[brooklyn]

Is this update a step backwards for current iMovie users? I've been watching the tutorial vids at Apple.com and reading what I can and it looks like a lot of the power and control that iMovie provided has been removed for "ease of use" and the ability to make videos quickly.
I guess it makes sense from a business standpoint for Apple to have a newbie program in iMovie (good for luring "switchers"), a prosumer program in Final Cut Express, and a professional suite based around Final Cut.
Curious to get my hands on a copy to see what it can and cannot do.

[wgood]

I hope this isn't the case, Watson, but I am afraid you might be right. I'm working in iMovie 6 right now, and I love the ability to make videos as complex or as simple as you want. I hope Apple makes iMovie like a lot of their other products, in that the controls are right there for basic users, and advanced users can customize as they like.

[derheld]

it seems that apple is making a low-end-product out of imovie - not usable for anyone wanting more than uploading cellphone-movies to youtube - very sad :-(

[RichL]

I would urge everyone who is a serious iMovie users to WAIT.
It looks like the installation of iMovie '08 still leaves iMovie '06 on your drive.
I think Apple has finally made a mistake...

[imacanyone]

the new imovie sucks. no thanks. i'll be sticking to the old i movie. there are some new "titles" i hope to somehow import to the old imovie

[RichL]

Quote:

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the new imovie sucks. no thanks. i'll be sticking to the old i movie. there are some new "titles" i hope to somehow import to the old imovie

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Unfortunatley, that seems to sum up what I have been reading/hearing.
If you figure out how to get those titles moved, let us know.
I guess it's time I fired up Final Cut Express......

[gnetsurpher]

And isn't Apple also offering iMovie 06 as a free download for those who get 08? I thought I read that on Digg or somewhere. it seems that Apple even knows that this is a major downgrade. I myself am a FCE HD user, but I have freinds who love iMovie and edit sprots and wedding videos on it and I warned them about this new version.
They should have made it like the new Garageband. Have a Magic part for the total newbie and then the old track-based way for everyone else. Yeah, I know they already have a Magic Movie in iMovie, so maybe make this a Super Easy Magic Movie?
I cannot believe a programmer/editor/whoever (the guy Jobs referred to) had such a hard time making a movie with iMovie that he had to rewrite everything. I mean, when I put together a movie, i am going to expect to cut things out, to adjust the beginnings and ends of clips. I'd like to know what this person found so hard. The import process is easy. To divide a clip up is easy. To move clips to the timeline is easy. I don't believe the story.
And I still don't get why "skimming" your iphoto images is so awesome and why "real-time" scrubbing is so great. Can't you just select a clip in imovie and scrub through just as easily with the viewer?
Oh, and yes, my friends would probably have an easier time by using FCE too, but plugins really help imovie become quite capable. I don't know if you guys know about this site (http://www.imovieplugins.com/) but it has a great many plug-ins (sold cheap too!), unlike the awesome but expensive GeeThree plugins, that really enable iMovie to do things similar to FCE. FCE is much easier to do those things in, IMO, but the plug-ins make it really easy for a beginner to get the same functionality.

[Devlin]

Isn't there a way to make the new and old iMovie work together? I do realize the significance of being able to work with clips on a timeline view, but doesn't the ability to scan clips by sliding through them just make it so much more simple to find those hard-to-find couple of seconds of video?

[brooklyn]

I played with the new iMovie at my local Apple store, using their pre-loaded clips. I think the new version is a step backwards for users of the previous iMovie. The only feature that I do like a lot is the ability to scan through clips in the tray. That's pretty cool feature. But the rest of it is really simplistic. I couldn't even find a command to extract audio from clips (that doesn't mean it's not there, just that I could not find it.) The rolling edits are not nearly as precise as in iMovie 06 and the program feels like every single feature is built around "drag and drop", making it suitable for my mother who has never edited a video in her life, but frustrating for anyone who has any experience with the older versions of the program.
I've seen middle school kids who have never used Macs or iMovie sit down in front of iMovie 06, be shown how to hook up the camera and import video, and then be left alone, and they have been able to figure out most of iMovie's features and build competent videos (for their age and experience).
I did see that Apple will allow users to download iMovie06 for free with the purchase of iLife08. That's reassuring. For now. I think I'm going to pass on the upgrade, personally, until I hear a lot more about the feature set and how much user control we will have in the new version.

[rocketman1]

I don't know, maybe the layout has changed. but I think that it still retains many of the powerful features that made it feel so profesional, and if not, there's always final cut...

[brooklyn]

Check out Macword's "First Look" at iMovie08 -- http://www.macworld....movie/index.php
One quote caught my attention:
<<For people whove used iMovie in its previous iterations, this new version may be especially frustrating. Not only does iMovie 08 throw out the familiar iMovie interface, its missing some features that have been used for years. It also ditches long-standing video editing conventions, such as timecode, in favor of simplicity, making iMovie 08 feel a bit like Apple has created an iMovie Express.>>
This is exactly how it felt to me.

[edmetric]

Quote:

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I played with the new iMovie at my local Apple store, using their pre-loaded clips. I think the new version is a step backwards for users of the previous iMovie.

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I've been playing with iMovie '08 using mp4 and avi files. I loaded an 800MB mp4 file and right away noticed that it did not have a cancel button. Once it started, all the other iMovie '08 controls froze until I forced quit (to see what would happen). When I reloaded it all the way it split into a whopping number of clips.
A big monitor would certainly help working with iM'08's four section screens.
It's different but I don't think it's better FWIW. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[RichL]

It's hard to imagine WHAT Apple was thinking when they put this abomination the the iLife box?!?! /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[bigfoot2]

I already have iLife 06 and don't use iMovie that much. I guess I'll do a custom install and just not update iMovie.