Speed of Light: Another interval recording music video

 

iMovie 08: Further Impression

I’ve been using iMovie 08 quite a bit lately in making music video and video clips.

Stuff that I like:
-Audio fade-out bug fixed. In iMovie HD, whenever I want to do an audio fade-out (during transition, in the end of the video, etc), for whatever reason, iMovie HD frequently chokes and the audio stutter. At first I thought this is only on the project/preview, but the stutter is permanent, included in the final video. Highly annoying. I have yet to have this issue in iMovie 08, and iMovie 08 handles audio fade-outs almost automatically most of the time.
-I love the youtube uploading automation a lot. Makes things much easier and more straightforward.
-Adding and editing the duration of transitions feels easier and more straightforward. Again, iMovie HD sometimes chokes on transitions for whatever reason.

Annoyance:
-iMovie 08 doesn’t recognize non-native videos (xvid) after importing, even if you cut them using QTpro and have .mov container and/or installed the codec support for Quicktime (ie. perian). I had to export the xvid clips to H.264. A way to promote QTpro? QTpro IS useful in cutting down xvid videos and exporting the clips to H.264, so you don’t have to wait iMovie 08 transcoding the whole large xvid video.

Stuff that I missed from iMovie HD:
-Effects! There are TONS more effects and transitions in iMovie HD, even advance effects like faster/slower video speed. iMovie 08 has no advance effects, and only basic transitions.
-Editing texts feels easier and more straightforward in iMovie HD. It’s confusing to edit the text in iMovie 08 outside the preset ones.
-Timeline view. One time I want to start working on a video clip in iMovie 08 starting from the end of the backgroud music and working towards the beginning. No can do. iMovie 08 snap the video clips in ascending order from the beginning of the backgroud music, and I can’t find a way to snap them to the end of the music. The timeline view of iMovie HD gives more flexibility in creating a project.

In short, I wish Apple improved and fixed the bugs of iMovie HD instead of making iMovie 08. Sure, iMovie 08 makes editing videos more user friendly, but once you get the hang of it, you start feeling limited and wanting more (transitions, effects, timeline view, etc). I guess that’s Apple’s way to sell Final Cut express/pro.

 

iMovie08 youtube uploading issue (workaround)

For the past couple days, I’ve been baffled with iMovie08. Every time I wanted to upload my video to youtube, it spit out an error message “YouTube reported an unknown error.” Yeah, not really helpful there. After combing Apple’s discussion forum, apparently iMove08 choked on non-standard character passwords. I remembered that I just changed my Google password into some random gibberish for security reason. I changed my Google password to contain only letters and numbers, and voila, iMovie08 youtube uploading works again. That’s just lame. I mean what is the problem of submitting a bunch of standard keyboard characters? So much for trying to be more secure. Apple, fix this!

 

iMovie 08 first impression

A lot of people criticized iMovie 08 when it was first introduced. While you could say that iMovie 06 was a simplified version of Final Cut, iMovie 08 is more like iPhoto instead of Final Cut. Unlike iMovie 06 where you deal with projects individually, iMovie 08 scan your library for all movies and treat them like a library, like iPhoto.

I already can see several editing capabilities being limited in iMovie 08 compared to iMovie 06. However, 1 thing that iMovie 08 performed admirably, is Youtube uploading. On iMovie 06, I can create a great short movie, but then I have to encode it twice, once to export the movie from iMovie 06, second during uploading to Youtube. Encoding videos takes time, plus iMovie 06 doesn’t have a quick preset for youtube. iMovie 08 makes this into 1 simple step, by simply clicking “Share,” then “Youtube.” iMovie 08 will automatically encode and upload the video in 1 go. I haven’t done any video editing on iMovie 08 yet, but the quick upload to Youtube is greatly welcomed.

Apple is focusing more on quickly processing your movie and sharing it instead of a video editing app with iMovie 08. Obviously Apple wants you to buy Final Cut Express/pro if you need a real video editing app. Luckily, iMovie 06 is available for download now, free for iLife 08 users.