How would you change iMovie '08: special emergency software edition
By Ryan Block 
posted August 9th 2007 8:56AM
posted August 9th 2007 8:56AM
posted August 9th 2007 8:56AM
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If you think iMovie '08 is bad, you should see the comment on iWeb '08! It almost unusable!
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1193&start=0
My suggestion: Allow batch capturing select clips from your camera. That feature is an incredible time-saver. Not even Final Cut Express allows this! WTF?!
It looks to me like Apple is really trying to move away from the idea of video and movies on DVD and more towards streaming clips on Apple TV, downloading to iPhone and uploading to the web. It explains why many of the options are stripped out, like chapter markers and multiple audio clips with different volumes. I agree with Mike Shaffer. iMovie 08 is really moving towards quick and dirty clips and not full blown movies and videos.
I do like the idea of the iPhoto-like browsing system though. I wish I could have that in 06. I think I'll continue to use 06 for some things. I understand the move away from DVD creation in 08. After playing with iMovie 05 for a few months after I got my Mac a couple years ago I realized that I really didn't see a need to burn all my video to different DVDs to play in a DVD player. I just wanted to stream it to my TV whenever I wanted to see it. iDVD is still a great program though, and it as come in handy plenty of times when I needed to give a slideshow to the Grandparents or make DVDs for my wife's Kindergarten class. I'll be using iDVD for some time, and iMovie 06.
An important question I have is if you use the '06 version of iMovie, does it work with the '08 version of iDVD? Does it work with the '08 version of iPhoto? I can't even run iMovie '08 on my PowerMac G4 so I wasn't planning to install iMovie '08 anyway, but I don't want the functionality I have now in iMovie '06 to be broken in iMovie '06.
I think people are missing the point of iMovie '08.
iMovie '06 (HD) was a simple video editing application, whereas iMovie '08 is a video CATALOGING app. It's like iPhoto, but for movies, which is great, because if I shoot movies from my camera, I don't want to lump them into iPhoto. I want a separate catalog where I can browse through all the movies I've shot, and for the most part, just view them, and MAYBE stitch together a cool little movie to upload.
But for the most part, I think the focus of iMovie '08 is cataloging, not video editing/creation.
Ok, but many of us do want an updated iMovie that is for making/editing movies and not just cataloging video. Adding an iCatalog would have been fine, but taking out a real iMovie was a huge mistake. Sure, we can use '06, but we wanted and expected an improved iMovie. It's a major disappointment.
You say that iMovie 08 is for cataloguing, which is not so true if you use a decent video format. In DV 1 hour video is about 12 Gb, in HD about 20. I don't know how many Tb you have on your mac, but the last time I checked, the iMac came with only a 250Gb Hard drive. Or, if you prefer, about 20 hours of video (DV-SD). 10 Hours in HD video.
The new iMovie is something good just to archive and *edit* (poorly) short clips taken with a cell phone.
What a downgrade. I would never expect that!
Heres an idea, get rid of the freaking "i" in front of it! I dont want it to be"mine"...i dont want to go to someone who doesnt no any apple product names and go "you want to see the movie i made in imovie?" and he here him say "I believe that is improper grammer...FAIL"...Screw apple, i hate them, everything has to be "i" with them. jz.
Apple's taken one step forward and two steps back.
I'm not impressed.
Damn the torpedoes. IMO
iMovie sucked at what it did. So they made it better and faster to make quick and easy movies. I love the new version and the new Ken burns effects are actually usable.
FCE/FCP are amazing apps and if you want full timeline controls FCE might be what your looking for. IMO and it's just that iMovie didn't do a good job of it [solid timeline control] or making it super easy to make good movies. Just easy to make really bad ones with pictures, text and effects that lasted way to long. I am glad it changed otherwise iMovie might have turned into the next powerpoint.
Maybe they want more Final cut express money
i think apple should combine both iMovies to one AMAZING video editing app. take the best of both and be like "BOOM"
Does no one realize what Apple has done here? They have taken iPhoto, and used that as an example as to how iMovie should work. You load in all the movies you have, they are archived, and if you would like, you can string some clips together and make a little movie to share. They stripped iMovie down to a less powerful version, with some nice easy to use features, because it was exactly that, TOO POWERFUL. I have always found that iMovie has never been simple enough, they have always included features, which are nice, but not easy to use or comprehend. iLife is supposed to be easy, and now one more feature is easy, that leaves garageband, which I hope they don't change, cause that would take away the cheapest/powerful DAW that I know of. I personally like the new iMovie, but that is because I am a pro-video editor, so if I ever want to do something more than throw a couple clips together, or set something up that my wife, or other family members can create with, I just pop open FCP and snip-snap, it's done!
