Summary: If you have troubles while importing Nikon Coolpix A H.264 MOV movies to iMovie’9, iMovie’8 or iMovie’11, you may come to the right place. This post explains how to transcode Coolpix A video to Apple InterMedia Codec for use in iMovie smoothly.
User Question, “So, I really, REALLY need some help with this. I just start shooting with a Nikon Coolpix A camera, and now I intend to import video recordings on it to iMovie’09 but it said there is nothing to import from. I’m getting frustrated. I heard from somewhere that I need to convert my Coolpix A H.264 MOV video to iMovie 09 supportable video files using third party converter app. Is that true? And if so which program do I need? Thanks for the help!!!”
iMovie supports specific file formats. So if the files on your digital camera are not one of those, you will have trouble doing it directly with iMovie. As a matter of fact, Nikon Coolpix A is able to record Full HD 1920x1080p video at 30fps and HD 1280x720p video at 24fps in format of MOV (Video: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, Audio: AAC stereo). The MOV should be a format that iMovie 09 will accept natively, while the H.264 codec is a highly compressed format, which is ideal for capture and delivery, but not quite suitable for editing. So it is probably the reason that iMovie’9 refused reading Nikon Coolpix A H.264 MOV movies. If that’s the case, try to convert your video to imovie 09’s native format – Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC) using Video Converter for Mac.
The Video Converter for Mac, which works excellently as a Nikon MOV Video Converter for Mac, is a converter program designed for transcoding HD media, including camera and camcorder videos files to whatever format you need with best video and audio synchronization. It supported camera brands include Canon, Sony, JVC, Nikon, Panasonic, Fujifilm, Pentax, Red, Blackmagic, Sanyo, and so on. With this little tool, you are able to create editable files for NLEs like FCP X, FCP 6/7, iMovie, Final Cut Express, Avid MC, DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro CS 6, Sony Vegas, etc. and export playable files for iOS devices, Android devices, HD Media Players, Game consoles and more.
Download a free trial of Video Converter for Mac
iMovie not recognizing Nikon Coolpix A H.264 MOV movies, what to do?
To make iMovie work with Nikon Coolpix A footage, you will need to use Video Converter for Mac to encode its MOV footage to AIC previously. To do format conversion, follow these steps:
1. Install and run Video Converter for Mac as a Nikon Video Converter for Mac. Once launched, its main interface appears as below:
2. Click on ‘Add File’ to add your Nikon Coolpix A H.264 MOV movies to the program.
3. From the Format bar, choose ‘Apple InterMediateCodec (AIC) (*.mov) as output format from ‘iMovie and Final Cut Express’ column. Note that the AIC codec is also accepted by Final Cut Express and Final Cut Pro (HD 4.5 through 5), but rarely used in Final Cut Pro as of Version 6 since it now uses the ProRes codecs instead of the Apple Intermediate Codec.
Important: If you’ve loaded a number of video clips to do batch conversion, please do remember ticking off ‘Apply to All’ option before you start.
4. Click ‘Settings’ button and go to ‘Profile Settings’ window to custom video and audio settings. (for advanced users)
5. When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start transcoding Nikon Coolpix A H.264 MOV footage to AIC – the best suited editing format for using within Apple iMovie Version 8, 9 or 11.
6. When the conversion process is complete, click on ‘Open Folder’ button to get the generated AIC QuickTime files and open them in iMovie for further editing with optimal performance.
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