Apple iMovie HD (part of iLife '05) Video Software Review (page 2)
Sharing Your Vision
You can choose from a selection of predefined settings and formats to share your movie via email, Web, tape, DVD, QuickTime movie or Bluetooth wireless technology using the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard.
Conclusion
iMovie HD's elegant interface is a joy to use. The beginner, hobbyist and family videographer all will find iMovie HD a perfect tool for their creative outlet. Those prosumers who use iMovie HD will likely run into idiosyncrasies as they push the envelope of the software. They are best served by reading The "Unofficial" iMovie FAQ (http://danslagle.dvmix.com/mac/iMovie/iMovie5FixesIssues.shtml), or by upgrading to Final Cut Express HD.
TECH SPECS
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3.4, 10.3.6 for editing HDV
Minimum Display: 1024 x 768
Minimum CPU: G3 400MHz, G4 1GHz for editing HDV
Minimum RAM: 256MB, 512MB for editing HDV
Minimum Hard Drive Space for Installation: 250MB, 4.3GB for full iLife '05 installation
Capture Formats: DV (NTSC, PAL), DV Widescreen (NTSC, PAL), MPEG-4, iSight, HDV 720p, HDV 1080i
Batch Capture: Yes
Automatic Scene Detection: Yes
User Interface: Storyboard and Timeline
Number of Video Tracks: 1
Number of Audio Tracks: 2 (3 including video natural sound)
Nesting Tracks: No
Audio/Video Level Envelopes: No
Audio Scrub: Yes
Keyframe Animation: No
Number of Video Transitions: 16
Number of Video Filters: 23
Background Rendering: Yes
Realtime Software Previews: Yes
Optimized for Dual Processor/HyperThreading: Yes
Third-party Plug-in Support: Yes
Encoding Formats: DV, HDV, MPEG-4, any format supported by QuickTime
Batch Render: No
DVD Authoring Software Included: Yes, through iDVD 5.0
Strengths
- Very low-level barrier to getting started
- Intuitive and elegant user interface
- Comes with every new Macintosh computer
Weaknesses
- Incremental Feature Jump from iMovie 4
SUMMARY
An elegant application that brings professional-level technologies to the reach and use of mere mortals.
Joseph F. Dries III is a freelance writer and consultant.
$79 / Included with new Macintosh computers
Apple Computer, Inc.
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino, CA 95014
(800) MY-APPLE
www.apple.com
