Import avchd imovie '11

I would like to import Sony Nex 5 AVCHD files in iMovie '11, but is doesn't work on my 3 months old core i5 iMac.
On Apple's support site I read that iMovie supports AVCHD files and that iMovie is capable of importing them.
However, my Nex 5 is not recognized when i use the cmd I function (then the web cam opens, but not the nex 5).
When I give the command to import from file on my harddisk, iMovie reports that there is nothing to import.
Before I switch to a video converter, I would like to see if it is possible using iMovie directly.
Your suggestions and help are highly appreciated.
Martin

iMovie doesn't support 50p/60p format. You'd better avoid the frame rate when you recording video.
If your AVCHD is still not be supported by iMovie 11, you may do that: You copy both HD AVCHD and SD AVCHD videos to iMovie 11.
Apple has now published a knowledge base article that addresses this issue and offers a method for accessing the AVCHD files. It states:
“Some camcorders that record multiple formats require extra steps to import both formats into iMovie ’09 and iMovie ’11. [...] To view and import AVCHD clips from your multi-format camcorder in iMovie, MP4/iFrame footage should be imported, preferably backed up, and then deleted from your camcorder. After all MP4/iFrame clips have been deleted from your camcorder, disconnect the camcorder from your computer and then reconnect it back again. The AVCHD clips should appear in the iMovie Import window.”
If it still doesn't work, you have to use the Mac AVCHD Converter tool to convert all AVCHD files to AIC to work with iMovie 11.

Similar Messages

Importing AVCHD: iMovie vs. Voltaic HD

I'm going to use a new HDD-based camcorder (those who read my previous topics will know why I - or rather someone else - chose HDD over tape). I've narrowed down my choice between a "basic" standard definition model, and a choice of more expensive high-def. models which feature optical image stabilization and take nice still pictures. Since they're HDD-based, they record in AVCHD.
I've been recently given a 10 s. sample of AVCHD video which I converted using Voltaic HD, but it took about 2 minutes (and I can consistently reproduce this time when converting it again) on my 2.2 GHz MBP. This is far from what I've read here when importing with iMovie '08 (which seems to take about twice as long as the actual footage length, and not ten times).
For those who own and use an AVCHD camcorder with iMovie '08 (and possibly Voltaic as well), how long does it usually take you to import footage with iMovie? With Voltaic?
Do you think (or know from personal experience), importing with Voltaic would be faster when importing larger clips, or do I really have to expect it taking ten times as long as the footage to import AVCHD?

I used "Voltaic" to test a short sequence recorded with a Panasonic AVCHD SD5 camcorder - to see what the quality was like before buying the camera, and before buying an Intel Mac to go with it.
Like Appleman's ..that camcorder shoots on SD (..or SDHC..) memory chips, not a hard disc.
Actually, that's what my sample came from (an SD5, or possibly an SD9).
I was disappointed with the results - though that might have been because I didn't choose some settings correctly - because although normal zooms and pans and static material looked OK, fast-moving material (..e.g; a train passing by..) seemed to have its fields reversed or overlaid, with an annoyingly imprecise location of vertical edges, and strong "comb" effects on moving edges ..as if the interlaced fields had been de-interlaced and then doubled to make Voltaic's frames (..this was using PAL video at 'full' 1920x1080i).
I'm not sure I understand all of that, but I was also disappointed with Voltaic's results on fast-moving objects (there wre two in the sample clip). Overall quality was very good though, and once the footage was converted from AIC to DV, the problem was less noticeable.
P.S: ..You say "..it took about 2 minutes (and I can consistently reproduce this time when converting it again) on my 2.2 GHz MBP.."
On Voltaic's website FAQs (..scroll down about halfway..) they show:
"How long does the conversion take?
This depends on your machine, but as a guide, on a 2.0 GHz MacBookPro with 2Gb of RAM, a 10 second AVCHD clip takes about 2 minutes to convert. In other words, it takes about 12 times as long as the original footage to convert the clip."
Thanks. That settles it. 12x is way to slow, and while iMovie can apparently import the footage faster, I want to keep the ability to transfer the footage from the camcorder's HDD to my drive and convert it later. So, AVCHD is not for me yet.

Importing AVCHD and DCIM folders into iMovie that someone has sent me. They live on my desktop. How do I bring them into an event library?

Someone has sent me the AVCHD and DCIM folders to import into iMovie. They live on my desktop. How do I bring them into an event library?

