Max. time limit for iMovie clips?

Question

Max. time limit for iMovie clips?

I have imported video which needs to be unedited. I need the whole video to have no clip breaks, but no matter how many times I try, iMovie breaks it down into clip segments of 19:59:06, or something like that. All clips exactly the same time, except the last one, which just has whatever leftover time there is. This definitely won't do, because when I drag the clips into the time line and play the movie, I can see the breaks, which will disqualify my video for the purpose it is intended. The camera was not turned off; it was run continuously, so why the breaks? If I important the movie directly into the timeline, will it make any difference. Is there anywhere that I can change this setting? I already unchecked "automatically divide clips" or whatever that option says. Thanks for any advice.

PowerBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Mar 10, 2007 7:56 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 11, 2007 10:59 PM in response to candidkeepsakes

Does my drive not come formatted automatically?

Yes, but often it is not properly formatted for Mac use!

You can re-format it via the Disk Utility's Erase tab. That will delete everything on that drive or volume so backup important stuff first!

After that your problem should be fixed.

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Answer 2

Mar 10, 2007 8:27 PM in response to candidkeepsakes

Looking at the Import section of the iMovie Preferences, the following two items should be unchecked:

1. Start a new clip at each scene break
2. Limit scene length to x minutes

Oddly, this Apple Support article http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=60562 claims the maximum limit is a 2GB file (about 9 minutes of video). Earlier version of MacOS X had a 2GB file size limit and this article says iMovie retained this limit for compatability reasons. It doesn't explain how you could be getting twice that limit.

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Answer 3

Mar 10, 2007 10:39 PM in response to candidkeepsakes

I need the whole video to have no clip breaks

Even if iMovie breaks the clips into separate media clips, they play seamlessly. But obviously you want one huge media clip for some reason, right??

breaks it down into clip segments of 19:59:06

That time strongly suggests that you have not properly formatted your drive! (20 minutes of DV data is about 4 GB which is the upper clip size limit of some PC formats). Format the drive as Mac OS Extended!

iMovie HD's max time for clips is at least 60 minutes, maybe even more.

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Answer 4

Mar 11, 2007 6:21 PM in response to Matti Haveri

Thanks for trying to help me.

I need the whole video to have no clip breaks

Even if iMovie breaks the clips into separate media clips, they play seamlessly. But obviously you want one huge media clip for some reason, right??

If it would play seamlessly, I could live with the breaks. But when I view it, the seams are quite noticeable. My iMovie is the 5.0.2 version, which doesn't have the option to limit scene lengths. This morning I tried using my son's MacBook, which is newer and has the 6.0.2 version and does have the option. I tried it with different combinations of options selected, particularly with the "limit scene length" set to 59 min., but same thing: stops importing at 19:56:06. To import more, I have to re-click import. It doesn't even continue importing with breaks. It totally stops and waits for me to restart the import for the next 19 min.+ section. This is for National Board Teacher Certification, and they are very strict about no edits.

That time strongly suggests that you have not properly formatted your drive! (20 minutes of DV data is about 4 GB which is the upper clip size limit of some PC formats). Format the drive as Mac OS Extended!

OK...now I feel dumb. I have no idea what you're talking about. Does my drive not come formatted automatically? Was I supposed to do that? The drive I am downloading to is an external hard drive connected via firewire to the computer, and the camera is piggy-backed into the hard drive. It's a Lacie 240G. How do I properly format it?

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