Convert AVCHD Progressive To Apple Intermediate Codec?

Is there a really simple way to take AVCHD Progressive footage (1920 x 1080 at 50 fps) and convert it into Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC, 1920 x 1080 at 25 fps)?
I ask because when I connect my Panasonic HC-V700 Camcorder to iMovie '11, all I see are these "No 60p" icons over the AVCHD Progressive clips.

Hi, guys. I met the similar problem last month. I recorded many 1080 50p MTS footages by using my Panasonic TM700. I like editing videos with iMovie to share with my family and friends. But I found iMovie can't surpport 60p Import. I had tried different ways to import to iMovie, but I failed. Fortunately, my a friend found a blog post from goole and helped me to convert 50p AVCHD into Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC, 1920 x 1080 at 25 fps).
The link is http://www.editavchdmac.com/make-1080-60p-mts-editable-imovie-mac/.
Here I hope it also give you a big help.

Similar Messages

  • How to avoid the Apple intermediate codec on AVCHD

    Hi everyone,
    In case you want to work directly with your AVCHD shots instead of having them recoded to the Apple intermediate codec (AIC) format (which takes up huge amounts of space), just read this blog entry:
    http://joeshaw.org/2010/04/10/655
    Especially the second ffmpeg command line shown there:
    ffmpeg -i input-file.m2ts -ab 256k -vcodec copy -acodec aac output-file.mp4
    shows how to repack an m2ts / mts file to mp4 without recoding the video (audio is converted from ac3 to aac). The resulting mp4 video may then be imported to iMovie and will NOT be recoded to AIC.
    Be warned: iMovie then makes heavy use of your CPU when working with this files. At least on my Macbook I frequently see the spinning ball. So you should have a powerful machine or a large cup of patience ...
    At least this explains why Apple uses the AIC when importing AVCHD data.
    Hope to help
    Yours
    Wolfii

    Hi there,
    ok, here the step by step instructions:
    1. Download AirVideo Server from here:
    http://www.inmethod.com/air-video/download/Air%20Video%20Server%202.4.0.dmg
    and install it to your applications folder. You now have a suitable version of ffmpeg available at "/Applications/Air Video Server.app/Contents/Resources"
    2. When your Camera is connected, Mac OS X should show an additional volume. With Finder, search this volume for the directory that contains files named *.MTS (or *.M2TS). Note down the directory, we need it for the following little script.
    3. Open a terminal window and type in the following:
    cd /Volumes/...
    (where your MTS files are located, e.g. something like /Volumes/CANON/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM)
    for a in *.MTS
    do
    "/Applications/Air Video Server.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg" -i $a -ab 256k -vcodec copy -acodec aac ~/Movies/${a%%MTS}mp4*
    done
    If everything is done correctly, you should find a bunch of mp4 files in your personal Movies folder afterwards.
    Depending on your camera, you might need to change MTS into M2TS in the above script (at two places).
    Be warned: This script will overwrite existing files with identical names in your Movies folder, so maybe it is a good idea to use an individual subfolder for each run.
    Maybe somebody else reading this is able to provide an automator script.
    Yours sincerely
    Wolfii
    Message was edited by: Wolfii
    Message was edited by: Wolfii

  • Capture HD with AVCHD apple intermediate codec

    I have captured video from my Canon xha1 previously. Today I went to capture some video. I have my presets to HD with avchd apple intermediate codec. When I go to capture I receive the message "capture preset must have video or an audio digitizer set to capture. Please change the desired preset in the audio/video settings. I go back to system settings and the "audio capture" is not highlighted. I'm not sure if this is how I set the capture preset or if there is something else I am looking for. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

    Hi Tom,
    The camera settings are on HDV/DV. I haven't changed the setting, that I am aware of. I have tried a few easy set up settings. Last night I set to all formats and HDV. I was able to import video but not audio came through. I also tried HD with HDV or AVCD and received the message about needing a digitized audio preset. Today I received the message my deck could not be recognized. I loaded the footage into imove hd just to check my firewire. Video and audio both came through. Interestingly enough when I tried to import an imovie hd into fce, I received an error message. So my problem went from bad to worse. The other devices connected to my imac is an external hard drive and a printer. In the system profiler my camera is listed under the firewire device tree.
    I am going to call Apple again tonight. I have only had this machine a month. So I am not very experienced with what can go wrong. But I guess I'm learning. By the way I have enjoyed your tutorial. I have learned a lot.
    Thanks,
    Jamie

