32.3. Starting Up and ImportingTrouble getting going? Here's some advice. 32.3.1. "Some stray files were found" MessageThis message is, fortunately, going the way of floppy disks; it occurs very rarely in iMovie HD projects. Even so, it may still pop up occasionally when you're opening older iMovie projects. Here's the explanation. You're never supposed to move, delete, rename, or fiddle with any of the icons in your project folder's Media folder (Section 13.7.1.1). iMovie itself is supposed to manage those clips, behind the scenes. But if you put a clip into the Media folder yourself a much more difficult proposition in iMovie HDthen the next time you open the project, you get the message shown in Figure 32-1. iMovie doesn't recognize some of the clips it found there, and has moved them to the iMovie HD Trash. It invites you to (a) view the Trash contents, or (b) not. That's the theory, anyway. In the real world, you'll probably get the "stray files" message from time to time, even when you haven't been anywhere near the Media folder. Sometimes iMovie just gets confused , as may be the case when the program bombs , or when you force quit it.
There's no real trouble to shoot here; click the option you prefer and get on with your life. 32.3.2. "Camera not connected"If you get this message in the Monitor window when you click the Camera button, it probably means one of these things:
If you get the "Camera not connected" message the very first time you try to connect a new camcorder to your Mac, and you've checked to make sure that the cable is connected properly and the camera is turned on, then you probably need to replace either the camera or the FireWire cable. (The occasional iMovie owner has become frustrated that a new camcorder doesn't work, but upon exchanging it for another of the same model, finds that it works beautifully.) 32.3.3. Import from Camera Stops After 23 SecondsFileVault, a feature of Mac OS X 10.3 and later, encrypts files in your Home folder so that ne'er-do-wells in the neighborhood can't break in when you're not at your desk. If you save an iMovie HD project into your Home folder, the Mac will try to encrypt the video you're importing from the camcorder in real timeand it can't be done. Either turn off FileVault, or save your iMovie HD project someplace outside your Home folder. 32.3.4. Dropouts in the VideoA dropout is a glitch in the picture. DV dropouts are always square or rectangular. They may be a blotch of the wrong color , or may be multicolored. They may appear every time you play a particular scene, or may appear at random. In severe circumstances, you may get lots of them, such as when you try to capture video to an old FireWire hard drive that's too slow. Such a configuration may also cause tearing of the video picture. Fortunately, dropouts are fairly rare in digital video. If you get one, it's probably in one of these three circumstances:
If you spot the glitch at the same moment on the tape every time you play it, then the problem is on the tape itself. If it's there during one playback but gone during the next, the problem more likely lies with the heads in your camcorder. Tip: Different DV tape manufacturers use different lubricants on their tapes. As a result, mixing tapes from different manufacturers on the same camcorder can increase the likelihood of head clogs. It's a good idea, therefore, to stick with tapes from one manufacturer (Sony, Panasonic, or Maxell, for example) when possible. 32.3.5. BandingBanding in the video picture is a relative of dropouts, but is much less common. Once again, it may stem from dirt on either the tape itself or the heads in your camcorder. Most of the time, banding results when the tape was jammed or crinkled on an earlier journey through your camcorder. Now, as the tape plays, your camcorder heads encounter a creased portion of the tape, and then, until they can find clean information to display, fill the screen with whatever the last usable video information was. If the problem is with the tape itself, the banding disappears as soon as clean, smooth tape comes into contact with the playback heads. If you get banding when playing different cassettes, however, it's time to clean the heads of your camcorder. 32.3.6. iSight Titles and Transitions Look WrongSometimes iMovie HD imports video from an iSight camera with the wrong image size. The video looks fine in the iMovie window, but when titles and transitions are added to the video, they appear in the upper-left corner of the Monitor window. Actually, the titles and transitions are OK; it's the iSight video that's the wrong size. The trick is to choose Window Show Full Size Resolution before you import the video. Then the iSight video should arrive at the proper size. 32.3.7. Widescreen Video Gets LetterboxedSome camcorders offer a special shooting mode called 16:9 video (that is, widescreen format). When you import this 16:9 video into a DV Widescreen project, iMovie HD sometimes wants to letterbox it, adding horizontal black bands above and below. (The letterboxing begins as soon as you switch from camera mode to edit mode and click a clip.) Since the video is already 16:9, that's probably not what you want iMovie HD to do. You may be able to avoid this problem by not switching modes. That is, instead of switching to Edit mode, stay in Camera mode; save the project; quit iMovie; and turn off the camera. When you reopen the project, the video will stay 16:9. |