iMovie importing

[jtgotsjets]

I don't own a DV camera, but I've been able to import certain avi files to iMovie, and never mpegs.

What are the requirements for importing to iMovie?

And more importantly, my girlfriend's camera (a sony cybershot dsc-p92) only records movies in mpeg only. How can I get these to import in iMovie?

 

[evil_santa]

can you play these mpeg movies in quicktime? if so you might need to export them as a dv file first. You might need QT pro, if the files are mpeg2 you will need the mpeg2 plugin.

 

[jtgotsjets]

can you play these mpeg movies in quicktime? if so you might need to export them as a dv file first. You might need QT pro, if the files are mpeg2 you will need the mpeg2 plugin.

I haven't actually tried yet...

Is there any way to import them without paying the money to get QTpro?
I'm attempting to make a zero budget film right now, and her digital camera is all I have access to (besides my analog camcorder, and I've got no idea how to hook that up, especially not without spending money).

Thanks

 

[evil_santa]

I haven't actually tried yet...

Is there any way to import them without paying the money to get QTpro?
I'm attempting to make a zero budget film right now, and her digital camera is all I have access to (besides my analog camcorder, and I've got no idea how to hook that up, especially not without spending money).

Thanks

You need to work this out before you start shooting your film. If you can play the mpeg file on your mac you stand a chance of getting them into imove, though I know mpeg-1 will let you export the video but not the sound, i dont know if thats the same for mpeg-2. I can't find any info on the cybershot as the sony website is down ringht now, but I am assuming the camera has a sim card in it any you have a reader, or the camera came with some software to download the movies to the desktop, (most of the suff i have ever got this is totaly useless as it pc only!)
If you can't get the file off the camera the other way to get the video into your mac is through the video out, my canon sure shot has a video out so i can see the movies on a TV, buy you will need the get a DV bridge to get the analog video converted into firewire so imovie can record it. the advantage is you will then be able to recored from you other camera / tv / vhs.

also is the image quality any good on the cybershot, often they make small low frame rate avi/mpegs compaired to a DV camera, DV runs at about 13gb for each hour recorded. how much storage is in the cybershot?

You migh be better of hiring / borrowing a DV camera, though this will cost, you will get better results.

 

[Horrortaxi]

The mpegs on the CyberShot camera aren't anywhere close to dv quality. They're acceptable in small doses but a whole movie of them would likely be annoying to watch. Then again, your skill as an editor could make the grainy crappy quality into something cool.

The mpegs are going to be a problem even if you have Quicktime Pro. Any conversion in QT will strip the audio out of the movie. Search versiontracker.com for an app called BBdemux. That will seperate the audio from the video. Then you can convert the video to dv and put it into iMovie. The sound...I haven't figured out how to make the sound usable yet. It puts it into a format I've never seen and can't find a player/converter for. I've posted here a few times about it and never got a response.

 

[ftaok]

The mpegs on the CyberShot camera aren't anywhere close to dv quality. They're acceptable in small doses but a whole movie of them would likely be annoying to watch. Then again, your skill as an editor could make the grainy crappy quality into something cool.

The mpegs are going to be a problem even if you have Quicktime Pro. Any conversion in QT will strip the audio out of the movie. Search versiontracker.com for an app called BBdemux. That will seperate the audio from the video. Then you can convert the video to dv and put it into iMovie. The sound...I haven't figured out how to make the sound usable yet. It puts it into a format I've never seen and can't find a player/converter for. I've posted here a few times about it and never got a response.

HorrorTaxi,

I've found that for some reason, bbDemux doesn't create a sound file that can be converted. I've had much better luck using MoreMissingTools. The video file can be converted with QT Pro, and the audio file can be converted with iTunes.

I've posted info on how to take mpg files from Sony cameras in this forum a few times. Here's a https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/54322/[/URL

 

[jtgotsjets]

Alright.
When I plug her camera into my Mac, it works seamlessly (functions as a drive [techincally a memory card]), opens up iPhoto, which I promptly close, and I can get to the movies through Finder. I seem to remember that they had a quicktime icon, but I didn't try to play or move them to my computer.

The sound is not a problem, we can always rerecord it later. But is there a way to get the movies into iMovie without QTPro?

And as for movie quality, I know it'll suck, but I'm more interested in shooting and trying my hand at directing/editing, even if its just my friends and I. This isn't going to be a movie to be played at theatres, just to be saved and sent around to friends on the internet.

 

[Horrortaxi]

I've had much better luck using MoreMissingTools.

SWEET! Thanks for the tip. I'm downloading that right now and will definitely give it a try.

jtgotsjets--I wasn't trying to be snobby about the picture quality from a digital camera. I think it's very cool to make a movie using whatever you have available. It's the content that matters the most. You can make an unwatchable movie with professional level tools quite easily. Just make your movie the best way you can.

As for converting without QT Pro, I don't know of anything but since I have QT Pro I haven't really looked. If you search versiontracker or Google for "mpeg to dv" or something like that you may find a freeware app.

Good luck.