Who is processing ZS3 AVCHD lite with iMovie '09?

I've got iMovie '09 (v8.03) installed along with updated versions of the OS (version 10.5.7) and Quicktime Player (version 7.6.2). The Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS3 is detected on the USB bus of the iMac so at least that part works, but when I try an "import from Camera" only the built-in sight is present even after a reset (option, command, p & r being pushed simutaneously after disconnecting and reconnecting the power and rebooting - relinguishing after the second beep).
Is anyone here using iMovie '09 with ZS3 AVCHD lite successfully.
Are you able to see the ZS3 as an additional camera when trying to import from the camera?
How were you able to import?
Please advise.
Thanks,
beaucamera

Before I buy the ZS3, I must be sure I will be able to work with the video clips. I have read
this thread, and various reviews. I am used to importing from my Canon using iPhoto. The video clips arrive there along with the stills. Simple! Then I move the clips into iMovie and start editing. So now it sounds like iMovie will import the clips instead. Can they
then be moved to iPhoto for storage? As separate clips? And what about the stills?...when you
plug in the camera, does iPhoto open as well, to import those? Is the ZS3 video problem eliminated if one sets the Zs3 to mpeg instead of avchd, and sacrifices some memory and quality? I really want the ZS3, but I am badly intimidated by the AVCHD/double-speed/hiding-on-the-card/worse-on-a-Mac problem. A lot of people who are obviously much more tech-savvy than I am have posts on the
internet describing their struggles with this. Does anyone know of a link to a place where, step-by-step, someone lays out what I would be dealing with? Thank you. Robert

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Trouble using AVCHD-Lite with iMovie '08

I am using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1 to import AVCHD-Lite video into iMovie'08. Having trouble with playback running faster than normal. I've heard from another post that iMovie '09 will solve the problem, is this true? Also, am using Final Cut Express 4, this too is running the import faster than normal, any recommendations?

Understand your problem. It is said that iMovie 8 can import Avchd video, but still will bring problem. To save time and in order to get good quality I now still always convert the AVCHD file to DV, MOV formats and then import to iMovie for editing. The converter i used is Moyea HD video converter for Mac, can download free for trial.
Good Luck!

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

Avchd compatible with imovie 11?

is imovie 9.0.4 compatible with avchd?

Yes, it works fine with 25 or 30 fps media provided you input direct from camera, memory card or a hard disk copy of the complete AVCHD file system.
You cannot import individual .MTS files taken from the STREAM folder unless you transcode them first.
To import 50 or 60 fps media the only way is to transcode individual .MTS files first
Geoff.

IMovie '09 won't recognize AVCHD Lite clips

I am using iMovie 09 (8.0.5) and was previously able to import AVCHD Lite MTS files from my Lumix FZ35's SD card (private folder) using Import from Camera. This no longer works and I wonder if it was an update that created the problem. When I use Import from Camera I no longer see my SD card or my USB-connected Lumix as a choice, just the iSight. When I try to Import Movies the MTS files are greyed out. Tried this on two different Macs. The only way I have to import the clips is converting them to MP4 files using Handbrake, but that is tedious as it only queues one at a time and I have dozens of little files.
Any idea why this is no longer working and what I can do to get these clips? The Apple Support site clearly states that iMovie '09 supports this camera.

G'day Steve,
We only use the SD card directly to transfer images from camera to Mac and PC.
The AVCHD file (.MTS) can be viewed and played by VLC without any problems - indicating OSX is recognising the file on the SD card.
However we have tried many ways of importing this file into iMovie and in all cases the file name is greyed out. As per the original post by JaneNYC, i Movie won't recognise AVCHD Liteclips and like Jane the Apple support clearly states that IMovie 09 supports our camera (Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT1) which is the forerunner of FT2.
I don't believe a clean install of OSX and iMovie is required as this would be a drastic move for the novice mac user especially when Apple specifically states that iMovie supports both JaneNYC's and our cameras.
Would you agree the problem is more likely to be with iMovie than OSX or are we not understanding something about importing AVCHD Lite into iMovie?
Cheers,
Ellen and Ian (New to Mac)

Will the AVCHD format from the Lumix FZ100 work with iMovie?