If you guys don't believe me you can check my work out at, web.mac.com/gabe_wakeman
I'm confused, I went to your site, but there was nothing there other than an iWeb "We're working on our site" page. Was there supposed to be video? I'd like to see what can be done with the new iMovie, because to me it seems to be a huge step backward. Skimming isn't that important a feature when you contrast it to the loss of editing, multiple audio channels, etc. I bought ilife 08 specifically for what I thought would be an even better iMovie experience. To your comment about the rest of iLife, I don't agree. Garageband isn't a super-simple idiot proof app, it takes time getting to learn it. I'm a musician and use Logic Pro, but still welcome the ability Garageband gives me if I'm traveling with a notebook, etc. I think Apple is thinking a bit too much, as opposed to listening...
sorry about that, I just took my site down because I am updating it, etc.
you can get to it by going to http://web.mac.com/gabe_wakeman/iWeb/Business/Reel.html
From what it looks like (and I'll be able to play with it soon) iMovie '08 was not very thought out with everyone in mind. If Apple were to do this right, they would have taken a cue from Garageband. I say that because Garageband has different modes: New Song (standard), New Podcast (specialization), New Movie Score (specialization). They should have made a New Movie, Quick Movie, and Magic iMovie. That would make more sense. You would have the regular mode for more detailed editing which iMovie was already great at, and then you would have a Quick Movie mode for 5 minute clips for the YouTube generation, and Magic iMovie as they had before. They were clearly not thinking of everyone when it came to this new version of the software. They just assumed that "everyone" is a YouTube addict and therefore "everyone" should be able to make a 5 minute montage of mindless arbitrary camera action with some punk music in the background. It's a real insult to aspiring videographers and I really think it dumbs down video editing by a great amount. Time for a Re-DO!
Are people forgetting that Windows Movie Maker has collections for compiling videos? I don't like WMM (Premiere Elements and others are better IMO), but it's nothing revolutionary, is it?
iMovie '08 seems like 2 steps back with no steps forward. No timeline view, less control on effects, lack of audio isolation.
Also, Apple needs to make clear where videos should remain. iPhoto plays vids, iTunes catalogs them for transfer, and iMovie catalogs them for editing? Some clarity would be nice.
Also, for those who say it's supposed to be stripped-down, it shouldn't be. The selling point of iMovie was that you could get a decently-featured movie editor that comes with your comp.
For all those YouTube users and aspiring filmmakers not ready for the jump to FCE, it was perfect. FCE is too expensive and complicated for someone like a young student doing a film project at school and iMovie '08 gives too little control over your material.
Now, yes, you can use the old version of iMovie, but that doesn't fix the flaw of making an incomplete product.
Hopefully Adobe will release Elements for Mac...
Real simple -- restore Third Party Plugin support...
I tried quite hard to like iMovie HD because I wanted to do editing on my MBP, but did not find it even as good as free Windows Movie Maker. As an example: I captured about 45 minutes 16:9 video from my Canon Elura, after capturing then software went through pilar boxing (about 90 minutes) and then finally I could start editing - but any transition I inserted had to go through a rendering process. Was I doing anthing wrong? (I have read that iMovie '08 finally eliminated rendering process). When I capture my video to Windows Movie Maker I can start editing right away (no pilar boxing, and no rendering of any transition). I was hoping that iMovie '08 will be a step forward - but from most comments I can see it is not. I am also not sure that iDVD is rendering videos to highest DVD resolution (720x480) as DVD burned by my PC looks sharper. It is sad, but when I had to edit a video I am going back to my PC where I can use very good editing programs that are in a $100 range. As iMovie '08 does not appear to be a solution I guess I will have to buy FCE, or continue editing videos using my PC.
Has anybpody tried to burn DVD from iMovie '08. Will iDVD accept HD resolution (960x540) that is ment for Apple TV and "downgrade" it to 720x480?
What i find funny, and telling here is that all of you so-called forward thinking Mac folk posting here...aren't :)
Virtually everything people have posted here about the audio is WRONG...you simple are so used to doing it the way you were that the obvious has escaped you...for example: ducking audio.
This is 10x easier to do with 08 and very precise to boot.
I also have audio over black...again, it does it, just a bit different, and a hell of a lot faster, than it used to.
