GH1 Switched to Mac. Tried iMovie. Crap result.

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frear

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Material: summer time shots, pal 720p25, GH1 LP Reliable v1Workflow: was editing on PC, lagarith intermediate, Lightworks.I forgot to finish this edit before going to Mac so had to start from scratch.Discovery: you can't simply import mts to iMovie 11: first, it has to still be on your camera or in the sd but in the camera folder structure; second it converts to AppleAIC which I thought to be fine.So new workflow: converting mts to UT via avisynth+vdub on PC, vmware is pretty fast surprisingly, and opening UTs in iMovie, converted to AIC.iMovie on the iPad is unusable to my eyes, but iMovie for Mac has some features Made simple, despite I found the friendly timeline not so friendly. Nice integration w/ all resources as sounds, music, effects.The clip correction panel is easy to use but... Really way to easy. There's the histogram, no curves, simple commands for brightness.Result: as I shot flat, I had to pull some contrast and had to color correct by eye here and there. I got a LOT of mud/pixelation! Moreover, I couldn't get a decent h264 version out of it (nor mp4..)!I'm taking the first steps on a Mac, and thought it'd had Made things easier, not worse!Any help?
 
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Final Cut X is $300.

iMovie isn't made for things like color correction any more than Movie Maker or its ilk are. If this is for professional use, it'll pay itself off quickly; if it's for hobby use, you can judge its usefulness.
 
So you think it's a software issue, not the AIC codec? Is it really not capable of such really basic correction?

Or may I have something to set up properly as long as it refers to color / matrixes or any import options that I might have missed?
 
You can download a free trial of FCP X that lasts for 30 days.

Might want to work with that than a free consumer app if you are expecting the best results.
 
frear said:
So you think it's a software issue, not the AIC codec? Is it really not capable of such really basic correction?
Click to expand...

iMovie is OK for quick compositions, but I do not like AIC. Output is blocky and just not nice.

If you are staying on the Mac and can swing the money, FCP X is light years ahead and has excellent codecs. And great color grading/correction for something that is in-program. Very deep.
 
Okay, thanks. I've searched a (very) little on the net and found that this is very well known bug of iMovie, known as the posterization bug.

Incredibly, Apple did not correct it. It seems that if you want to edit properly on the mac you have to upgrade to their pro product which is in my opinion a bit unfair: if there's a bug it must be fixed, and since iMovie features simple color correction functionalities it has to work end to end: from adequate import to proper export. Banding cannot be considered a downside of a feature or requirement. Otherwise, i say, quit the whole cc feature, simply don't offer something that can't be used. This should be the basic in product validation, and a priority against any marketing or upselling drivers (..may this be the case? You never know..).

Just one reference (within the many) for everybody else's convenience.
 
I think Premiere Express handles AVCHD natively without transcoding just like it's big brotther Premiere Pro if you don't need all the bells and whistles of the latter. XFCP is a dead-end IMHO, I've moved over from FCP to PPro this autumn and the only regret is that I didn't do it earlier.
 
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