Upgraded from iMovie 9 to 10 ... aspect ratio is irregular

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Level 1

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Upgraded from iMovie 9 to 10 ... aspect ratio is irregular

Hi,

i have captured my Videos with a Panasonic NV-GS 320 MiniDV Camera. The Projects and the original files are .dv files. In iMovie 9 the files will play in an 16:9 aspect ratio (and thats okay, because of the camera has recorded it in 16:9).

In iMovie 10 all my Videos are there, but all videos will be played in an aspect ratio that seems to be 4:3. Also Quicktime do the same, but when i play the Videos in iMovie 9 there are in 16:9.

So the videos look ugly in iMovie 10 because of the people are all stretched.

I dont find anything to do to fix this problem (the only way is use iMovie 9 instead of 10),

Here are some example pictures:

iMovie 9:

and iMovie 10 the same Video:

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9), Mac Pro 3,1 8x 2,8GHz

Posted on Nov 5, 2013 1:51 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 27, 2013 6:03 AM in response to SirVikon

Same for me. Sony Handycam from 2006. Works perfectly in iMovie 09. I've read the problem is that the .dv file is in fact squeezed to 756x520 but with a "anamorph" flag set, which will stretch the movie while playing. iMovie 10 seems to ignore this flag.

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Answer 2

GeeD

Level 6

9,179 points

Dec 27, 2013 7:57 AM in response to Gerd_2014

Yes, I think you are right - I've researched it a bit and it looks as if Apple is trying to phase out support for anamorphic video, since it is quite 'long in the tooth'. (support for it was even removed from FCP at one point but re-introduced later). The easiest solution would be to stick with iMovie 9 (which you should still have after upgrading to mavericks). To use it in iMovie 10, it looks like you will need to pre-process your footage. Media Converter, a free application (see http://media-converter.sourceforge.net ) mentions switching between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratio but I don't know whether it will work for your footage - I have no anamorphic media to try it with. Might be worth a try. I use the app a lot for other conversions and like it a lot.

Geoff.

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Answer 3

Jan 6, 2014 5:11 AM in response to GeeD

Thanks a lot! Unfortunately converting is not an option since I would have to convert hundreds of clips. Furthermore I can stick to iMovie 9 but I see the point in time where it's no longer running under a new OS X release.

All in all I really hate the behaviour of Apple dropping support for needed functionality in new releases like they are doing it since years (iMovieHD=>iMovie6, new iWork suite this year, the FinalCut X desaster,...)

Gerd

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Answer 4

GeeD

Level 6

9,179 points

Jan 6, 2014 9:31 AM in response to Gerd_2014

Apple is updating the foundations for iMovie and as before this means that some things disappear, some temporarily, others permanently.

Staying with imovie 9 for your current projects looks to be the best move, whilst investigating how you could use imovie 10 for new ones. You can batch convert with some 3rd party applications so having a lot of clips is not necessarily a show-stopper.

Geoff.

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