What folder is for camera archive?

Hi lubrom,

Sorry to jump in Appleman1958 but thought I would put lubrom back on track 🙂

lubrom - unfortunately you've been clicking on the wrong menu item. File>Import, with options for "Movies, Camera Archive and iMovie HD Project' is for importing into the Events - not for archiving. When you attach a camera, iMovie has an option to "_Archive All_" - this is the item you click on to activate the Archive feature.

The Import from 'Camera Archive" item is used when you wish to import video into an Event from the "Archive" you've previously created.

This Apple Help article (although lengthy) will give you the full details (let Help be your friend):

*Making a backup copy of the contents of your camcorder*
+If you have a camcorder with a hard disk or a memory card, you can make a backup copy, or an archive, of the camera’s contents on your computer or on an external hard disk connected to your computer.+
+Archiving the video on your camcorder can be useful if you want to:+
+Quickly empty the contents of your camcorder so that you can record more video without having to wait for iMovie to process the video.+
+Import the archived video on multiple computers without having to keep it on the camcorder.+
+If your camcorder records HD video, keep a full-resolution copy of your video, and import the video into iMovie anytime you want without having to keep it on your camcorder.+
+Archived video is stored on your hard disk and doesn’t appear in iMovie unless you import it.+

*To archive your camcorder’s video:*
+If you want to save the archive to an external hard disk, connect the external hard disk to your computer.+
+Set the camcorder to PC Connect mode, and then connect it to your computer.+
+The Import window opens.+
+Click Archive All at the bottom of the Import window.+
+In the Save As field, type a name for the archive.+
+Choose where you want to save the archive, and then click Create.+
+Don’t save the archive inside the iMovie Events or iMovie Projects folders. This could make iMovie operate more slowly.+

*To import video from a camera archive into iMovie:*
+Choose File > Import > Camera Archive.+
+Select the archive folder, and then click Import.+
+Follow the instructions for importing video from a camcorder:+
+Importing video from a USB camcorder or camera+

The Archive you create is an exact copy of your camera contents, including the index of all the clips, which iMovie needs for later import. When imported, the clips are converted to Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC), which "uncompresses" the HD clips into a format suitable for editing. The Archive should be compatible with future iMovie updates (but who knows).

The iMovie archive feature should work in the same way as the Disk Image method previously described by Appleman1958. He might be able to offer further advice on this, as I've not used the Disk Image method.

Your camcorder is probably a hard drive model (like mine). Some cameras use SDHC cards for storage in conjunction with the hard drive or as a standalone storage device (just like a digital still camera). SDHC stands for Secure Digital High Capacity - the type of card required for video capture.

Hope all this helps lubrom!

John

For the benefit of other users, the original discussion between Appleman1958 and lubrom can be found here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2338313&tstart=0

John

Thanks John Cogdell.

Yes the disk image method and the archive method store identical information. It is the raw information from the camera. It has 2 advantages. It is the most faithful record of what the camera originally recorded, and it is highly compressed. It takes about 1/10 the space of an editable Event.

The disk image method has the advantage that it is mountable and looks to your Mac like a camera is attached. This was necessary in iMovie 08, because it had no archive feature. In iMovie 09, there is an archive feature so this is not necessary. But in the future, if you ever wanted a disk image, you could make one and drag the archive contents into it.

Will it work into the future? Probably, but who knows? Who would have predicted how quickly miniDV tapes are becoming obsolete at the consumer level?

The SDHC card business is only relevant if you have a SDHC card camera.
If you have a hard drive camera, that is all the more reason to use the archive feature. Disk images of 4GB to 8GB are quite manageable, but you wouldn't want a bunch of 60GB disk images if you didn't have to.

To answer the question in your title, you can name the archive folder anything you want and put it anywhere you want. I usually pick a name that I can tie back to my event name.

Archive does not apply to tapes. Just import them normally. There is no difference between iMovie 6 and iMovie 09 on import. If you see a difference, it occurs when you render the finished movie.