The .dv files I am working with are up to 2 hours in length (about 22 gigs). As stated the original file remains unsplit until the rejected selections are sent to trash, for me that takes about 30 minutes of pinwheeling to complete.

Behind the scenes, the source file (.dv file in my case) is moved to a temp directory within the event folder, then the new clips are copied out of it into new .MOV file. After all the clips are copied out, the temp folder is sent to the trash. You can watch files in the event folder appear and grow in size during the process.

iMovie HD appeared (keyword appear) to split the .dv files much much quicker, however it wasn’t splitting the source data at all, and only changing pointers in the project file to the source media. As far as I could tell as the original .dv file in the media folder was never touched, even when you selected empty trash, and clicked ok to the warning about irreversible consequences the source .dv file remained intact in the media folder. The splits and clips were all just pointers within the project that referenced the original media non-destructively. I guess that if ALL clips referencing the media were trashed, maybe then and only then the entire source media file would be trashed.

The fact that there is (apparently) no way to stop the playhead at any given point is just infuriating. And, yes, splitting clips is a basic function.

(To be fair, you can split clips, you just have to select a region first. But since you can’t even add in/out markers, this makes precise editing quite difficult…)

This is a good tip — it seems overly complicated, though, especially when all you had to do before was hit Command-T… Ah well. I’ll give it a shot.

Thanks.

Here’s a reason – I’m making a DVD. The material is too large for one DVD so I need to make a part 1 and part 2. The place where I want to make the cut falls in the middle of one of the clips. That’s a perfectly good reason. Why isn’t clip splitting designed in? Pathetic.

I have to work with a Mac. I’m really getting fed up with the insistent ‘Macs are the future, Macs are so much better’. I don’t mind progress, but they’re NOT! Macs are advertised as being ‘good at the fun stuff’ (Mac vs PC ads), like video editing for example. But you’re saying iMovie 08 doesn’t have a clip splitting feature? You’re having a laugh – this is REALLY basic stuff!

Its constant niggles like this which are convincing me that the Mac is not better for advanced users who want to do things properly, UNLESS you’re prepared to splash on FCP, but that isn’t a fair comparison is it! (and clip splitting is NOT advanced)