I'm looking to buy a camera, the Panasonic Lumix FZ100, but was wondering if the format AVCHD works with iMovie? I intend to use it for vlogging and don't want it to overcomplicate things..
Thanks

Does this from Matti Haveri help?
To convert a DVD or MPEG to DV with MPEG Streamclip (v1.5.1 or later):
Open a desired .VOB on a DVD (DVD/VIDEOTS/VTS_011.VOB, for example) or a MPEG file. Select the In/Out points if you want to extract just a portion of the video. Choose "File/Export to DV.../Compression: DV (DV25)".
Choose "Split DV stream in Segments" if the content is more than 9 minutes 27 seconds because iMovie 1-4 can't reliably handle longer clip files and it might be a good idea to limit the converted .dv file's size anyway (segmented clips play seamlessly in iMovie).
MPEG Streamclip can optionally resample audio to 48 kHz which DV (and DVD) use (use this option when converting (S)VCD 44.1 kHz audio for DV).
Other settings can usually be at their defaults. Sometimes you have to check whether the input/output is PAL or NTSC.
See also:
http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/SVCDon_a_Macintosh.html#edit_convertMPEG
Sue

Does FCPX support AVCHD-lite? confusing info ...

AVCHD with 720p isn't explicitly listed, although on the Supported Cams List, I read devices using this format.
anyone any insight?

This is not correct. iMovie 11 'supports' AVCHD Lite only in the sense that it will convert AVCHD Lite streams to (much bulkier) Apple's AIC streams. There is no native support for AVCHD Lite in iMovie 11. iMovie 11 does support a number of other H.264 codecs natively, but this does not automatically mean support for AVCHD Lite.

AVCHD Lite Support in iMovie 09 - Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3

Hi,
When I import AVCHD Lite movies from the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3, they don't import correctly and have skips. Anyone know what's going on? Is the AVCHD Lite codec not supported by iMovie '09?

This may or may not help you, but I have read that the ZS3 records at 30fps but it outputs at 60fps through frame doubling. I am not sure exactly how it does this but I believe it is a flag.
I have also read that iMovie does not read the flags correctly to frame double the clip which is why your 39 second clip is outputting at double the speed and completing in 20 seconds.
I also read that it is possible to get iMovie to correct this, but I can not remember the precise steps. You may google for it. Basically it goes like this. You import the movie using iMovie and save it. Then close iMovie. Then you select the movie and (and this is the bit I do not remember) somehow modify a frame rate setting to correct it from 30fps to 60fps. Then open iMovie again and apparently it plays correctly.
Sorry I could not be more help, but god luck with google and hopefully I have given you a few pointers to follow up on.

