murrays 0 #1 February 12, 2003 I just got my iLife package and installed iMovie3 and iDVD3. One of the big feature changes is the inclusion of a "Chapters" feature. So, here's how it went... I downloaded some old (1986 or so) video that Fuzzy wants on DVD, set the chapter markers in iMovie and clicked on "Create iDVD Project". This took about 30 minutes to download 20 mins of video, set chapter markers and start creating the iDVD project.iDVD opened. It has the title of the iMovie project as the title, a link called "Play Movie" and another titled "Scene Selection". As you click on "Scene Selection" it takes you to Scenes 1-6, then to 7-12, etc...up to 36 scenes. So, I set the theme I wanted for all Scene Selection screens and went back to the main menu screen. I clicked on "Folder". A folder appeared. I renamed it, clicked on it to open it and then dragged two more Quicktime DV files I had previously created that I want to include. Set the theme.Open the DVD-ROM window and drag 600 mb of Quicktime files I downloaded from Headdown.net..to include as a data portion of the disk.Check all the titles, themes and click on "Burn DVD" Click again...insert blank disk...click on OK.Elapsed time...about 30 more minutes. about 60-70 minutes total.It tells me that in 118 minutes it will have finished burning my DVD. It is rendering right now as I type. I'll likely crash before it finishes but I'll check in and let you know how it turned out.My impressions of these new versions of software...iMovie seems a bit slower to open. Sound editing is much improved and setting chapters is really a great feature. iDVD3 is very similar. The new themes are pretty nice. Something there for just about every taste. The Chapters feature is worth 50 bucks to me.-- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomAiello 25 #2 February 12, 2003 I used iMovie 3 a bunch last weekend. I was particularly happy with the change over to FC style "infinite undo", rather than re-saving the clips as rendered.Apple's done a lot to impress me, lately.-- Tom Aiello [email protected] SnakeRiverBASE.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
murrays 0 #3 February 13, 2003 When I got up this morning my DVD was sitting in the tray and iDVD wanted to know if I wanted to burn another one. I put another disc in and took the burned one to my DVD player to make sure everything worked before starting on the second. Everything worked great.Started the second disc burning...25 minutes to burn vs. 118 for the first. Once the menus and clips are rendered burning doesn't take very long and additional copies are finished fairly quickly.I am very happy with iMovie3 and iDVD3. The need to export your video as a Quicktime file has been eliminated. The Chapters Feature works great and is as easy as you can imagine to set up. You can still add Quicktime clips to the project...like extra features. Chapters makes this worth the $49 to me.-- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ltdiver 3 #4 February 13, 2003 Apple must have updated it's first release of iMovie3 this week. When I downloaded the update -last- week the whole program sucked! Big Time! Slow start times, hiccuping audio sound, inability to clear iMovie's trash...to name just a few. Did you get your iMovie3 as an update, or did you buy it as a whole package from Apple? What's the difference between what you got and what others have experienced? ltdiver Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
murrays 0 #5 February 13, 2003 Lori, I downloaded iMovie3 as soon as it was available. I saw on versiontracker.com that some people were having problems - especially with opening existing projects - but I didn't have problems like that. It seems slower to open and a bit slower overall but not too much. I'm using a 15" Flatpanel iMac, G4 800 with 768mb of ram. What are you using it on? Murray-- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #6 February 13, 2003 QuoteApple must have updated it's first release of iMovie3 this week. When I downloaded the update -last- week the whole program sucked! Big Time! After doing a bit of research in the Apple discussion groups and elseware, there are a couple of things you can do to make it a bit "snappier" and bring iMovie 3 up to iMovie 2 user interface speeds. There is a little program that runs in the background of your computer every night, if your computer is turned on, that does a bunch of little house cleaning tasks. If you shut your computer down every night, then these tasks are NEVER done and it appears that iMovie 3, in its' current release, is particularly sensitive to this. For a full and complete set of things you can try, go HERE.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomAiello 25 #7 February 13, 2003 QuoteDid you get your iMovie3 as an update, or did you buy it as a whole package from Apple?I downloaded the update.I've noticed that Apple often makes their new software with their new systems in mind (i.e. they add a bunch of neat features that need a ton of hardware power or everything slows down).I'm running it on a dual gigahertz G4 tower. I haven't seen any problems (definitely not any of the things you mentioned). The user interface is plenty fast. The machine is left on pretty much continuously (as per Quade's post) so maybe that helps, too.I'll try running it on my old (G4 400) laptop, and see how that goes.-- Tom Aiello [email protected] SnakeRiverBASE.