DCIM contains only stills.jpg ...
AVCHD is a highly complex file structure:
the 'video iself' is within STREAM as .mts, plus corresponding .cpi files in the CLIPINF ...
if the structure is intact, you go via File/Import/Camera Archive …
WITHOUT such a complete structure, the mts are not readable for iM and the automatic conversion routines don't get triggered. you have to manually convert/rewrap with 3rd party tools.-
the pics/jpegs can be imported via Finder/drag'n drop.-

IMovie freezes when importing AVCHD from Canon HF20

I've recently bought a *Canon HF20 AVCHD* Full HD camcorder, and am having a hard time importing the footage through iMovie '09. Here's exactly what happens:
1. I connect the USB to the back port of the iMac. The camera indicates a flashing USB symbol and nothing else happens. It doesn't mount the camera drive and iMovie doesn't detect the camera.
2. OK, so I connect the USB to a powered USB hub and it displays the correct message on the camera, mounts the camera drive and iMovie detects the camera is connected correctly.
3. I tell iMovie to import the footage. After a while, the estimated time left begins to increase up to hours long, and the progress bar eventually stops, and iMovie freezes, whith the colored spinning wheel as the cursor.
Each time I try to import the footage, iMovie freezes at different points.
Does anyone else have this problem importing AVCHD footage into iMovie '09 ?
Thanks in advance,
João Faraco

Well, judging from the deafening response, posting this question here is pretty useless.

Why do I have to make disk image of AVCHD to import into iMovie?

iMovie imports AVCHD format file structure from the camera quite easily. (or so I hear, I have not done so myself yet). I have footage from the camera saved to an external hard disk which I want to import into iMovie08. I am a newbie to Apple/Mac things. From these fora I learned that I need to make a disk image of the AVCHD directory and mount it. I did that and it seems to work.
But this process is painful. For the 12Gig save I made on 27Jan08, the disk utility took forever to make a disk image. It failed once complaining lack of disk space. I thought the firewire external disk was overwhelmed by IO and copied the directory to the internal disk, and made a disk image. I thought it was hung after about 15 minutes killed the diskutility. I had a corrupted image file. Then left diskutility running overnight and seems to have finished the job. This morning iMovie looked at the disk image and is estimating it is going to take 3 hours to bring it in. May be it is transcoding to a more editable format like mpeg-4 or something.
Why do I have to jump through so many hoops to make iMovie recognize the AVCHD structure? Why can't I just drag a AVCHD directory into iMovie and make it read it? If I can reclaim the 24 gigs in the internal disk at the end of the process, I guess I can live with it. But, come on, copying 12 gigs over Firewire, another hour to make a disk image... I was expecting better user experience than this. (Did I mention I am newbie for Apple? Recent refugee from the vistaland)

AppleMan1958 wrote:
I would not recommend waiting until you have 12GB of AVCHD (which might import as 120GB of AIC). You could lose it all if your camera is dropped. I suggest you get in the habit of importing from your camera on a regular basis.
I agree, it is not a good idea to accumulate so much footage in the camera. But these were downloaded from the camera way back before I even bought the iMac. At that time, the only device that can deliver 1920x1080 video to my shiny 50inch TV in the living room was the camcorder! (and the OTA antenna). So I kept the clips in the camcorder, even after taking regular backups to the hard disk. That way I can show the clips to friends and family in full HD glory!
BTW 12 Gig is just 2 hours in HD. It is not much. I dread bringing my second backup 4 hours of our trip to Anguilla, St Marten etc. We all know HD requires ooodles and oodles of data and storage. I am not really complaining about the disk usage. My most important beef was: iMovie imports AVCHD from the camera easily. But it is unable to start from a AVCHD folder in the internal hard disk and start reading it. I can burn a DVD-ROM with AVCHD directory in the root and it reads it. I can copy AVCHD folder to the root of a thumbdrive and it reads it.
But put the very same AVCHD deeply nested in the external drive it barfs.
I am going to experiment after going home. I will create a symbolic link to the AVCHD folder from the root of the external disk. Heck, I am root here, I can even do an ln -s /nested/directory/deep/in/the/external/drive/AVCHD /AVCHD
and see if I can fool iMovie to import the files without creating a diskimage. If someone who has immediate access to iMac would do the experiment it would be very helpful

