Video Always Pixelated???

I have similar issues. iMovie is a great program, but I cannot use it if the video output is so bad. Using Premiere allows me direct AVCHD editing and exporting with no quality issues. Of course it costs much more...

in fact, the quality of imports does not change, this can be seen looking in the QT video from a folder's iMovie. But the problem occurs while working in iMovie - then there is a lot of artifacts and they are saved when exporting, it does not matter what format you are exporting.

Are you seeing the video quality issue while editing the clips in iMovie or only after you have exported your project?

I have a Panasonic HMC-40. Now truth be told I never shoot in 1080p as I have found most people can't tell the difference from 720p anyway. It is like a 160kbps MP3's vs. and uncompressed AIFF file some can tell most can't or don't care. To add the addtional cost of editing, storing, and uploading the footage just does not seem worth it *to me*. But yes it should still work right in iMovie if it is "supported".

Anyway... I shot a shot video at 1080p30 and don't see "pixelation" I did notice if I used the video stabilizer it looked "not as good". The focus was not locked so blame the cameraman 😟

Sample:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVXGlA_ZMuU
(Don't forget to jack it up to 1080p on Youtube)

-- Dan
Keeper of TheUnofficialiMovieFAQ.com

Wow my timecode is way off HTH did that happen??? Let me look on camera.... Nope it is right "on time". Odd.

Timecode is dead on in FC so must be an iMovie bug 😟

A couple things about your camera too.

It does not really shoot 30P

In addition to the standard interlaced video frame rate of 60i, you may choose to set the VIXIA HF11 to capture video in 30p (30 progressive frames, *recorded at 60i* )

If you are shooting at full resolution you need a good memory card

Note: 1920 x 1080 movie recording requires a Class 4 or higher memory card. For other recording formats, a Class 2 or higher card is recommended. Also, movie recording requires cards with 128 MB of memory or more. Cards made by Toshiba, SanDisk or Matsushita are recommended. No particular restrictions apply for still images.

Taken from http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/support/consumer/camcorders/highdefinition_camcorders/vixiahf11#Features

Given the first truth, iMovie is jamming the even and odd frames together causing your problem.

You will have to either:

a. Shoot in interlaced format
b. Convert it to TRUE progressive using something like MPEG streamclip http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html

@petvas
Hi, I'm planning to use Imovie11 when the quality of the output doesn't matter too much, i.e. posting short movies on my mobile me account. I will then import at large, and the quality will be OK with my 1080i camera.

When I need to burn a movie on BRD, I need a program with better output quality. Are you saying that the output quality of Premiere is far superb compared to Imovie 11. If it is I will order it online today : - )

Yes, Adobe Premiere has much better output than iMovie, but is isn't fair to compare the two. Premiere is a professional application and costs a lot of money. iMovie is for home users that want to create good looking videos. Premiere has a steeper learning curve and can only be compared to Final Cut Pro.

I´m sorry I thought You meant premiere elements 9. Premiere, which you mean,
is the "pro version", and that is overkill for me (and too expensive as well). I have read that premiere elements 9 is sort of in the middle of Imovie and final cut express.

I already have final cut express, I like it, but I don´t like the way media is organized. One of the things I love about Imovie is that it is so easy to find the video you like to use in a project. But then again I don´t like the output quality.

That´s why I thought Premiere elements, could be useful when I need good quality output.

I dont know how Premiere Elements work, or if its output quality is any good. I could imagine that it has the exact same quality as Premiere Pro, but I don't know that.

Hi to all.... I love imovie too it has great little themes and trailors e.t.c... However it has what I have learned through these discussions a major floor... It discards every second line therefore a result of loss of quality. On top of that dvds are pants anyway.....

I was using adobe prem ele 7 on pc for the last two years or so and in fairness to it the end picture quality was very good ( for dvd ).....

Imovie is not the best for making dvds .... FCE/PRO are the ones........

I am currently downloading a FREE 30 day trial of Adobe Premier Elements 9 so I reckon thats what you do.... Check it out

Tim aka memories

Is this still the case in 11 if you work with full size HD and not large, also known as half definition?