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ltdiver 3 #8 February 14, 2003 I'm using a Power Mac G4 867 tower with 1.2 Gigs of RAM. Also a 15" Flatpanel display. I reloaded iMovie2 and am now a bit skittish about downloading iMovie3 again. I'll look at Paul's suggestions and see if they can help. Why doesn't Apple release something better than a BETA version? Why all the needs to 'fix' what they've released? Why follow in Microsoft's footsteps? ltdiver Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ltdiver 3 #9 February 14, 2003 QuoteThere is a little program that runs in the background of your computer every night, if your computer is turned on, that does a bunch of little house cleaning tasks. If you shut your computer down every night, then these tasks are NEVER done and it appears that iMovie 3, in its' current release, is particularly sensitive to this. Interesting. I leave my computer on all the time, but have it go to sleep after an hour of unconnected and inactive periods. Would this have an impact like your describing? However, I tried to use iMovie3 right after downloading it, and it took over 2 minutes to load (and every time after that took just as long), it corrupted a stored project that I had done in iMovie2, and wouldn't unload the trash formerly there. I'll look at the web page you provided. Hope to find some answers there as well. But if not, do you think that Apple will rerelease iMovie3 with a more stable version? ltdiver Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomAiello 25 #10 February 14, 2003 Quote...do you think that Apple will rerelease iMovie3 with a more stable version?They seem to be getting quite a few complaints. I'd guess that they'll work on updates pretty quick.-- Tom Aiello [email protected] SnakeRiverBASE.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
murrays 0 #11 February 14, 2003 Lori,I don't know if those tasks will run if your computer has gone to sleep. Try downloading Macjanitor (it's free) and having it run the background tasks. It is mentioned in the page that Quade referenced. The tasks it does are daily, weekly and monthly...I just click on "All tasks" every so often and let it do its thing. I remember the first time I ran this program that it took a _long_ time to finish. It goes fairly quickly now (2-3 minutes) and I run it once a month or so. I just tried it out and it works on 10.2.4 which I just installed last night. Have you got your 3000DV set up yet?-- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ltdiver 3 #12 February 15, 2003 QuoteI don't know if those tasks will run if your computer has gone to sleep. Try downloading Macjanitor (it's free) and having it run the background tasks. Thanks, Murray. I've browsed through that MacJanitor page, but haven't read it through yet. Been busy with other issues as well this week. I'll take your suggestion and download it this weekend. Quote Have you got your 3000DV set up yet? Nope, haven't done that yet either. Still researching out the facts of whether to run the default system on that HD, or erase it and download my own OS. What do you think? ltdiver Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
murrays 0 #13 February 15, 2003 Quote Quote Have you got your 3000DV set up yet? Nope, haven't done that yet either. Still researching out the facts of whether to run the default system on that HD, or erase it and download my own OS. What do you think?ltdiver As I understand the exchange that you've had in the other thread, it sounds like you're debating installing the OS on the external drive. The Mac dealer in town that I deal with has a couple of operating systems and all his diagnostic software on an iPod so that he can boot from the iPod if a client's system folder is hooped. If you want a backup, then you could do this. (See some of the comments on Carbon Copy Cloner software on Versiontracker for why you might want to do this.)I would think that you would want the external hard drive to use the same file system that you use on your G4 hard drive. I would think that you could set it up using Disk Utility (in your applications/utilities folder). If you just plug it in to your firewire port what happens? Does it show up on your desktop? Does disk utility start up and ask you what you want to do? If you plug it in and start disk utility does it show up as a drive? Maybe you don't have to do anything...I _really_ wish I'd already been through this and could share my first hand experience with you as I could really use more hard drive space but I've been spending my money on Bonehead stuff and a Diamond .3 lately ... which is good. I don't think it will be very involved. You might have to format it which takes a bit of time but isn't a big deal.Edit to add: I see that AndyMan has told you to format it and use it (in the other thread) and he has a Maxtor himself so there you go!!-- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rredman 0 #14 February 19, 2003 I just bought the iLife suite, and the only thing I have to say is, holy smokes is it slow! I am running an 800 mz imac with 512 MB of RAM. iMovie 2 was pretty quick, as was iDVD 2. The new crop is painfully slow, however, it has lots of really cool features.. I had a little trouble learning how to do things again, but the chaptering features are really nice. I have found it pretty buggy. I can't replace titles made in iMovie2, and the timeline doesn't seem to line up with the display. However, when I put in chapter markers according to where the preview told me they should go, it seemed to be accurate. I am in the middle of burning a 1hour long DVD and it seems to be stalled at 42 minutes to go.... I'll let you know how it goes... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
murrays 0 #15 February 19, 2003 I've seen on the rumor sites that the speed issue should be addressed with an update....none too soon for a lot of people unfortuinately. I find it a bit slower but not irritatingly so. I have burned several DVDs using "chapters". One had a problem with the chapter starting a few secinds before the end of the preseding clip. I can only attribute this to the fact that I added the title at the very end ...after I had set all the chapter markers... and that the addition of the title at the end of things wasn't compensated for. Only family videos but I think this is something to be careful of.I have found that the "time remaining" displayed is really out to lunch. Just leave it and it should be fine.-- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rredman 0 #16 February 20, 2003 It finally ended... and what a mess.. it dropped the audio track completely, but after messing around with it again, I think it may have been my doing.. Also, it moved the audio, that used to be part of the video, so it no longer syncs up.. quite entertaining, and just a little annoying.. I still find the whole suite pretty buggy.. oh, well.. just have to wait for an update.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
