Aspect ratio prob importing QT into iMovie '09

It sounds like your movie is more like 4:3 rather than the default for iMovie '09 which is 16:9.

Create a new project, go to the File menu and select "Project Properties..."

Change the "Aspect Ratio" from 16:9 to 4:3. That may make your quicktime footage look a little better. 720x576 isn't quite 4:3 though, but it's definitely not 16:9 either. What sort of source is it from (camera type)?

These are my late father's home movies which were scanned by a commercial service. I requested lossless material so they delivered Quicktime .mov files. The QT Inspector says the video is DV and measures 720x576 pixels. They play fine in Quicktime. Here is a scene:



After I import it in iMovie it gets squished, like this:


Notice iMovie has added black bars to the left and right and squished the frame inbetween.

It really doesn't make any difference what the project properties are. It already goes wrong when creating the event (I get square thumbnails instead of 16:9).

I've tried using the FIX option but nothing happens.

I have converted a clip of the .mov file to DV and to AVI, selecting 16:9 format. Both look fine in different players, except -after import- in iMovie.

I am a software engineer and a photographer so I thought I knew something about aspect ratio's and resolution, but this one is driving me up the wall.

Whoa. That _is_ weird. Are the black bars in the quicktime screenshot just artifacts of quicktime's player? Or are those bars also there when you play it in VLC?

Not an artifact, they were put there by the film scanner - obviously 8mm film is not 16:9. So you see them no matter which player is used.

Meanwhile I've also put this question to the media center that did the digitizing and they are baffled too.

On the Apple iMovie forum, except for the hint that the anamorphic flag might be missing in the .mov which should be fixed by exporting it to dv - alas that did not work - no more fresh ideas either.

Apple tech support saved the day. They suggested to _uncheck_ the "Optimize" checkbox in the Import dialogue.



Mystery solved...

Tnx for your assistance!