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iMovie is one of the most popular video editing programs on Mac OS X. It’s intuitive and easy to comprehend, so you don’t need to be an expert on video editing to make a home video or create your own movie project. iMovie has greatly enriched people’s digital life.

iMovie accepts video formats including MPEG-2 and AVCHD, DV-Standard and HDV (High Definition Video), QuickTime Movie and MPEG-4. If the format of the video is among the above-mentioned video formats, you can easily import it to Apple iMovie project: (1) Launch iMovie, go to “file > import movies”, (2) Browse through movies to find the videos you want. Click “import”.

Many popular video formats such as M2TS, AVI, WMV and FLV are not supported by iMovie. To import these videos to iMovie, you need to convert them to iMovie compatible format. The following step by step guide focuses on how to convert M2TS to MPEG-4 for importing to Apple iMovie project using Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac.

Step 1. Launch Aiseesoft Video Converter for Mac. Load M2TS video. ( free download )

Step 2. Select “MPEG-4″ from output format list

Tips 1. Trim video files

If you want only part of the video to be imported to iMovie, click the ‘Trim’ button to open the Trim window, then set the start time and end time by dragging the start time and End Time slider to convert a clip from the video.

Tips 2. Crop Movie Video

If you want to remove the black edges or just convert part of the video area from your video file, you can click the “Crop” button and specify an area either by dragging the frame around the video or setting the crop values.

Tips 3. Video Effect

If you want to adjust the video effect of your movie, you can click the “Effect” button and drag each effect adjustment slider to set the video brightness, contrast, saturation and video volume. You can also choose a special effect from the Effect drop-down list to apply to your movie.

Step 3. When the setting is done, start converting by clicking “Convert”.

Step 4. When the conversion is done, launch iMovie, go to “File > Import movies”. Select the converted MP4 video and click “Import”.

That’s it! Now you can edit M2TS videos in iMovie. Enjoy making your own movies!

The following tutorial is going to show you how to rip DVD’s to all sorts of video/audio formats and convert all popular video formats from one to another for all portable players such as iPod, iPhone, PSP, etc on Mac OS X (including Snow Leopard) using iMedia Converter for Mac.

Step 1. Download and Launch iMedia Converter for Mac (Free Download)

Step 2. Add DVD or Videos

Drag and drop the DVD disc image or video file(s) to the grey area. Or go to “File” menu, choose “Load DVD” or “Add Video/Audio files” and navigate to the files you want to add.

After a DVD or several video files are imported successfully, you can see all of them listed in the program:

Step 3. Output Settings

Click the output format icon to open the output format window.

Output File: The default output file name is the same as source file; you can rename it by yourself.
Format: Click the format to open the output format drop-down list and choose an output format you need. It provides optimized output settings for iPod, iPhone, PSP, iMovie, iDVD, Apple TV, YouTube, etc.
Video & Audio settings: Set video encoding settings by selecting a resolution, a frame rate, a video encoder and a bit rate; set audio encoding settings by selecting a sample rate, an audio channel, an audio encoder and a bit rate.

There are several Tips and Tricks you need to pay attention to while using this iMedia Converter for Mac to rip DVD and convert video on your Mac machine. You can split DVD movie or video clips, crop DVD movie or video clips, merge several titles or chapters into one, capture pictures (BMP, JPG) from video, add image or text watermark to DVD movie or video, etc. For example, if you just want part of the DVD movie or video, you just move the pointer over the thumbnail of DVD or video and choose “Split” from the pop-up menu. Or you can go to “Edit” menu and choose “Split”. Then drag the slider to the exact point you want to cut the video, and click the “scissors” button.

Step 4. Start Conversion

After all the necessary settings and editing job, the last step is to hit the “Convert” button to fire up this powerful conversion machine!

The following tutorial is going to show you how to rip DVD and convert video to all sorts of video and audio formats on Mac OS X (including Snow Leopard) using only one tool – iSkysoft iMedia Converter for Mac. It also shows several tips and tricks you can’t miss out on while using this iMedia Converter to rip DVD and convert video on your Mac machine.

Step 1. Download iSkysoft iMedia Converter for Mac, install and launch it.

Free Download ( Intel Version | Power PC Version )

Step 2. Add DVD or Video

You can click “Load DVD” button to load DVD or click “Add Video” to import video files for conversion.

After a DVD or several video files are imported successfully, you can see all of them listed in the program:

Step 3. Output Settings

Choose the output format you want. After you choose a format from the “Profile” list, it is the time to check out the Setting panel:

Profile: Click here to know which formats Total Media Converter supports.
Settings -> Video: Set video encoding settings by selecting a resolution, a frame rate, a video encoder and a bit rate.
Settings -> Audio: Set audio encoding settings by selecting a sample rate, an audio channel, an audio encoder and a bit rate.

Tip:
You can customize the video and audio encoding settings and save them as your own profile. After you have chosen the encoding options, just click the “Save as” button and name your profile, and then the profile will be saved in the “User Defined” list. You can use the customized profile next time by selecting it from the list.

Apply to All: Check this option to apply the current profile to all the files.
Merge into one file: Check this option and the program will convert all the selected video files into a single file.

Step 4. Start Conversion

After all the necessary settings and editing job, the last step is clicking the “Start” button to start ripping DVD and convert video on your Mac machine with this powerful iMedia Converter for Mac.

Tips and Tricks:

Before clicking the “Start” button, you can do a lot more DVD/video editing jobs like DVD movie/video length trimming, video cropping, adding special effects, adding watermark, capturing images during previewing, etc. For example, If you want to capture a clip from the current title/chapter, you can click the “Edit” button to open the “Trim” window and trim the current title or chapter.

In Edit panel, there are 3 methods to do the trimming job:

1. Input value. Input certain time number in Set start time and Set end time fields manually.
2. Drag the sliders in the playback progress bar to set start time and end time quickly:
3. Insert trim start and end flags when you are previewing an video file in Edit panel.

Note: If you are using Windows OS, it is recommended you try Aimersoft Video Converter Pro to help you rip DVD and convert video to your iPod, iPhone, Zune, PSP, BlackBerry and a lot more mobile players.