Hi Guys,

I just bought my first videocamera (Sony HDR-HC9 --> High Definition miniDV).

While importing the footage into iMovie HD (6.0.3) on my MacBookPro (OS X 10.4.11 - 2GB ram), all looks fine...

But once fully imported and playing it back, the sound (voices) is deformed.

When I then drag the clip into the timeline and change the pitch of the sound to make it sound normal again, the voices go out of sync with the video.

What's happening ??

Any suggestions ?

(I already erased my entire HD, did a complete clean OS install, but that didn't make any difference...)

Thanks !
Cien

Try right clicking on your clips and there should be an option to revert clips back to original length. I can't remember what it exactly is as I haven't done this since January, but it fixed the sound sync/deformed issues I was having.

Hi Leon,

The option "Revert back to original" is greyed out in every stage.
(before as well as after changing the pitch)

Cheers,
Cien

After changing the pitch, I can actually get it fairly right by dragging the end of the clip in the timeline until the voice sort of matches the video again,
but that's really repairing it, while it shouldn't have gone pear-shaped from the start...

... what I need to find out is what goes wrong after the importing has finished ??

Cien

Any suggestions... ??

Make sure your settings say that you're working on PAL not NTSC.

check what audio options you have selected in your camera. it sounds like something in camera is your problem to me.

It has always happened in iMovie. I just put it down to problems with the transport mechanism between the computer and camera. One can't keep up with the other. As I've also changed cameras over the years I've noticed with my latest camera, a Canon, it rarely happens compared with my old Sony camera. But then versions of iMovie have changed and hardware too.

Before you burn back to tape / send to iDVD / whatever make sure your project is totally in synch. Even if you've just newly reopened the project prior to exporting. You'll be surprised what gremlins await you and it's real nasty to discover years later when playing a tape / DVD that the sound is out of whack. Ouch!

Hi guys -- thanks for the responses so far...

Adam: according to the manual, iMovieHD automatically recognises whether the video-feed is PAL or NTSC.
(and I can seem to find an option to change it neither...?)

g5agogo: The audio on the camera is selectable between 12bit and 16bit, but all High Definition footage is shot at 16bit (not changeable)

Lilith: are you saying there is no solution -- and I have to correct it when editing ?

-----

Also: NOT ALL clips have deformed sound -- when I import a tape containing several footage-sessions, some audio is okay, and some are not...

Cheers,
Cien

iMovie doesn't lock the audio to the video - it's an old, old problem

either you import in short segments so the sound doesn't get too far out of sync

or you buy Final Cut Express - it does lock the audio to the video

It may have always happened for Lilith but it has never happened to me, although I probably only do about 10 approximately 15 minute iMovie projects a year and about the same number of longer FCP projects. This is true for a number of cameras I've used, including canon and sony, although admittedly I only use iMovie in DV. I use Final Cut for HDV, by habit, rather than necessity. The

You should know that, if your project is more than about an 60 minutes, there have often been issues with iMovie that Apple have seemed disinclined to fix. How long is your project?

If your import is shorter then the problem is more likely to be the bit rate or bit depth of the audio recorded in your movie versus that expected by iMovie. Check the bit rate and bit depth on your camera.

Also, you cannot successfully mix and match clips from different sources in iMovie. If you have a number of different sources for your project, you really need to render them all out to a consistent format before incorporating them in your project.

get FCE

What format are you shooting on in the camera?

Thanks Rant, good to know FCE would solve my problem if worst comes to worst...


The whole project is longer (about 90 mins), but is imported in separate bits varying between 2 and 18 mins)...

... what are those issues iMovie has with projects longer than 60 mins ??


Not sure if it's what you're after but I'm shooting in "HDV 1080i" and audio at 16bit.


All video footage comes from the same camera, but I'm planning to include (still) photo's in between (jpegs) -- will that pose a problem ?


HDV 1080i -- audio at 16bit


Thanks again guys -- appreciate all help!
Cien