Importing video clips in AVCHD (Lite) into Aperture vs iMovie

I'm trying to figure out which application I should use for importing and storing video clips shot on my Panasonic DMC-ZS7 camera. This camera can shoot in AVCHD (Lite) or in Motion JPEG. I use the AVCHD (Lite) format to shoot the videos with this camera.
The two application options I currently have for importing video clips from this camera are:
a. Aperture 3.5.1 (I'm not using iPhoto since I have Aperture).
b. iMovie 10.0.1 (I'm not using Final Cut Pro)
When I first got this camera, Aperture 3 did not support the AVCHD Lite codec. Back then, iMovie could import video clips shot in AVCHD Lite, but it had to transcode the AVCHD video clips into AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec). Some time later, one of the Aperture 3 updates made it possible to import AVCHD Lite into Aperture (without having to transode into an intermediate codec), so we started importing our video clips shot in AVCHD Lite (together with our photos shot by the same camera) directly into Aperture.
iMovie 10 released in 2013 supports importing video clips shot in AVCHD Lite without having to transode them to AIC for storing these video clips in iMovie. So, now we have a dilemma that we need help with. Which application should we use going forward for importing video clips from this camera?
When I look at the metadata for the imported videos in Aperture, I see that the format of the imported video clips is listed as H.264. However, I can't seem to be able to find any information about the format in which iMovie stores imported videos. I can "Reveal in Finder" a video that I import into iMovie, and I see the size of the file and the .mov extension assigned to the file. With video files, the extension does not always determine the codec of the file, but in my non-expert opinion, the .mov extension is not H.264; I may be totally wrong here, though. What I have noticed, though, is that a video clip imported into iMovie has the file size that is about 10% larger than the same video clip imported into Aperture.
Therefore, I have three questions:
1. What format is a video clip (shot in AVCHD Lite) stored in Aperture 3.5.1 and in iMovie 10.0.1
2. Which format (the one used by Aperture or the one used in iMovie) is better suited for transoding AVCHD videos into? The balance of the quality and file size is the main consideration for us.
3. Which applications would you personally prefer using for importing video clips to and why?
I do want to use some of these video clips to make home videos in the future, utillizing iMovie. However, it seems I can still store the raw footage in Aperture and access this raw footage from iMovie to be able to create an iMovie project and a final home video. One of the concerns is that if we keep importing our video clips into Aperture, the Aperture library could grow beyond the size that Aperture can support and we may end up losing our photos due to the database corruption. Is this a real risk?
Thank you!

I had the same question recently. Go to the right of this box and a little above, into the Search Discussions window. Type in this: Is MPEG2 the answer
You will find my question, and the great answers I got. Follow those directions and you will be all set!

What is the best workflow for AVCHD with iMovie/iDVD 09?

I am recording AVCHD video with a Sony HDR-SR11. I don't have a blu-ray burner yet, so I want to create the highest quality DVD's I can from this source video using my MacBook and the software I have (iMovie 09 and iDVD 09).
Currently I am importing the video clips into iMovie 09 at the 1920x1200 setting. After creating a 16:9 movie I choose "Share to Media Browser" and export at the highest setting I see (I think 1280x720, I'm not on the MacBook at the moment).
After a long while this completes and I launch iDVD 09. I drag the movie I exported above into the theme and burn at Professional Quality. After another long wait I have my DVD but I'm quite disappointed with the video quality.
Even taking into account that DVD is not a hi-def disc format it seems like the video quality should be better. Is there a better workflow I should be using with this combination of software? Maybe some way to avoid scaling/compressing the video twice? Or is this as good as it gets with iMovie 09 and iDVD 09? I may have access to iMovie 06, if that would help.
Thanks,
Gerald

3) Share to Media Browser with Best Quality
For folks like me that wonder exactly how did you do this:
(I don't know what Media Browser is yet.)
I did this: (I got some warnings - did you?)
In iMovie:
Selected my 1280x720 "HD" video in the Project panel,
Share->Media Browser...
- if HD is greyed out, you already shared this size to Media Browser, go to next step,
or select "Remove from Media Browser, check HD, click Remove"
- if HD is not greyed, but is not check marked,
select Computer icon, then uncheck Mobile, Med, and Lrg, leaving only HD checked
With HD checked, Click Publish - watch "Creating the HD movie.."
Bring up iDVD, Select Create a new project, browse for location and enter project name
If Themes at bottom right is not selected (Dark), click it
Double click a theme - for example under Revolution, choose Chapters.
At bottom right, select Media, At top right, select Movies
Under iMovie should be your iMovie project - mine says "My First Project" (I didn't name iMovie proj)
Select your iMovie Project,
you should see a thumb of your video with dimension, size listed
(movie duration is down at bottom right.)
Drag the thumbnail onto the iDVD preview window (I don't what that window is officially called)
drop it under the theme title "Revolution Chapters" for this example
You should see a running preview of your video with the project name below it.
Important step: Project->Project Info, Under Encoding: select Best or Professional Quality
Ok re-encoding warning, close Proj Info window.
File->Burn DVD... Popup says "Warnings in Project", select Continue Burning
Insert DVD (Apple designed sharp edges on the SuperDrive on purpose?)
I used Staples 4x DVD-RW first.
Watch process proceed till DVD is ejected...Don't believe "Time remaining: about one minute"
My DVD-R120 player-recorder would not load the disk. It played fine on iMac, a WindowsXP laptop, and a Windows XP desktop. This DVD machine only likes old 1X RW media for some reason. I wish someone made a standalone Blu-Ray recorder/player. I burned a second copy to some gold Sony 1X/2X DVD-RW media, and this disk played fine.
Picture quality is soft compared to HD material, but the moire patterns on some edges is only somewhat reduced over the Share to iDVD version. This Share to Media Browser version is acceptable for folks that won't go to Vimeo or YouTube to see my videos in HD.

