iMovie 10.1.4 black screen on preview

Question

iMovie 10.1.4 black screen on preview

I am getting a black screen on preview on the clips I have added to my project.

The black screen is appearing 25-26 seconds after each clip begins and goes on until the end of the clip. Sound is ok.

Anyone has faced this issue as well?

I have a Macbook Pro Mid 2015 2.5 Ghz, running on Catalina, with iMovie 10.1.14.

Could it be a performance issue related to the computer?

This is extremely annoying. Haver a 2-3 years hiatus, I am trying to create/edit important family videos and, with this issue, it's impossible to work...

Any thoughts?

Any ideas will be appreciated!!!

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Aug 9, 2020 8:05 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Rich839

Level 8

47,724 points

Aug 10, 2020 8:13 AM in response to contreras.ale

What format, resolution, and frame rate are the clips? Do they play properly in QuickTimePlayer?

Try these diagnostic procedures and see if any one of them cures the issue:

Deleting Preferences

Try opening iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and selecting to delete preferences in the box that

appears. iMovie will open in a new library. Reopen your old library to get back to your projects.

New Project

Another thing you can try is to copy your media into a newly created project and see if that cures the problem. To do

that, do an Edit/Select All, Edit/Copy, of the media in your project and then Edit/Paste it into the newly created project.

Safe Mode

You could also try booting up in Safe Mode (see Finder menu for instructions) and, after everything loads,

immediately shut down and reboot in normal mode. Then see if iMovie works properly.

-- Rich

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Answer 2

Aug 10, 2020 9:02 PM in response to Rich839

Rich, thanks so much for your suggestions!

I deleted the preferences and also tried with a new project, and the problem remains.

I checked the clips' details and checked on other things as well. See below what I found.

Differences between clips with problems and clips without problems:

With problem: .mp4 file taken in dez 2011 with unknown camera; H.264 AAC 48000 HZ; res: 1920x1080 16:9; FPS: 59.94 (60FPS); rate 14.22 Mbit/s; size 2880x1620 (scaled 1.50x); playing ok on Quick Time, problem shows up even without a project, just playing the file in iMovie 10.1.14; if clip is less than 0:25 there is no problem; at 00:25, the frame freezes and then the clip goes black; if I put it into a project and try to export, rendering fails at 00:25:01 with video rendering error 10008 operation could not be completed, error processing frame << error -12911c ...>>; I tried splitting the clip before and after 00:25 to no avail, screen remains black.
Without problem: .mov file taken in jan 2016 with unknown camera; H.264 (1-1-1) linear PCM 16-bit little-endian signed integer 48000 Hz; res: 1920x1080 16:9; FPS 23,98 (24FPS); rate 35.24 Mbit/s; size 2880x1620 (scaled 1.50x); also plays well on Quick Time. Rest is ok of course

I have edited videos with iMovie for many years. Even though I have used different cameras and other iMovie versions, I have been able (in the past) to work with clips that I filmed in 2010 and 2011. Could it be that the iMovie has "lost" compatibility with some of my old clips? But if that's the problem, why is iMovie able to process and render these old clips when they are 25 seconds or less?

Any idea?

Thanks again for your time and suggestions!!

Best

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Answer 3

Rich839

Level 8

47,724 points

Aug 10, 2020 11:04 PM in response to contreras.ale

Error 10008 means that you have corruption in a frame likely at or near 00:25:01, perhaps caused by the camera on a repetitive basis. Possibly everything after that point is corrupted. Try expanding the timeline and scrolling through the movie looking for artifacts, white flashes. etc. and any other signs of corruption. Remove anything that you see.

Also, you can try redownloading iMovie. Drag iMovie from the applications folder into the trash and sign into the app store. Click on your name at the bottom of the sidebar. Redownload iMovie from your list of purchases. If you can’t get the redownload, drag iMovie out of the trash back into the applications folder.

— Rich

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Answer 4

Sep 5, 2020 11:09 PM in response to Rich839

(Sorry it took me a while to get back)

Something that I might not have explained clearly is that this issue is coming up with ALL of these videos that last more than 25 seconds. So it is not related to flashes or other things. It is related specifically to video "length".

I have been able to somehow circumvent the problem, but still some questions linger.

To avoid the problem, I am opening the video clips in QuickTime and exporting them either with H.264 720p or with HEVC 1080p (the original clips are 1080p). In either of these situations, iMovie is fully reading the clips. Looking at all the clips' information, I notice that iMovie is reading files whose format is clearly stated as HD (1-1-1). If I don't see this information on a clip that lasts longer than 25 sec, iMovie will show the black screen at 25 sec. time.

For reasons unbeknownst to me, when I try to export the clips with H.264 1080p, the HD (1-1-1) categorization does not come out and they fail on iMovie. So for now I'm left with two choices: quickly export them with H.264 720p or slowly export them with HEVC 1080p.

I have not found a way to make QuickTime export with H.264 1080p HD (1-1-1). Do you know how to do it?

I know now what works and what not. But I don't understand why. Any clue with what I've mentioned here?

Thank you very much!

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iMovie 10.1.4 black screen on preview

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