iMovie and MPEG4 AVC/H.264 Editing

General questions or discussion about HandBrake, Video and/or audio transcoding, trends etc.
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nathug
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Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:21 pm

iMovie and MPEG4 AVC/H.264 Editing

Post by nathug »

iMovie 09 can now edit the MPEG4 AVC/H.264 natively without converting to the Apple format or DV which bloats the file size around 8x. Sanyo and a few other camera manufacturers have this in their new line coming out this month.

Is there a setting in HB for conversion to this? or is it still best to use Streamclip. I only ask as Canon uses the AVCHD. I read that this is .m2ts, but again the file size imported into iMovie jumps 8x in file size. Maybe HB can help lets us all keep our Camera movie files to a more manageable size for editing?

Nate
belloq
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Re: iMovie and MPEG4 AVC/H.264 Editing

Post by belloq »

If you want to edit it lossless, you're going to get bloat. That's what happened in iMovie '08 and FCE 4.x. HB can convert the m2t files from the Canon camera, but it will be lossy. HB can do 100%, but it will bloat horribly. That's just the way it is with converting formats.

I think that even if you convert it with near lossless (imperceptible to the eye) quality with HB, iMovie may still convert/bloat it after that. Hard to say. Try it with a short clip and check the clip sizes at each step.
nathug
Bright Spark User
Posts: 204
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:21 pm

Re: iMovie and MPEG4 AVC/H.264 Editing

Post by nathug »

Sanyo camcorders are now MPEG 4, allowing you to put the files straight into iMovie as is, no conversion for editing. If you get a canon right now, iMovie has to convert it. But what if I could convert the AVCHD file to MPEG 4 for editing right now to save on space. I already wish to drop the 1080p from these cameras to 720p for my ATV, so why not edit that way to with a small file.

Nate
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