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mrebele · 12-27-2016, 06:21 PM

I was really excited to get my Garmin Dash Cam 20 for Christmas. We are leaving in a few days for a 2 1/2 month trip to Florida and I thought I could import the video into iMovie to add to the videos I want to make about our trip. I love making videos but I am not really tech savvy when it comes to more complicated tasks. Does anyone have an easy solution to converting the avi fies from Garmin to a format that iMovie will accept. As a side note, so far I am not impressed with the quality of the video. This was not a cheap dash cam and I expected more. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

RCCFleetwood · 12-27-2016, 06:57 PM

I've not tried it, and am not a Mac person, but take a look at the free version of this:
https://www.macxdvd.com/mac-dvd-vide...-to-imovie.htm

It appears that your Garmin records in AVI format, and this should convert it.

Also, here's an article that mentions using VLC Media Player to view AVI files on your Mac. I have used this, and it's free. You may need to add a codec to it, if it won't play them initially, but just google "AVI Codec for VLC on a Mac", and you should find a free one.

https://dashcamtalk.com/garmin-dash-..._Files_and_Mac

Hope this helps.

macnut · 12-27-2016, 07:17 PM

I know Garmin has an app to view the videos, but you probably already know about that.

mrebele · 12-27-2016, 07:34 PM

I have tried a few of the video converters and the easiet was iskysoft but with all of them, I can view the video on my mac but I can't figure out how to import it into iMovie. Nothing seems to work. When they talk about codec, I am completely lost but I see that term mentioned all the time. They need "Video Converters of Dummies" then maybe I'll be able to figure it out.I've been trying to do this for3 hours so far. Keep the tips coming because sooner or later, something will work. Thanks again.

Murf2u · 12-28-2016, 07:13 AM

If you have a Mac, try 'importing' the movie file using iTunes. I've had really good luck doing it that way.

mrebele · 12-28-2016, 11:12 AM

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep them in mind. Right after my response last night, I got a call from my daughter, who lives nearby, with the news that her house was on fire but all were out safe. It was a total loss and has made us rethink our vacation. We are postponing it for now while we all work through what has to be done. I will revisit this when I can but time is not as important right now. Some things are much more important then vacation. Thanks everyone.

billdreamlv · 12-28-2016, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrebele

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep them in mind. Right after my response last night, I got a call from my daughter, who lives nearby, with the news that her house was on fire but all were out safe. It was a total loss and has made us rethink our vacation. We are postponing it for now while we all work through what has to be done. I will revisit this when I can but time is not as important right now. Some things are much more important then vacation. Thanks everyone.

Best of luck with your daughter. I know what I would do. I would be there helping her. The MH can be quite handy in situations like this.

mrebele · 12-30-2016, 08:43 PM

I wanted to update this post with some good news. We have been able to work things out with our daughter and her family to the point that we will be able to take off for Florida only 2 days late. The other good news is that I eventually found a solution that seems to work for Garmin Dash Cam 20 and iMovie. I purchased a license to Wondershare video converter and it works very well. Now I can't wait to set out on our adventure and document it on iMovie. Thank you everyone for the suggestions that eventually led me to a solution.