Black picture when importing .mp4 into iMovie

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Level 1

8 points

Black picture when importing .mp4 into iMovie

Hello, I never had such issue with iMovie before.

This time, I am trying to import mp4 video clips that were taken with a professional camera (I don't have the reference of the camera) into iMovie 10.1 to edit them.

When I drag these clips into the iMovie timeline, the image appears all black (except for 0.5s of video at the beginning of the clip) while the sound is playing.

I am using iMovie 10.1 on OS X El Capitan 10.11.3.

My MacBook Pro has 16go of RAM and 3,1 GHz Intel Core i7.

These clips are showing and playing fine when I open them with QuickTime.

When I run the video inspector on QuickTime on one of the clips, it shows :

Format : AVC Coding, 3840x2160 PCM linear, 16 bit, 2 channels, 48000Hz

IPS : 24,81

Size: 197,1 Mo

Debit: 98,78 Mbit/s

Current size: 1280x720

Please advice on how to solve this problem, as this is quite annoying.

Matt

MacBook

Posted on Oct 17, 2019 1:55 AM

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Answer 1

Rich839

Level 8

48,168 points

Oct 17, 2019 7:42 AM in response to korama31

Not all Mp4 videos are compatible with iMovie. iMovie likes Mp4/AAC. The AAC stands for Advanced Audio Coding. Your format is AVC. You can use a video encoder like the free download, Handbrake, to convert the video to Mp4/AAC that Handbrake will do by default. You can get Handbrake here:

https://handbrake.fr/

Your video is 4K. iMovie 10.1 can play and edit 4K. 4K video editing requires a Mac from 2011 or later with at least 4GB of RAM. You didn't mention the year of your MacBook Pro but it otherwise has sufficient specs for 4K.

You can try opening iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and selecting to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Now see if the black screen is gone.

If nothing else works you can try exporting your video clips out of QuickTimePlayer at a lower resolution and then import them into iMovie. That might solve it.

-- Rich

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Answer 2

korama31 Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 17, 2019 8:15 PM in response to Rich839

Dear Rich,

Thanks for your assistance.

My MacBook Pro is from 2015.

First of all I have deleted iMovie preferences as you advised.

Then I have downloaded Handbrake, converted the video into the MP4/AAC format. Below are the results from the video inspector on the new file :

Format: H.264, 1920x1080 AAC, 48000 Hz, Stereo

IPS: 25

Size: 2,7Mo

Debit: 1,33 Mbit/s

Current size: 1280x720

When I import this new file into iMovie, the problem is still here. I attach below screenshots of Handbrake preferences chosen :

Therefore I have tried also to open the file with Quicktime and export it in lower resolution (720p). When opening the original file (AVC Codec), Quicktime shows an error message right after starting the export : "The operation can not be done. An unknown mistake happened" (I translated this from the French message I got, as my computer is set in French).

When opening the newly created file (from Handbrake) in AAC Codec, the export in lower resolution (720p) works, but then the image color appears pink, as shown below (first screenshot is the original AAC file, second is after export from Quicktime) :

At that point, although not ideal, I would be ready to use the "export from Quicktime at lower resolution" solution, if the color stays the same.

Please advise.

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Answer 3

Rich839

Level 8

48,168 points

Oct 18, 2019 12:06 AM in response to korama31

It looks like you are doing everything right. I don’t know why you are not getting the result you want, although at least it is not a black screen. Perhaps you can use the color adjustment feature in iMovie to eliminate the pink hue.

— Rich

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Black picture when importing .mp4 into iMovie

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