I've been using iMovie since v1 and personally, outside of the loss of a couple of the themes, I like this approach much better. i can get the cuts and things up much faster and more precisely where i want them *the first time* and work on the content and get the overall flow in place *faster*.
I just sat down with it for an hour and instead of asking 'What the hell happened to the..." I just used the right-click...its pretty much there. The model is different but the method is pretty much the same.
And yeah no, sorry, I'm not missing the cheesy ass not-so-special effects :)
While it's true iMovie is meant for the consumer market and "serious" movie makers should consider Final Cut Express or Pro, I rate this as the equivalent of McDonald's announcing a new Big Mac with no meat in the bun. For years, Iv'e been making some pretty slick little movies (with a boatload of expensive plug-ins) with iMovie. This new version leaves me about as happy as a soggy hamburger bun covered in secret sauce.
Sure, I get left with iMovie '06. Now just as long as I never upgrade my hardware or OS, I will be able to keep making my slick little movies. The only thing I can hope for is that his Steveness recognizes the error of his ways and bends to consumer demand and public opinion. Cuz, like that happens all the tiime. Sigh.
I'd make it not crash every single time it runs. argh
Why can't there be two separate modes?
Fling your clips together in a sort of iMovie '08 interface and then refine your project in a more FCE/iMovie '06 interface.
Mino, the reason it reformats is that if wants to edit uncompressed video. Editing compressed video gives you nasty compression artifacts. To get rid of the letterboxing, change the kind of video format its using (not DV) The Elura looks like it records in DV, and doesn't have HD capability, so if you're recording 16:9, the camera is letterboxing it. I have had good experience importing and editing quickly in IMovie from a dv camera (in my case a JVC and a Sony). The only cause for reformatting on import from the camera that I can think of is that iMovie is set to be editing the wrong video format.
IMovie 07 was really quite nice. It had lots of great effects, transitions, etc. IMovie 08 lost those. IMovie 08 would be better as iMovie07 with the new title thingy, the new export options, and a pop-out sidebar for the "video library."
Use it before you abuse it....I was critical yesterday, no timeline, audio editing limits...used it to actually make something and it works..ken burns control, fast scrolling and smart export options.
I agree with the writer who mentioned how we talk up change more than trying it.
Count the number of time you used the cheesy effects transitions/fx etc in the old version...not counting when you were showing off to the kids..
No I am not a youtube junkie or user of that patronising term. Hey its the message that matters. If someone says they liked your movie because you used an exploding transition then there are other issues.
Folks,
iMovie 08 was created to solve the problem of how to edit with all the increasing plethora of DVD and Hard Drive based camcorders. Apple and Sony pioneered many of these iM 08 techniques with their XDCam / FCP integration. Clip based playback and skimming is the wave of the future. This is the easiest way to edit these new formats. Yes it isi incredibly simplistic and consumer oriented and yes i am annoyed that with the big step forward they have taken 5 steps back to iMovie 1.0 but ...Give it time and the more pro based concepts will return and many of these new features, like clip skimming etc, will also appear in some variation in FCP & FCE
Thanks to the user reviews, I was spared the agonizing heart-break of finding out the hard way that iMovie '08 would send me directly into a collossal meltdown. Sheesh, half the fun of iMovie is the variety of capabilities. I would love the new iPhoto but will never go '08 unless iMovie gets a MAJOR improvement.
If it were up to me, I would incorporate a set of user levels defined by varying degrees of ability/intrest. '06 is so much fun to use, I had hoped that '08 would have added many more effects and cababilities. I'm so glad I didn't make the knee-jerk purchase that the 20-minute demo lulled into me.
It looks to me as if the only great thing about '08 is the cool-looking interface. Well, I don't typically sit at admire graphics when I'm trying to work on something. Apple, you pooed on my parade!
I love iMovie 08 for one simple reason
It imports NTSC MPEG-2 encoded video from my Sony HDD recorder directly, allows me to make my short videos and publish them to the net very, very easily (literally in minutes)
With iMovie 06 I would have to copy the files over using Finder, use VLC to view them or VisualHub to convert them, THEN import them into imovie 06 and spend time trying to figure out how the hell it worked (I have no background in video).
I'm am extremely happy with iMovie 08, speaking as someone who abandoned using iMovie 06 after hours of frustration and 'Please wait whilst I convert stuff'.
Adding support for your camera in a legitimate upgrade of iMovie 06 would not have been easier? And do a quick scan of a clip in '06 was also doable. Just move the position of the triangle in the preview window..
iMovie 06 did almost all of '08 and so much more.
adding themes would be GREAT, also the ability to extract audio, and if u can add timeline view somehow, it would be the ultimate imovie!!!
