Mac Multimedia Conversion Studio

For Mac users there is no easier application for creating a home movie than Apple's own iMovie. This program is included free with new Mac computers or available for purchase as part of the iLife bundle. The following steps will tell you some basic operations and advanced tips about making movie using iMovie.

1. Loading videos
Click File->Import Movie. If you want to load the files of your digital camera, connect the camera and computer, and choose File->Import From Camera.
The video formats supported by iMovie are: MP4, M4V, MOV, AVI, 3GP. If you got a unsupported video, such as FLV, WMV, MKV, VOB, MPEG, DAT, ASF etc, use a Mac video converter, which can convert video to all Mac players and devices, to convert it to iMovie acceptable format. Some .AVI videos cannot be imported into iMovie because of incompatible encoder, you also need to convert them. .3GP format is not recommended for the quality loss of the compression.

2. Making a Movie Project
After loaded the files into iMovie, choose File -> New from the menu and name the project. If your footage is widescreen, ensure you choose the "Widescreen (16:9)" option. Click "Create".

Tip: Understanding the iMovie 08 interface
By default, the iMovie 08 interface is split into 5 sections. Going clockwise from the top left they are the Project Library (where all iMovie projects are listed), the iMovie project window (where the existing movie is compiled), the Viewer (where video is played back), the Source Video window (where clips are viewed and selected) and the Event Library (where all available media is listed).

3: Skimming video clips
Click an Event in the Event Library (iPhoto in this instance) and the Event Browser will display the associated clips.
To skim through the clips simply hover the mouse over them and move left or right. The faster the cursor is moved the faster they will skim.
To select a portion of a clip, click and drag to create a selection (a yellow rectangle appears). Now click Space to playback that section.

4. Arranging clips
To start building a movie, drag selections directly from the Event Browser and drop them onto the empty panel (Project Window) above. Continue to add more clips in this manner to build up the movie.
If you want to add a clip between two existing clips in the Project Window, simply drag the new selection and drop it in the gap between the two existing clips.
To re-arrange a clip already in place, click once to select it (a yellow border appears) and then click and drag it to a new position.

5. Trimming Clips
To trim a clip already in the project, there are two options.
Either select the new selection by dragging and creating a yellow rectangle around it in the Project Window and choosing Edit > Trim to Selection (or press CMD+B).
Alternatively, select the clip in the Project Window then click the "Clip Duration" icon (second in at the bottom) to enter the "Trim Clip" window. Drag the appropriate selection here and click "Done" when finished.

6. Adding music
To add music to a project, click the Music and Sound Effects button below the Viewer (a musical note icon). Now choose music or sound effects below. Preview a file by double-clicking it.
To add background music, drag the file into the Project Window. A green background appears indicating the background music.
When adding a sound effect, release the file over the exact frame the sound effect should begin at. Once added, change the start point or duration by dragging the blue section within the Project Window.

7. Adding Titles
Add titles to the project by pressing the Titles button (the "T" button below the Viewer).
Select a Title style from the list below and drop it onto the relevant clip in the Project Window. The Title is positioned at the beginning, entire clip or end of the clip dependent upon where the blue overlay is placed.
Now, in the Viewer, double click the text and enter the new Title text. To choose a different font, click "Show Fonts" (top left in the Viewer) to open the OSX fonts menu.

8. Exporting the project
Select the devices you want to create a file for and click Publish.

To export to YouTube, choose Share > YouTube… and enter your account details, sign in and then Publish.
To export to a QuickTime movie, choose Share > Export using QuickTime…, select a destination and setting from the drop down (e.g. "Movie to QuickTime Movie") and click Save.
To export the project for playback on iTunes compatible devices (iPod/iPhone etc), select Share > iTunes.

Original Article: How to Make a Home Movie Using iMovie

Related Post: How to iMport and Convert DVD into Apple iMovie

From: Put DVD into Apple iMovie

One of the benefits about digital video is that the videos can be shared with family and friends. iMovie is created for this purpose, just several steps, you can create your own videos and publish them on web, like YouTube, or enjoy them on iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV. However, the formats which iMovie supported are very limited: 3GP,MOV and MP4. If you want to import DVD to iMovie, you need to convert DVD to iMovie compatible video first.
A DVD Ripper for Mac offers you easy way to convert DVD to MP4, DVD to AVI, DVD to 3GP etc. And also, Mac DVD ripper can rip protected DVD as well. Below step-by-step tutorial will tell you how to import DVD movie into Apple iMovie.

Step1. Import DVD Movie
Click "Load DVD" button, or "Load IFO" button to browse your computer, find the DVD folder or the VIDEO_TS folder you want to convert from your hard disc or DVD-ROM and click OK.

 
Choose to rip and convert DVD one or several chapters at will by ticking the check boxes before them.

Step2. Convert DVD to iMovie Video
This Mac DVD ripper allows you to select output format in the drop-down list. Just choose iMovie compatible format (.MP4 and .MOV are recommended). After all settings done, click "START" button to start converting your DVD.

