Section B.4. Starting Up and Importing

B.4. Starting Up and Importing

Trouble getting going? Here's some advice.

B.4.1. iMovie Fails to Connect to Camera

Connection problems usually involve FireWire issues, discussed in Chapter 4.

When your FireWire connection doesn't appear to be the problem, try adjusting your Mac's audio settings. (That sounds weird, but it sometimes helps.) For example:

• Open GarageBand and play a few notes, or

• Open the Audio MIDI Setup application (in your Applications/Utilities folder). Change the Format settings to 44100Hz (CD Quality) or to 48000Hz.

B.4.2. iMovie Fails to Launch on Intel Mac, or Fails To Save Imported Video.

If you have an Intel-based Macintosh and you used Migration Assistant or Setup Assistant to move data from your old Mac to your new one, a danger lurks: your FontCollections folder. (That's inside your Home Library folder.) If iMovie is misbehaving after such a transfer, throw away this folder. (It doesnt actually delete any fonts.)

iMovie will create a new FontCollections folder containing the files it needs.

B.4.3. "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:

• Your camcorder isn't plugged into the Mac with a FireWire cable.

• The camcorder isn't turned on.

• You're using a camcorder whose FireWire circuitry isn't completely compatible with the Macintosh. (Some older JVC camcorderscirca 19992000fall into this category.)

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.)

B.4.4. Import from Camera Stops After 23 Seconds

FileVault, 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 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 project someplace outside your Home folder.

B.4.5. Dropouts in the Video

A 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:

• You're using a very old cassette. Remember that even DV cassettes don't last forever. You may begin to see dropouts after rerecording the tape 50 times or so.

• You're playing back a cassette that was recorded in LP (long play) mode. If the cassette was recorded on a different camcorder, dropouts are especially likely.

• It's time to clean the heads on your camcorderthe electrical components that actually make contact with the tape and, over time, can become dirty. Your local electronics store sells head-cleaning kits for just this purpose.

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.

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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.

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B.4.6. Banding

Banding 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.

B.4.7. Video is Getting Stretched

As you know from Section 4.7, video comes in two standard picture shapes these days: standard squarish (4:3), and widescreen (16:9).

So what happens if you import 4:3 video into a widescreen iMovie project? iMovie can either stretch the video horizontally, distorting it, or pillarbox it, adding vertical black bands on either side. You control which solution iMovie chooses in iMovie Preferences. Click Import, and turn "Automatic DV Pillarboxing and Letterboxing on or off.