The videos transferred from SDcard play smoothly in QuickTime Player and VLC.  However when I use the videos in iMovie or Final Cut Pro,  it is choppy.  The rendered video is also choppy when played on any device.  The output format is the same as the DJI recording format 1080p 29.97 fps.   Anyone else notice this issue?

Think you import in 24 fps, try 30 fps .....

I hope that's the reason. I'm only using imovie (IOS) for Video.

Hi, thank you for the suggestion.  

How do you tell iMovie to import at 24fps?   I didn't see an option for it.  It seems to automatically detect frame rate.  My other videos from iPhone and Canon cameras don't have this problem.  I am using 1080p, 30fps, H.264 across the board.  Is there something peculiar about DJI movies?  

If there was a sample DJI Spark video I could download,  I can check whether it is an issue with my drone or with software/computer (although I am having same issue on multiple computers).  Plays fine in VLC,  but becomes jerky as soon as it is imported in an editing software.

UPDATE:  I figured out that while importing video clips in Final Cut Pro,  if you change the default frame-rate of 29.97 to 30fps,  the video plays smoothly.   Using the 'mediainfo' utility,  the only difference I see between DJI videos and videos from other cameras is the following:

DJI:          Frame rate                               : 29.970 (30000/1001) fps
iPhone:     Frame rate                               : 30.000 FPS

So the question is whether DJI is reporting the frame rate incorrectly in its files or it a software issue on the desktop?   As it stands right now,  I can't edit videos in Filmora or iMovie.  But I am able to get past the problem by manually changing frame rate in Final Cut Pro.

I'm having this issue with importing my first Spark video into iMovie.  Spark shoots video at 30fps, and I imported into iMovie at 30fps.  But viewing the original video in Quicktime it is nice and smooth, the same video in iMovie is choppy and juddery.  I'm using iMovie 9 which is the older version.  I will try on iMovie 10 but I don't believe that is the problem.  Any suggestions?  

chraaaa Posted at 2017-7-3 05:42
I'm having this issue with importing my first Spark video into iMovie.  Spark shoots video at 30fps, and I imported into iMovie at 30fps.  But viewing the original video in Quicktime it is nice and smooth, the same video in iMovie is choppy and juddery.  I'm using iMovie 9 which is the older version.  I will try on iMovie 10 but I don't believe that is the problem.  Any suggestions?

I'm using iMovie 11. Same problem! Video looks fine in QuickTime but very choppy and blurry when imported into iMovie {:4_154:}

You can fix choppy videos in iMovie by trimming a few seconds of the clip in media before putting it in timeline. Somehow that fixes it.

dojoman Posted at 2017-7-31 08:20
You can fix choppy videos in iMovie by trimming a few seconds of the clip in media before putting it in timeline. Somehow that fixes it.

This works !   (trimming a few seconds off the clip) - thanks - great tip

note - looks like you have to trim off the Front of the clip not the end for this to work
- you can also use a 3rd party clip editor or trimmer and get the same result (but takes a bit longer)

Great tips!

JMX46 Posted at 2017-8-29 05:28
This works !   (trimming a few seconds off the clip) - thanks - great tip

note - looks like you have to trim off the Front of the clip not the end for this to work

I didn't know you have to clip in the beginning. Anyway, I'm using Final Cut Pro now it doesn't have this issue if 30fps timeline was used. I hope Apple fix this for iMovie.

iMovie indeed runs on their own native fps.
Bummer for footage that was not shot on iPhone.

Is there anyone perhaps that can tell the difference between footage shot on Iphone and Android (footage at the same time) or that footage is more smooth on Iphone instead of Android.

This is good to know.  I was just about to purchase Final Cut Pro X but was holding off until someone could figure out how to get the jidder out of the video.  Seems like you change the import default to 30fps and all is good.

Sparky_17 Posted at 2017-9-11 05:06
This is good to know.  I was just about to purchase Final Cut Pro X but was holding off until someone could figure out how to get the jidder out of the video.  Seems like you change the import default to 30fps and all is good.

Try Davinci 14 , is free and do the same work. Also, converting SPARK clips to 29.97 can be easily done with Adobe Media Encoder or WoinderShare

Srry for my messsage a day ago about the choppy video in imovie.... i always used the video items on my mobile phone with imovie, but as a beginner NOOB (as i say soo of my self :-)) I now just the video recordings on the SD-card in the AC itself and woooooow... what a nice scenes

So again sorry for the message, and now for some more flights...... keep up the flights

Gr33n13 Posted at 2017-9-12 05:47
Srry for my messsage a day ago about the choppy video in imovie.... i always used the video items on my mobile phone with imovie, but as a beginner NOOB (as i say soo of my self :-)) I now just the video recordings on the SD-card in the AC itself and woooooow... what a nice scenes

So again sorry for the message, and now for some more flights...... keep up the flights

Good to know you figured it out!
Love to see some shots

To start with, use this file type identifier - https://www.filetypeadvisor.com/ . It will precisely identify the file type as well as recommend you a player to use. Hope it helps