Export from Pinnacle studio to Quick time/iMovie

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Export from Pinnacle studio to Quick time/iMovie

We purchased a Pinnacle program for our PC, hoping to be able to import clips into iMovie - our primary video production machine. Unfortunately, I now see that Pinnacle Studio will not export in Quicktime (but Pinnacle Edition will). So! 3 questions...is it even possible to import a Pinnacle created clip in to an iMovie project? Is it editable in iMovie?
And finally does any one know of a fix for this Pinnacle Studio lack (I probaly have to go to Pinnacle I know!)

Thank you very much!

PowerMac G4, Mac OS X (10.3.9), I movie 4.0.1; Quicktime player 7.1.3

Posted on Dec 14, 2006 8:11 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 14, 2006 8:15 AM in response to omnimom

iMovie's native format is DV. A quicktime file is a container. This container may contain video in any form (=codec). Example of codecs: DV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, Sorenson3.

What DOES the Pinnacle Studio export? If you can export DV, you are all set. Just use DV-PAL or DV-NTSC depending on your location.

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Answer 2

omnimom Author

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Dec 15, 2006 9:00 AM in response to Lennart Thelander

iMovie's native format is DV. A quicktime file is a
container. This container may contain video in any
form (=codec). Example of codecs: DV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2,
Sorenson3.

What DOES the Pinnacle Studio export? If you can
export DV, you are all set. Just use DV-PAL or
DV-NTSC depending on your location.

Thank you for your reply. Pinnacle will export in many formats. MPEG 1,2,4 also 3GPP, AVI, DivX, real media and Windows media. I can open a MPEG project from Pinnacle on the iMac (The computers are networked) but I cannot import the clips into iMovie which is what I really want and need to do! Any advice? Is there some way to convert the MPEG files so that iMovie will accept them?

Thank you.

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Answer 3

Dec 15, 2006 10:20 AM in response to omnimom

AVI is a container, just like MOV. Both can contain video in (almost) any of the codec's you mention.

I'm surprised that Pinnacle doesn't export DV.

Anyway, I would export MPEG-4 and then use QT Pro ($30) to convert to DV.

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Answer 4

omnimom Author

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Dec 15, 2006 1:35 PM in response to Lennart Thelander

AVI is a container, just like MOV. Both can contain
video in (almost) any of the codec's you mention.

I'm surprised that Pinnacle doesn't export DV.

Anyway, I would export MPEG-4 and then use QT Pro
($30) to convert to DV.

Thanks, I will certainly look into Quick Time Pro. If I am able to covert to DV, will iMovie 4 accept those clips imported into an iMovie project?

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Answer 5

Dec 15, 2006 1:47 PM in response to omnimom

Yes, iMovie's native format is DV, so it will go right in.

There's a caveat. (There always is.)
iMovie 1-4 accepts only DV files up to 2GB in size. That is about 9 minutes and some seconds. If your clips are longer, you need to split them into 9 minute chunks. (iMovie accepts up to 999 clip files and the breaks between clips are invisible).
http://danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6003.shtml

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Answer 6

Dec 15, 2006 3:05 PM in response to omnimom

As much as I like using QuickTime Pro it is probably not needed for your project.
Check the options when exporting to AVI using the software. There should be a DV setting (even though the file says .avi).
You don't want to "down-sample" (compress) your source and then "expand" it back to use in iMovie so avoid any but the highest MPEG-4 Video settings sized at 640X480 if you must.
MPEG Streamclip (free) can export to DV Stream (.dv) for use in iMovie. No need for QT Pro in this case. It can also convert most AVI files to that format, too.

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