iMovie 5/6 HD + Quicktime 7+ HDV (Sony HDR HC3) = bad quality
Hi!
I'm a new "proud" (?) owner of a Sony HDR HC3 HDV camera. Working in HDV mode with Quicktime 7 and iMovie results into quite bad quality and does't really make sense to work with. Actually I wonder why Apple called it iMovie HD. But maybe you have a solution:
So I'm filming footage in HDV and want to import it into iMovie cut it and either put it back in HDV on tape or convert it to DVD or other fileformats.
Here is what I experience. Noting the following:
- I removed all additional codecs (like Flic4Mac)
- If I import DV from the Sony HC3 in DV mode or HDV converted to DV by the camera all is fine.
- I know that playback speed/jerkyness within iMovie has nothing to do with the final rendered output. I'm not talking about playback speed in iMovie.
OK here is what I expect:
After cutting and putting movie on tape or DVD I expect it to play as smooth as it does when displayed on TV by the camera or when converted to DV by the camera. It's digital data and it should be able to be converted so it plays smooth by the Mac/Quicktime.
What I experience:
If I import footage in HDV into iMovie (which is convereted by the Apple Intermediate Codec) and let this be exported (unedited) into iDVD and burn it to DVD, the result is dissapointing. The playback is jerky. What do I mean with jerky? Film the room you are in as a 360 degrees turn. So you end up in a "scrolling" picture. The picture on TV should be as smooth as if you turn your head (if you are sober 😉. Thats what I experience when using DV.
When using HDV this turn is jerky. You see it extremly at the edges of objects. This happens on DVD (or other Quicktime destination formats) whatever you do even unedited material. Conversion makes it look jerky so its not smooth anymore as the source material.
The worst thing happens if you start to cut things and add titles etc. People tend to say to archive HDV footage back on tape. Others say if you want to have footage to play smooth on DVDs you should let the HC3 convert HDV to DV first by putting it in HDV back on tape first.. Alright I did that but again disapointing results:
Whenever iMovie/Quicktime renders something (e.g. inserting a title) footage gets jerky even when putting it back on tape. If you have 1 min clip and add a title for the 30 first seconds, on tape the 30 sec. with the title will be jerky, the next 30 seconds will be smooth as it was on tape before importing.
I tried iMovie 6 and iMovie 5, I tried to downgrade to Quicktime 7.01 nothing helps. Actually for me it seems that the combination of Tiger + iMovie/(FCE?) + Quicktime 7.x + HDV is kind of not usable... Or theres a solution somebody has.
Some people claim they solved it by using quicktime 6.5.x, but I use Tiger, so I can't downgrade...
So if you believe you have it working let me know and also try the 360 degrees roomspin and compare edited result with what you see on your HDTV or DV converted output...
Thanks for your hints and help,
Holger
iMac GHz 2.0Ghz, 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6) iMovie 5/6, Quicktime 7.01 - 7.1.1
I'm a new "proud" (?) owner of a Sony HDR HC3 HDV camera. Working in HDV mode with Quicktime 7 and iMovie results into quite bad quality and does't really make sense to work with. Actually I wonder why Apple called it iMovie HD. But maybe you have a solution:
So I'm filming footage in HDV and want to import it into iMovie cut it and either put it back in HDV on tape or convert it to DVD or other fileformats.
Here is what I experience. Noting the following:
- I removed all additional codecs (like Flic4Mac)
- If I import DV from the Sony HC3 in DV mode or HDV converted to DV by the camera all is fine.
- I know that playback speed/jerkyness within iMovie has nothing to do with the final rendered output. I'm not talking about playback speed in iMovie.
OK here is what I expect:
After cutting and putting movie on tape or DVD I expect it to play as smooth as it does when displayed on TV by the camera or when converted to DV by the camera. It's digital data and it should be able to be converted so it plays smooth by the Mac/Quicktime.
What I experience:
If I import footage in HDV into iMovie (which is convereted by the Apple Intermediate Codec) and let this be exported (unedited) into iDVD and burn it to DVD, the result is dissapointing. The playback is jerky. What do I mean with jerky? Film the room you are in as a 360 degrees turn. So you end up in a "scrolling" picture. The picture on TV should be as smooth as if you turn your head (if you are sober 😉. Thats what I experience when using DV.
When using HDV this turn is jerky. You see it extremly at the edges of objects. This happens on DVD (or other Quicktime destination formats) whatever you do even unedited material. Conversion makes it look jerky so its not smooth anymore as the source material.
The worst thing happens if you start to cut things and add titles etc. People tend to say to archive HDV footage back on tape. Others say if you want to have footage to play smooth on DVDs you should let the HC3 convert HDV to DV first by putting it in HDV back on tape first.. Alright I did that but again disapointing results:
Whenever iMovie/Quicktime renders something (e.g. inserting a title) footage gets jerky even when putting it back on tape. If you have 1 min clip and add a title for the 30 first seconds, on tape the 30 sec. with the title will be jerky, the next 30 seconds will be smooth as it was on tape before importing.
I tried iMovie 6 and iMovie 5, I tried to downgrade to Quicktime 7.01 nothing helps. Actually for me it seems that the combination of Tiger + iMovie/(FCE?) + Quicktime 7.x + HDV is kind of not usable... Or theres a solution somebody has.
Some people claim they solved it by using quicktime 6.5.x, but I use Tiger, so I can't downgrade...
So if you believe you have it working let me know and also try the 360 degrees roomspin and compare edited result with what you see on your HDTV or DV converted output...
Thanks for your hints and help,
Holger
iMac GHz 2.0Ghz, 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6) iMovie 5/6, Quicktime 7.01 - 7.1.1
