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Better to shoot in .mp4 or .mov on new action camera

I just bought a new Drift HD Ghost "sports" camcorder (similar to a GoPro). I plan to use it to shoot waterskiing action shots, splice in other camcorder shots from the boat, etc, then edit in iMovie (8.0.6) and publish on Vimeo or make DVDs with iMovie. Sometimes I burn AVCHD BluRays with Toast.

I think shooting at 720 60p would be best. The camera settings let you select a video format of .mov or .mp4. Any advice on those settings? Thanks, Jeff

Posted on Mar 21, 2013 6:55 AM

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11 replies

Mar 21, 2013 9:15 AM in response to Jeff Swain

MOV and MP4 are containers. So in a sense, this is like asking if you prefer a white envelope or a manilla envelope. My guess is that h.264 is the codec that would be used in both containers, so on a Mac you should get the same results either way.


On a Windows PC, you can use MOV only if you install QuickTime for Windows, but you can use MP4 without any third party software, so some Windows users would prefer MP4.


On a Mac you can use MOV containers or MP4 containers as long as you have the underlying codec, which in this case, you do.


So on your Mac, it does not matter, but if I had to flip a coin, I would choose MOV.


p.s. - Let me know how you like the camera. I have been thinking about the Go Pro, but would love to know how you like this one.

Mar 21, 2013 9:57 PM in response to Jeff Swain

Jeff Swain wrote:


Thanks, iMovie will import 60p.

Hi Jeff,


My understanding is that iMovie ('09 or '11) is not able to import 60p or 50p video without first converting the clips to 30p or 25p respectively. However, iMovie can import 60i or 50i video, as this is actually interlaced 30 fps or 25 fps footage, where 2 separate fields comprise one frame.


Are you using a 3rd party converter before importing the 60p clips to iMovie? Otherwise could you explain your workflow please - or otherwise correct my misunderstanding. Thank you.


John

Mar 22, 2013 6:20 AM in response to John Cogdell

John,


I do not use a 3rd party converter; just plug in the camera and import. I have successfully imported 720 60p files from both my small "sports" camera (Drift HD Ghost) and my large Panasonic HMC-150P prosumer camcorder. But neither of those cameras will shoot 1080 60p so I can't test iMovie's ability to import that setting. I have read that such a setting will tax the ability of even a high end Mac, and it seems to me that 720p looks great anyway.


One other note on import. I shot some other footage in .mov video format as suggested by AppleMan. Opened up iMovie, and plugged in the sports cam via USB2, but the normal import menu screen in iMovie did not pop up. I had to open the camera micro SD card in Finder, then drag the files into iMovie, which then worked fine.


On the files I had shot in .mp4, the normal iMovie import screen showed them, but when I imported from there some 7 sec or so of each clip was cut off the end. But when I imported via Finder, it got the whole clip.


Jeff

Mar 22, 2013 6:15 PM in response to Jeff Swain

Thank you for sharing that Jeff. As AppleMan theorised, it seems that 720p 60fps works with iMovie - well at least with iMovie '09 (you mentioned you were using version 8.0.6 which is '09). So, I guess it also works with iMovie '11.


I'll need to be more careful when advising others that 60p and 50p won't work with iMovie (that was simply based on my reading - not first hand knowledge). It appears that 1080p 60fps and 50fps are the problem formats.


Thanks again for the explanation Jeff.


John

Mar 23, 2013 3:38 AM in response to John Cogdell

John Cogdell wrote:

… Karsten where are you! 😉

sorry - the cruel claws of real life sprawl outta me .... 😁


first of all - I'm a bit 'out' of iMovie - haven't done any real projects for about two years (FCPX & M5 are my favorite toys now).


I own two devices with 50/60p …

AVCHD 1080/50p isn't supported for straight import by iM11; you can convert manually to a mov …

the other one records 720/60p as h264.mov - imports straight into iM11 ....


iM11 Projects support only 30fps max (there was a hack to support 60fps output - sorry, lost the link)

when you apply a 50% slowmo, iM11 has to convert/'optimise' my imported material. theoretically, a 50% slowmo of a 60fps recording in a 30fps project should result in a 'lossless', flawless, super-smooth slowmo (it does in FCPX) - in my humble observation, it doesn't - although the converted file is listed in Finder as '60', it LOOKS like 30.- ????


honestly? Someone else should test that 😉

.... maybe, I find the time to create a simple 60fps file with an on-screen timestamp; doing the above, and then stepping frame-by-frame would proof real-50%, or just blending ...


.... but I'm actually in prepping the next soccer-season, needs new screen-design, son asks for "Daddy, like in Fifa13!" arghghgh… anyone expert in 3D-CGI? 😁

Mar 23, 2013 4:13 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Thank you Karsten for coming to our rescue - very much appreciated!


I now have a better understanding of all this and will be more careful with my advice in future. I may even steer clear of commenting on this issue altogether - especially considering I'm still stuck with a (? 6 year old) hard drive camcorder that records as 1440 x 1080 interlaced. I'd love to have a model that uses SD memory cards and records as progressive (720p @ 25 fps would be fine I guess). Larry Jordan strongly recommends using progressive for FCP X projects, and I understand that iMovie '11 works better with that format.


Thanks again for your input Karsten, and sorry to drag you away from your "real life" stuff. 🙂


Best of luck with your soccer project (make your son proud)!


Regards


John

Better to shoot in .mp4 or .mov on new action camera

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