"I am trying to find the best and safest way to convert .3gp video from my Blackberry into a file format that iMovie will recognize. I see lots of potential downloads, but I am hoping for some recommendations on which SW is most helpful. Thanks."
Many smartphone record videos in 3GP format, when you import your 3GP video to iMovie for editing, you may find that iMovie doesn't accept it for it is not a workable format for iMovie.
To transfer 3GP to iMovie, you'd better convert 3GP to iMovie compatible files. Then, a Video Converter for Mac will be necessary. Here, you can turn to3GP to iMovie Converter which can best and fast convert 3GP to iMovie editable files on Mac (OS X 10.9 and Mountain Lion included)
Step by step to convert 3GP to iMovie with 3GP to iMovie Converter
Step 1: Load 3GP files
You can directly drag & drop the 3GP files to the converter, or go to the "File" menu, choose "Load Media Files" to locate the 3GP files you want to load. Batch conversion is allowed by the excellent 3GP to iMovie Converter, so you can import several files at one time.
Step 2: Set iMovie as output format
You can set "iMovie" as your output format directly. The app has alreasy optimized the video resolution, bit rate and frame rate for the output files. The output video can be imported to iMovie 11/iMovie 09/iMovie 08/iMovie HD.
Step 3: Convert 3GP to iMovie on Mac
Click "Convert" to convert 3GP to iMovie. After the mac conversion, you can freely import the output files to iMovie '08, iMovie '09, iMovie HD for freely editing.