Oh woeist Mac

We just bought two brand new Apple computers. They came with the new iMovie 8 and iLife 08. Having heard lots of complaints about the new iMovie, we decided to down convert to iMovie 6. Now the fact that Apple expects and has a link for this download should say something. Feeling all secure after I tested the import process and editing, making sure to note that the deck was recognized, I let our members start using it. It became apparent soon after that we had export issues. The program exported to tape, but only audio was recorded over black. I tried some troubleshooting to no avail called a couple of techs and didn't get far. I then walked step by step through the preferences. I found that if one had "play video through camera" selected, it exported audio but no video. If on the other hand you deselected this option, it exported fine. After another call to the Apple tech, I found out that evidently the new iMovie and the new Final Cut Express for that matter have a thing called Muxing. This separates the video and audio tracks. This is the reason the audio would record but no video. Imagine my surprise at his lack of surprise. Evidently when building the new software Apple thought printing to tape was archaic. That is why in the new FCE and iMovie 8 printing to tape isn't an option. If you upgrade your existing software it holds the original codec and will continue to support printing to tape. Lesson learned. Two actually. Mac is NOT as plug and play as they claim and upgrade rather than outright buy the new program. I guess with the popularity of tapeless camcorders and the shift to web based publishing, tape's days are numbered.