Tips: Merge into one file: If you want to join the selected titles or chapters into one file, check "merge into one file" option. Set an output directory to save the output files.

Step3. Put converted DVD into iMovie for Editing Open iMovie and choose "File->Import Movies" to import the converted Mp4 video or drag the file into iMovie directly. And then you can edit the movie according to your needs. As shown in the picture below:

Related Links:
Convert DVD to iMovie Video Tutorial;

Things You Can Do with Your DVD on Mac

How to Capture Video from Digital Camera Using iMovie

YouTube is the leader in online video sharing websites and the premier destination for you to watch and share original videos worldwide through a Web experience. YouTube allows people to easily upload and share video clips and across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email. In order to help people easily use YouTube site and YouTube videos, here is a good all-around collection of YouTube How-Tos.

CONTENT:
Via: Youtube Tutorial

I. How to upload video to YouTube website
YouTube website allows people to upload videos including WMV, MPEG4, MOV, AVI and MPEG, but some people don't know how to upload incompatible videos, the article will direct you how to finish the uploading job.

II. How to download YouTube video with Safari on Mac
Most of us like to watch YouTube, right? (Hope so). And it's surprisingly simple and easy to download YouTube videos with Safari. Do you want to know? Follow next three steps. Open YouTube -> Open Safari -> Rename the downloaded file

III. How to free download YouTube HD video with Firefox plug-in
Youtube now supports High-Definition Quality video. Do you think about downloading HD Youtube to localhost? Firefox HD Youtube Downloader Plug-in and Free HD YouTube Downloader are available.

IV. How to Free download YouTube video with website and free tools
Most of us go to YouTube website to watch YouTube videos. But have you thought about downloading videos from YouTube and watch them on your computers? The following are ways to download YouTube video on Mac: 1. Download YouTube Video using online site 2. Download YouTube Video using free tool

V. How to play YouTube video with free FLV player
This is a very convenient way to play the downloaded YouTube videos (or the local FLV files), but the limitation is you could play only one FLV movie each time. If you want to add more than one file, you could use this Free FLV Player for Mac, And its playlist allows you choose the one you want to play among the added video files.

VI. How to convert multiple YouTube videos to mp4, 3GP, etc for iPod,iPhone, PSP, Cellphone... Some people want to watch YouTube video on iPod, iPhone, PSP offline, but, these mobile devices can't play FLV video (YouTube video) directly. So you need to convert YouTube video to MP4, 3GP, or other formats for your player.

VII. How to burn YouTube videos to a DVD on Mac
If you have collected some amazing YouTube videos and want to share them with your friends, making a YouTube Video Collection DVD will be one of the easiest way for you. Now, you can follow the guide to finish creating YouTube slideshow for sharing.

The all-sided YouTube How-tos solve almost every problem on YouTube.

Most of us go to YouTube website to watch YouTube videos. But have you thought about downloading videos from YouTube and watch them on your computer, or make video collections-so many cool video worth to be recorded? The following are the steps to get the job done:

Part 1. Download YouTube video to Localhost with online websites or free program;
Part 2. Play the downloaded videos or local FLV files using free tool;
Part 3. Burn downloaded video to DVD for playback on home DVD player;

Part 1. Download Video
To download online video to localhost, there are two solutions.

1. Download YouTube Video using online websites
Some free conversion websites can help you to download YouTube videos. The following are three of them:
http://vixy.net/
http://keepvid.com/
http://www.zamzar.com/

Step1. Take http://vixy.net/ for example, open the website.

Step2. Visit http://www.youtube.com to find your need video, copy the URL (e.g., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKhTNNXJIJQ) from the Address field of your Internet browser, or copy the link from the RED dialog box.

Step3. Paste the link at the URL field of http://vixy.net after you open this website, select a conversion format from the "Convert to" field, and click START to download and conversion.

Note: This is a very easy way to download and convert YouTube movies, but the speed may not be very desirable or the sever are often busy and you can only download one file at a time.

2. Download YouTube Video using freeware
There is a recommended free download tool, named Wondershare Free YouTube Downloader for Mac. It can automatically detect YouTube movies that have been opened and download multiple files at a time. See the main interface below:

Make sure the SNIFFER is turned on, so every YouTube movie can be automatically added to download list.

Part 2. Play Downloaded Video on Your Computer
After the video download is completed, with this free Youtube downloader you could play the downloaded video files just by click PLAY button without other video players:

And also, you could play the local FLV files by click the "Add" button on your computer with this free downloader:

Note: If you want to watch the downloaded videos on your mobile devices or convert them to regular formats supported by QuickTime player. You can click the "Convert" button to upgrade it to Wondershare AllMyTube for Mac which supports more websites, and then you can convert them or your local FLV files to the formats supported by your mobile devices such as iPod, iPhone, cell phone, MP4 player and so on.

