One big problem with iMovie - my fault/any alternatives?

Hi all!
After setting up my new MBP to my liking I ran into one serious problem with iMovie that prevents me from being totally happy.

With the video editing software I'm used to, be it from Ulead or even Windows own integrated Movie Maker, I can just open a video file and start working on it right away. Not so with iMovie. I looked trough every setting I could find, but it insists on creating thumbnails for every piece of footage I want to work on. This may have to do with the concept behing the program and might well be an adequate attitude.

BUT, if for instance I just want to cut off a couple of minutes from a TV-show where I missed to stop the recording on time, where I after all do not intend to do any andvanced editing, this is extremely annoying, since it takes very long for iMovie to import the files and do it's thumbnail thing. This is true for .flv-files that I converted with iSquint so that iMovie can import them, this is also true for MPEG-files from my existing recordings, which by far make up for most of the stuff I intend to work on.

This behaviour renders iMovie practically unusable for my needs. I did a serch on this forum for "thumbnails" and "iMovie" but didn't find this problem mentioned. Is there a way around it? If not, what editing software for OS X would just "grab" a file and let me work on it right away? Hopefuly it's just my fault and iMovie can do that or maybe some freeware.

 

I've got about 26 gigabytes in my iphoto library, about 1/4 of which is movies taken by various digicams. The first time I launched iMovie, it went through and found every movie and made thumbnails. I left it running all night and never had to deal with it again. If you're looking for a more professional approach, you might consider Final Cut Pro.

I think Imovie works well enough for my purposes. Perhaps there is a way to "hide" the thumbnails you don't care about so it cannot find them. There is some freeware out there that lets you switch your iphoto library. You could switch to an empty iphoto library before launching imovie and that might prevent the spurious thumbnail creation. As for not making thumnails of the material you are actually working with, I don't know any way around that.

hope this helps...

 

Thanks for your help. I had iPhoto importing some movies and after starting iMovie it asked me to let it create thumbnails. It's running now and I just let it go. Anyway, since this seems to be necessary for every video file I want to edit, I'm still looking for an alternative. Though iMovie probably offers more than I need (at least for now), I'd be willing to buy Final Cut Express if it lets me work on my files right away. So if you (or anybody else) could answer me this question that would help a lot.

 

FCP may be more than you need, or you may grow into it.

but the time it takes to "Learn" FCP, you couldve been importing/creating thumbnails. Oh, and it costs money too.

Id let iphoto/imovie do its thing. Once its done, if you still are not satisfied, go buy FCP.

 

I'm actually thinking about purchasing this one:

Final Cut Express

Final Cut Studio as it is named now, is a caliber beyond my needs I'd say (for mow at least) and I couldn't afford it anyway.

Final Cut Studio

I'll stick with iMovie for the moment until I have a clear answer as to which application might work as an alternative. What I have to do anyway, is some homework and read the PDFs for iPhoto and iMovie.

 

sounds like a plan.

i think youll find that iMovie/iPhoto suit your needs once the thumbs are made. FCE is 200$ from apple anyways. Thats an awful lot just to save one nights work...

either will make you happy im sure.