Edit DV or Digital8 with iMovie 11

The following list of instructions does not have the dozens of screenshots provided in my The Ins and Outs of iMovie 11 eBook.


DV FireWire Capture
Start iMovie. Connect your camcorder to your Mac with a FireWire cable. Power-on your camcorder and set it to Playback mode. iMovie should auto-open its Import Tool. If it does not, click the Import from Camera button.
When you select Automatic, the tape will be first be rewound, and all video captured.
Click the Import button. The files will be imported and thumbnails generated.
When the import is complete, click the OK button to return to iMovie.
Quit iMovie.

DV Clip Conversion
When using 10.6 and 10.7 you need to restore the ability to choose the Motion-JPEG codec. Double-click the Terminal application (within the Utilities folder within the Applications folder). Type:

qtdefaults write LegacyCodecsEnabled yes [enter]

Restart your Mac and you will have access to all legacy codecs.

Download MPEG Streamclip ( www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html ) and install.

Launch MPEG Streamclip.
Issue List > Batch List.
Set Simultaneous tasks: to 4.
Click the Add Files… button.
Browse to the iMovie Events folder that has the DV files you have captured. Select your imported DV clips. Their extension will be .dv.
Click the To Batch button.
The MPEG Streamclip Please choose a task: dialog box will appear.
Select Export to QuickTime.
Click OK.
Browse to the disk where you want the converted files to be stored. Click the New Folder button and name it. For example “DV to Motion-JPEG.”
Click Select.
The Movie Exporter dialog box will appear, choose Apple Motion-JPEG A Codec.
Move the Quality slider to Best.
Set Sound to 48 kHz.
Select Lower Field First.
Be certain to check Interlaced Scaling.
Set Frame Size: for NTSC DV, select 640 x 480 (4:3); for PAL DV, select 768 x 576 (unscaled).
Click the Options… button and set One field (progressive)

Setting the file to “progressive” does not change video from interlaced (480i/576i) to progressive video. It does not deinterlace video.

Click the Adjustments… button.
Set Saturation to 108% to 116%.
Click OK.
Click the To Batch button.
If you have more folders to convert, click the Add Files… button and add the additional files.
Click the Go button to begin the conversion. The Motion-JPEG files will be about twice the size of the original DV files.
Close the Batch dialog box.
Quit MPEG Streamclip.

Create Standard Definition Movies
Empty your Mac’s Trash.
When you create a new project, choose a 4:3 aspect-ratio using the File > New Project… command.
Launch iMovie.
Issue File > Import Movies… and choose all Motion-JPEG clips from converted folder. Their extension will be .mov.
Create a New Event.
Use the Move option for the import.
Click the Import button to move and import the files.
Select the Event holding the DV clip.
Issue File > Move Event to Trash command.

When a project includes interlaced clips, if you employ Themes, Stabilize clips, employ a PIP or Crop, add a Ken Burns video effect, or use a Wipe, Ripple, Zoom, Page Turn, or Pseudo-3D transition (such as Swap), scaling artifacts may result as shown below. If you see artifacts, either alter the effects’ duration or remove the effect.

iMovie Share…
When you want to export movies, issue the Share… command.
Burn a DVD
Follow these steps to export a movie that you can import into iDVD or GargeBand if you want to add Chapters. (Chapters designated within iMovie will not be sent to iDVD.)

Issue the Share > Export using QuickTime… command.
Name your movie.
Click the Options… button.
Click the Video Settings… button.
Select the DVCPRO50 codec and make these settings:
* Quality = Best
* Scan Mode = Interlaced
* Aspect-ratio = 4:3
* PAL = 25 fps / NTSC = 29.97 fps

Click OK to close the Video Settings panel and click Filter… button.
Select Brightness… under Adjustments.
Set Brightness to 0 and Contrast to +5.
Click OK to close the Filter panel and then click the Size… button. (Do not check Deinterlace Source Video.)
PAL = “PAL 720 x 576 4:3” NTSC = “NTSC 720 x 480 4:3”
Click OK to close the Size panel.
Click the Sound Settings… button and make these settings:
* Linear PCM
* Stereo (L R)
* 48.000 kHz
* Best
* Sample = 16
* Little Endian
Click OK to close the Sound panel.
Click OK to close the Movie Settings panel.
Click the Save button.

Play DVDs on your Mac
When you play an interlaced DVD using the OS X DVD player you need to appropriately set the deinterlacing modes.
* Enable Deinterlacing.
* Check Optimal Quality.
The diamond shows the quality level automatically chosen by the DVD player.

Create for the Internet
Because Internet video must be progressive and you have exported an interlaced movie, before uploading the file, the exported movie must be deinterlaced. To perform a high quality deinterlace of the movie you exported, follow these instructions.

Download and Install the x264 Codec. The x264 encodes higher quality H.264/AVC than the Apple’s H.264 codec. Download at:
http://download.cnet.com/x264-QuickTime-Codec/3000-2170_4-127324.html?tag=rb_content;main .

JES Deinterlacer 3.7.1 (www.xs4all.nl/~jeschot/home.html) is a freeware OS X application that can convert 50i/60i to 25p/30p using adaptive deinterlacing.

After installing JES, start the application.
Open JES Preferences… and make these settings:
General tab: Keep sound
Select the Input tab.
Click the Choose… button.
Select the DVCPRO50 movie to convert.
Click Choose.
Confirm Top field first (in) is not checked.
Confirm Progressive (in) is not checked.
Set Block match threshold to 300.
Select the Project tab.
Select Deinterlace.
Select Use bottom field.
Check Adaptive.
Check Local.
Select Normal height.
Select the Output tab.

Set both Target values to zero unless you edited analog video. If you edited analog video, set Top to 8 to remove “head-switching” noise.

Confirm that Top field first (out) is not checked.
Confirm that progressive (out) is checked.
Select Export.
Slowly click twice on QuickTime Movie.
Click the Video Settings… button.
Select the H.264 (x264) codec.
Select 25 or 29.97 fps.
Set Key Frames to Every 24 frames.
Check Frame Reordering.
Select Quality to Best.
Select Encoding to Best quality (Multi-pass).
Restrict to 2400 kbits/sec.
Click the Options… button.
Check CABAC.
Click OK to close the Options panel.
Click OK to close the Video Settings panel.
Click the Size… button. (Do not check Deinterlace Source Video)
PAL = “PAL 720 x 576 4:3” NTSC = “NTSC 720 x 480 4:3”
Click OK to close the Size panel.
* ACC
* Stereo (L R)
* 44.100 kHz
* Best
* Rate = 192 kbps
* Little Endian
Click OK to close the Sound panel.
Click OK to close the Movie Settings panel.
Click the Put… button.
Name the file and click the Save button.
Click the OK button to begin the conversion.
If you see a “Reset frame rate” message, simply click OK.

The eBook also has detailed instructions on editing VHS, VHS-C, S-VHS, S-VHS-C, Video8, Hi8 that has been copied to DV or Digital8 tape.

To learn more and order my eBook click The Ins and Outs of iMovie 11 click:

http://home.mindspring.com/~d-v-c/page1/page1.html


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