The Macintosh iLife 06

It's a Wrap: Exporting to Tape

You've finished your epicnow what? You decide. If you don't have a DVD burner, chances are you'll export many of your movies back to tape. If you're working in the HDV format and you want to view your work in its full, high-definition glory, you'll have to export to tapeiDVD doesn't yet support the emerging standards for high-definition video.

Once you export a movie to tape, you can connect your camera to your TV and screen your efforts. Or, connect the camera to a videocassette recorder to make VHS cassette dubs of your movie.

Exporting to a DV Camera

Connect your miniDV camera to your Mac's FireWire jack and put the camcorder in VTR mode. Be sure to put a blank tape in your camcorder, or fast-forward until you're at a blank spot in the tape. Don't make the mistake of recording over your original footageyou may need it again in the future.

Exporting to an HDV Camera

Exporting high-definition video to an HDV camera involves the same steps listed at left. The one significant difference involves time: as described on page 262, iMovie HD must transcode your finished video from the Apple Intermediate Codec into the MPEG-2 format used by HDV cameras, and mix down and compress the audio. This process can take a long time on slower Macsseveral times the length of your movie.

Making VHS Dubs

To make a VHS dub of a movie, connect your camera's video and audio outputs to the video and audio inputs of a video-cassette recorder.

You may have to adjust a setting on the VCR to switch input from its tuner to its video and audio input jacks.

Once you've made the connection, put a blank tape in the VCR, press its Record button, and then play back your movie.

Tip

If you'll be doing a lot of dubbing, look for a VCR that has front-panel audio and video input jacks, which eliminate the need to grope around the VCR's back panel.

If your camcorder and VCR each provide S-video jacks, use them for the video signal. S-video provides a much sharper picture. If you use an S-video cable, use only the audio plugs of the camera's cable; just let the yellow one dangle behind the VCR.

Your camera included a cable that probably has a four-conductor plug on one end, and three RCA phono plugs on the other. Connect the four-conductor plug to the camcorder's output jack (it will be labeled A/V In/Out or something similar). Connect the yellow RCA plug to your VCR's video input jack, the red plug to the audio input jack for the right channel, and the white plug to the audio input jack for the left channel.