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ZDNet Reviews iMovie

Posted by pudge on from the ismile-for-the-icamera dept.

ajw1976 writes "David Coursey of ZDNet reviews iMovie in his 'Month on Mac' series. It's a pretty a good article that tells how easy it is to create a movie and burn a DVD." A lot of people seem to think home movies/photos/music (the Apple "Digital Hub") is the killer app for consumer Macs these days. iPhoto has a long way to go, but iTunes works great, and I've heard little but good about iMovie.

13 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. Dead simple to use by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The first time I used iMovie, I turned 20 minutes of raw video into a snappy presentation just under six minutes long. My mini-masterpiece includes 11 edits, eight transitions, a fade-in with titles at the beginning, and a fade-out with credits at the end. And all this took about an hour to create--the very first time I ever used the program.

    1. Re:Dead simple to use by speculums · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Lack of advanced features in a free, bundled program benefits 3rd party developers who create applications for people who want to do more than play around with something once in a while. I like how Apple is creating a platform with a broad baseline functionality which I can add more sophisticated applications to if I so choose. I really don't want to pay the development cost on programs I'll never use that much (it costs Apple money to put these programs together).

      --
      Vivez sans temps mort
    2. Re:Dead simple to use by Morganic · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I guess it depends what you want really - professional quality Vs ameteur and easy.

      iMovie is targeted at home users and non-professionals, and for that niche it has proved extremely powerful.

      No professional would likely find iMovie sufficient, of course -- but that's why Apple also has Final Cut Pro, which has received equally high praise within the professional community.

      Morgan

    3. Re:Dead simple to use by jeffehobbs · · Score: 5, Insightful
      However, ease-of-use almost always requires a sacrifice of power and complexity.


      Wrong. Ease-of-use has nothing whatsoever to do with power, and complexity by itself is hardly a virtue. Some of the most fastest and powerful race cars in the world have a control panel simpler than your average low-end Toyota.


      What Apple has done with iMovie is remove elements of video editing that are unnecessary for the average user, yet keep the ability to do 90% of what complicated high-end packages are able to do; and finally wrap the whole thing in an intuitive, graphically oriented interface. It's brilliant, high quality software.

      ~jeff

  2. Which, of course, brings you Final Cut Pro ... by daviddennis · · Score: 2

    which is true industrial strength professional quality.

    It's a fantastic program; I've used it for a wide variety of projects and really love it. The ultrasophisticated interface and features let you do just about anything you'd want.

    Of course for special effects-oriented projects After Effects reigns supreme, at least at price points the average dabbler hobbyist (like me!) has a prayer of meeting.

    D

    1. Re:Which, of course, brings you Final Cut Pro ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Special effects in iMovie aren't too shabby, either. Apple's bundled transitions and effects aren't much, but GeeThree and Virtix have some nice iMovie packages for around $30. Just ten minutes ago I was looking at Virtix's new Bravo filters, and their "Laser" and "lightning" look like they would be pretty handy for those backyard Star Wars reenactments...

      And anyone who dismisses the power and flexibility of iMovie obviously hasn't used it. It is a compelling reason to buy a Mac!

      --R.J.
      "Slacker Survivor" T-shirts!

  3. In defense of iPhoto by daviddennis · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For anyone who doesn't want to spend hours tweaking and digitally redoing their photographs, iMovie reigns supreme. It's really easy to use, and the organizational scheme of rolls is simple and makes it trivial to find your pictures.

    Even though I have a high-end camera (EOS D30), I've been very pleased with iPhoto as an organizational framework for my pictures.

    D

    1. Re:In defense of iPhoto by HomeGroove · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I'll have to agree with daviddennis. I may not be using iPhoto to touch up photos, but I do use it to organize my photos. And the combo with iDisk is just great. The export to homepage does come in handy when you need to just display some photos on the web quickly. (And there's BetterHTML export for those that want, well, a better HTML export).

      And everyone developing plug-ins for iPhoto, it will just add to the functionality.

      And here's a good article on digital photo goodies for Mac OS X.

      --

      ----
      Spam subject of the moment: Offshore account secrets -nashville disrupt

    2. Re:In defense of iPhoto by Dephex+Twin · · Score: 2

      Yeah, it's those extras that I love too. I can organize my photos, then use some 3rd party app to touch them up. Then I can order prints to be delivered (I've been using this a lot). It's not like iPhoto is the only place to do this, but it is so simple and, well, fun!

      mark

      --

      If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
    3. Re:In defense of iPhoto by daviddennis · · Score: 2

      Yikes! I'm sorry, of course you were right :-).

      Guess I shouldn't get up quite so early.

      What I like about iPhoto is that I plug my camera in, have it download pictures automatically, and I never even worry about where they are. I just export any that I need outside of the iPhoto universe.

      D

  4. Re:Complexity is a good thing? by foobar104 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    iMovie is movie making for the AOL crowd. FCP is for the, well, Mac crowd.

    I agree and I don't. A division of my company does video integrations for broadcasters and post production companies. Two years ago those places were overflowing with Avids, a few Expresses but mostly Media Composers.

    Now it's G4s with FCP as far as the eye can see.

    Final Cut Pro on a Power Mac (about $6,000 total) is replacing Avid Media Composer systems (around $100,000) in professional settings.

    I don't think anybody saw that coming.

  5. New Virtix plugins for iMovie by nedron · · Score: 4, Informative
    Virtix has released plugins for iMovie (X and classic) that include both effects (Bravo) and transitions (Echo).

    They were well worth the $39 I spent on them. You can see a quickie test I did with the "Sparkle" transition, which is basically a transporter effect.

    I agree with everyone who says that iMovie is the best entry level editor around. For one-offs and quickies (like the above), I use iMovie and iDVD. For more involved projects, I own Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro.

    --


    * As is generally the case, my opinions do not reflect those of my employer.
  6. Re:well you know.. by pressman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Premiere is being dumped left and right by small and big studios alike in favor of FCP. Hell, some production houses are even dumping their Avid's in favor of FCP.

    From a performance and usability standpoint, Premiere just doesn't even hold a candle to FCP. Avid and Media100 still have an edge over FCP, but they are cost prohibitive in the smaller markets; hence FCP being chosen in their stead.

    AfterEffects is used for totally different reasons than FCP. It's more motion graphics oriented than it is editing oriented. AfterEffects is also a low end solution for motion graphics. High end shops are going to go with products from Discreet and Nothing Real.... er Apple.

    --
    Pooty tweet