The method of import you choose is completely up to you. Here are some suggestions depending upon what you plan to do.

When importing into iMovie you have the option to do some editing of the footage that is cataloged (i.e. removing footage you don't want to catalog). You might also want to consider this tip from one of our users who chose to archive his video to DVD-R disks.

if you are using iMovie you can do editing/splitting/naming within your project and then import into FootTrack. If you are using Final Cut you'll need to import your footage into FootTrack and then split it up if needed (i.e. the video was analog). If the footage is digital it will be broken up for you using the DV start/stops.

If using iMovie make sure you have the preference "Automatically start new clip at scene break" set so your clips are automatically broken up for you.

If you don't have the disk space to import an entire video tape into FootTrack at once you can do it in chunks (FootTrack's help provides details).

Importing creates a clip for each clip file found in the iMovie project. A clip image is created for each clip. FT will also read any DV data like the date recorded and the timecode if present.

A reference to the original footage is kept in case you have the hard drive space to keep the original DV footage.

Importing is generally the first step you do when adding tapes to FootTrack.

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