08-26-2007, 07:21 AM

I am fairly new to Mac, I have an Imac 24’ which is about 8 months old.

I wish to start turning my home videos into DVD’s.

I use a basic Sony DV camcorder

I am about to start using the software that came with my Mac i.e. imovie 06. However I now see there is an upgrade to imovie 08. I have read that Imovie 08 is really a poor program relative to imovie 06.

My question is as follows, I will only need the simplest functions, as I have no intention to create complex DVD’s, all I want to do is import the video, edit out the boring bits, add a title and then copy to DVD.

Should I start learning imovie 06 or upgrade to Imovie 08?

Thanks Antony Berrill

08-26-2007, 05:26 PM

If you are sure you don't want any more functionality than what you describe here, I would say '08, though I haven't used it myself, because it is a bit limited for my purposes.

The one advantage to '06, that I can think of over '08, is if you want to increase the volume, where someone is speaking in your videos, you won't be able to in '08...as far as I 've heard anyway.

Hope this helps,

Brian

08-27-2007, 02:04 AM

is there anything about imovie 08 that is better?

08-27-2007, 05:57 AM

iMovie 08 has a smoking interface and is really efficient. It howerver lacks themes and a lot of effects. However, though with iMovie 06 you can control track volumes manually, when you add another track in iMovie 08, there's an option to automatically reduce volume of other tracks. Now you can't specify how much you want to reduce or where you want it to start to reduce, but it does do that...

However, imovie 08 renders text and effects in real time. There's no "rendering time" involved and has some other perks in it as well....

So its a difficult choice, this 06 vs 08...

08-27-2007, 11:26 AM

i was wodering is it possible to have both 06 and 08 installed at the sametime and if so could you edit it through 08 cause of the simple factor but yet you want to have track volume control so after you can run it through o6. sorriy if this is a stupid question but im getting a MBP very soon and im trying to find out every detail i can before spending all this money

08-27-2007, 11:31 AM

In fact, Apple realised that iMovie 08 is borked and when you upgrade to iLife 08, iMovie 06 is retained in the applications folder. And if you get a new machine with iMovie 08 only, then iMovie 06 is a free download.

However, I don't think you can move projects between the applications. You can import a project from iMovie 06 into 08, but none of the effects are retained. But its possible.

08-27-2007, 11:32 AM

Originally Posted by dammitdan57

i was wodering is it possible to have both 06 and 08 installed at the sametime and if so could you edit it through 08 cause of the simple factor but yet you want to have track volume control so after you can run it through o6. sorriy if this is a stupid question but im getting a MBP very soon and im trying to find out every detail i can before spending all this money

yes, installing 08 doesn't remove 06... the 08 installer retains 06 because the versions are so different

I suggest you watch Steve Jobs' recent demo of iLife 08:

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/specialevent07/

because it shows what 08's all about pretty well... it's really all about quickly grabbing clips and making a quick movie easily & painlessly... as for the missing features that many people on the internet are concerned about, well, I assume Apple took the view that most iMovie 08 users won't want a lot of that stuff.. and those that do can either use 06 or use Final Cut

08-27-2007, 11:36 AM

i watched the event where he showed off iLIfe 08. it seemed neat that you can make a movie so quickly and i liked how the clips started playing once you scrolled over them but my question is once i make a completed movie in 08 and maybe want to add some different effects to a completed project that 06 has. could i open my movie through 06 and add the effect or do i have to start from scratch. hope that makes sense.

08-27-2007, 11:47 AM

Yes. You can export the movie in 08, and then import it in 06 to add effects and chapters....

08-27-2007, 11:49 AM

ok great, thanks for your help

08-30-2007, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by berrill

I am fairly new to Mac, I have an Imac 24’ which is about 8 months old.

I wish to start turning my home videos into DVD’s.

I use a basic Sony DV camcorder

I am about to start using the software that came with my Mac i.e. imovie 06. However I now see there is an upgrade to imovie 08. I have read that Imovie 08 is really a poor program relative to imovie 06.

My question is as follows, I will only need the simplest functions, as I have no intention to create complex DVD’s, all I want to do is import the video, edit out the boring bits, add a title and then copy to DVD.

Should I start learning imovie 06 or upgrade to Imovie 08?

Thanks Antony Berrill

I Highly recommend that you DO NOT UPGRADE. iMovie has been completely remade from scratch and I've dealt with several types of video editing software and by far iMovie 08 is the worst, so bad that I would prefer Windows Movie Maker over it. Apple purposefully made this change and "dumbed" it down because of the fact iLife 06's iMovie was taking away from sales of Final cut, Which must tell you something.

08-30-2007, 12:11 PM

But then the upgrade is worth it for iPhoto and Garageband (and even iWeb for those who use it). And its not like iMovie 06 gets wiped out...

09-04-2007, 03:40 PM

I'm glad i found this thread, I think it answered all my questions about iMovie 08. So to confirm, since I have iMove 06 on my system, if I upgrade to iLife 08, it will leave 06 on my system which I can still use for existing and new projects if I so desire?

And, aside from the iMovie 06 vs 08 issues, has there been any other issues with upgrades? It sounds like to me, that if I can have the best of both worlds and the rest of the suite upgraded, it may be worth the money and it's below my normal pain threshold of $100 for software meaning that it has to REALLY BE GOOD and NEEDED for me to exceed $100