I'm a very new Mavic owner and am just wondering what processes & software people are using for edits? I want to be able to shoot & edit 4K but export in 1080P to share footage with family over iCloud Photo Library. Ive been copying the raw MP4 files straight from the SD card to my Mac and then importing into iMovie. I can edit OK within iMovie but it keeps crashing early on in the render when I try to export my project to an external file (which I'd intend to import into Photos for onward sharing & syncing to my iPad).

My machine is a mid 2012 MacBook Pro Retina with 16GB RAM. Am I expecting too much of this hardware or is it iMovie creating issues?

Any help or advice appreciated.

Are you getting the error 10008 export failure when it crashes?  

blunt_blunt Posted at 2017-4-17 22:19
What is a RAW MP4 file?

I think your 300 year old Macbook might be your culprit.

Sorry when I meant Raw I was referring to taking the direct file from the card as written by the drone, not using any apps to bridge the file to my Mac. Poor choice of word. The video has the native compression codec applied to it from the drone.

hybrid33 Posted at 2017-4-17 22:20
Are you getting the error 10008 export failure when it crashes?

Yes that is the one. Do you know what this means?

BlackenAmbaa Posted at 2017-4-17 23:30
Yes that is the one. Do you know what this means?

I do actually.  I was getting the same error on my Mac Pro, which is a work horse.  I doubt it's from the age of your computer.  

My mavic was inserting random black frames into the video.  You have 3 options.  Either:

a:  Scrub through your video frame by frame and delete all the black frames (you can do this easily by exporting the video, and where it fails, note the time in the video that it fails... then delete the black frame.

b:  There's a program called MacX Video Converter that will convert the video, and automatically kill the black frame, (i used this for a while)

c:  send mavic in for repair.

I was using the video converter for a good while until my mavic started acting up, and I ended up going the repair route because of other reasons.  But during the time I didn't send it in, the converting program worked perfect.

hybrid33 Posted at 2017-4-18 07:14
I do actually.  I was getting the same error on my Mac Pro, which is a work horse.  I doubt it's from the age of your computer.  

My mavic was inserting random black frames into the video.  You have 3 options.  Either:

Thanks - I'll give that a go on one troublesome video and see how I get on.

BlackenAmbaa Posted at 2017-4-18 09:26
Thanks - I'll give that a go on one troublesome video and see how I get on.

Sweet deal.  Lemme know how it works out.

in the meantime here are the actual specs of my MBP:

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)
2.6 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB
Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB

250GB Flash SSD

hybrid33 Posted at 2017-4-18 10:43
Sweet deal.  Lemme know how it works out.

Hi Hybrid. Exactly as you predicted - I found a black frame just where iMovie was tripping out on the render 8 secs into my movie.

Off to try the software you suggested now

MacX Video Converter worked perfectly - many thanks for your help Hybrid

Out of curiosity are you still using iMovie for edits or have you moved on to something else? Also has your replacement/repaired Mavic given you any black frame dropouts - wondering if this is something to speak to DJI support about as I have the DJI care pack?

BlackenAmbaa Posted at 2017-4-18 12:55
MacX Video Converter worked perfectly - many thanks for your help Hybrid

Out of curiosity are you still using iMovie for edits or have you moved on to something else? Also has your replacement/repaired Mavic given you any black frame dropouts - wondering if this is something to speak to DJI support about as I have the DJI care pack?

Glad it worked for ya!  I only sometimes use imovie anymore.  I'm using more final cut and adobe premiere for edits now.  I was still getting failure to export in both of those programs too though, so using them without converting them wouldn't have worked either.

About your second question, I was able to fly the mavic today, and did some quick videos, and I'll be honest... not a single black frame in the over 30 minutes of footage I got.  Not one.  It may be worth sending it in for repair to get that issue resolved.  The converting software worked nice as a 'temp fix' but long term, you may want to get it repaired.
edit:  got my replacement unit today.

BlackenAmbaa Posted at 2017-4-18 12:55
MacX Video Converter worked perfectly - many thanks for your help Hybrid

Out of curiosity are you still using iMovie for edits or have you moved on to something else? Also has your replacement/repaired Mavic given you any black frame dropouts - wondering if this is something to speak to DJI support about as I have the DJI care pack?

Forgot to mention, my mavic was replaced under warranty... I'm assuming that your's would be as well.  Something to keep an eye on.  You shouldn't have to spend the 79 bucks for a replacement.

Great - I'll get in touch with DJI UK support to organise getting the root cause fixed. By stripping out the black frames the video does go a little jumpy at the point - not much but noticeable - but MacX is a great stop gap solution, as well as looking good for lots of other things too.

Once again many thanks for all your tips & help.