Can iMovie 10 be used to edit 2-hour videos?

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Level 1

5 points

Can iMovie 10 be used to edit 2-hour videos?

I live in a community that tapes certain events for others to view later. Up to now the volunteer editors have used iMovie 6 because that version, they say, is the latest one that can edit 2-hour videos.

I'd like to move to iMovie 10, which is what I have on my new iMac.

Has anyone had experience with iMovie 10 used to edit such long videos? Any tips?

I would simply try it, but I'd have to learn iMovie first, never having used it before, and I don't want to unless it is going to work where I need it!

Thank you.

iMac El Capitan

iMovie 10.1.1

Posted on Feb 15, 2016 4:13 PM

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Answer 1

GeeD

Level 6

9,179 points

Feb 16, 2016 4:18 AM in response to Pollyfromvt

There is no limit to the duration of a video project in iMovie 10. You just ned to have sufficient storage on your computer. It can sometimes be good idea to break up a long project into more manageable shorter projects which can be joined together when editing is complete.

One big differencein iMovie 10 from earlier versions is that you can not delete parts of imported video clips - you can of course use parts in a project but the iMovie library still contains the complete imported clips. If this is going to give space problems you have trim away unwanted footage using for example Quicktime player before importing it into iMovie.

Geoff,

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Answer 2

Pollyfromvt Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 16, 2016 4:19 AM in response to GeeD

Thanks, Geoff! I'll pass the word.

Polly

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Answer 3

GeeD

Level 6

9,179 points

Feb 16, 2016 5:02 AM in response to Pollyfromvt

There are some other things to consider before switching to iMovie 10. There have been a lot of improvements 'under the hood' but support for some older ways of doing things has been dropped which has frustrated a lot of long-time users. You need to check that your camera(s) are still supported. See: iMovie supported cameras - Apple Support

Support for DVD production has been reduced. The user interface is very different.

I should mention that there are a number of enthusiasts that are still running iMovie HD under ElCapitan with the help of some 'tricks' but obviously there is a high risk that this may well become impossible in future OS updates and I would recommend using iMovie 10 if you can.

Geoff.

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