iMovie import snag from friends Pinnacle Studio 9 DVDs

[pizzapizza]

Hello,
I thought this would be a simple project but...

I'm trying to import clips from a friend who sends them to me on DVDs.
Each disc has about 6 .avi files on it. The quality is excellent. He says they are full capture video. When I import the clips into iMovie4 and 'share' in various settings the quality goes way down. I've heard this is because iMovie 4 converts everything to DV streams.
Not sure about this. What do I have to do or purchase to keep the quality the same as the original footage?

Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Al

[DanSlagle]

Hello,
I thought this would be a simple project but...

I'm trying to import clips from a friend who sends them to me on DVDs.
Each disc has about 6 .avi files on it. The quality is excellent. He says they are full capture video. When I import the clips into iMovie4 and 'share' in various settings the quality goes way down. I've heard this is because iMovie 4 converts everything to DV streams.
Not sure about this. What do I have to do or purchase to keep the quality the same as the original footage?

Then get him to send you the DV files or the tape(s). That IS the "best quality"

[pizzapizza]

Hi and thanks for the reply,

He was sending me the full DV but he lives in the UK
and have just found out that it is PAL. My computer was set for NTSC.

I've changed that preference and have made a lot of progress with the quaity. I now need to tweak the settings within iMove 4 to make it look very good.

I just purchased Sorenson Squeeze 4 Compression Suite for the final encoding. This should make for a much better overall finished product.

Thanks again and take care,

Al

[DanSlagle]

Hi and thanks for the reply,

He was sending me the full DV but he lives in the UK
and have just found out that it is PAL. My computer was set for NTSC.

I've changed that preference and have made a lot of progress with the quaity. I now need to tweak the settings within iMove 4 to make it look very good.

I just purchased Sorenson Squeeze 4 Compression Suite for the final encoding. This should make for a much better overall finished product.

Thanks again and take care,

Al

My boy Lennat is the PAL to NTSC master and wrote this up. Not sure if it helps you going from 25 to 30 FPS.

http://www.danslagle.com/mac/iMovie/tips_tricks/6017.shtml