Part 3. Make Online Video DVDs

When you face abundant amazing online videos, wouldn't it be a good idea to burn them to DVDs? And making wonderful video collection will be a lot fun. Wondershare DVD Creator for Mac is the perfect solution for Mac computer users to burn videos including AVI, MOV, FLV, TS, TP, TRP, MP4, MPG, MPEG, VOB, 3GP, and DAT to video DVDs. It also lets users to add a customizable DVD menu.

Step 1: Organize Your Slideshow
Click the Add button to add the video files you want to burn. The added videos will be shown in thumbnails in the right pane. You can sort the order of the added video files by drag them in the pane. Click the Add Slideshow button (the first button from the left above the storyboard).

Step 2: Edit Video (Optional)
If you want to edit a video, you can select the file by clicking on it, and click the Edit button (the first button from the left). Then you will find two options to edit it: Crop, Effect and Trim.
Crop Function The Crop function lets you remove the unwanted parts or black sides of your video. You can just drag the crop frame or set the crop values to specify the area you want to keep.
Effect Function The Effect function lets you set video brightness/saturation/contrast and apply a video filer. If your video has lines across the screen, you can select the Deinterlace option to remove the lines.
Trim Function You can also trim your video files to capture your favorite clips. To trim a video file, you can just drag the Start slider to set the beginning of the clip and the drag End slider to set the end. And the clip from the Start slider to the End slider will be captured.

Step 3: Customize DVD Menu (Optional)
Click the Menu button on the lower right corner to customize your DVD menu. There are different styles of built-in templates, frames and buttons for your choice. To apply a template, frame or button, you can just double click it. You can even add text, background music and background image to customize the menu. If you want to edit an element (template, frame, button or text) on the menu, you can just click on the element and edit it in the right pane.

Step 4: Preview Your DVD Project (Optional)
Click the Preview button (the third button from the Menu button) to preview your DVD project with the preview control buttons. This step is to help you decide if everything is what you have expected. If not, you can go back to any of the previous steps to make changes to your project.

Step 5: Start Burning After you finish the four steps above, click the Burn button (to the left of the Burn button) to make burning settings:

DVD Label: Write a label for your DVD disc.
Temp Folder: Specify a directory to save the temporary files generated during the DVD creation.
Burn to: This is step is to let you select an output option. If you want o burn your project directly to the DVD disc you have inserted in your DVD-ROM, you can just select “DVD”. You can also choose to create DVD files on your computer by selecting the “DVD Folder” option or create an ISO file by selecting the “ISO” option.
DVD Options: Select a DVD burning drive to burn your DVD project. (only when you have selected “DVD” as the “Burn to” option.
TV Standard: Select the correct TV Standard for your DVD disc. If you want to play the burned disc on the USA or Canada, you should choose the “NTSC” option. If you are from Europe, Australia or New Zealand, “PAL” will be the mostly used option.
Aspect Ratio: If your TV is a regular TV, just select 4:3. If your TV is a wide screen TV, you should select 16:9.

Click Start to start burning your videos. You can now go get a cup of coffee or tea and wait till the burning is finished.
Now you can enjoy your cool DVDs and share them with your friends and family.

Launch Handbrake, select the DVD you want to rip by clicking Source.
After importing DVD, you will see the figure below.

Setting Introduction

1. Source settings
(1). Title: Handbrake will detect all the titles on the DVD and choose the longest title automatically.
(2). Chapters: By setting chapters' number, you can rip a specific clip. However, this is not very user friendly, since you will have to remember what is on each chapter. If you could preview each chapter, things would be a lot easier.

2. Destination setting: Choose the folder to save ripped movies.

3. Output Settings: select the format and codec you need.

(1). Video Settings

Framerate(FPS): Select a frame rate that you prefer.

Quality: There are three options available:
1. Specify an output size and the quality will depend on the specified output size.
2. Select a birate. The higher bitrate you choose, the bigger size the output file will be, and the better quality you will get.
3. Directly select a quality.

Encoder: Select the encoder you prefer.

2-pass encoding(optional): This takes twice as long to encode, but it improves the video quality and doesn’t make the file any larger.

Picture Settings: Here you can set video resolution and crop video. Different players have different resolution specs. For example, the highest resolution supported by the new nano-chromatic is 640*480. The crop function of handbrake is kind of like a decoration here, because it is not powerful or practical. If this function is important to you, you can refer to a different guide.

(2).Audio Settings

In this section, you can choose audio tracks and movie subtitle, as shown in the above figure. After all settings done, click Start button to rip.

Additional: As a freeware, handbrake is a pretty good DVD ripping tool, but it's not very stable and has quite a few bugs. If you focus on more powerful functions such as movie length trimming, video cropping, selecting DVD chapters/titles, joining/merging more than one DVD chapter/title, more user-friendly operation, or want to rip DVD's for viewable on more mobile devices on Mac, don't mind paying a bit extra money, professional Mac DVD ripper software are definitely worth a try, and you will also get free professional technical support from the providers.