Need advice for major video capturing project, using iMovie but up for other programs

Hey Everyone,

So I've agreed to capture all of my family's home movies (from the last 25 years) and digitally back them up onto a hard drive for them. I know I'm a good son haha. So I have an advanced DV converter with a VCR running through it into my parents iMac. Everything's working well, the video capture window pops up in iMovie and it captures everything just fine.

I'm just looking for some advice from someone more knowledgeable than myself before I begin this gigantic project. I'm not familiar with iMovie at all, only Final Cut (Which I don't have on my parents iMac).

Should I even use iMovie or is there a better program to use (preferably free or cheaper than Final Cut)?

I see iMovie makes a DV movie and a .mov copy of the same file after a capture which seems unnecessary and confusing. Is there a reason for this? Any way to salvage that space and make one file? What extension is the best to use? (.mov?) I will be editing a cute fam vid in the future most likely.

Will I be able to easily move these files onto an external hard drive? (once I buy one large enough).

And most importantly, can anyone tell me the most efficient settings to use with an import of this volume? Any settings that will conserve file size and sustain quality?

These are just some basic questions that come to mind, any kind of advice would be greatly appreciated! I usually take on projects like this and wind up finding much more efficient tactics half way through the project. I'm hoping one of you experts can save me from that frustration and help me start this with some confidence. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to take a few minutes and dispense their wisdom!

Imovie 09 is quite good and simpler to use than Final Cut. Just did a half hour movie with 2 sound tracks and subtitles. I learned by trial and error and quickly got the hang of it.

The DV and.mov files might pertain to the "events" (original uploaded clips), and the "project"
(clip you are editing) although I am not sure of this. There are many options for exporting projects.
One would be to export it to "desktop" and insert it into the external drive from there.

76papa said:

Imovie 09 is quite good and simpler to use than Final Cut. Just did a half hour movie with 2 sound tracks and subtitles. I learned by trial and error and quickly got the hang of it.

The DV and.mov files might pertain to the "events" (original uploaded clips), and the "project"
(clip you are editing) although I am not sure of this. There are many options for exporting projects.
One would be to export it to "desktop" and insert it into the external drive from there.

Click to expand...

Yeah I just imported one of the tapes and it was nice and easy. The DV and MOV files aren't really an issue i guess, the DV file is 15 gigs and the MOV file is only 1MB. That is beyond me also. Do you know anything about DV? Is it a good extension to use while importing the 100+ tapes I have. Can you even use iMovie to import video with another extension (without converting or exporting) and is it even worth messing with? I do want to make a compilation DVD eventually but my main goal is to back up these old tapes and make them easily accessible and playable for my family.

I'd like to pick your brain a little more if you don't mind.
Is there any way to import and hear the audio at the same time?
Is there any way to split the large files into separate files once finished (to separate different events on the tape)?
Better yet, is there an option that iMovie will do that for me once there is a break in timecode?
Is there any way to make iMovie automatically stop importing once the tape is finished?
Its just inconvenient to sit and watch two hours of silent video, stop importing whenever the event changes and have to watch closely for when the tape ends, otherwise there will be gigs of blank video. With this amount of capturing I'd really prefer to just put it on auto pilot.
Maybe this isn't possible because I'm capturing from a VCR and DV Converter and not a camera. If you or anyone could answer any of these questions I'd be extremely grateful! Thanks!!

15 gigs and the MOV file is only 1MB. That is beyond me also.

You must be importing the tapes in uncompressed mode, while your movie is in compressed mode.

Is there any way to import and hear the audio at the same time?

I also imported from a VCR using an Elgato Video Capture interface. Play the tape while importing. I forgot if I actually did this but it should be possible.

Is there any way to split the large files into separate files once finished (to separate different events on the tape)?
Better yet, is there an option that iMovie will do that for me once there is a break in timecode?

In "project" you can split the video anywhere you want but not the audio. Don't know about the timecode break.

Is there any way to make iMovie automatically stop importing once the tape is finished?

I never had occasion to find out. try it and see.