How do I import AVCHD videos into FCP X?

Question

Hi everyone,
I'm running FCP X on a Macbook Pro (2.3 GHz Intel i5, 4GB RAM), and I am filming with a Sony Handycam AVCHD camera.  I've tried simply importing AVCHD footage from the Handycam using the camera import setting in FCP, and sometimes it will recognize the camera, but usually it will not.  I've also tried importing the footage in iMovie, but I have the same issue.  After I realized that FCP does not communicate well with the camera, I purchased a third party converter called 4Media MP4 converter.  Sometimes this solves the issue and the video will convert to MP4, which I can then edit in FCP.  But most of the time the footage gets converted into slow motion video with regular speed audio.  I've also tried Aunsoft Final Mate for Mac, but the quality from that sucked even worse!
Does anyone know how to make this work?  Am I doomed to be unable to use an AVCHD camera with my Mac?  Are there any better third party converters?

Answer 1

In FCP 7 I'd normally use the Log and Transfer function to convert the AVCHD files to ProRes. However with FCP X you can use the Import from Camera... command in the File menu or the button shortcut for the same function.
This can be done by connecting the camera, or putting the memory card from the camera into a card reader, and then, from within the Imprt from Camera dialogue, selecting Open Archive and select the camera, card or in my case the backup I've made of the card.
I regularly back up my AVCHD files to hard disk, or BluRay data disk, so I can reuse my SD cards but an important thing to remember when doing this is that you need to copy the whole directory structure of the memory card to a new folder on the hard drive. Simply selecting the .mts files won't work as the 'Import From Camera' function needs to see the whole directory structure to interpret the what files are there etc. I create a new folder and then copy all the folders and files on my card into that folder on my hard drive. When selecting Import from Camera/Open Archive I then choose the folder, not the files inside it. Once this is done the video files are presented and I can audition them and choose to import all of them or select the files I want.
None of these methods require the files to be transcoded prior to import. You can choose the transcoding method during import so that either high quality ProRes files are created or Proxy files, smaller and lower quality for editing.