iMovie 2: The Missing Manual
by David Pogue


Following are the changes made in the 6/01 reprint.


Here's a key to the markup:

        [page-number]: serious technical mistake
        {page-number}: minor technical mistake
        <page-number>: important language/formatting problem
        (page-number): language change or minor formatting problem
        ?page-number?: reader question or request for clarification


{21} 

The text used to read:

only one hour of recording per tape

It now reads:

only one hour of recording per standard  tape


{27}

The text used to read:

Some Sony camcorders offer a night-vision mode (called NightShot) that 
works like night-vision goggles. In this mode, you can actually Şlm (and 
see, as you watch the LCD screen) in total darkness. The infrared 
transmitter on the front of the camcorder measures the heat given off by 
various objects in its path, letting you capture an eerie, greenish night 
scene.

It now reads:

Some Sony camcorders offer a night-vision mode (called NightShot) that 
produces results that resemble what you'd see through night-vision goggles. 
In this mode, you can actually Şlm (and see, as you watch the LCD screen) 
in total darkness. The camcorder's CCDs (light sensors) can actually pick 
up reflections from the infrared transmitter on the front of the camcorder, 
letting you capture an eerie, greenish night scene.


(31) 

The text used to read:

As a bonus, these camcorders can also play back your old 8 mm and Hi-8 
cassettes, making these cameras great transitional models.

It now reads:

As a bonus, most of these camcorders (but not the TRV130) can also play 
back your old 8 mm and Hi-8 cassettes, making these cameras great 
transitional models.


(90) 

The text used to read:

running Mac OS 9.0.4 or later.

It now reads:

running Mac OS 9.0.4 or later (there's even a Mac OS X version of iMovie).


(90) 

The text used to read:

for $50

It now reads:

for $50 (or free, if you have Mac OS X).


{101} 

The text used to read:

it's available from missingmanual.com and macdiskexplorer.com.

It now reads:

it's available from missingmanual.com and diskexplorer.com.


(106)

[The 2nd paragraph has been cut, and this paragraph has been added
just above the Tip]

(This feature relies on the use of the DV camera's internal clock. 
Therefore, it doesn't work if you haven't set your camcorder's clock. It 
also doesn't work if you're playing from a non-DV tape, using one of the 
techniques described on page 112-114.)


(112)

The text used to read:

Sony Digital8 camcorders accommodate 8 mm, Hi-8, and Digital8 tapes (8 mm 
cassettes recorded digitally).

It now reads:

Most Sony Digital8 camcorders accommodate 8 mm, Hi-8, and Digital8 tapes (8 
mm cassettes recorded digitally). (Low-end models like the TRV130 may not 
offer this feature, however; ask before you buy.)


(114)

The text used to read:

All of Sony's current DV and Digital8 camcorders offer a spectacular 
solution to the "old tapes" problem: analog-to-digital passthrough 
conversion. In other words, the camcorder itself acts as one of the media 
converters described above. The footage never hits a DV tape; instead, it 
simply plays from your older VCR or camcorder directly into the Macintosh. 
(The models offering this feature are the TRV-11, TRV-20, TRV-900, PC5, 
PC100, and VX2000, plus the Digital8 models-the TRV-120, 320, 520, 525, 
720, and 820.)

It now reads:

Most of Sony's current DV and Digital8 camcorders offer a spectacular 
solution to the "old tapes" problem: analog-to-digital passthrough 
conversion. In other words, the camcorder itself acts as one of the media 
converters described above. The footage never hits a DV tape; instead, it 
simply plays from your older VCR or camcorder directly into the Macintosh. 
(Ask before you buy; some models, such as the PC100, lack this feature. On 
others, you must use the camcorder's on-board menu system to enable the 
live passthrough.)


(146)

The text used to read:

error message shown at bottom right in Figure 6-6

It now reads:

error message shown at bottom right in Figure 6-5


(178) 

The text used to read:

import it into your project as you would any graphics file, as
described on page 237

It now reads:

import it into your project as you would any graphics file, as
described on page 234


{182} 

The caption used to read:

you'll see that the second clip has been shortened by two seconds

It now reads:

you'll see that the second clip has been shortened by one second


(219) 

The text used to read:

I want to do a split edit, or a J-edit. You know, where the dialogue from 
the next scene begins while we're still looking at the Şnal seconds of the 
previous scene. Can you do that in iMovie 2?

[italicize this paragraph]


(222-224)

{This new section has been inserted before "Extracting Audio from Video."
The sidebars on pages 222 and 224 have been cut to make room.}


The Audio Pop: The Cockroach of iMovie Bugs

If you haven't found it yet, you will: When you paste video over existing 
audio (in iMovie 2.0 through 2.0.3, at least), you sometimes hear a little 
pop or lose part of a word. No amount of fiddling seems to get rid of it.

