Question: Hi guys, LOVE THE SHOW and listen to it all the time in my limo in NYC. I have a JVC HDD GZ-MG30U. Is iMovie ’08 able to read the .MOD file that it records in? or will have to convert it first again? If so, is there better software to convert it?

Answer: iMovie features and specs claim to support it but actual users say the workflow is still not improved. Too many users are still hesitant to upgrade to iMovie ’08.

From Apple:

iMovie will not read MOD files if they are stored on a HDD or your mac, but will read them direct from your video camera if it is on the camcorder compatibility list

Note that iMovie ’08 doesn’t actually convert the .mod files into another format – it simply puts them into the usual .mov container – which is no different than simply changing the extension from .mod to .mpg.

Back to conversion:

You can use a program called MPEG Streamclip to convert your MOD files to DV or MP4s, which can be imported into iMovie ’08.

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