What file formats work with iMovie?

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Level 1

7 points

What file formats work with iMovie?

We have a CanonDC10 DVD camcorder. It was supposed to work well with Macs--and it does, provided you want to take still photos with the camcorder and post them to the Mac. I can't seem to make iMovie see it or its video files at all. It records the source files as .vro files. (We use read/write mini DVDs because friends told us that the DVD-R disks were less reliable.)

The camcorder comes with hokey PC software that will produce DVDs, and the files will play on a PC with Windows Media Player. They will not play using Quicktime, iDVD, the Mac's DVD player, or, interestingly enough, Windows Media Player for the Mac.

Is this something that is fixed in later versions of iMovie? We are buying a new laptop in the fall--coinciding with when Apple releases Leopard. Thus, we would get the newer software then (and a lot more horsepower for producing the home movies that will bore our friends).

Thanks for any insight you can offer.

iMac Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on Jun 15, 2007 7:00 PM

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Answer 1

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catspaw

Level 5

4,344 points

Jun 15, 2007 8:31 PM in response to Susan_Forney

Hi Susan - unfortunately you have a camcorder that records in MPEG2 format, which is incompatible with iMovie. iMovie requires DV formatted video. DVD video is really a delivery format for viewing, rather than for editing as it is a 'lossy' format.
It is possible to convert your material into DV, although there will be some quality reduction involved. See here:
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/%7Eshmhav/SVCDon_a_Macintosh.html#edit_convertMPEG

You will need:
MPEG StreamClip (free):
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html

Apple MPEG2 PlayBack ($20):
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/mpeg2/

G5 Dual 2.0 ghz Mac OS X (10.4.9) 1.5 GB RAM; VidCam: Sony DCR TRV80E

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Answer 2

Jun 15, 2007 9:06 PM in response to Susan_Forney

If you just want to play the DVD in the Mac, you should try VLC player. It might work. You can get it here: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Otherwise I agree with the first answer above.

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Answer 3

Jun 15, 2007 10:35 PM in response to Susan_Forney

What file formats work with iMovie?

iMovie is based on QuickTime, so iMovie supports all the import formats listed here:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/pro/specs.html
iMovie's native format is DV (sometimes called DV Stream), so everything you import is converted to DV.

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Answer 4

Susan_Forney Author

Level 1

7 points

Jun 16, 2007 7:12 AM in response to catspaw

Thanks! I had been searching around and found out about Streamclip. I got the QuickTime plug-in and soon discovered that you don't want to make these conversions on an external USB drive-it took almost 2 hours for a 25-minute clip and then it errored out. (I only have 80 gigs on the old iMac, so I have two external drives, one for backups and one for more space.) I moved the files to a FireWire drive, and things are working reasonably well. It took about 30 minutes to convert the original clip to QuickTime, which plays well, and about 15 minutes to convert to DV format, where I am now creating my first really bad movie.

Again, thanks very much!

iMac Mac OS X (10.4.9)

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