How to edit mp4 files and play them on my PS3?

[FlipUser]

Hi All,

This is my first post so please be gentle.
I feel I have done my homework on this and I finally got too fed up… I need help!
I am going to start with my high level objectives:
All I want to be able to do some very basic editing of video’s captured with my new Flip UltraHD and play them through my Playstation 3 at the highest possible resolution.
Sounds easy right? Not so much…

As far as I can tell the PS3 demands that the files be in MP4 format to play them. (any tricks to play avi’s or mov’s?, do they need to be AVC1 encoded?)
This just happens to be the format that the FlipUltra records in. (Wonderful!)
My very first editing objectives are to be able to rotate the video 180 degree’s, do some basic stabilization, and stitch multiple clips together. (autocross clips)
I am able to do this fine with iMovie and at first glance it seems I can export it via quicktime to an MP4 file.
My first stumbling block is that it seems that iMovie will only export to MP4 at some very low resolution. (Why? Any tricks to fix this?)
I am open to using a different editor. I played with VirtualDub for a while and got to the point where I can get it to load the video, however I can’t figure out how to export it back to mp4 (any tricks here?).

Please help, thanks!

PS: I am determined to do this without spending any additional money on editing software. I also don’t want to monkey with 30 day trials that expire and then leave me with no long term solution. Please let me know if this is not realistic.

[Ai Haibara]

Have you updated your PS3 to the latest firmware? The PS3 can now play DivX/Xvid-encoded AVIs, as well.

Edit: At the time of this post, the latest firmware version is 3.0.1. More information at http://www.us.playstation.com/Support/SystemUpdates/PS3 .

[Baldrick]

Can you save in HD in some other format in iMovie? like Apple Intermediate Codec and then reconvert it to mp4 h264 using for example handbrake or mpeg streamclip.

Or try edit, cut, join and rotate in avidemux.

[FlipUser]

I tried avidemux and it worked like a champ.
Thanks!