to iMovie makes pics smaller - WHY?

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Level 1

41 points

to iMovie makes pics smaller - WHY?

every time I import (or copy or drag or whatever) a photo frm iPhoto into iMovie it gets cut in size from (for example) 877kb to 97kb. Then, the great photos look all pixilated and blurry. How can I prevent then photos from becoming smaller when exported? Please help!
Thanks

iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Dec 3, 2006 4:18 PM

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Answer 1

Dec 4, 2006 3:00 AM in response to rswc90

Hi

This happened to me after I had tampered with iPhotos photo file folder. So
it really contained (or iPhoto could only localize) the tumbnails.

(Trying to move it to get more free space on my internal hard disk I propably
made it the wrong way)

May be deleting iPhoto pref file and reimport the photos into iPhoto might
correct this situation. I did for me.

Yours Bengt W

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Answer 2

rswc90 Author

Level 1

41 points

Dec 4, 2006 4:37 AM in response to rswc90

Thanks for the thought. I am not certain when you mean by suggesting that I delete the iPhoto preference files. I am the one who tells it where to go to find the files. For example, I have iMovie and iPhoto open. I am looking at a photo album in iPhoto. I tell it to export this album into iMovie (or import from iMovie) How do I delete the preference file. Do you mean delete the photos? The copied well (and large) onto my jump drive and are working in Windows MovieMaker on my PC?!?!

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Answer 3

Dec 4, 2006 4:58 AM in response to rswc90

You can't really compare the filesizes as such:

iMovie uses the DV codec so, for example, a JPG image must be converted to DV.

iMovie is also restricted to video resolutions so a megapixel image must be converted to NTSC 720x480 or PAL 720x576. Yes, video resolution is bad but that't the way it is.

So a non-Ken Burns image is typically converted to a single frame DV clip which is about 100 kB.

See also:

http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/SVCDon_aMacintosh.html#slideshow

http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovieHD_6_bugs.html#jaggystills

http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/iMovieHD_5_bugs.html#jaggystills

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Answer 4

Dec 4, 2006 5:41 AM in response to rswc90

... How can I prevent then photos from becoming smaller when exported?...

iM and iP use different resolution for pictures. ...
a video is by standard 720x480 - independed of size of TV ... 😉
a still can have many res ...

and: both apps use different compressor codecs ...

spend some time reading here:
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/video/2002.shtml

concerning "looking pixaleted" .. please make use of the forum search... this issue is dicussed ad nauseam ... 😉
in basic:
* don't judge iM pic quality on Mac, allways on TV only..
* as said above, by standards stills have a much "better" pic quality on a computer then video on a TV ...

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Answer 5

rswc90 Author

Level 1

41 points

Dec 15, 2006 9:46 PM in response to rswc90

Follow up to all this. Bringing iPhoto pictures into iMovie in the form of MPEG4 , I clicked on the imported photo once it's been imported in, dragged into the timeline, clicked on it again NOT in the timeline, double-clicked on the timeline photo and set it, kept the picture from blurring. I burned it in iDVD, played it on the TV and it all works, looks clean, crisp and smooth! There's got to be an easier way, but this way worked and no other way did.

Thanks for the comments etc.

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Answer 6

rswc90 Author

Level 1

41 points

Jan 3, 2007 4:26 AM in response to rswc90

Bringing iPhoto pictures into iMovie in the form of MPEG4 , I clicked on the imported photo once it's been imported in, dragged into the timeline, clicked on it again NOT in the timeline, double-clicked on the timeline photo and set it, kept the picture from blurring. I burned it in iDVD, played it on the TV and it all works, looks clean, crisp and smooth! There's got to be an easier way, but this way worked and no other way did.

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