Q: Exporting 4K clips In iMovie 9
I still use an old iMac 24" (early 2009) and import 4k clips from my Phantom 3 drone to create movies. I'm able to import the clips and edit them in iMovie 9. Its choppy at times but doable. Then I export it to 1080p. So far quality is acceptable but really couldn't compare it to anything since this is the only app I have been using to post process. I have seen vids in forums from people who have superior quality. I assume they are using a better post pro app and better desktop. I recently recorded 4k clips over a big body of water and noticed the poor quality mostly evident on the water. It is grainy and pixelated. Is this due to poor conversion from 4k to 1080p by iMovie 9? My iMAC does not support iMovie 4K. If my issue is indeed due to iMovie 9, is there another app I can use with my old iMAC that does a better job? If not and I have to upgrade my desktop, then I will just record in 1080p for now to see if it would be better.
iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)
Posted on Jul 25, 2016 8:05 AM
The main negatives are dropping support from older cameras and DVD burning, together with the removal of some fairly minor features, support for non 16:9 aspect ratios and a smaller choice of export options. iMovie 10 was a complete rewrite and supports modern cameras and formats (eg. AVCHD, 4K). I switched as soon as it came out and found it an improvement (especially colour correction) but I didn't have any legacy problems.
Geoff.
Posted on Jul 26, 2016 4:30 PM