Question Re: iMovie and my DV camera

[scoopman]

Hey all:

I will be making the switch eventually (the wife says I have to save up. damn!) but I have a question about iMovie use. I will be buying a Powerbook and I want to know is if while I am filming with a DV camera can the file be moving from the camera to the computer and can iMovie be encoding (?)/rendering (?) at the same time. I ask this because I coach basketball and we film our games then I edit them on the computer and I would like the game film to be on the computer as the game is finishing. Sorry this is a jumbled mess. Right now I always just film then later I transfer for camera to my pc. I use Pinnacle Studio (please don't make fun like the salesguy at the Apple store). If you can decipher my question please give a helpful shoutout to this video noob.

Thanks

Can't wait to make the switch

Scott

 

[jackieonasses]

I am not sure on this one... But i am close to sure you can't. Now - i might be wrong - but i have done it for so long (editing) maybe it slipped my mind.
Let me sleep on it and answer in the morning (if no one else answered)

kyle

 

[Balin64]

Yes, you can do this

You will need to upgrade to QT 7 Pro. You can connect your FW DV camera directly and have it save on the go. Pretty cool once you try it; you will of course need enough storage to save it all: a basketball game can be quite long. As far as I know, QT does not limit clip duration, it should depend on your availabe HD space. However, I could be wrong!

I suggest a 12" PB with a fat drive: at least 80 GB's. You can also look into an older tower G4 which you can outfit with a 250 GB drive: but of course it will not be as cool as the PB.

 

[kineticpast]

Actually, you can do this just fine right out of the box, no need for QT Pro.

Just open iMovie, switch the mode to Import Video, and then hit import. You don't even require a tape to be in your camera, and you don't need to hit record.

You may experience some dropped frames, but it usually isn't noticable and if all you are using the footage for is to show the team then I doubt you will really care. If you did want complete footage for editing into a larger project somewhere down the track then simply do record to tape and import that later.

 

[scoopman]

Thanks for the quick replies. Quickime 7. That's the latest release correct? Probably a wise investment. I've been eyeballing the 15" PB and I would upgrade to the 100GB HD. My current notebook is a Compal CL56 with a 15" screen. That is comfortable for me and I think that the 12 is too small for me personally.

Thanks again for the input guys.

Scott

 

[Balin64]

No Problem Scott

Quicktime 7 is part of the new Mac OS 10.4: Tiger. While the new codec (H264) is awesome I found that it finally had enough features in the Pro version. It will cost you 30 dollars, but it is worth it; no dropped frames while recording, full screen playback among others.

The most valuable feature for me is loading a movie I captured directly from my DV camera onto Quicktime: no doing it twice. No need for iMovie. Of course, if you want to edit your video in iMovie you can do so, but you don't need to wait for the DV camera to play back while it imports. Make sense?

Anyway, welcome to the Mac community. Anyway you choose to go, you will be satisfied with the experience, and you know where to yurn for help.

Cheers

 

[Balin64]

Oh Yeah...

QT 7 Pro also asks you how you would like your video to be stored. If you will be reviewing your basketball games on computers, no need for DV right? Then your video will take less space. If you need iMovie edit-capability, then record as full DV. I love the flexibility.