A lot of people have commented that iMovie on the iPhone won’t wirelessly export HD movies. And at first, I too was disappointed. However, it’s not that bad. Here’s why.
This video shows the differences between the HD, Large, and Medium export settings in iMovie. Yes, the HD version looks bad, but if you’re doing mobile video editing, you’re not going to be able to upload it anyway. The files are way too big. I exported the exact same video all 3 ways into iPhoto. Here are the sizes for the exact same 1:49 minute movie:
1280 x 720 HD 138 MB
960 x 540 Large 70 MB
640 x 360 Medium 47 MB
There is no way AT&T or any other carrier would let you upload those types of file sizes. But for web video, I don’t think this is a problem. That’s because most websites and blogs do best with 640 x 360 video anyway. The HD and Large videos are just too big for most web pages. Therefore, I think you’ll be surprised with the quality of the Medium 360p output setting.
The other thing I noticed was that YouTube degraded the quality further. It wasn’t much, but it was noticeable.
This video wasn’t shot with my iPhone obviously. But the video I’ve seen and knowing that I embed 640 x 360 into my blog page anyway, I think the Medium 640 x360 iPhone output is acceptable. Can you live with your 640 x 360 output for now?
Hi Scott,
Great video post. Thanks again for your work.
Here’s a link that I ran into re: exporting video in HD from the iPhone 4 using pixelpipe that offers yet another option.
http://www.maciverse.com/export-hd-video-iphone-4.html
bestx3,
bt
Scott, now that you have the iPhone 4 as well as the Kodak Zi8, would you advise to invest in the Zi8 4 or to settle for the iPhone 4?
Han,
That’s an interesting question.
For pocket solutions, they sort of play in the same space. However, I think there is one big differentiator: the mic-in jack.
The Zi8 has the mic-in jack that allows you to connect a shotgun mic or a lapel mic to the camera. You can even connect a wireless lapel mic to it. This means you’ll be able to capture great sounding audio too. The iPhone can’t do that.
For that reason alone, I plan on keeping my Zi8 for the time being. If accessories come along that plug into the iPhone, and enable great audio, I might go solely with the iPhone. However, I’ve tried connecting my Audio-Technica shotgun and lav mics to my iPhone with no luck.
With the price of the Kodak Zi8 down to around $130 street, I’d add it to my toolbox.
Scott,
I enjoyed watching your video tips. Great job:-
To be able to use a lavalier mic with the iPhone, take a look at the link below which I came across:-
http://www.lifeisaprayer.com/blog/2010/using-a-lav-mic-with-iphone-4
Based on his recommendations, I’ve gone ahead and ordered some of these
http://www.kvconnection.com/product-p/km-iphone-mic.htm
to be sent to me here in the UK.
Sincerely
Peter
(new iPhone owner in the UK)
Peter, you’ll have to let me know how that works for you. The YouTube video sounded pretty good. For $19US, it might be worth it.
I’m also going to play around with the Griffen mic I have. It’s a small lav adapter too. I’m curious if it can be used with a Xshot camera extender. I’m afraid it’s not long enough to place on one’s shirt while extended with the Xshot. But it might be fine if it’s clipped near the hand that’s holding the Xshot. Or if necessary, just hold it in your hand while speaking and then pointing it towards the interviewee. It’s about $13US at Amazon.
I also have a small external mic that plugs into the iPhone 4 that you can point towards the speakers.
I’ll have to compare the two mics and post a video on it.
Scott
My KV connections iPhone mic adapter arrived to me in the UK from the States this week.
I tried it by recording an iPhone video with a Lavalier microphone at its full extension (about 10 ft) and sound was great. The Lavalier mic was an Audio Technica ATR35s.
I also tried it with a noise cancelling headset mic and sound was great with that too.
Peter
Peter, I got mine too! I’m glad it’s working. I tested mine and you’re right, it does sound great. I’ll be doing a post on it soon.
And can you believe you can get a great video AND audio from your iPhone? I think it’ll give the pocket digital camcorders a run for their money.
Hi Scott…
Not sure if this is the right place to post this…but: My Dad has a Zi8. Not had great results with it really. We are looking for an idiots guide on how export the finished video edited in iMovie and then export to DVD. I know this will not be HD, but the results we have had up to now exporting to video have been worse than an old VHS video camera. We realise that its all down to settings within iMovie. I’m actually getting way better results with my iPhone4 than he is getting with his ZI8. Hope you can help or point in the right direction
mark
Mark,
Are you recording your Zi8 video in the WVGA mode? If so, these will definitely be inferior.
When you first turn your Zi8 on, you’ll be give some options to the format you want to record. These include: 1080p, 720p/60fps, 720p, and WVGA. You’ll find the 1080 or 720p modes are really high quality. The WVGA isn’t. When you turn your camera on and the video mode screen appears and offers the different selections, use your red button to move the selection to one of the other choices to the left. You should be getting great quality after that.
Hope this helps.
Hi Scott…
No we are using 1080p or 720p/60fps….never tried WVGA cause we know that it is inferior quality. I was hoping that I could find something on the net with setting for exporting video after editing in iMovie, with output to something other than youtube which most people are using.
Hope you can help
mark
I’ve brought in lots of Zi8 video into iMovie and haven’t had any problems. That’s why I thought you might have been starting with poor quality WVGA video.
I will say I that I render and upload separately. Meaning I export the video to a QuickTime file instead of using the built-in Share feature in iMovie to send it to iTunes, iDVD, or YouTube. After I export the video and have a good standalone .mov file, I then upload that to YouTube. It’s not as convenient but I can ensure the quality. However, I haven’t used iDVD so I can’t speak to that tool specifically.
Wish I had more help.
Hi Scott,
Your method of out putting to Quicktime is what we have been trying. Its at this point we lose the quality I feel. i need the settings to render the best quality…then I can decide whether or not I go to Youtube or iDVD. iDVD can then compress to fit the high quality video to fit onto a DVD. We will of course lose quality….but not to the point where it looks worse than a VHS recording.
Thanks
mark
Wow, I can’t believe you’re having so many challenges. When I export to QuickTime and customize the settings, I’ve had pretty good luck.
I will say I’m doing more video editing in ScreenFlow these days. I like having the traditional timeline with layers. There are a fee things I miss with iMovie like chromakey and titles but I’m pretty pleased.
Sorry I could be more of a help.
Thanks Scott. Love your videos. They’re a great inspiration.
Hi Scott,
Thank you for the excellent tutorial. It was very easy to follow and the video comparison was an awesome visual aid.
Glad it helped and thanks for stopping by.
I’m putting together a course over at http://iPhoneVideoSecrets.com and I’ll have even more tips over there.