How can I handle H.264 MOV files from D3200/D800/D5100 in iMovie easily?

Summary: When you try to import camera raw H.264 MOV files from Nikon D800, D3200, D5100 to iMovie, you may find the there are some importing or editing issues. Read on the article to get the solution.

Many Cameras like Nikon D5100, D3200, D4, D800 record 1080p H.264 MOV footages. The HD video recording function helps you perfectly capture every moment of tears and laughter in your life and keep the unique memory forever. Have you got one H.264 MOV Camera? If so, you must like taking and playing the HD recordings with your family and friends. However, something painful is that you can't import Nikon H.264 MOV to iMovie for editing on your Mac smoothly.

In fact, the reason behind that is Full HD "MOV" movie files created by Nikon DSLRs use the H.264 codec for the video. Generally, .mov is friendly for iMovie, but H.264 is a delivery codec rather than editing codec. If you have got MOV videos from Nikon D3200/D800/D5100 and suffered the headache from dealing with these files, the program Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac, a top Mac Nikon MOV to iMovie Converter, which will get you out of trouble effortlessly in editing Nikon MOV files in iMovie 08/09/'11. With it, you not only can easily transcode H.264 to Apple InterMediate Codec .mov for iMovie program within a few clicks, you can also encode Nikon/Canon/Panasonic/Sony/JVC camera or camcorder videos to Apple ProRes for FCP, DNxHD for Avid Media Composer, MPEG-2 for Adobe Premiere Pro, etc on Mac OS X(Lion, Mountain Lion included). I have used it to covert many H.264 MOV files on my MacBook. It works fast and keeps the original quality in 1080 30p/24p.

[How-to]: Transocde Nikon D3200/D800/D5100 H.264 MOV recordings to AIC for iMovie

Step 1: Install and run the Nikon H.264 MOV Converter on Mac, and then click "Add files" icon to import your H.264 MOV files directly from your camera or the copied folder on the desktop.



Step 2: Hit the Format box to select the specially designed video codec for editing in iMovie: iMovie/FCE --> Apple InterMediate Codec(AIC) (*.mov).



Step 3: (Optional) Adjust the video and parameters, including the Bitrate of Video and Audio, Audio, Video Size, Sample Rate, Frame Rate, Audio Channels, etc., by clicking the Settings buttion on the main interface.

Tip: The 1920*1080 as video size and 30fps for NTSC area while 25fps for PAL area as Frame Rate are the best settings for editing in iMovie.



Step 4: Click the arrow button to start transcoding Nikon H.264 MOV to AIC for iMovie as well as Final Cut Express immediately.

After the H.264 MOV to AIC conversion finished, you can easily transfer your 1080p footages from Nikon D3200/D800/D5100 to iMovie for further editing without any problem.

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