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iMovie not exporting properly

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Ok, I have this video that I've made in iMovie, which plays fine all the way through in iMovie. When I export it (I've tried it with several different settings) it seems to stop part way through when I try to play it later. Well, it doesn't stop, but the audio carries on while it's stuck on one frame. Also, the size of the exported file is much, much smaller than it should have been. Any idea on how to fix this?

Oh, and with a very similar video that I made before, it used to export fine.
 

Del


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Try a different type of DVD.

This happened me ONCE using +R discs and re-burning to a -R disc cured it.

+R discs work fine on my DVD player but that particular one was for someone else and their player wasn't fully compatible with +R discs
 

Del


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Or did you mean the movie file itself wont play back? ie before burning to DVD
 
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I'm not burning to a DVD at all. The movie plays back in Quicktime and VLC, but then at one point the video freezes, but the audio carries on.
 

Del


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In that case it sounds to me (but im no expert) that the video file is corrupt
 
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clem13
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What video file? Inside the project, there are several different clips, and all of them are fine.
 

Del


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The individual clips are movie files converted to the dv format (on import).

The exported file is also a movie file.
 

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I am experiencing the exact same problem and it is driving me crazy.

I first exported it at Full Quality, then exported it using the Expert Settings at a much lower resolution (suitable for YouTube).

The low-res MP4 version works fine, but the Full Quality version visually freezes about mid-way through - while the audio marches on. The freeze occurs on the first frame of one of the imported video clips. This occurs on my Intel MacBookPro running 10.4.10 (iMovieHD 6.0.3) and also when playing back on a separate Windows XP Pro PC.

I tried moving the clip and re-exporting, but it still freezes on the first frame of that clip (even though the clip occurs earlier). I tried re-importing that clip. I tried importing that clip into an empty project and exporting it at Full Quality by itself - which works fine, but then importing that new clip into my larger project still fails in the same way after exporting again. I tried clipping off 1 second of that clip, re-exporting it alone, then importing that adjusted clip into my larger project - and it still freezes on the first frame of that clip.

Finally, I tried re-exporting a higher-res MP4, but that also fails and freezes on the same frame! This is driving me crazy. I am hoping clem13 found a solution, or that someone else has an idea of something to try...
 
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clem13
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Unfortunately, I have yet to find a solution. :(
I also have some other videos I have to export , and I hope they export properly.
 

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Thanks for the reply clem13. I am sorry to hear that you are still unable to export that video properly either. I was finally able to get mine to export at a medium resolution as an MP4 -- but I still cannot export it successfully at Full Quality or higher resolution MP4.

I will keep an eye here in case someone else has a solution, or post back if I find anything useful elsewhere.
 
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clem13
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I managed to export it. :)
It's not full quality or anything, but I exported it as a .wmv. I can't remember what exact settings I used.
 

Del


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Surely there is no such thing as a full quality MP4? MP4 is a compressed format is it not?
 
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I was never outputting it as an mp4, but a mov.
 
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I have to wonder if cutting out the first frame or two of the problem clip would solve both your problems. Might be worth a try.
 
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i know this post is a year old but i came across the thread doing a google search for exactly this problem. has anyone figured this out yet?
it's immensely frustrating.

i also could only export on a Web Streaming quality, running on 10.4 with iMovie HD 6.0.3

if anyone has even the slightest bit of help, even a nudge in a better direction that would be great.
thank you
 
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This is happening to me too. I know this is an old thread, but I get the feeling this is a bug that's still not been addressed.

For me, I'm putting together my own clips. They could be videos I've recorded on my phone, on a DSLR & on one project, even videos I've recorded of my desktop. Point is, the original file format is not the issue.

I even have a project, that was fine & on another export, it has this problem. Every time, the freeze seems to occur at the join point of 2 clips. It's pretty intermittent. As I said, 2 clips next to each other that are fine on one take, seem to fail on another export.

Nasty bug that I feel we're at the mercy of.
 
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chas_m

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If it always fails at precisely the same point, then yes the file is somehow marginal I believe.

If it's just generally happening with exports, trying free up a HUGE AMOUNT of drive space on the boot drive and try again. These types of programs need a REALLY LARGE amount of free space to work properly because of all the conversion they have to do.
 
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I can feel confident in ruling out corrupt files. There's 2 reasons I can rule this out:

- It's happened to a movie that is purely photos (When making a slideshow)
- In many cases, a project is exporting fine, but after various effects, text or other types of editing (Without dragging in more videos), suddenly the exports start playing up

A video I was putting together last week done this, I removed all of the iMovie text overlays, then the export was fine again.

One scenario that SEEMS to cause this problem more often (But not always), is when clips or text change very quickly (Perhaps less than a second for a clip).

I've not spent too much time investigating as I need to get on with my work once I've overcome the issue. But this may give others something to consider.
 

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