  • I have converted m2ts files to .mov to edit in FCE (4.0.1) When I drag the clips into the timeline they need rendering, as much as a minute for a 30 sec. clip. Is this normal? I am using OS 10 . My easy setup is apple intermediate codec, 720p30. Any help

    I have converted m2ts files to .mov in streamclip,  for editing in fce 4.0.1. When I drag them into the fce timeline the clips need rendering, as much as a minute for a 30 second clip. Is this normal? My OS is 10.6.8. My easy setup in fce is apple intermediate codec 720p30. Any advice to avoid the rendereng would be helpful. Ann

    To what codec, frame size & frame rate did you convert the files in Streamclip?
    If it isn't AIC 720p30, you'll need to render.
    x

  • .mts to .mov (with Apple Intermediate Codec)

    Hi.
    I would like to ask you if is it possible to (batch) convert movies from my handycam Sony HiD AVCHD (.MTS) to FCE (.mov) with Apple Intermediante Codec inside the .mov file.
    I successly converted my .mts files with FFMPEG:
    ffmpeg -i 0011.mts -sameq -deinterlace 0011.mov
    But, I need "Apple Intermediate Codec" inside the .mov file to avoid FCE from "render" again all my videos.
    Thank you in advance

    Hi there skalicki`.
    Thank you very much for your help!!
    I was a litle bit stressed here.
    Well, it worked: I tested MPEG Streamclip to open one of my .mov and convert it to quicktime format with Apple Intermediate Codec and inserted that file into my Final Cut Express project and ... yes! it worked! No "re-rendering" processes.
    For now, the steps I'm using are:
    1) copy my xxx.mts files to /tmp
    2) ffmpeg -i xxx.mts -sameq -deinterlace xxx.mov
    * the annoying thing is that ffmpeg just cannot convert some movies:
    [h264 @ 0x1003600]sps_id out of range
    [h264 @ 0x1003600]B picture before any references, skipping
    [h264 @ 0x1003600]decodesliceheader error
    [h264 @ 0x1003600]no frame!
    [h264 @ 0x1003600]B picture before any references, skipping
    3) Open MPEG Streamclip and convert xxx.mov to /tmp/newmov/xxx.mov
    codec= Apple Intermediate Codec, audio=direct copy
    Now I'm looking for a way to use MPEG Streamclip from command line ..
    Thank you again!

  • Strange Problem capturing with Apple Intermediate Codec

    We have the following problem:
    We capture with a blackmagic decklink studio card (but I could reproduce the same problem using a MacBook Pro and the internal camera) with a MacPro and CS4. When capturing a live video feed (1280x720) with the apple intermediate codec (set to 29.97fps or to 59.94fps) everything seems to work just fine. But the resulting videoclips happen to be exactly ONE half of the total capture time. So if we capture in Premiere for about 1 our the clip is only 30 minutes long. If we capture for 10 sec., the clip will be 5 sec. long. It's not that the captured clips play with double the framerate. Half of the actual footage is missing.
    Any suggestions?
    By the way: we live in a PAL50Hz country, but our video signal that needs to be recorded comes in as a 60hz signal.

