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Level 1

8 points

HD footage jerky in timeline on iMovie

Ok. This is driving me mad. I have a MacBook Pro (Catalina 10.14.7). I have successfully used iMovie to edit HD footage from my Sony HDR XR160 Handycam for some time.

However, the last couple of times I found that I couldn't edit HD because in that form it was jerking on the timeline. This made fine editing impossible. Then I found that if I shot using STD image quality it would go smoothly on the timeline.

I have read up on this and much of the advice concerns clearing the storage and memory on the computer. I have therefore now removed all video material, including everything in iMovie Libraries, to an external hard drive. I naively believed it would all go back to normal and I could edit in HD again.

No luck, I'm afraid.

Is this something that I can fix without having to buy a whole new laptop (I've had this one for 8 years). I have something coming up which I'd really prefer to shoot in HD as the STD just doesn't quite cut it visually.

I would appreciate any advice on this. Please help!!

Posted on Sep 27, 2021 5:20 AM

Best reply

Rich839

Level 8

47,268 points

Posted on Sep 27, 2021 9:04 AM

If you haven't already done so, update your iMovie app to the most current version that Catalina will run. Restart your computer. Try copying your footage into a newly created project.

If the issue persists, try deleting preferences. To delete preferences open iMovie while holding down the Option and Command

keys and select 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. Deleting preferences is a safe procedure that will not cause data loss or disruption to your project.

Possible other causes could be insufficient free space on your internal drive to allow iMovie to function efficiently (free up some space), or other processor intensive applications running at the same time (close down the other apps), or playing a 30fps video in a 60fps project (reset your project to 30fps).

-- Rich

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3 replies

Best reply

Rich839

Level 8

47,268 points

Sep 27, 2021 9:04 AM in response to madcary

If you haven't already done so, update your iMovie app to the most current version that Catalina will run. Restart your computer. Try copying your footage into a newly created project.

If the issue persists, try deleting preferences. To delete preferences open iMovie while holding down the Option and Command

-- Rich

madcary Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 27, 2021 12:19 PM in response to Rich839

Hi Rich. Thanks for your prompt response. I had already tried the options you suggested in paras 1 and 2 and there was no change. However, and I'm not quite believing my luck here, I looked into your final suggestion regarding the fps issue. I found on my Sony Camcorder that the only options for this were given as 50i (which I normally shoot in) or 50p. I switched to 50p and was still allowed to set it to HD quality! I then shot some test material in this mode and when I put it into iMovie I found it ran smoothly on the timeline for editing!! No more jerky picture!

I don't actually know what the difference is between 50i and 50p, but it appears that my MacBook and iMovie are quite happy with it. Thank you so much for pointing me in this direction.

All the best,

Madcary

Rich839

Level 8

47,268 points

Sep 27, 2021 12:21 PM in response to madcary

You are very welcome. 😋 Glad you got it working.

-- Rich

HD footage jerky in timeline on iMovie