Solution when iMovie or FCE will not import AVCHD files or MTS files

Problem: iMovie or FCE will not import your footage from SDHC camera with files in AVCHD structure, or cannot import .mts or .m2ht files (which you may have copied from AVCHD structure. When mounting camera, you can see the camera as disk but iMovie will not try to import footage. If you point Final Cut Express (FCE) to the file structure, it fails to recognize it as a valid file structure. (I have Canon HF10, but understand that this problem is common on many camera models, maybe camera has been turned off at the wrong moment?)
Cause: Faulty file structure on camera or disk
Soultion: Rebuild AVCHD file structure using an AVCHD editing tool. I found multiAVCHD (multiavchd.deanbg.com), which is not perfect, but will do the job. And it is freeware (possible to donate).
I would like comments about others experience - but at least this worked for me:
- Download and install the software (Yes, you need Windows)
- Set the right parameters: mostly default, I didn´t want any recoding. But tick off to keep the source files!
- Select the AVCHD source (or source .mts or m2ts files) and destination
- Start rebuilding: select output for Sony Playstation 3
- Put the AVCHD file structure on a USB stick
*If using iMovie:*
Start iMovie and plug the USB into the mac (virtual disk (.dmg file) or other media should work fine as well). The USB may contain other files as well, but the root of AVCHD must be named AVCHD.
iMovie recognizes the drive as a camera. All is not 100% well, as the dates for making the footage is lost, and the thumbnails are distorted if seen at all, until clicked on. But then import worked for most clips. Some clips gave an error message, but FCE was able to import these (Log&transfer).
*If using FCE:* Use Log and transfer on this file structure (need not be on external disk)
If you have a better solution - please share! I suppose there are other tools out there which may correct the file structure with less side effects and no errors.
If you go for this solution - remember the author of multiAVCHD, he will surely appreciate a donation. I guess everybody will agree that this is worth at least as much as you paid for your SDHC card.
Why a function to correct faulty file structure is not included in iMovie and FCE is beyond my understanding!
I notice many users salvage their footage by converting the .MTS files, using Handbrake etc. But I believe rebuilding the file structure is faster and with no quality reduction.

Hi everyone,
I'm hoping someone is still subscribed to this and can help.
I have a Sony HDR-SR10. Yesterday I was able to connect it to my iMac by USB and view all the footage in the import window of iMovie (08).
Last night, to save time sorting at home, I took it to work with me and using the software that came with the camera installed on a Windows PC went through to see which files were rubbish and could be deleted before importing to speed up the transfer on to my mac.
Today, my Mac won't recognise the Camera!?!?!?!
Have I inadvertently reformatted the .MTS files or the camera itself, to windows or something? CanI change it back??
I'm currently creating a new disk image of the camera on my Mac in the vain hope that it will work and be recognised by the Mac as a camera. I can see from the progress box the following text:
Creating Image "Sony Camcorder Media.dmg"
=====Progress Bar=====
Reading (WindowsFAT32 :1)...
Which is why I think I've done something seriously wrong!! .. because it mentions windows!
HELP! HELP! HELP!
I have my entire honeymoon and the first year of my son on this camera and I want to edit with iMovie! Especially as I just paid for iLife 09 upgrade!

Can I import AVCHD to iMovie and edit

Hi - new to this, but have just been bought Panasonic HDC-SD800 HD camcorder. Before I play with it, the instructions suggest that the only format I can use with imovie11 is 'i frame' which is 960x540/25p. As I already have a similar 'standard' canon camcorder with similar definition, is there any point in keeping the new Panasonic. Am I missing something here, or is this 'new' Panasonic just not Mac friendly?

