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iMovie clips playback choppy.

Hello Guys.




I bought my daughter a new Base model MacBook Air M2. 8GB ram/256 GB SSD. 


She needs it for collage and wanted to do the odd clip for FB Youtube etc. Nothing fancy, all small size stuff around 1280x720 or smaller. I really couldn’t stretch out the extra cash for more ram or bigger SSD. I know the more the better but her friends and the internet assured her she would mange with this for small clips? They are still using the MacBook Air M1 base model. I’ve run her clips through DR and they come out great so they are not corrupted.


Now the problem is that when she edits a clip her friends send her in iMovie they render perfectly. She uses android phone. When clips are imported and run through iMovie they playback choppy. I’ve tried importing/exporting into QuickTime reducing the size etc but still renders choppy.


Any ideas?  


Many thanks.

Posted on Apr 17, 2023 7:00 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 17, 2023 9:07 AM

Hi,


You Mac specs are perfectly adequate for editing movies.


There can be several causes for choppy video. Sometimes a difference in frame rates between the clip and the frame rate of the project could cause choppiness. For example, playing a 30 fps clip in a 60 fps project. Or possibly the clips have a variable frame rate rather than a constant one. Or possibly the clips are in a format not fully compatible with iMovie, or maybe have audio/sync issues. You might find this link helpful as to the causes and solutions for choppy video.


https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-fix-iMovie-making-my-video-editing-choppy-playback


I would try these three diagnostic procedures and see of either of them solves it.


Try deleting preferences. To do that, open iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and select to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie usually will open in a new empty library. If so, reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Now see if the clips play smoothly. Possibly you may need to reboot to set the changes.  Deleting preferences is a safe procedure that will not cause data loss or disruption to your project.


Try placing the video clips on the desktop and re-rendering them. You can do that by Control-clicking on the clip and selecting Encode Selected Video Clips from the dropdown menu. It will create a new movie in addition to your original clip. See if the re-encoded clip plays smoothly in iMovie.


If still no success, try using the free download, Handbrake, to convert the clips to Mp4/AAC, that Handbrake will do by default. In the settings, choose Constant Frame Rate. The conversion is to correct any format, audio/sync issues, frame rate and rendering issues. Then import the converted clips into iMovie and see if they play.


You can get Handbrake here:


https://handbrake.fr/


A simple way to do it is to open Handbrake and do a File/Open Source. Navigate to your video and choose it as the source from the resulting screen. Then do File/Start Encoding. Wait a couple of minutes for the conversion to complete. Then save and import the converted clip into iMovie.


-- Rich



Similar questions

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 17, 2023 9:07 AM in response to PureMinty

Hi,


You Mac specs are perfectly adequate for editing movies.


There can be several causes for choppy video. Sometimes a difference in frame rates between the clip and the frame rate of the project could cause choppiness. For example, playing a 30 fps clip in a 60 fps project. Or possibly the clips have a variable frame rate rather than a constant one. Or possibly the clips are in a format not fully compatible with iMovie, or maybe have audio/sync issues. You might find this link helpful as to the causes and solutions for choppy video.


https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-fix-iMovie-making-my-video-editing-choppy-playback


I would try these three diagnostic procedures and see of either of them solves it.


Try deleting preferences. To do that, open iMovie while holding down the Option and Command keys and select to delete preferences in the box that appears. iMovie usually will open in a new empty library. If so, reopen your old library to get back to your projects. Now see if the clips play smoothly. Possibly you may need to reboot to set the changes.  Deleting preferences is a safe procedure that will not cause data loss or disruption to your project.


Try placing the video clips on the desktop and re-rendering them. You can do that by Control-clicking on the clip and selecting Encode Selected Video Clips from the dropdown menu. It will create a new movie in addition to your original clip. See if the re-encoded clip plays smoothly in iMovie.


If still no success, try using the free download, Handbrake, to convert the clips to Mp4/AAC, that Handbrake will do by default. In the settings, choose Constant Frame Rate. The conversion is to correct any format, audio/sync issues, frame rate and rendering issues. Then import the converted clips into iMovie and see if they play.


You can get Handbrake here:


https://handbrake.fr/


A simple way to do it is to open Handbrake and do a File/Open Source. Navigate to your video and choose it as the source from the resulting screen. Then do File/Start Encoding. Wait a couple of minutes for the conversion to complete. Then save and import the converted clip into iMovie.


-- Rich



Apr 17, 2023 12:37 PM in response to Rich839

Hi Rich.


Many thanks for your suggestions. I have already tried them apart from Handbrake.. I never even thought of that one. I will certainly give it a try and let you know how it goes?


I found another editor VN. It's quite simple to use so she is learning this at the moment until I can get iMovie to work. it renders the clips no bother at all… But she want’s iMovie! lol.


Many thanks.

Apr 17, 2023 12:55 PM in response to PureMinty

Hopefully Handbrake will take care of it.


iMovie is more sensitive than QuickTimePlayer and some other apps to slight variations in format or rendering issues. I've found that converting with Handbrake cures many such problems.


Best of luck in resolving this. If nothing cures it you might try contacting Apple Support and talking to the techs there. They have the capability of remotely accessing your computer, that we don't have on this forum. If you decide to go that route, click on the Support item at the top of the screen and navigate to a place where you can enter your phone number.


-- Rich


iMovie clips playback choppy.

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