Why is iMovie so buggy??

[hot_glacier]

I used to used iMovie 5-7 years ago, and it was fine. I recently started using it again, and it's gone backwards. It's bizarre. I can no longer use transitions. They just don't work. I import a 50fps video, and can only export at 25fps. There is no option to change it, and I've followed the instructions on the official Apple community forum. Filters are only available occasionally. Stabilisation sometimes refuses to crop the video, resulting in an unwatchable clip that hovers over a black background. The iOS app is even worse, as it no longer allows ken burns cropping in video (only available for photos).

Is this some kind of conspiracy to force video editors to upgrade to FCP? I just can't believe a native Apple app could be this buggy unintentionally. I'm using Mac Mini M1.

 

[TightLines]

I used to used iMovie 5-7 years ago, and it was fine. I recently started using it again, and it's gone backwards. It's bizarre. I can no longer use transitions. They just don't work. I import a 50fps video, and can only export at 25fps. There is no option to change it, and I've followed the instructions on the official Apple community forum. Filters are only available occasionally. Stabilisation sometimes refuses to crop the video, resulting in an unwatchable clip that hovers over a black background. The iOS app is even worse, as it no longer allows ken burns cropping in video (only available for photos).

Is this some kind of conspiracy to force video editors to upgrade to FCP? I just can't believe a native Apple app could be this buggy unintentionally. I'm using Mac Mini M1.

I haven’t messed with iMovie in years either, but like you, recall it was a very good app and i made multiple videos using it. I even went as far as buying many of the 3rd party add-ins, affects, transitions, etc… At the time I was using it, I was working with one of the better equipped machines of it’s time… (dating myself here) a PowerMac G5 w/quad capabilities… I only had mine configured with the dual processors, but had maxed out the RAM and video card capabilities for that box. I had a blast using the software as i found it easy to understand and work with, sand even contemplated getting and learning the more comprehensive FCP software… but as with all things fun, it has to come to an end, and i lost interest and the time to devote my video creation hobby.

That said - its all about the system resources you throw at the task when you come to things like video creation and editing. If your M1 mac mini is the base model with only 8GB of RAM, that is likely the biggest source of the problems you are seeing… even maxing the mini out with 16GB is probably pushing it, not to leave without mention the lower end GPU.

Apple doesn’t help things by not being on top of maintaining those apps either… and its not a conspiracy, just poor quality control of its own products. Why they even have a mobile version of the video production apps is beyond me… I can’t imagine people being able to do much with them.. even the iPad Pro configured with decent amount of storage doesn’t really give you enough horsepower to feel stable… Before investing in the higher end software, make sure you have more than enough system to run it…

 

[hot_glacier]

I haven’t messed with iMovie in years either, but like you, recall it was a very good app and i made multiple videos using it. I even went as far as buying many of the 3rd party add-ins, affects, transitions, etc… At the time I was using it, I was working with one of the better equipped machines of it’s time… (dating myself here) a PowerMac G5 w/quad capabilities… I only had mine configured with the dual processors, but had maxed out the RAM and video card capabilities for that box. I had a blast using the software as i found it easy to understand and work with, sand even contemplated getting and learning the more comprehensive FCP software… but as with all things fun, it has to come to an end, and i lost interest and the time to devote my video creation hobby.

That said - its all about the system resources you throw at the task when you come to things like video creation and editing. If your M1 mac mini is the base model with only 8GB of RAM, that is likely the biggest source of the problems you are seeing… even maxing the mini out with 16GB is probably pushing it, not to leave without mention the lower end GPU.

Apple doesn’t help things by not being on top of maintaining those apps either… and its not a conspiracy, just poor quality control of its own products. Why they even have a mobile version of the video production apps is beyond me… I can’t imagine people being able to do much with them.. even the iPad Pro configured with decent amount of storage doesn’t really give you enough horsepower to feel stable… Before investing in the higher end software, make sure you have more than enough system to run it…

The M1 Mac mini is perfectly capable of editing video, even 4K video with FCP. Plenty of successful YouTubers have made videos explaining how the Mac mini has been their sole video editing platform for over a year.

The problem is the iMovie app itself, which does not give the option to use transitions. There are threads complaining about this without a single definitive solution. Same with the fps problem.

 

[Slartibart]

My “educated” guess from what you have written is that you’re running MacOS Monterey 12.x on a M1 Mac Mini, right? Please make sure to run the latest MacOS 12.4 as well as iMovie. Then hold down the Option and Command keys as you launch iMovie. In the window that appears, click on Delete Preferences. iMovie will launch (and you should be able to use transitions etc.).
But for a complete check it might be good to quit iMovie after deleting the preferences and test further with a new library project.

And while this does not solve all the problems iMovie seems to have on MacOS Monterey - have you considered switching to e.g. the free version of DaVinci Resolve? The limitations of the free version (like max. resolution = 4k, no collaboration tools, face refinement FX, etc.) will probably not impact you coming from iMovie.