Questions & Answers
I'm having trouble with poor video quality from iMovie. Will Final Cut Express be any better?
- Asked by BW from Gladwyne
- 11/10/2009
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2 Answers from the Community
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Best Answer
...sorta.
It depends on what you mean by video quality, and it depends on how you view or export your movies.
FCE has more tools for tweaking your videos, so you might get more "viewability" by adjusting your video. FCE also allows you more export options... it supports raw DV export and can also read back your video onto a MiniDV tape or back to your camera at full quality, iMovie 09 can not.
However, the primary measure of video quality will always be the camera you are shooting with (and your microphone). Exporting video from iMovie 09 can, indeed, reduce quality... in my opinion, the designers of the program crippled it a little bit. But that won't make any difference for a YouTube video, or even for the videos you burn to DVD, in most cases.
End result: If you're just making basic movies, in most situations FCE will not improve video quality and you should save your money for a new HD camera.- Answered by DB from Colchester
- 12/10/2009
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I've been using Final Cut Pro since about 2002 and whilst FC Studio is my bread and butter. I need to invest in 4 new systems for a job, so can I get away with iMovie for free, 4 x £129 of FC Express or 4 x £799 FC Studio. See where I'm coming from?
I've just done an experiment to see what I can achieve with FC Express (V3.5) and iMovie 08 on my battered MacBook Pro. Two minutes of iMovie footage took 5 minutes to convert to a QuickTime movie and it looks very fuzzy. The same clip is saved as a native QuickTime movie by FC Express and is best quality. No rendering and no wasted time.
When quality counts, £129 or $199 will be money well spent.
Mark- Answered by MB from Chelmsford
- 12/11/2009
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