If you have the camera, your best bet is to shoot a minute of footage with it and see if it will import to iMovie. I think it will. Check your owners manual for recording mode. You should have several choices, including 50P, 50i, 25P and iFrame. If you choose 50i, 25P, or iFrame, it will work with iMovie. If you choose 50P, it will not be editable in iMovie without some bit twiddling. I think you will like 25P the best, but if you are shooting sports, you should also try 50i. In fact, try it anyway so you get to see both and choose the one you prefer.
iFrame produces movies that will look almost as good as the AVCHD (you probably will not be able to tell the difference) but the import is much quicker, and the fill sizes are much smaller.
Let me seeif I can decipher the manual for you.
"This unit is based on AVCHD format/MPEG-4 AVC file format.
Video signals for the AVCHD that can be played back with this unit are 1920x1080/50i, 1920x1080/25p and 1440x1080/50i. Video signals for the iFrame that can be played back with this unit are 960x540/25p
Like I said, stick to 50i or 25P if you want to edit in iMovie and/or play back on a TV set. Use 1920x1080 for highest quality (but this will also be the biggest file size. 50i and 25P are about the same in file size. (50P would be 4 times bigger in file size - but do not use 50P mode if you want to edit it.)
When motion picture is recorded in iFrame format
You can play back on Mac (iMovie11)
It is not compatable with motion pictures recorded in AVCHD format."
This means basically that you can edit and play on the Mac. From there you can share to a Blu Ray, DVD, Apple TV, iPod, iPad, iPhone, the Web, etc. etc. The key message is that you cannot edit the iFrame on a Windows computer.
It is also possible to record in 1920x1080/50p at maximum quality.
Quote-
"The scenes recorded in 1080/50p can be saved or played back by this unit or the HD writer AE 3.0"
It is possible to record in 50P at maximum quality, but what they are telling you is that you will be limited to playing it back on the camera. Television sets will not play 50P. iMovie will not natively edit 50P. I assume the HD writer AE 3.0 is a proprietary Panasonic disc burning program. It is likely Windows only, so it will not work on your Mac.
If you want to edit 50P on your Mac, here is an excellent blog post on how to do it. You can judge for yourself whether you feel comfortable doing it.
From the above, can I move HD from this unit into iMovie and edit without too much hassle or do I return it and stick with the perfectly decent 5 year old Sony not in HD that just 'works'. I have happily played with iMovie for 3 years and want to be able to tidy up family videos.
If I were you, I would keep it and shoot at 25P. I think you will really like the HD quality.
Keep in mind that if your final result is DVD, then evertying will be converted back to standard definition anyway. You will need to find new ways to share your results with your family.
The Apple TV is a great way to do this. Also YouTube does a great job these days making it easy to share 1080P video with friends and family. Finally, you can invest in a BluRay device. I don't generally recommend this, because if you want to give copies to family or friends, they would need a BluRay player as well.
There are a lot of nuances to BluRay. Come back and ask if you want to go that route.
Good luck.

AVCHD file Import via iMovie then ?possible FCE can import these files?

I am new to Apple. I want to Upgrade from iMovie 08, to FCE HD.
I believe that FCE DOES NOT import AVCHD files / format., however, iMovie 08
DOES! Before I Buy FCE, Has anyone with FCE successfully tried using iMovie 08 to import AVCHD video, then , with FCE running, import the iMovies 08 / AVCHD
files ( which I believe are uncompressed ' *.mov (movie) files ), into
Final Cut Express HD?

iMovie 08 converts the files to Apple Intermediate Codec when it ingests the material. That's the same format used by FCE.

How to import avchd in imovie

How to import 1080P AVCHD content in Imovie 11 ?

Situation 1 Does iMovie 10 for Mac support AVCHD files?
Though the new iMovie 10.0 for Mac OS X Mavericks/Yosemite claims the native support for AVCHD, its support for AVCHD is just the same as iMovie 11: iMovie can import and edit native AVCHD in 1080i 50/60, 720p 24/25/30, 1080p 24/25/30, but iMovie does not support AVCHD 1080p 50/60 or 720p 60.
That is, you will still fail to import AVCHD to iMovie 10/11/09/08/HD if the AVCHD footage recorded at 1080/60p, 1080/50p or 720/60p with whatever model of cameras or camcorders like Panasonic Lumix DMC, Panasonic HDC series, Canon XA20, Pana TZ7, Sony Alpha DSLR(SLT) Cameras, Sony HDR-PJ790 and etc.
Situation 2 Can iMovie for iOS iPad, iPhone or iPod import AVCHD?
The short answer is no. Normally, iMovie for iPad, iPhone or iPad only works with the video files recorded by the iOS devices in MP4, MOV or M4V format. And iMovie for iOS will not import AVCHD footages recorded with other cameras or camcorders.
In order to successfully import all kinds of AVCHD to iMovie for Mac or iOS, a recommended solution is convert AVCHD to iMovie more supported video format.
Hope it will help you more or less.

How do I import AVCHD from my Panasonic Camara to iMovie '11?

How do I import AVCHD from my Panasonic Camara to iMovie '11?
I know i did it once and for the life of me I cannot remember how! I do not remember getting any additional software... i am pretty sure iMovie '11 can do it on it's own. I have a Panasonic Camera that takes movies in AVCHD.
Looks like it is in a .MTS format. HELP! Please...

