imports nicely. I only copied my SD card contents to the Mac to back them up but it is a waste of time if you can do nothing with them. My camera does not support rewriting the files back to itself either.

My main problem is this: I have been given an SD card with some video files on it in the .ASF format and promised the owner I will do a basic edit and put them onto a DVD for her. I could probably do this if I had the camcorder they were produced on but they were from her daughter who lives in New Zealand! So no chance of getting the camera at all.

Any suggestions on how to fulfil my promise would be greatly appreciated!

This looks like a very helpful forum, thanks all of you.

..........videonumpty

QuickTimeKirk

Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you

I have spent days trying to import clips into iMovie, your suggestion worked. You could not image how happy I am right now.

Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you

Tez

Aussietez is very happy! But I am still having problems with this. In Disc Utility, when you browse to and select the folder you have created and clik on Image, you have a choice of Save As and Where. There is also a choice of Image Format (5 settings) and a choice of Encryption. Do you leave these on the default settings or do they to be altered? Is my problem because I am using iMovie 08? Perhaps QuickTimeKirk could give some more detail of the process. It would be much appreciated.
........videonumpty

Dear QuickTimeKirk,

i've try your solution, but Imovie and FCE HD still not recognize the image i created....
in Disk Utility, create a new image from folder, choose the folder on the desktop, and then? which kind of image i should choose? Compress, read/write, master cd/dvd.......... ???

Thanks for your help

Marco

Hi,
I found the same solution in another forum, when trying to import from a DVD of video footage.
As I said in my own post, this seems to work with my 1h45m file, but after import, the file is only the first 4 minutes of the footage.
Does QuicktimeKirk have any cunning plan for this variation?
By the way, it's good to know that the image technique works for copied footage. I didn't realise that I can only officially import from an attached camera. I should imagine if Apple doesn't fix this shortcoming, somebody would have written a plugin or app to do the trick any day now.

Thanks for any help.

Brian