iMovie export to other formats?

kirkster · 18 Apr 2012 at 17:28

Hello, I have videos than I imported into iMovie then accidentally deleted from my HD digital camcordor :mad:

I can find these clips just fine on my Mac but they are now in quicktime format and not mpeg. When I create my movie in IMovie, how do i convert to a HD format that my Panasonic TV (or worse case PS3) can understand instead of m4v format? I do not have Apple TV.
Proprietary format lock in is infuriating me with Apple recently.

When I drag the quicktime clips off of the mac for editing on the PC, Vegas or Elements do not see the video in the clips....

Thanks for any input.
KS

PardonTheWait · 18 Apr 2012 at 17:32

Share > Export Using Quicktime will give you quite a lot more options

keogh · 18 Apr 2012 at 17:50

Or grab iVI from the App Store, lets you convert to many formats and I use it and it's pretty damn awesome. A snip at £2.49 too.

Check it converts to your format first though, I won't be held liable for any mistaken purchases

bloodiedathame · 18 Apr 2012 at 17:53

QT extension like others is ultimately a container or wrapper. It is the codec inside that really dictates where a file can be played. For example a .mov could contain Animation codec, Pro Res, h264, Apple JPEG to name a few. However it has been known that software doesn't like certain wrappers even though it can read the codec inside.

m4v is just another wrapper, it likely contains h264 codec. Your PC should be able to able open m4v's (I'd assume though not tried). Generally if I'm editing files betweeb Mac to PC I'd use the uncompressed Animation codec (.mov wrapper) to go between as PC and Mac handle it exactly the same.

You could try renaming your .m4v's to .mov and see if Vegas or Elements sees them. Alternatively export out of iMovie to another codec (don't have iMovie so not sure what the options are) or use something like MPEG streamclip to convert it to whatever works best.