• connect device via usb
• set to on/play
• select in iM 'import from camera'

Can I import avchd videos from canon into Imovie'11

can I import avchd videos from canon into Imovie'11

actually the only error in the system logs I see is..
11-02-27 10:59:49 AM iMovie[90311] NSEnumerateMapTable: map table argument is NULL

How to Import AVCHD Lite From iMoves to Aperture

I am very new at this, but I have found that I can import my AVCHD Lite movies from my Panasonic camera into iMoves with no problem. Just plug in the camera card in the card reader and off we go. This is great, now I would like to move the AVCHD Lite movies from iMove to Aperture, please tell me in very simple terms how I can do this or if it is impossible

You can't import AVCHD to Aperture.
Think of it this way: Video files are huge and so folks who work with Video talk of Production Formats and Deliver Formats. So, they shoot in Production formats because they contain the most data, are less compressed and survive the editing process with minimal quality loss. They then export the finished product to Delivery formats. These are heavily compressed and not suited for further editing. But the smaller file size is ideal for delivering to the viewer.
AVCHD is a Production Format (not a pro-level one, obviously) and is designed for processing and exporting to a smaller sized deliver format. That's what Movie is for.
It's broadly analogous to shooting Raw and processing into a Jpeg.
Regards
TD

Imovie freezes osx 10.9.3 & how to import AVCHD files?

Hi,
I have 2 questions:
1. imovie freezes:
Since a few days, imovie freezes when being launched.
I do not know the version I have and I do not think I can find out as ... imovie crashes before it even opens.
I have a macbook pro and got it in May 2014, so the imovie should be not older than whatever version was current back then.
I am not sure when it exactly started crashing, the first time I noticed it was last week when trying to import AVCHD clips from a camera. imovie would not launch so I used quicktime instead.
This brings me to my second question
2. how can I access AVCHD files to use in imovie?
Thanks

I do not have a time machine file available.
I believe the issue started after I imported AVCHD files from a camera by using quicktime since imovie did not let me do it.
After that, it has been crashing ever since.
I found the suggestion to delete all quicktime files in library-quicktime except AppleIntermediateCodec.component and AppleMPEG2Codec.component, but those were actually the only 2 files in there.
I also found the suggestion to delete all com.apple.imovie files in library-preferences, but there are no .imovie files in there at all.

How to import AVCHD files to imovie

Hi Apple community, I just got a Cannon Vixia R300 and I can't import AVCHD to iMovie. Any suggestions. Thank you.

This camera should work easily by taking the SD card and putting it in a USB (or built-in) card reader.
Open iMovie and it should recognize the card. If it does not after a minute or so, try FILE/IMPORT FROM CAMERA.
If you import by hooking a USB cable to the camera, make sure that the camera is plugged into AC power, not batteries only.
What have you tried?

Fixing a few AVCHD Lite clips imported under iMovie '08

Before upgrading from iMovie '08 to iMovie '09, I imported 6 AVCHD Lite clips from my Panasonic DMC-TS1. Whoops! As others have noted, the video moves at double speed, while the audio is normal. So I bought iMovie '09.
Subsequent imports into iMovie '09 from AVCHD Lite have worked well. My son is pretty cute in these clips, and I'd hate to lose them to a technical mistake.
I no longer have the original MTS (AVCHD Lite) files. The clips are in .MOV and stored on my hard disk. When I try to edit cache.mov, if I change the 2997 to anything else, it just gets changed back when I launch iMovie.
Any suggestions for slowing the video of these .MOV files without slowing the audio?

Hello,
I am not sure if this is the right thread, but I am hoping someone can help me out or point me in the right direction. Karsten, perhaps your reply on 31 July is a solution?
About a year ago I purchased a new MacBook. Two months ago I received a Panasonic TS1 as a gift. Naturally, I had problems with the AVCHD video (at least twice the normal speed) when imported into iMovie. Because I did not have iMovie 8.0 in the suite of applications that came with the computer, I recently purchased iLife 09. I have since updated to iMovie 8.0.4. My problem is that the video is still too fast. I don't know what to do or how to fix it - I would have thought that when I updated the software it would have fixed the video clips to play at the correct speed. My bigger problem is that I deleted the video off of my camera when I initially imported because at that time I didn't realize there was a problem between the video and iMovie 7.0.?. Therefore the only footage is that which is in iMovie. Any suggestions? Perhaps if 8.0.4 does not automatically fix the speed, I can somehow pull the video out of iMovie and import it back in? I would really like to fix this as this is the only video footage I have of my 5 year-old singing at a school play. I am with the Army and away from him so I would like to make a movie so he can see it.
Appreciate any thoughts or advice.
Thank you.

Import avchd imovie '11

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for