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iMovie vs FCPX export quality

Afternoon/morning all.


Question I have is regarding the export quality of FCPX vs iMovie!!


I've been using iMovie for over a year now but only recently started to publish my work.

I get on with iMovie great but the one issue that let's it down is the export quality, it's been driving me crazy but after finally looking into it seems that iMovie is the problem and reduces the footage quality.


I'm just thinking about upgrading to FCPX the extra editing features and functions will be great too.


I just want to know that the exporting footage in FCPX won't reduce the quality of the footage!


Can anybody help!!


Thanks

Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Nov 23, 2012 4:22 AM

Reply
10 replies

Nov 23, 2012 5:18 AM in response to Lab7digital

Lab7digital wrote:




I just want to know that the exporting footage in FCPX won't reduce the quality of the footage!


Can anybody help!!


Thanks

After export, your footage will look great.


Go to App Store and download the 30 day trial to see for yourself. Bring some clips into your project, add some transitions, whatever and Share>Export Master.


Good luck.


Russ

Nov 23, 2012 5:20 AM in response to Lab7digital

The best thing to do is to check for yourself. Download the free trial of FCP X and, well, try it!

You can use it free of charge for 30 days. Also, take the opportunity to learn it. FCP X is so much better, but also very different, which can sometimes be frustrating at first.There are plenty video tutorials on then web that show how. And, of course, there are these forums where you can ask for help.

Nov 23, 2012 5:23 AM in response to Lab7digital

'quality' is a very complex issue.


Most consumer IMPORTS do look nice, when the cam is connected straight to a telly.

… but those recordings contain tons of 'flaws'. (low bitrates, artefacts due to wrong exposure etc)


the difference, how iMovie and FCPX handle that:
• iM uses as intermediate AppleIntermediateCodec - which does marvel with all the diff. flavors of video, a consumer wants to edit ... but it is far from perfect.

• … and iMovie deinterlaces interlaced material = reducing vertical resolution by half

• FCPX transcodes to proRes or even handles codecs 'natively' - which reduces transcoding errors (dramatically)


on export, both apps use the same Quicktime-engine, I dare to say no difference.


using the wrong export settings, multiplies bad imports …


the 'hurt' is done on import, …

and most damage, in terms of quality, is done on recording ⚠ .... 😉

Nov 23, 2012 6:20 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

The footage looks great on the camera, but on the mac it looks a bit poor which is understandable due to lower resolution. But even when hooked up to my tv/monitor through the mac edited footage still looks poor!


So it's either the import settings which I have completely wrong or the export! Guess the best way is to check the demo FCPX and see if that makes a difference


Chris

Nov 23, 2012 7:24 AM in response to Lab7digital

Lab7digital wrote:


The footage looks great on the camera, but on the mac it looks a bit poor which is understandable due to lower resolution. …

not the cam monitor?? you mean, as I mentioned, cam to TV (hdmi)?


and what lower resolution?? a Mac has a much higher res than a HDef video …


As mentioned above: Quality is a tricky thing. and especially judging it!

With the wrong export settings, a FCPX project can look poorer than an iMovie export.-

Feb 13, 2016 1:52 AM in response to Meagalove

Meagalove wrote:

… Don't know where to start.. sigh

use the Youtube preset in the Share menu.


This zombie thread is 4 years old, and in the meantime, even the presets improved.

keep Tom's reply in mind:

FCP X will give you all the quality your media is capable of

which means, you can not 'add' quality in post. You can only deminish it.

That said, for those who pixelpeep the second last digit in quality percentage, they upload Master-files = proRes = monsters of file size.

Or, use other hosts, e.g. Vimeo, which allows much higher qualities...


It all starts with lots of light on your set, and excellent photography ............................. 😉

iMovie vs FCPX export quality

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