Importing Interval Recordings

W

Wayazo

Member
I am a long time still photographer (Nikon gear, wildlife/landscape), but I'm new at working with video. I have The Panasonic AG-HMC40. I use an Intel Macbook Pro with Snow Leopard, iMovie 8.0.5 and Toast Titanium 10.0.6. I have successfully imported 1080i movies into iMovie for editing. I understand that iMovie will not import 1080/24p.

I recently took my first time lapse (interval) recording with the HMC40. It was shot at 1 sec. interval for 60 minutes, a sunrise at Mt. Rainier National Park. I shot it in auto mode. I've copied the SD card files to my hard drive and imported the file into Toast. I have converted it to h264, an .MP4 file, as well as HDV, a .mov file. The file size is about 1 gig and the elapsed time when played is just over two minutes. Both files play nicely. I have two questions:

1) Apparently the files converted by Toast are also not importable into iMovie. Have I chosen the wrong formats? I'm looking for advice on how I might get this clip into iMovie where I can edit it and change the color balance.

2) Is there a way to accelerate the playing speed of this clip?

Thanks in advance for any help you may provide. I'm in learning mode and would appreciate the help as well as suggestions.

Bill (wayazo)
 
1) Apparently the files converted by Toast are also not importable into iMovie. Have I chosen the wrong formats? I'm looking for advice on how I might get this clip into iMovie where I can edit it and change the color balance.

First, you don't have to convert anything first if you don't want to - iMovie will convert it into Apple Intermedicate Codec (AIC) as it imports. iMovie (and Final Cut Express) cannot use ProRes, just AIC (if the video is HD). AIC is very good quality but not quite as good as standard ProRes, though. If you feel you must convert the files first, use AIC if your target editor is iMovie.


2) Is there a way to accelerate the playing speed of this clip?

It's like any other clip - slow and fast motion tools work. I think I've read that iMovie can only do slow motion or fast motion if the clip is AIC. There is a place to convert it in the dialog box where you can do speed changes, I think.
 
ddixon said:
1) Apparently the files converted by Toast are also not importable into iMovie. Have I chosen the wrong formats? I'm looking for advice on how I might get this clip into iMovie where I can edit it and change the color balance.

First, you don't have to convert anything first if you don't want to - iMovie will convert it into Apple Intermedicate Codec (AIC) as it imports. iMovie (and Final Cut Express) cannot use ProRes, just AIC (if the video is HD). AIC is very good quality but not quite as good as standard ProRes, though. If you feel you must convert the files first, use AIC if your target editor is iMovie. Ok, this works for a regular video file import. I'm trying to import a 1080/24p interval (time lapse) clip. Near as I can tell, iMovie can't import 24p directly.

Not sure I understand this. When I try to import the file into iMovie directly from the camera, I see a red circle with a slash across it. When I try to import the file after copying it from the SD card to my hard drive, the file is grayed out. Do I need to locate another codec for iMovie or have i missed an internal setting in iMovie I need to change?

2) Is there a way to accelerate the playing speed of this clip?

It's like any other clip - slow and fast motion tools work. I think I've read that iMovie can only do slow motion or fast motion if the clip is AIC. There is a place to convert it in the dialog box where you can do speed changes, I think.
Click to expand...


Got this one. Thanks!
 
Last edited:
as all interval recordings are 24p, iMovie WILL NOT read the files. if you convert the files using Toast or anything else, iMovie will still not read them unless the timebase is changed from 24p to 30p or 60i.
 
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