Huge quality loss in iMove '11

You have 2 ways to approach this.

Try capturing the DV footage using Vidi and save it as a DV stream file. This will bypass iMovie 11's single field processing with interlaced footage. Then use Quicktime X to re-encode it to 480p H.264 format. When you import it back into iMovie 11, the quality should be better than direct capture using iMovie 11.
This is if you wish to use all of the iMovie 11's trailers, chroma key and audio editing features.

There will be a noticeable degradation when finalizing an iMovie 11 project. You notice it more with interlaced SD(DV footage) and lesser with better quality and well exposed HD footage.

OR

Use iMovie 6HD and loose the iMovie 11 goodies.

There is a 3rd way, but it is too complicated to approach it and not worth your while especially if you're not making any money off it when you can just use iMovie 6HD instead.

Basically it sounds to me like iMovie is not worth our time if it degrades the image quality of any video. If anything it should increase the image quality. My video imports through iMovie 11 look terrible. The video is blurred just as bad. Way to go Apple.

mymacissues wrote:
Basically it sounds to me like iMovie is not worth our time if it degrades the image quality of any video. If anything it should increase the image quality. My video imports through iMovie 11 look terrible. The video is blurred just as bad. Way to go Apple.

If your video is in progressive already, then only the process and final compression will degrade the video to an acceptable level; actually it keep it in very good condition.

I've done so many tests with iMovie 11 and true progressive materials and the output is always BETTER than iMovie 6HD. Mind you, when I mean progressive, I mean I actually use a fast and powerful Quad Core PC and shove the interlaced footage into a motion adaptive algorithm + DCDi workflow and then again put it through an a program to stabilize, sharpen, color correction plus super resolution it to either 720p or 1080p from 480i all in uncompressed AVI (so you really need FAST RAID 0 drive arrays). The final product is then compressed with MPEGStreamclip for iMovie 11 compatibility. I've made trailers, themes and stories with these footages and none of them degrade very much. They are sharp, have film like qualities plus virtually no combing artifacts and since it is now in native 1080p or 720p, there is no need to use the TV's upconversion circuitry.

Then again, you don't need to do this if you truly have a progressive capable HD camcorder which is what iMovie 11 is designed to work with. And when it does, I am impressed with Apple had made. A great companion to my Sony Vegas Pro.

Best,

Message was edited by: Coolmax

Kriss-a wrote:
Thanks for anwsers!

I have no idea if my camera creates progressive videos or not, but I know that the format is DV PAL. I cannot afford to buy a new HD camera only to get satisfying results in iMovie. The newest version should at least have as good quality as the old one.

I installed iMovie HD 6 today from my old Mac OS Install Disc, and the quality is remarkably better in the old version.

Have a look at these screenshots. The footage is exactly the same, and the videos are exported using the same settings.



This isn't just a little quality loss, this is extreme.

I think I'm going to stick with iMovie HD, and use the new iMovie only when I need chroma key or one of the few other new features.

Or you can try option 3 and use something like JES Deinterlacer for the Mac if you really need to use iMovie 11 with your DV PAL camera. This will deinterlace your footage into progressive format. I can't vouch its effectiveness cause I use my PC for the job as it also has the option to make 480i NTSC into 720p or 1080p plus the option for adding some sharpening after deinterlacing.

I also use iMovie 6HD if I need a quick DVD turnkey solution with simple menus and transitions..

Hope this helps.

Message was edited by: Coolmax

The answer that works for me is to import from DV tape to iMovie 6 and use the Share option Expert Settings, then click the Options and select an export out of iMovie 06 in a progressive state. Then import that file into iMovie 11 and make use of its features. Finding the best Expert Settings may require a little trial and error so fiddle with short clips until happy

iM only works well with progressive video. So, if you need to edit DV, you need to trick IM by preventing it from knowing your video is really interlaced.

I have a solution in my book, and others have posted theirs here. These solutions require a free utility. But, you can do a batch convert.

I really like the idea of using iM6 for capture, but my guess is that one can't export CLIPs. One will have to make one long movie which is going to be very hard to edit in iM. Please correct me if Im wrong.

I use FCP because I can capture and then batch export all clips to another codec.

In any case do not convert to h264 because it takes forever!

Why not capture in iM11? There is no problem with interlaced capture only within the app. The media itself is fine.

Kriss-a wrote:
Hello fellow iMovie users.
Yesterday I upgraded to iLife 11 to get the new iMovie and its "new" audio editing capabilities. I could ofcourse just buy it from Mac App Store, but I am principally against App Store and its strict rules, so I choosed to get it the old way.

Anyway, I liked what i saw. Finally the new iMovie was about as good as the five year old one, and had some neat features like chroma key and cropping.
So I decided to start practicing and create a short video based on some old DV-videos filmed with my Canon MV950 DV-PAL camera.
I imported the footage into iMovie, and noticed some significant quality loss after the import.

