iMovie: The Missing Manual
by David Pogue


Unconfirmed error reports are from readers. They have not yet been 
approved or disproved by the author or editor and represent solely
the opinion of the reader.

If you have any error reports or technical questions, you can send them to
booktech@oreilly.com. (Please specify the printing date of your copy.)


This page was last updated on May 11, 2001.


Here's a key to the markup:

        [page-number]: serious technical mistake
        {page-number}: minor technical mistake
        <page-number>: important language/formatting problem
        (page-number): language change or minor formatting problem
        ?page-number?: reader question or request for clarification


UNCONFIRMED errors or comments submitted by readers:


(5)  The second bullet point under "The Tech Specs of NTSC" lists the number 
of NTSC scan lines as 575.  I believe the correct figure is 525.  Some of the 
lines contain non-picture information, but these are taken out of the 525.  
That's why the computer monitor vertical pixel number of 480 is close to being 
compatible with the vertical "size" of the video monitor.


(14)  In the last paragraph, the link 

	http://www.loop.com/~pirro

does not work.  Is there a correction or update?


[30]  Section titled "Control-L or LANC";
Mr. Pogue describes the LANC feature of "some Canon and all Sony 
camcorders" as "worthless".  I strongly disagree.  My Sony RX-180 video 
tripod has LANC controls in the handle that allow me to standby, stop, 
start, photo, and operate the variable zoom, just like the pros.  I 
wouldn't buy a camera without LANC.


(105)  Fig. 4-12, used to illustrate "Sharing Clips among Projects" shows 
copying a clip, Clip 10, from one media file to another.

Since the media file this clip is being copied into doesn't contain a 
Clip 10, there's no possibility of overwriting an existing Clip 10 by an 
inadvertently hasty, but all too probable, "OK" on a warning dialogue.

It might have been prudent to mention this possibilty, with an obvious work 
around: simply making a copy in the original media file or to the desktop 
and renaming the clip, with appropriate indications about manually 
renumbering clips (leading zeros).


?162?  1st bulleted item under "The iMovie Titles Catalog" (& on other pages);
References to  iMovie Plug-in Pack #1 when tried always came up with an 
unknown response from Apple.
 
I assume Apple removed this item to force us to iMovie2.

This item is also not in your list of downloads from your web page although 
mentioned many times in your book.

Is there a copy of this still in existance??


(204, 205)  In Fig. 9-4 on page 204 and Item #6 on page 205, the author 
indicates that the numbers in the title bar of the Scale dialog box are 
"X: --" and "Y: --"

However, from the illustration in Fig. 9-4, it appears that the title bar 
reads "W: --" and  "H: --"


{267}  2nd paragraph;
Astarte's web site (if it still exists) is not www.astarte.com.  THAT web site 
is for a fertility clinic.


[301]  2nd paragraph. When utilizing QT Player Pro's ADD menu command accessed 
through the Option key, I believe the contents of the clipboard are simply 
added from the diamond-shaped insertion point (the player head) on the QT 
Player scrubber bar. The added content, in any event, does not seem to appear 
to be added over the selection. So I believe this second paragraph on p. 301 
is erroneous.

Also, a serious oversight: You make absolutely no mention of the ADD SCALED 
menu choice (Edit -> Paste when Option - Shift are pressed), which--on the 
contrary--is used when footage is selected in the QT Player scrubber bar. Very 
useful, among other things, for adding a still picture to the precise number 
of frames that a music or narration track plays (when those frames have been 
selected, of course).


[353]  6th and 7th paragraphs;
Contrary to what it says in these paragraphs, the maximum value that the 
program will accept for the parameter is 2,147,483,647.  The program obviously 
stores the parameter internally in a 32 bit signed integer.  Values between 2 
and 4 GB are treated as negative numbers and cause the program to fail to be 
able to even play the camera.


[353]  The last sentence in the AutoSceneDetectMaxBytes section now reads:

	"To make it 4 GB (about nineteen minutes per clip), specify
	4,0857,600,000, and so on."

Should read:

	"To make it 4 GB (about nineteen minutes per clip), specify
	4,085,760,000, and so on."

Setting the number to the one listed in the book causes the camera play or 
capture mode to stop working.  You get an error "Camera not connected" and 
the play or import step is cancelled.  Fast-forward and reverse still work.

If you go back and look at the file after running iMovie, the field is set 
to -547054592.