Edited iMovie footage back to tape?

[deeb70]

Sorry if this has been answered before. If I have iMovie 06 and want to import into it, edit with it (transitions, music etc.) and import it back to tape, all using HDV 1080i30i (60i?). Would this be the best way to keep the same quality as the original tape?

Basically I want to keep an edited HDV filmed birthday party on tape so when Blu-Ray or HD-DVD prices become more affordable I'll be able to put it on an HD disc.

Will I have to deinterlace before putting back onto tape? The final product will be a HD disc & tape.

I'm new to all this and it's a bit confusing.

Thanks for any help you can give.

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

1. You need to pick 60i.
2. No, the quality won't be as good as in the original tape because there will be a re-encoding in .m2t in the meantime. You will have to export in Apple's Intermediate Format (or simply keep all the imovie project/files around) so when the time comes, you can export directly to HD optical media.
3. No, you don't need to de-interlace for .m2t tape format and Apple Intermediate. You need to de-interlace for every other exporting format though, e.g. for h.264/youtube reasons.

[deeb70]

Thanks for the quick reply.

So if I have read your reply correctly, if I take my edited piece in iMovie and export out to tape using AIC, which I believe it does automatically, then my footage will be exactly the same as my raw footage?

Thanks again! :hv20-smilie03:

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

No, the HV20 can only read .m2t from the tapes, and that's a LOSSY format. The Apple Intermediate format is lossless, but it can only be read by Macs (not even the Quicktime on PCs).

Again, to view the video yourself, just export back to tape. But for *archival* reasons for future usage, you need to either preserve the iMovie project+files and re-export with a future iMovie that supports HD-DVD/BD, or, you will need to export to Apple Intermediate Format.

[deeb70]

I thought that when you import into iMovie it is making your footage AIC. I thought that's why an hour of footage takes 30-70gigs of space instead of the 10-12gigs.

I'm using a Mac. So if I'm using iMovie how would I get my footage to be AIC so that I can export back to tape without the quality loss.

Thanks again! :hv20-smilie03:

[MacWilliam]

I thought that when you import into iMovie it is making your footage AIC. I thought that's why an hour of footage takes 30-70gigs of space instead of the 10-12gigs.

I'm using a Mac. So if I'm using iMovie how would I get my footage to be AIC so that I can export back to tape without the quality loss.

Thanks again! :hv20-smilie03:

An older question which draw my attention as I'm also interested in the answer. Thanks for the help in advance.

[mattias]

The Apple Intermediate format is lossless
no, unfortunately not. i think it's i-frame only mpeg-2. and even if this is what imovie uses internally i'm pretty sure if you export to quicktime it forces recompression so even then you lose a generation.

/matt