Using a Flip Video camera with iMovie '08

I have a new toy and at least for now I'm gonna have the bug to use it as often as I can. Julie got me a Flip Video Ultra for my birthday and I've been having fun with it since day one. Dare I say it, but this could be the year of video around here at Undisclosed Location. I'm going to have to get over how much I hate hearing my recorded voice, but I think that'll come with time.

There were a few hiccups to getting the Flip to play nice with iMovie '08 and the Mac in general. I freaked out at first try because all of the videos I had recorded played jerky and with garbled audio. This was even after installing the recommended 3ivx decoder that comes on the camera and updating the firmware after plugging the camera in for the first time. After doing a quick google search I came across a support thread suggestion to download and install Perian. Lo and behold, once I did this everything went smoothly. So if you're having problems with your Flip Video camera and your Mac, give the same thing a try.

Once I got video to show up correctly on my MacBook Pro running Leopard, the next step was getting everything to work with iMovie '08. I've read a few tips on how to get this done, but it seemed like this was going to be a multi-step process. So I simply fired up Automator and used the built in actions to create an application that would take care of the whole process for me. I added this application to my finder bar, and now when I plug in my Flip camera all I have to do is navigate to the "DCIM" folder and drag any videos I want to upload onto my "Flip Converter." Quicktime converts the videos from .avi to .m4v, saves them to my user "Movies" folder, and iMovie '08 Opens up and the import command is selected. You're then in control at this point, and can add your newly imported movie to a new even or an existing one.

You can try out this "app" yourself by downloading it here. And if you're aware of something better please let me know, because anything to make this easier will get me uploading more videos.

Honeymoon Bug Bite from Izzy on Vimeo.

Comments

[Patsy Lanclos]

I've had a Flip for several weeks, just drag the avi. video clips to QuickTime Pro, and export them as whatever file I need. Works great quick, easy. I had no trouble with the video but did already have Perian installed. So thanks for the tip - can pass it on to others who have trouble.

[Topher]

That's a great tip. I heard good things about this camera. This Automator app makes life easy. Thanks!

[Claude]

Thanks for all these explanations. They saved me days of worry, wondering if I hadn't bought something useless.

[Ian Alexander]

Anyone have issues with the files not getting deleted off the camera?

[Izzy]

Can't say that I've had that issue Ian, files have been deleting just fine from the camera for me.

[megan]

Hi,

I just got a Flip Camera and am struggling to be able to play and edit the video on iMovie. A friend on mine had a MacBook Air, with iMovie '08, and I could import, play and edit AVI's with no problem. Now, my computer, which also has iMovie '08, won't allow me to import .AVI files. I've tried converting them to .mp4, and deleting my plist for iMovie. Nothing has helped! Does anyone know what's going on or have suggestions for things I can try??

Thanks,
Megan

[Mike Porter]

Anyone have issues with the files not getting deleted off the camera?

Make sure you hook the camera up to the computer and delete the pics from the camera to the trash and empty your trash. That should take care of that issue.

[Marc Moschetto]

Excellent tip and thanks for the application. I'm returning to the Mac fold after a decade-log hiatus and editing some Christmas vids in iMovie was my first big project on the new system... the AVI/Flip issue was very frustrating. The Automator script is a big help!

[Kate]

Thanks for the Perian tip! It saved me a lot of headache.

[Mike]

Is there anyway to convert avi files to m4v or any other iMovie acceptable format without Quicktime Pro or buying a converter?

[Britknee]

My MacBook won't even recognize the flip video camera for me to extract the movies on it. Any ideas???

[Mike Lechmann]

@ian alexander above, and futurecomers - gotta empty trash with flip cam plugged in to truly delete the file from the camera.

izzy, thanks for the automator app!

[Rebecca]

I'm trying to build my own automator script to use MPEG Streamclip rather than Quicktime. Do you know how to create an action that will go to File and select one of the options in the drop down? I need to select "Export to MPET-4." Thanks!