I want the whole timeline back. I want being able to edit your movies in a timeline, and add music in to come back. I make 'real' movies, and that's one of the features that's key to me. This, to me, is a piece of garbage. This isn't the way I would want to edit the movie. I like iMovie HD fine, thank you very much.
There is a lot of discussion here about editing videos and how bad iMovie 8 is. I used both, iMovie 08 is certainly not an upgrade but found it quite good for quick editing, and if you play with it you will find that it has some nice features that would appeal to weekend family videographers. My question is what do you do after editing. I found both iDVD's to produce low quality DVD (even at the highest quality settings) as compared to DVD I can get using an under $100 software. Are you happy with the quality of DVD you are getting? I am sure that if I spend over $1k for FCE and Studio Pro I would get good quality DVD, but that is too much.
I just export straight from iMovie HD. I don't have a need to make a DVD. I just upload my completed movies to the internet.
Ever tried to actually import HD into a G4 at that level? I have 3 Sony FX1's, and i'll tell all of you jackasses now: If you want to edit video, update your antiquated dinosaurs of machines. seriously. no G4 using FCP 4.5+(which is where HD support was introduced) could actually run HD. iMovie HD 6 Could not run 720i HD, 720P, or 1080i on a G4. quit your bitching. I second the opinion that iMovie 08 is a little lacking in the complexity department, but for people like my brother who has no need to do anything but put clips in order and put them to music, it works 5x faster than iMovie did. Oh, and to the person who complained about FCE being too complicated, read the user manual. I've seen people with at most rudamentary computer skills learn to use FCE and FCP in 15-20 minutes. Not a bad learning curve. get a grip.
Sounds like a lot of folks are ready to move on to Final Cut Express. Given that product's availability, I'm GLAD iMovie is now much simpler. If Apple had continued to advance iMove in the same direction there would be very little difference between iMovie and FCE.
Now, as it stands, Apple offers a VERY easy way to make movies, an intermediate app for more serious consumers, and a professional suite.
This really adds evidence to what Steve Jobs has said himself about the iPod:
"We need to be careful of the features we add, because we can't take them away"
At first I thought iMovie08 was going to save me tons of time, but all I really need is a 2cd video track. I'll get FCE....
David Pogue has axed down the new iMovie 08 in the new york times.
Read it all at
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/16/technology/16pogue-email.html?ex=1345089600&en=3c04dda376070290&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
I would have never tought to see such a bad review of iMovie. This is the bottom line. iMovie 08 really sucks.
looks rushed - the dev's had spent too much time on iphone and 10.5 - maybe time to hire some more staff rather then rushing software
I just got my copy of iLife a couple days ago. I read some of the comments on here and freaked out! The main reason I bought iLife was for iMovie '08. I thought that this would help me be able to quickly cut together promo videos and music videos I do on the side for friends and family. My freaking out stopped when I started using the software. Apple's not kidding, the setup makes editing substantially faster. Although I love the classic iMovie, this does increase my productivity in editing. And if I REALLY need something with a little kick... I can use Final Cut.
I really don't understand all of the whining you people are making.
I'm a hardcore Mac user and I am very disappointed with iMovie 08. I have used it for two days and I will be going back to iMovie HD. Here is why: no chapter markers, no timeline view, no editing of second audio track, no driect connection to iDVD. iMoview 08 is a downgrade from iMove HD. I bought iLife 08 primarily because of iMovie. I wish I could get my money back. I would have bought FCE instead. iMovie 08 is targeted towards users that want to put their movies on YouTube, and apple TV, and not for people that want to make DVDs. Next time, I won't be so fast to upgrade, I'll read the reviews first.
Sad MacZealot
And how about something as simple as extracting audio. I used that one a lot whaen I wanted the audio from a clip to continue over a photo or another clip.
This crap is SOOOOOO Bogus.
THANKS FOR NOTHING APPLE!!!!!
Apple, for all its well-branded strengths, seems to have underestimated how many people were using iMovie HD and previous versions for the purpose of editing films. My family, for starters, has made several not-so-"major" motion pictures in the past, and has even started a film camp for elementary school students using the program. iMovie '08 does not live up to its name, it's a different program w/ far different uses and targeted users. I don't know of many people who like it, nor of many people who would ever use it.
To name things I'd like brought back: just about everything in iMovie HD...
iMovie 08 is New Coke.
It will become a milestone of monumental failure for Apple.
Sad. :(