Insanely dumb: a glaring iMovie 08 omission
By S Simmons. Filed in Editing |
Rant begin.
I’ve written a few posts to voice some support for iMovie 08. It took a totally new approach to editing and really invented what is one of the quickest ways to get a cut done. It’s really perfect for something like the 3 hours of transferred Super 8 film that I had to gather for my mother-in-law as a Christmas surprise. Ahh the joys of being an editor at Christmas time. iMovie 08 is perfect for that kind of thing. Quickly get the footage in, edited and out.
But it’s that out part that is insanely dumb. Not the fact that you have options to publish to You Tube or encode for your iPhone, that’s very 2008, but the fact that there is no easy one click option to go to DVD. Or even go to iDVD since, you know … iDVD is actually part of the iLife suite of software!
Under the Share menu you get no mention of DVD:
Upon Share > Export Movie you get options to export via Quicktime presets:
What strikes me as odd is that you have specific icons for specific export options but no mention of DVD or iDVD. There is an option to export to any flavor of Quicktime but that’s not a one button to DVD that is seems like that app should have. The only place where iDVD is mentioned is if you use the Share > Media Browser option:
This wasn’t an accident. When Steve Jobs introduced the iLife 08 package there was no mention of iDVD in the presentation that I can recall. But what he did say was that DVDs where an old technology on their way out. Those weren’t the exact words but I believe he meant something to that effect. So for the rest of us that means no built-in DVD support in the iLife apps. Is this just Jobs being tired of DVD or Apple trying to move technology forward like they did when they eliminated the floppy drive or added USB to the first iMacs? Whatever the reason is I think it is insanely dumb. Broadband web delivery of video is great but there’s still a lot of less than broadband connections out there. Not to mention the fact that even with a broadband connection a 90 minute program is a bit too big for You Tube! That’s when you want to go to DVD Steve. At least in iDVD you can now Save as VIDEO_TS folder. Then use Toast to burn the DVD right. That’s something insanely smart.
Rant end.
Monday, December 17th 2007 at 8:55 pm
Actually… its not as bad as you think….
All you need to do is Save the Project and check the box to include media preview.
You then switch to iDVD and simply look in your movies folder in the Media Browser (it will be there).
ALL the apps work this way now… if you want to go to GarageBand, etc… same way.
Take a look at the new iLife Apple Book… I cowrote it.
BTW…. what I don’t like… is that it makes an MPEG4 file first… then goes to MPEG 2.
Monday, December 17th 2007 at 10:16 pm
Rumor has it that the new Mac Book Pro to be announced in January won’t even have a drive for DVDs and CD’s. Is it too soon to make this step? For me, I won’t be delivering online for at least 2 years, my guess.
Tuesday, December 18th 2007 at 4:41 pm
The rumored Macbook Pro would be an ultra-portal 13″ model. They would eliminate the CD/DVD drive because of space issues. Everything I’ve read is there are no plans to eliminate the DVD burner in the 15″ and 17″ models.
Friday, December 21st 2007 at 12:58 am
Apple did not upgrade DVD Studio Pro to a new version when they released their Final Cut Studio 2 last spring. It is obvious Apple do not care much about DVD’s these days.
Sunday, December 23rd 2007 at 1:53 pm
Its not that they don’t care abut DVDs,
its that we are stuck in transition … the industry is still trying to figure out bluray vs hd dvd…. why release new tools when burners and everything else is screwed up.
Trust me.. they are working in something new.
Wednesday, January 2nd 2008 at 8:37 pm
I just imported video from my camera into iMovie 2008, dragged it to a project called Grandma, and quit the application. Load up iDVD, File, OneStep DVD from Movie…, browse to Movie folder, open Grandma.dv, insert DVD, um.. done?
Not one button anymore, but not exactly a complex workflow either. I don’t believe that involved any double encoding either… Am I missing something? Aren’t all iMovie projects saved as DV files? I didn’t do any editing at all, is there a catch somewhere?
Wednesday, January 2nd 2008 at 9:04 pm
I found out what I did, I had tried a quicktime export to a DV stream earlier and gave up, that must have been the DV file I found. Now I feel everyone’s pain! I’ve heard there’s problems importing a DV stream into iDVD now, but that’s the route I’m going to try when this encoding is done.
Sunday, January 20th 2008 at 7:00 am
How to insert a clip while retaining original clip audio in iMovie 08?
Sunday, January 20th 2008 at 10:01 pm
Michael, when you edit a piece of video in iMovie the audio stays with it does it not?
Wednesday, January 23rd 2008 at 6:42 pm
Editblog, Yes it does. I want to intercut insert video while retaining the original video’s audio. In other words: singer singing, insert visuals, cut back to singer, insert visuals, cut back to singer, etc.
iMovie HD does it.
Thank you
Friday, January 25th 2008 at 6:44 am
Right, you want to do traditional editing! I think that’s one of the big debates that iMovie 08 doesn’t allow simple things like this. You best bet is to grab the free downoad of the old version or move to Final Cut Express.