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Moving Video from the Camera to Your Mac

After you capture great footage with your video camera, you’re ready to make a movie. First you’ll need to connect your video camera to your Mac, and then copy footage from the camera into iMovie HD, a process known as importing.
 
iMovie makes importing easy. When you import video into an iMovie project, it automatically divides your video into individual clips, making it easy to edit. And with the Magic iMovie feature iMovie HD automatically organizes your clips and adds transitions, titles, and music. You get a complete movie with the click of a button.
 
 
 
Tips Step-by-Step
 
 

Let iMovie HD automatically create a movie for you

If you’re in a hurry you can make a Magic iMovie and automate your editing. You just plug in your video camera and iMovie HD automatically imports and sequentially arranges your video in the timeline. You’ll select the titles, transitions and the soundtrack, and let iMovie HD do the rest.

Monitor the amount of hard disk space remaining

Digital video clips use a large amount of hard disk space. For example, five minutes of DV footage uses approximately 1GB of space. The same amount of HD video can occupy between 2GB to 4GB depending on the format. If you have limited hard disk space, import and edit your video in sections instead of trying to do so all at once. You can see how much space remains on your hard disk by using the monitor located in the lower-right corner of the iMovie window.

iMovie HD automatically supports different video formats

iMovie automatically understands what type of video you’re importing from your video camera. iMovie HD supports DV and HD files. You can choose MPEG-4 if you’re working with video imported from a phone or PDA, or even iSight format if you’re recording with your Apple iSight.

What you need to make a high-definition video with iMovie

High definition video is quickly becoming the format you see broadcast on TV. An HD camera stores more pixels than a standard definition camera, letting you see more crisp detail in your video footage. iMovie supports editing with HD video footage (HDV 720p and 1080i), so you can make movies just like the pros.

Importing video from an MPEG-4 camera

You can use many digital still cameras, PDAs and cell phones to record short videos. MPEG-4 is a standard compression that is used to significantly reduce the file size of video. When you attach cameras, PDAs and cell phones to your Mac you’ll see them appear as a volumes on your desktop. Just open the volume and drag the movie right to the iMovie clips pane in your project.

Importing video from your iSight camera

You can use your iSight camera to record video directly into your iMovie project. This means you can spontaneously add clips to your project while you’re working on it. Just connect your iSight camera to the FireWire port of your Mac and you’re ready to start recording. Because iMovie HD supports the iSight file format, you don’t have to wait for your footage to be converted.

Import directly to the iMovie timeline

You can import footage directly from your video camera to the iMovie timeline rather than to the Clips pane. This is a quick and easy way to get your footage into your iMovie project. You can then edit right in the timeline. Go to the iMovie HD menu, choose Preferences, click the Import tab and then choose to place clips in the Movie Timeline.

If you’re importing video that is already edited

Instead of importing your video as separate clips, you can set iMovie HD to import your video as a single clip. This may be useful if you’re importing a movie that you’ve already edited and you just want to change a small portion. Go to the iMovie HD menu, choose Preferences, click the Import tab and then deselect the “Start new clip at each scene break” option.

Import video from your video camera to iMovie HD
  1. Use a FireWire cable to connect your video camera to the FireWire port on your Mac, then turn on your camera.
  2. Click the iMovie HD icon in the Dock.
  3. Create a new project by clicking the Create Project button or by going to the File menu and then choosing New Project.
  4. In the window that appears, type a name for your project. Notice that iMovie HD automatically saves your project in the Movies folder on your hard disk.
  5. Click the Create button.
  6. Use the playback controls in iMovie HD to rewind to where you want to start importing.
  7. Click the Import button.
  8. Watch as the clips appear in the iMovie HD Clips pane.
  9. When you’re finished importing, click the Import button again.
  10. Save your project by opening the File menu and choosing Save Project.
  


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