Can not import widescreen format to iMovie

[rogerinlondon]

I have a Panasconic NV-GS300 and have it set to 16:9 when recording. When I try to import the movie in to iMovie, the format switches automatically to DV-PAL in 4:3 and after the import, it does "letterboxing" (which takes ages) of all the clips which gives a black stripe above and below the clip. What is wrong? Very grateful for all ideas on how to get this right (if it is possible).

[CAMERA MAN]

I think I can help you on that, I hope you are using imovie hd 5.0 or 60. Before you even start importing your prioject you have to start a new project and when the save to file box comes up press the format drop down arrow and it will let you pick you format, the one you want is widescreen dv. After you do that and pick a place to save it, the imovie area will be in full widescreen look. I haven't burned a video on widescreen before because I changed to final cut and never got a chance to try it on imovie but it should work on a 16:9 screen, and have black bars on a 4:3 screen.

[rogerinlondon]

Thanks for this, but I have noticed that it actually does not help. iMovie overrides the selection that you make when you create a project and fixes the settings according to the camcorder.

I also posted this question on the Apple support forum and it seems that it is some sort of bug in iMovie. I was told to change the frame rate to 25 fps in settings (!) and now it works! The format when I import is now DV-PAL-Widescreen and not DV-PAL anymore. Do not ask me what difference it makes.....

[rman]

My guess is that DV-PAL is fullscreen.