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Troubleshooting iMovie 3.0.1: Switching between NTSC and PAL formats; Length of movies; audio buzz; more
Issues with iMovie 3.0.1 continue to fill MacFixIt's mailbox, with many readers now opting to revert to iMovie 2.1.2. Performance issues are generating the bulk of reports.
Redemption stems from the fact that although iMovie 3.0.1 is painfully slow for any relatively long projects (on even the fastest systems), the end results generated by the program are generally normal.
Switching between NTSC and PAL formats Developer MacParc has released a small program called iMovieVSS (listed in the Utilities Updates section below), that allows easy switching between the default video standard settings in iMovie - NTSC and PAL. The new release, 1.1b, has German and French localization, as well as some new menu commands.
Length of movies Readers continue to report that the length of the media being edited is a key factor in iMovie's performance. Depending largely on system speed and resources, the average maximum length of media before performance degradation occurs is 6-8 minutes.
Problems exporting Several readers corroborate that while playing a finished clip in iMovie 3.0.1 works properly, exporting the movie in QuickTime format results in audio mis-matches and other problems. Gfeller Andreas writes:
"The film starts with an audio track that belongs to a clip later in the film, mixed with a third audio track. [...] When playing the film inside iMovie 3, audio and video is always correct."
Audio buzz Jeffrey Miller accurately describes the widely reported "audio buzz" phenomenon on clips that are imported from iMovie 2:
"One major annoyance is that a couple of my iMovie 2 projects have an annoying buzz that obliterates the original sound. One project that is affected is about 25 minutes in length, and the buzzing is only heard when there should be sound from the original footage; the title-over-black sequence that had a short music clip plays fine. A second, 35 minute project that was just captured from a VHS tape with iMovie 2 on a G4/733 also produces this buzzing sound throughout. I downgraded the iMac to iMovie 2 (good thing I made a backup), and the buzzing disappears in this new project."
More Formac Studio problems We previously reported problems with the Formac Studio which is used to capture video from recorders, which tend to generate badly distorted sound files when used with iMovie 3. Michael Curtis notes that splitting the audio and video can eliminate some of the distortion, but still results in problems:
"We have a Formac Studio that we use to capture from our PAL video recorders. When you capture the sound is fine, when you play it back in iMovie the sound is terrible. Sounds like an untuned TV. If you separate the audio the sound is fine, but it starts 50 seconds into the clip. The sounds looks longer than movie in the time line. We had to move the movie to make it fit the sound."
Feedback on this issue? Drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.
Resources
I have the same exact problem! I wish I knew about this before upgrading with iLife... I can't work like this. There is a horrible audio noise across all my video clips (sounds like a fast jack-hammer). I have been converting my analog video to digital using Formac's Studio DV. It imports fine, but the problem is there upon playback. How did Apple release this software like this? No problems with iMovie 2 in this regard. The only work-around is extracting the audio from each video clip (which I learned here on MacFixIt). But this is unacceptable. I often need to split the video clips first and need to hear where exactly I want to split them... I can't with this noise, but the split would need to be done before the audio extraction.
Apple just needs to fix this bug. All my work is useless now.
The problem within iMovie 3 is that it seems that iMovie record the sound from these 4 mixed channels, with the buzzing sound, and there is no way to select only the first 2 channels....
I wonder wether it is a Formac Studio or an iMovie issue.....
I am using the Formac Studio DV... (not the one with the tuner and recording capabilities). It does not use any software from Formac... (it's all plug and play so to speak) so there is no way to control the audio tracks.
If this is an issue with the Formac Studio DV rather than iMovie 3, then there should be some sort of allowance for it in the new version of iMovie 3, since all worked well with the Formac Studio DV with iMovie 2. If I knew before hand that the software was going to break (become useless with Formac Studio DV) I would never had purchased iLife and upgraded to iMovie 3.
Does anyone know if the same issue with the Studio DV is the case with Final Cut Express? If not, perhaps I will consider upgrading to Final Cut Express since iMovie 3 is now usless for me. But I don't want to spend all that money of Final Cut Express if it is only going to result in the same horrible audio noise.
- by louis1 February 11, 2003 6:21 PM PST
- I called Apple Tech Support tonight concerning the audio noise which appears on all video clips imported using Formac Studio converters. I was informed that it is a known issue. Apple is working on a fix. There is no time table on when that update will be available, only that it is being addressed. I also inquired to see if the issue is also present in Apple's Final Cut Express, and I was told it is not an issue there. So those looking for an excuse to jump up to Final Cut Express - this may be it, otherwise hold tight and hopefully soon there will be an update for iMovie which will correct this issue.
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