iPhoto Chrashes Importing Movies

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Level 1

8 points

iPhoto Chrashes Importing Movies

I have an early 2008 24" iMac 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB RAM. I dropped a 2TB SATA HD in it, and everything works perfectly...except iPhoto and iMovie.

I am currently running iPhoto 11 9.4.2 & iMovie 9.0.8

For the last 4 months iPhoto and iMovie have crashed the moment they were launched. I remember hearing that there was a third party codec that was wreaking havok on Macs, so I searched for anything that was installed on this machine in the past and deleted suspect apps. The problem persisted.

So on a hunch I removed all .AVI and .MOV files from my iPhoto Library and placed them in a folder on my desktop. That allowed iPhoto to launch, but it was quitting in the middle of imports from my iPhone 4. After examining the the iPhoto Library and comparing it to the photos and movies on my iPhone's Camera Roll, I discovered that as soon as iPhoto encountered a movie shot on my iPhone 4, iPhoto would crash and display the massive log file.

So now i am forced to select only photos to import off of my iPhone, and the movies I have are in limbo till I discover how to fix this. iMovie crashes immediately to this day, and I can't find an answer anywhere.

There are 3 accounts on this machine; mine, my girlfriends, and a stagnent admin account.

Several, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Dec 20, 2012 9:56 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,735 points

Dec 20, 2012 10:57 PM in response to gobrien

You may want to check the video codecs you have installed: do you have Perian installed, or use a Flip camera? Then remove the 3ivx Quicktime plug-in, as described in this support article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4155

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 2

gobrien Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 21, 2012 1:20 PM in response to léonie

leonieDF,

I had Perian installed, but I completed an un-install of it over a month ago.

Yes, I have a Vado HD video camera that I have not used in a year. There was nothing installed SW wise from it, if I remember right.

I did remove the 3ivxVideoCodec.component a few months ago, that didn't help either.

Here are the contents of my /Library/QuickTime directory...

See anything that could be causing this? Many thanks for replying leonieDF.

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

216,190 points

Dec 21, 2012 1:23 PM in response to gobrien

For the last 4 months iPhoto and iMovie have crashed the moment they were launched.

make a temporary, backup copy (if you don't already have a backup copy) of the library and try the following:

1 - delete the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your

User/Home/Library/ Preferences folder.

2 - delete iPhoto's cache file, Cache.db, that is located in your

User/Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder (Snow Leopard and Earlier).

or with Mt. Lion from the User/Library/Containers/com.apple.iPhoto/
Data/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto folder

3 - launch iPhoto and try again.

NOTE: If you're moved your library from its default location in your Home/Pictures folder you will have to point iPhoto to its new location when you next open iPhoto by holding down the Option key when launching iPhoto. You'll also have to reset the iPhoto's various preferences.

NOTE 2: In Lion and Mountain Lion the Library folder is now invisible. To make it permanently visible enter the following in the Terminal application window: chflags nohidden ~/Library and hit the Enter button - 10.7: Un-hide the User Library folder.

Also look for the iMovie preference file, com.apple.iMovie.plist, and move it to the Desktop. Then launch iMovie.

OT

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Answer 4

gobrien Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 22, 2012 10:01 PM in response to Old Toad

Old Toad,

Thank you for the descriptive directions, but after following them to the letter, I plugged my iPhone 4 into our iMac, iTunes and iPhoto launched, then when I clicked Import All in iPhoto, (the only files in my iPhone's Camera Roll are movies shot with the iPhone), I got an instant crash again.

I'm at a complete loss. I'm not an expert or a noob with this stuff as I worked at 1 Infinite Loop for 6 years in System Test Engineering, so I know a thing or two about our systems. I have never seen native Apple SW fail to execute a basic command on a Mac. If anyone has any other ideas, please feel free to comment.

Thanks again Old Toad!

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Answer 5

Old Toad

Level 10

216,190 points

Dec 24, 2012 9:24 AM in response to gobrien

Create a new, test library and see if you can import into it from your phone. If you can then your library is the culprit. If you still get a crash then it's more an application issue or even a system issue.

Also if you can get Image Capture to off load all images and movies from your iPhone to a folder you could try restoriung your iPhone back to factory specs and then take more photos and movies to see if they will import without crashing iPhoto.

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