There was always some issues with older versions of iMovie degrading video out quality-if in particular certain transitions were used, etc.
Does anyone know if this behaviour is (finally) over? It used to be described as 'destructive' I think.
I import AVCHD and can get great results...sometimes, but titles and transitions left the picture looking not so sharp.
Many thanks.
Here are two encodes to compare the quality of iMovie v9 (aka iMovie 11) and the new iMovie v10 (Mavericks) output.
(YouTube degrades the video a bit, even in the 1080p HD setting, but the difference should still be clear.)
I think the rendering in the latest iMovie (included with OSX Mavericks aka Version 10) is a FANTASTIC improvement - especially in deep shadow areas, as tested here)!
iMovie v9 Test (Snow Leopard version - aka iMovie 11)
iMovie v10 Test (Mavericks version):
Here are two encodes to compare the quality of iMovie v9 (aka iMovie 11) and the new iMovie v10 (Mavericks) output.
(YouTube degrades the video a bit, even in the 1080p HD setting, but the difference should still be clear.)
I think the rendering in the latest iMovie (included with OSX Mavericks aka Version 10) is a FANTASTIC improvement - especially in deep shadow areas, as tested here)!
iMovie v9 Test (Snow Leopard version - aka iMovie 11)
iMovie v10 Test (Mavericks version):
Thanks for the info but I can show you a 40 second video clip that iMovie 10 trashes, whereas iMovie 9 outputs beautifully. Maybe it's just my install...
Sorry to hear that.
I'm using a new MacBook Pro and I'm seeing a vast improvement.
I even tried the 30-day demo of Final Cut Pro X a while ago and was considering upgrading to that to solve the output problems I was having. My (limited) testing so far indicates that I won't need to shell out the $299 simply to get reasonable quality output as the new version of iMovie included with Mavericks seems to be equal in quality to FCP X.
Again, I was mainly concerned with the "blocky" shadow areas I was seeing with iMovie 11 (version 9) which seem to be fixed in iMovie version 10.
Can I bump this?
Hopefully someone can answer these questions.
I have an old Sony TG3 video camera. It shoots in 1080i (not 'p', boo). When I play directly off the camera to TV, quite frankly it looks stunning.
Whenever in the past i've used iMovie-my understanding was, it down it forced down image quality to 540p (regardless if exporting at 1080p for example).
Has this behaviour stopped with iMovie 10? It used to be using certain transitions/maps etc used to make it worse.
I've tried some holiday footage on the new iMovie 10 (I must be in the minority, as I really like the new layout), but output footage is not a patch on what I put in-could be any of the last few years iMovies, to be honest.
I need a hotline to Karsten Schluter!
cos constantinou wrote:
⊠I need a hotline to Karsten Schluter!
"Hi, K here. This hotline is no longer supported. Please leave a message right after the beep < beep > "...
LOL!
Appreciate you're trusting my expertise, but iMovie is just a hobby anymore, for about 2y - switched to the Big Boys Toys, FCPX/Motion5...
Haven't tested and analyzed myself, but afaik, the 3rd incarnation of iMovie (vers10) now handles i as i, no 'forced deinterlacing' anymore ....
Keep in mind:
judging pic-quality of interlaced material on a computer is a challenge!
a) your computer doesn't show interlaced ... (no flat-screen shows interlaced...)
b) judge i-material only in its original resolution - any, any resizing (e.g. full-screen on an iMac) instanly shows thoses dreaded 'stairs/lines' ...
___________
btw: you'll find a mail-adress in my public profile...
in emergency cases
(no house visits! try 2 Asperins. Have you relaunched your computer?) đ
Thanks Karsten,
If I learn to use FCPX-will I see a massive difference in quality do you believe?
As I said, i've just exported a small holiday video from iMovie 10. Watching it on my TV in living room-it looks nothing like source video. Sharpness etc, all gone.
Thanks.
Hi Cos,
I've done the "red/green experiment" of Karsten, using single line patterns, in iMovie 10.
The results can be seen in thus topic: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5488241
Bottom line: iMovie 10 doesn't throw away half of the lines ("single field processing") anymore when working with interlaced material. So if you're using a camcorder that records in 50i or 60i, moving over to iMovie 10 will be certainly beneficial.
As I said, i've just exported a small holiday video from iMovie 10. Watching it on my TV in living room-it looks nothing like source video. Sharpness etc, all gone.
If this export was done from an older (pre iMovie 10) Project, made with a previous iMovie version, the sharpness will be bad. The damage was already done when you editted the movie in the previous version.
Did you also test the complete workflow anew, i.e. import the material from your camcorder, create a new Project in iMovie 10, drag the clip to the timeline, export ("Share") to 1080p, and judge the resulting MP4? I have gotten good results with interlaced content when I start from scratch.
I've done the "red/green experiment" of Karsten, using single line patterns, in iMovie 10.
The results can be seen in thus topic: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5488241
Bottom line: iMovie 10 doesn't throw away half of the lines ("single field processing") anymore when working with interlaced material. So if you're using a camcorder that records in 50i or 60i, moving over to iMovie 10 will be certainly beneficial.
Hi Pieter,
Did you use any transitions when using this test? Old behaviour of iMovie used to be that certain transitions/maps would downscale the footage to 540 (I think it was 540). So you could import 1080p footage, but the moment you would use certain transitions or maps-your whole project would get degraded.
The holiday video I spoke of was not exported from an older iMovie project, it's brand new and I imported it directley into iMovie 10. The export looks not so sharp. That's why I'm wondering if this old destructive behaviour still exists.
Any ideas?
Hi cos,
If you tell me what effects you used I can try to reproduce your findings.
Sofar I haven't seen much degradation, but I am not such a big effects guy.
I'm ashamed to say i've chucked a lot of transitions at it đ
Maps/fade to white and black. Titles. Crossblur and fade....
Maps and cross blur used to be a definite culprit, so if you could just try those two..?
Thanks!
Video quality in new iMovie?