Apple admits that this is a doozie of a bug, and that a substantial rewrite 
of the program would be required to fix it. There's no easy fix, but there 
are workarounds.
For example, you can try to perform your paste-overs during momentary 
silences in the underlying audio track (pauses in the speech, for example), 
or to add very short audio fades at the ends of the affected clips.

If that's not practical, you can try this more elaborate trick, in which 
you set aside a copy of clean, virgin audio before making the paste, and 
then use it to replace the audio pop after the paste:

  1. Before pasting, copy the clip you're cutting into (the one with the 
audio you want to save). Paste it at the end of the Timeline Viewer.

You've just set aside a pure, uncorrupted copy.

  2. Perform the video overlay. Turn off the sound for each of the 
resulting clips.

There may be as many as three clips that resulted from the overlay: the 
video you pasted and the "bookends" of original video on either side of it. 
Click one of these clips; drag the volume slider beneath the tracks all the 
way to the left. Repeat with the other clips involved in the overlay. The 
entire section should now play back silently.

  3. Click the clip at the end of the timeline. Choose Advanced ®Extract 
Audio.
The audio now appears as an independent clip, as described on the next page.

  5. Drag or copy/paste the extracted audio clip into sync with the silent 
overlay clip(s).

The untouched copy of the original audio now provides the sound for the 
paste-over sequence. (Delete the orphaned video clip at the end of the 
Timeline Viewer.)


(240) 

The text used to read:

these numbers have probably become engraved into your cerebellum).

It now reads:

these numbers have probably become engraved into your cerebrum.)


{254} 

The text used to read:

Otherwise, it's safe to say that iMovie fans only rarely go to the trouble 
of creating the most common kind of reaction shot, in which we cut to a 
listener's reaction as the sound of the speaker's voice continues. Creating 
this effect requires that you separate the video from the soundtrack, 
which, in iMovie, is no picnic; it involves exporting your movie's sound 
track to another editing program, as described in Chapter 8.

It now reads:

Otherwise, it's safe to say that iMovie 2 fans create reaction shots far 
more often than they did when using iMovie 1; now it's easy to cut to a 
listener's reaction as the sound of the speaker's voice continues. Creating 
this effect requires that you separate the video from the soundtrack, as 
described on page 219.


(268) 

The text used to read:

That's a real problem if you intend to create moves

It now reads:

That's a real problem if you intend to create movies


(270)

The text used to read:

{insert this tip before the heading "The Protect-Tape Tab"}

It now reads:

Tip: If you have a Sony Digital8 camcorder, another option is open to you: 
Buy 180-minute Hi-8 tapes, such as the Sony E6-180HME. You won't find them 
at your local drugstore, that's for sure, but www.b&h.com, for example, 
carries them. These tapes let you fit a full 90 minutes of high-quality 
footage on a single cartridge, without the downsides of LP mode. (They're a 
good way to return finished over-and-hour iMovies back to tape, too.)


(270) 

The text used to read:

<add this note at the end of the chapter:>

It now reads:

Note: Digital8 (Hi8) tapes record lock works backwards from miniDV 
cassettes; the little red slider covers the hole to prevent recording, 
and  must be open to record.


(297)

The text used to read:

At one time, the best-known MPEG-1 creation software was Astarte M.Pack. In 
early 2000, however, Apple bought Astarte and took M.Pack off the market; 
Apple will probably re-introduce the program under a new name, and with new 
features, in 2001. (Visit this book's page at www.missingmanual.com to see 
if this blessed event has occurred.)

It now reads:

At one time, the best-known MPEG-1 creation software was Astarte M.Pack. 
In early 2000, however, Apple bought Astarte and took M.Pack off the market,
in order to use its technology for creating iDVD, described on page 299.


(297) 

The text used to read:

{insert this before "iDiscWriter"}

It now reads:

¥  Toast Titanium. The latest versions of Toast (www.roxio.com) add a Toast 
VCD option directly to the Export dialog box of iMovie, making this by far 
the simplest and least expensive route to Video CD making.


(298) 

The text used to read:

MPEG-1 format can take quite a bit of time--several per minute of
your movie

It now reads:

MPEG-1 format can take quite a bit of time--several hours per minute of
your movie


{323}

The text used to read:

(The same password works for QuickTime 3, 4, and 5; you don't need a new 
serial number if you've ever paid for one.)

It now reads:

(The same password works for QuickTime 3 and 4, but you need a new serial 
number to unlock QuickTime Pro 5.)


{335} 

The text used to read:

Or maybe you'd like to overlay video over audio without having to use the 
workaround described in Chapter 8.

<cut the sentence>


(337) 

The text used to read:

EditDV

EditDV (Digital Origin, www.digitaloriginal.com)

It now reads:

EditDV (Cinestream)

EditDV (just renamed Cinestream by its maker, www.digitaloriginal.com)


{364}

The text used to read:

turned off the extension called

It now reads:

turned off the extension (in systems before Mac OS 9) called


(395) 

The index entry used to read:

Mac OS X Server, 317

It now reads:

Mac OS X, 90, 317