Is "single field processing" fixed?

Question

Level 1

26 points

Is "single field processing" fixed?

There are numerous threads in the iMovie '09 forum about the "single field processing" problem that causes loss of quality when exporting.

When someone gets their hands on the new version, could you please let us know if this is still a problem?

I'm seeing colour desaturation when exporting content imported from a .avi file in the old version that is not a problem in iMovie HD.

Thanks.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 4 GB RAM

Posted on Oct 21, 2010 8:51 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 21, 2010 9:36 AM in response to Tom Sheppard

Hi

As I understands it. NO !

I really wanted it to be.

Only alt still
• iMovie up to HD6
• FinalCut - any version

Yours Bengt W

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Answer 2

Oct 21, 2010 10:26 AM in response to Tom Sheppard

Tom Sheppard wrote:
Is "single field processing" fixed?

as first hands-on reports tell: NO!

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Answer 3

Tom Sheppard Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 21, 2010 11:01 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Well, maintaining quality is not a priority anyway, right?

At least we have the ability to make movie trailers. Funny, I can't seem to find any thread in the iMovie '09 forum with people clamoring for that feature.

Deliberately downgrading quality seems to be a thinly veiled attempt to force us into paying $200 for Final Cut Express.

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Answer 4

Oct 21, 2010 11:46 AM in response to Tom Sheppard

Tom Sheppard wrote:
Well, maintaining quality is not a priority anyway, right?

when using 720p, quality is superb. and superior compared to 1080i.
1080i gets de-interlaced on any display (TV, Computer) anyhow and loses vertical res by half..-
http://sites.google.com/site/karstenschluter/i-or-p-this-is-the-question

so, iM's own 960x540 (p) isn't bad either .. 😉

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Answer 5

Ziatron

Level 5

4,186 points

Oct 21, 2010 8:45 PM in response to Tom Sheppard

Deliberately downgrading quality seems to be a thinly veiled attempt to force us into paying $200 for Final Cut Express.

I use iMovie 06 with iDVD 09 when I need full quality.

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Answer 6

Oct 21, 2010 9:03 PM in response to Tom Sheppard

I am getting really good results when rendering 1080i events as 1080P.

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Answer 7

Oct 22, 2010 3:55 AM in response to AppleMan1958

Thanks AppleMan. Could you expand on that please. Are you using that new 1080p preset? Sorry, but I don't have the new version yet (it arrives Monday), but thought I noticed either in the Keynote or elsewhere that there was a preset for 1080. I'm assuming that you don't have to use "Export using QuickTime" to achieve a 1080p output, but would just like to get confirmation. Thanks.

John

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Answer 8

Oct 22, 2010 5:12 AM in response to John Cogdell

I am using the preset.

In iMovie 09, if you rendered in the 960x540 preset, and then rendered a 1280x720 preset, it happened instantly, and was the same size. It looked suspiciously like it was doing a simple upscale of the 540P, perhaps through an anamorphic flag.

With iMovie 11, I get a distinct render of the 720P that is much larger than the 540p. When I use the 1080P preset, I get a file that is almost 4x larger than the 540P version, and looks great, not simply upscaled.

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Answer 9

Oct 22, 2010 5:25 AM in response to AppleMan1958

Great! Thanks for that information. I'm looking forward to doing some tests of my own. I will have to try importing to an Event at 1920 x 1080 (from my Archived AVCHD clips), as all my imports are at the Large setting (960 x 540). Then I'll be able to compare the difference between exporting at various settings, as you've done. Thanks again!

John

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Answer 10

Tom Sheppard Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 22, 2010 6:22 AM in response to Ziatron

Ziatron wrote:
I use iMovie 06 with iDVD 09 when I need full quality.

I'm using that now. But I fear the clock is ticking. Will it continue to work in OS 10.7?

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Answer 11

Tom Sheppard Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 22, 2010 6:28 AM in response to AppleMan1958

AppleMan1958 wrote:
I am getting really good results when rendering 1080i events as 1080P.

I'm using 640x480 video from an imported .avi file that, as far as I can tell, is not interlaced (no interlacing visible during motion). Yet exporting in '09 totally ruins the quality with all the colours desaturated by what looks to be 50%. Maybe there's a magic export setting — I haven't found it.

I don't want to export to 1080p and blow the file size up as I'm trying to share the video clips with distant relatives over the Internet.

To me, the whole reason for using a consumer video editing product is so I don't have to sweat the details about codecs and settings. It's not to much to ask to be able to import, edit, export without loss of quality (that's a statement, not a question).

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Answer 12

Oct 22, 2010 7:26 AM in response to AppleMan1958

Appleman,

so what i think i hear you saying is that I can import my 1080i material and export at 1080p and it looks good? vs what happened during imovie9 single field drop? I was kinda wondering why they put in a preset export as 1080p if it can't consumer 1080p. yes no?

Sheryl

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Answer 13

Oct 22, 2010 7:36 AM in response to John Cogdell

john

can you stay in touch with your tests.

tx

sheryl

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Answer 14

Oct 22, 2010 12:58 PM in response to Sheryl Kingstone

Yes. This is what I am saying. My camcorder shoots 1080i, and I am getting good results - better than exporting through QuickTime with iMovie 09.
In iMovie 09, I was already getting great results with 1080P source material.

I know you and Karsten have some rigorous tests, so that would be interesting as well. I will post some to YouTube, since this whole issue is an eye of the beholder type thing.

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Answer 15

Oct 22, 2010 1:02 PM in response to Tom Sheppard

I don't do much DVD. I did do a test of DV yesterday that used export to QuickTime and deinterlaced the footage during the render, but I am not ready to declare victory yet. It looked good on the puter, but not necessarily on a DVD.

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