And it get worse. After I exported the video, it seems like it is heavily compressed, even if I'm exporting to QuickTime and selects the highest quality possible.

Just to make sure:

Did you get an import dialog box with an Optimize

I have some screenshots to show you the differences.

This is the original DV-footage.


The imported video. Notice the higher compression and the choppy edges.


And this is the exported video. Notice the insanely bad quality, especially in dark areas.



Is there any way to fix this, or do I have go back to iMovie HD?

PS. Sorry if my post is a bit unreadable. I'm from Norway.

Responding to OP:

Just to make sure:

Did you get an "Optimize video" field in the import dialog box? If so, did it say "Full" or "Large"? If it said "Large", that's why you got poorer quality.

but I am principally against App Store and its strict rules, so I choosed to get it the old way.

Me too. I have found that the physical possession of the software on a DVD or CD is a better way to go.

In the event you have a computer problem and must rebuild your system or reinstall software, it is always easier to do so if you have the physical media in your possession.

Good move, spend a few dollars more and purchase the iLife 11 disc.

I imported the footage into iMovie (11), and noticed some significant quality loss after the import.

I spent many hours trying, (and re-trying) all the iMovie 11 quality "work arounds" but my DVDs never look as good as when I use iMovie 06 with iDVD 11 (no work arounds needed).

In my testing, I am using a high-end Mac Pro, (running Snow Leopard) Taiyo Yuden DVD+Rs (and a few DVD-Rs), and displaying the result using several DVD players and several televisions including a Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-151FD Plasma TV.

The iMovie 11 videos were slightly, (but definitely noticeable) more grainy. iMovie 11 gave me more noticeable combing artifacts than did iMovie 06.

Compared to today's standards DV Video's quality is not that great, so I don't want to lose ANYTHING in my conversion, I have no quality to "spare".

Transferring DV tape using iMovie 06 is super easy, a few mouse clicks and I'm done. (And making a still image from a video frame is just two mouse clicks, no other software required.)

Can you make a DVD using iMovie 11? YES, (and the quality may be acceptable for most people). But for the best result, in my opinion, you should use Final Cut Express or iMovie 06. (with iDVD 08-11)

Large and Full have no relevance for DV or MPEG-2 SD.

Tom is correct, there is no reason not to capture in iM -- unless you are using FCP to break long clips into sub-clips before batch conversion. Then you might as well use FCP.

But, what Tom is saying is important. No interlaced clips are deinterlaced until you VIEW or SHARE from iM. So the DV files that are captured are perfect -- exactly the same as iM 06.

And, there is nothing broken iM. It is designed for progressive video. . From Apple's viewpoint everyone should by now own an HD camera that shoots progressive video. Folks know enough to upgrade their computers every few years -- no one is going to still use a G3 -- so why do folks think they can keep shooting DV? Folks like me with hours of DV should have edited our movies a decade ago! My bad.

What would help is a utility that captured DV into clips -- or let you split a long DV tape into clips -- and then batch converted them to another codec. FCP is a little to expensive, but it does just that. 🙂

Steve,

While I agree everyone should have owned a HD camera by now, there are a lot of low-end SD cameras that are still being sold today. In this era of our economy, consumers are sensitive to prices; especially low or lower prices.

And unlike the video camcorder boom of the 80s with Sony introducing the Video8 handycam (shoulder mounted camcorder), people today do not video using traditional camcorders. Most either do it through a digital camera, DSLR, iPhone or blogger cameras and are already mostly in an acceptable progressive format. There is nothing wrong with DV style cam. Canon GL-2 and the Panasonic DVX-100 are still commanding such a very high price tag for cameras of older technology and still being repaired goes to show that there are people out there still using it.

If one can convert quality interlaced footage into quality progressive footage, you can use that footage and create good results using iMovie 11. I agree with you and Tom that iMovie 11 captures interlaced footage in full. But what's the use if it can't make a good product in the end that looks like what iMovie 6HD can do and when there are PC software out there including the free Windows Movie Maker that can do this with no problem.
Consumers, unlike some of us, only relate to past software used and are usually benign to the fact of progressive vs interlaced. I have dealt with some mis-informed customers that they believed FULL HD only means 1080p at 60fps; anything else is not. I digress.

With Mac users, they don't necessarily follow the same upgrade frequency as PC users either. Macs generally last a lot longer between upgrades compared to a PC because they don't have to run a barage of virus/spam/anti-malware growing definition files which ultimately slow an otherwise healthy PC down. Macs do not have to worry about this.

There is nothing WRONG with using a 15 year old camcorder, as there is nothing WRONG about using a 15 year old computer. But, one really can't expect to use either with current software. You can't ask Apple to do this.

That's why folks need a "work around."

But, I may have found a way around iM limitations for DV

I agree everyone should have owned a HD camera by now

Today I suspect that most DV video does not even come from a camera, but rather a VCR, cable box, satellite receiver or similar source, used in conjunction with a FireWire analog to digital converter.