    Hi,
    Well I did some googling...and I would bet that the problem is the 50hz vs 60hz...
    Unfortunately most if not all info I got that even BRUSHES on this subject with the sort of material you're dealing with is the opposite....where they are in 60cycle land with pal stuff....rather than in pal land dealing with 60hz ...
    This is a lot of misc stuff but if you get a little bit of info from various posts and make some notes you might be able to get an idea how to solve the problem...
    In particular I was looking at how frames are flagged and new frames are created later ...( toward very end of these posts - the last four or so )
    Also noted some timecode reading that was "doubled"....so if your deck thought you had a specific length and then it read the timecode doubled, it would be your problem in a nutshell...  have you checked the last frame you captured and compare that timecode to the overall length ??
    anyway, here is a TON of stuff to breeze through...good luck...
    THIS IS EDIUS RELATED..so keep in mind re: specific presets etc
    Steve Sherrick
    03-03-2008, 11:14 AM
    Hi chaps,
    Can I just confirm that the SDI/HDMI outputs are only live in build 14? I'm on 13 and going SDI - HDLINK - DELL24" gives me nothing. I'm in PAL land so have tried switching between 50hz and 59hz in camera.
    So do I need build 14 or is it something else?
    Cheers
    Jeff Brown
    #708
    I'm in NTSC land but that same setup gives me picture just fine. Which Dell model is it? Is everything set up right from the camera side?
    Jeff Brown
    03-04-2008, 12:42 PM
    Hi Steve,
    I believe so. Set to Preview in th viewfinder settings, plugged in on preview mini sdi, cam set to 50hz..
    Anything I'm missing?
    Cheers
    To counter this, the AJ-HD1400 offers two modes specifically for this called '25(SD)' and '25(HD)'. They output the 25fps signal with new timecode on a 50Hz carrier (only over SDI/Analogue the Firewire doesn't work in that mode).
    It only works with 25fps material too, any other 'offspeed' rate has to be dealt with separately with the deck operating in 59/60 mode.
    When operating in either of these 25 modes, the deck generates new 25fps timecode from the tape (although our tests have indicated that it is frame accurate of multiple playback passes).
    Basically, Varicam, while a very nice idea, has only ever been properly designed to work in a 60Hz environment. It is pretty much a nightmare in 50Hz environments.
    I think I may have found the cause of the problem.
    For some reason when I started my project it had a Device Control profile set to 720p50 (rather than the 1080i50 that the deck is operating in).
    What this seems to have done is double the frame number on any clip it encountered. So if I took a clip with in marked at 01:02:40:22 and dropped it in the Log and Capture tool the In Point that FCP decided to look for was 01:02:40:44 (which isn't going to exist on a 25fps timecode obviously).
    Since you are using Pal
    Go :
    Generic OHCI HD 50hz -> 960x720 25p over 60p
    Because if I am right you can't do Pal over 60hz but you can do PAL over 60P at 50hz.
    ( but I could be wrong)
    But the other problem is that you are using an ntsc profile to capture pal recorded footage.
    50 hz 960x720 over 60P yields a frame rate of 25 progressive
    60 hz 960x720 59.94p yields a frame rate of 59.94 progressive which is far from your original footage . Mostly used for countries using natively ntsc
    Neither myself, nor Ricksta (I don't think) are using NTSC-rate profiles.
    The Preset setting I've been testing with is:
    Generic OHCI HD 50Hz 960x720 25p over 60p
    Indeed, I've just tried what Rick mentioned, and with the deck in 59.94Hz operating frequency, I can capture with all three 720p 59/60 input settings. This is technically wrong however, as the tape has been recorded at 60Hz. But like I said before, until Rick hears from the big geeks at Panasonic about this, I don't know what the real outcome of that difference in frequency is.
    I've also tried a 50p over 60p project setting (as 720p50 is what I will be editing with in Avid) - but, predictably, this works but gives me double-speed footage. Which, while amusing, isn't a lot of help for me
    A large part of the problem I'm facing here is to do with the Varicam format. It will record any framerate from 1-60fps. It has to operate and a system-frequency of 59.94Hz or 60Hz. That is what Rick and I are referring to. The limitation I face is that the Varicam format is not widely supported for PAL-based rates (25/50) as it requires communication with a deck operating in an NTSC-based system frequency (either 60Hz or 59.94Hz). This difference (between project/timeline framerates, and deck operating frequencies) is enough to ensure that IEEE1394/Firewire/OHCI capture is not possible in these modes in Final Cut Pro, Avid (any version) or any other NLE I have found.
    We realise that the framerate and frequency we're working in has to be 50-based, and we're not making any mistakes in that respect.
    So far Edius is the only NLE on the market, that I have been able to find, that supports Firewire capture from 60Hz DVCPro HD material in a 50Hz based framerate.
    When you have captured the file in that project select a clip in the bin press alt+enter go to video info and tell me what the framerate is .
    In a 50p over 60p project, when I capture footage shot 25p over 60 with the 'Constant Rate' capture profile I get a clip in the bin that is 50fps, but that plays at doubletime - which is what I'd expect.
    I can change the framerate in the properties to 50fps, and it plays at the correct rate, but I'm not happy with the way to refactors the timing in that mode. It seems to create interpolated frames to fill the gaps, which provide an unusual appearance that I don't really like.
    At present if I capture into 25p over 60p project, then import the resulting 25p footage into Avid, Avid doubles up the frames to produce 50fps material.
    Some clarification here. The Varicam does indeed record at a constant 60fps. If the frame rate is set to 25fps for example it simply flags the active frames. This flag is carried in the vertical interval data. The reason for this system, is as suggested, it is very difficult to vary the speed of tape in a helical scan recording system. With the advent of solid state recording that Panasonic introduced in the AG-HVX200 it is now possible of course to only record the active (native) frames and this would be called 25pn for example.
    Originally with the Varicam you used to use a device called a Frame Rate Converter. This box contained a hard drive with HD-SDI I/O. It would recognize the active "flagged" frames in the incoming signal and buffer them through the hard drive and then play them out at the correct frame rate.
    More recently NLE's such as Avid, FCP and Edius have incorporated this flagged frame recognition and perform the extraction automatically. Thus when I tested a 25fps Varicam ingest on a 25 Frame timeline I am getting realtime playback. If I had recorded at 50fps and I placed that on a 25 frame timeline I would have very smooth half speed. Also the newer DVCPRO HD decks such as the AJ-HD1700 and AJ-HD1400 have the ability to decode "on-speed" frame rates such as 30fps, 25fps and 24fps.
    The issue that Dylan is facing is that the NLE's will not accept a firewire input at 60Hz, they only accept it at 59.94, this is a .001 frequency difference and should be negligible. The other alternative is to ingest via HD-SDI via a Black Magic or AJA Kona card etc. These boards also support the variable frame rate function.
    I hope that this helps clear things up a little.
    Rick Haywood
    Manager Broadcast & Display Systems
    Panasonic New Zealand Ltd.
    Further to what Rick is saying... The issues with most NLEs for PAL users is the disparity between the 59.94/60Hz operating frequency of the deck and the 50Hz based framerates the applications are working with in PAL framerates.
    As for the constant 60fps - it is indeed recording 60 images per second to a tape, but as I said before, only a certain number are unique - only the flagged frames. In 25fps, the camera samples the sensor 25 times a second and records that frame to tape. Essentially you get frame 1 recorded for 2 frames, frame 2 recorded for the next three frames, frame 3 recorded for 2 frames, etc... The first frame with each unique image is 'flagged'. To rebuild the recorded framerate, only the flagged images are captured.
    The big bonus of Edius for me here is that it can capture the PAL framerates from the 59.94Hz deck over Firewire directly. Something that Avid and FCP are unable to do.

