Forums | MacLife

Czachorski wrote:

kman wrote:

Czachorski wrote:

With the 30 minutes I played with it, it appears that gone are the audio editing timeline functions and the ability to roll between A & B audio footage like in iMovie '06.  I was accustomed to using iMovie occasionally just as an audio editor.  While I think you still do some audio editing in '08, it is designed for a work flow of changing clip lengths to sync to specific points in one audio track (a song).

That really stinks - can you even have more than one audio track?  Audio has been a big part of pretty much every project I've done, and losing the ability to mix two tracks, do fades and copy/cut the audio would be a deal breaker for me.

It may be more fairly viewed as a different app, but the fact that the iLife suite has lost some key functionality is really a step back.

Wouldn't that functionality be in garage band?  I ask, because I am not sure - not a big GB user.

In the version of GarageBand I have (the first one), you can only control the master volume. I'm hoping that you can control the volume for each individual track now (I think that came with '06, but I don't know).

I've been doing a lot of movies recently, learning the software as I went (I was holding on with a bunch of movies I had made in the past year until I had a version of iMovie that could handle them, so now I had a lot of work to do). I am by now means an expert, so don't trust my word for it.

But I did one movie soundtrack with GarageBand, and it was fairly similar in terms of the features you could do on iMovie itself. Of course I might have not been exploiting the capabilities of each, but you could control the volume, split audio clips, move them around, have several tracks, etc.

The only thing I didn't like is that the video clips are shown much smaller and shorter, but I am sure there must be a way to change the view, only I haven't discovered it yet. I will keep playing and learning, I am sure there are tons of features I haven't discovered yet!

Czachorski wrote:

Shadowless wrote:

I'm gonna guess that they want you to use Garageband as the primary audio-editor.

Cross posted - sorry.  But yup.  And if you need that level of detailed control in the context of a timeline video editor, you are looking at FCE.  It is actually a good definition between the consumer and pro aps.  It's too bad that is has to come at a time when '06 was perceived to have all this functionality and now it is being take away.

But you shouldn't be forced to pay for FCE to do these things.

Czachorski wrote:

I used the term "perceived", because did we really ever have that functionality in an elegant, dependable manner with '06 being so buggy and cruddy design of the UI?  I've hated iMovie since '03.

Yeah, the simple solution would be to have fixed these issues. Is this not possible or is/was Apple being lazy b/c of their new focus with phones and other bullsmurf? I think so and is why I was FORCED to go to FCE in the 1st place

Actually, what I think happened was that they've never been able to make a version without many bugs, so they decided to start over again. Build an entirely new app and go from there.

I have a feeling that we'll see much more functionality added back next year (or whenever they decide an update is good). I actually give them props for the change if this makes for a much smoother and more reliable user experience. I'll wait on functionality if Apple is really committed to providing a quality product all-round.

wellfleation wrote:

And let me get this straight: For people who don't have $299 laying around for FCE, Apple expects you to use 3 different programs (iMovie 08 iMovie 06 and GB) for the functions that were in 06.

That quote makes no sense whatsoever. I understand your complaints thus far but read what you wrote above. They expect you to use iMovie 08, iMovie 06, and GB for the functions that were in 06.  Ummmmmmm, why would you have to use 08 and GB along with 06 if all of the functions were available in 06?

Frank

Woot! I got my shipping confirmation today. Maybe it'll be here sooner than I thought, yay!

ukimalefu wrote:

avkills wrote:

Consumer apps suck.  Get used to it.

-mark

They don't. They're just not pro apps.

Well, if you've lived your whole life using pro apps, then yes they suck.

-mark

avkills wrote:

ukimalefu wrote:

avkills wrote:

Consumer apps suck.  Get used to it.

-mark

They don't. They're just not pro apps.

Well, if you've lived your whole life using pro apps, then yes they suck.

-mark

If you always used pro apps, then you really don't need consumer apps.

avkills wrote:

ukimalefu wrote:

avkills wrote:

Consumer apps suck.  Get used to it.

-mark

They don't. They're just not pro apps.

Well, if you've lived your whole life using pro apps, then yes they suck.

-mark

Pro apps suck at being useable for my mom.

lieven wrote:

I've never liked iMovie because I didn't feel like I had enough control to make detailed edits, yet it was too complicated to quickly throw some stuff together. Maybe there is a market for an app in between iMovie '08 and FCE, but I'm not in it..

I agree.  I don't like the lost functionality I am hearing about in iMovie '08, but there is no doubt it needed usability enhancements.  I also don't like having to buy another app for more serious video work, but since I can't get my hands on Soundtrack Pro 2 without upgrading to FCS 2 anyway, I might just have to buy a copy of FCS 2 to supplement iMovie anyway

Just finished my maiden flight on iLife 08 ... and I'm not too impressed with it.  I mostly use iLife for iMovie and Garageband, and I definitely do not like the new iMovie format (sorry, another one of these posts).  I agree with everyone that you have less control over everything.  I think Apple designed this for people who just wanted simple video-to-dvd or hard drive, nothing more.  I'm a bit bummed though...I wish the old version of 06 got more features and effects.  Maybe multi-cam support (and no, I don't have the money to buy FCE).  Maybe Adobe will come out with a Premiere Elements for Mac to fix this?

Garageband seems about the same to me, maybe more instruments/tunes, but I don't see that much difference.  I gave Magic Garageband a try, but, as advertised, it's really simple and I don't really need to do that.

iPhoto's new organizational events are better than the "roll" thing they did, IMO.  It's kinda like simplified Albums now.  But I already got Aperture and I'm transitioning right now to use it, so iPhoto will probably not get much use.

iDVD is also improved, same features as before, but more flashy/classy themes to be used.

Good thing I renamed my old iMovie to iMovie 06 before I installed it, so I don't have to deal with a download.  I'm going to keep iMovie 08 because I think it's going to be helpful to turn my family's home videos into a digital format, but as far as editing goes, 06 ftw.

Happy with iWork, Sad about iLife.  I guess we aren't supposed to shell out money for each new version.  Maybe in 09!

blackzarg wrote:

iDVD is also improved, same features as before, but more flashy/classy themes to be used.

Don't forget about the huge improvement in quality encoding!