If you have one of these files and want to use it in a project, you'll have to download some software -- iMovie can't rotate. Using Google, I found some tips on using QuickTime Pro, but who wants to pay $30 just for this one function? Not me!
Short answer: use BitPlayer instead. Read on for the longer answer...
Here's a more detailed walkthrough, as I originally posted on my blog:
- Open the video in BitPlayer.
- Open the Info window by either:
- In the Window menu, choose Show Info
- Press Command-I
- Control-Click or right-Click on the video in the playlist and choose Show Info
- Open the View tab
- Click one of the arrow buttons next to Orientation. This will rotate the video, but only in BitPlayer.
- Play the video for a few seconds to make sure it looks right.
- In the File menu, choose Export Movie.
- Choose a location for the new movie and options for the export.
- The format options can be crazy-deep, so I can't really help you there, except: if you're planning to use the video in iMovie, and/or don't want to take much time for compression, choose DV Stream as the format. If you want to export for distribution (web, etc), choose QuickTime Movie.