  • Apple Pro Res 422 versus Apple Intermediate Codec

    I'm new to the world of FCE HD. I'm transfering video from a Canon HG10 to my MacBookPro and storing on an external drive. Earlier projects are bringing in video with Apple Intermediate Codec compressor... no problems, editing doesn't require rendering... Now video is being brought in as Apple Pro Res 422. The Pro Res is requiring that I render everything once I bring it from the viewer to the canvas. I've searched all menus, preferences and settings looking for where and how to change this setting. Does anyone have a solution to this snag?
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    Hi(Bonjour)!
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  • I can only import HDV with Apple Intermediate Codec!!!!

    Hello,
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    I'm using Final Cut Pro 5 on a G5 that hasn't been online in a while. Maybe I just need some 'updates?"
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    This footage I don't mind converting to Intermediate Codec, but in the future I'd like to not have to do this.
    Anyone know what causes this?
    Thanks!

    You should be able to do it fine in 5.0 as well as 5.1.
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  • Playback of Apple Intermediate Codec has no video

    Hi there,
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    Hi there:
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  • Apple Intermediate Codec, Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 where can i get format from.

    Apple Intermediate Codec, Uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2 where can i get the format from.

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    on both my old backed up OS and the new leopard but could not see the CODEC in either location (is it stored elsewhere)?
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