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.

Hi, can iMovie give pronlems during the boot process from my iMac Mine. I have often after working with iMovie that i get during the boot Psi SDXH pause so the boot process stops

hi,
can iMovie give problems during the boot process from my iMac Mini?
I have often, after working with iMovie that i get during the boot Psi SDXH pause
so the boot process stops at this point
I have often reinstall OSX Mavericks
regards,
HenkfromWinterswijk
Netherlands

Hello Federico,
Your EliteBook is a Business model. Your issue would be best answered on the HP Enterprise Business Community Forum
Good luck!
↙-----------How do I give Kudos?| How do I mark a post as Solved? ----------------↓

AVCHD Lite users!

While trying to Log and Capture from an AVCHD Lite capable camera in FCE still produces videos at double speed, there is now a workaround! iMovie just updated to a new version, and includes updates to be able to handle these files without error. Simply import your AVCHD Lite files into iMovie, create an XML file, bring it into FCE, and you're good to go! This is great news to hold me over until FCE updates to support these cameras as well.
I bought a Panasonic ZS3 camera knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to import videos into FCE, and just crossed my fingers in the hopes that there would soon be a fix. Lucky me! (And you!)

Since this is a Final Cut Express forum most people reading that comment about wanting to edit AVCHD/AVCHD Lite natively will understand that isn't part of the current workflow for Final Cut Express.
These codecs are deemed unsuitable for live edits because of the overhead of reassembling frames during edits so they are always transcoded into the more friendly but somewhat larger Apple Intermediate Codec.
Sound choice to do it this way. Performance and real time video is important whilst disk space is cheap. I'm happy with this arrangement myself and my footage costs me about 1Gb per minute with my Sony camcorder.
It is interesting to see that iMovie can now import AVCHD Lite and I just tested my new Panasonic TZ7 which now works beautifully. I purchased a copy of Voltaic to do that conversion but I'm not irritated by that since I can use Voltaic to extract the 5:1 surround in separate channels from footage shot on my Sony.
Here's hoping they add the import functionality to FCE soon though because those extra steps take some time ^^
Message was edited by: AndrewSmith

New to iMovie 11 questions (I'm quite handy with iMovie HD, 6.0.4)

Hi,
I'm trying to use iMovie 11 (9.0.4) after being so used to iMovie HD (6.0.4). Worked on a project yesterday which didn't work out well. All I want to do with it is to split it into segments, no need to cut anything out, export them so they look good and aren't too big file-size wise and then I'll upload them to YouTube. (I might want to raise the audio level of two of the segments, or parts of them, all from one clip but I'll worry about that later.) Here's what happened.
My source footage was two .mov files, 1.7 gb and 1.12 gb, ~26 minutes of footage. They are H.264, 1920x1080 (29.97 fps). I imported them into iMovie 11, chosing to optimize at Full original size.
I split the first clip and exported the first part of that one using the Quicktime option default settings. (H.264, high quality, key frame 24, multi-pass encoding, 960x540 were the current dimensions (I have my monitor set to 1024x768 stretched.) Prepared for internet streaming - fast start.)
The clip was surrounded in yellow (but this all happened yesterday so I can't confirm.)
My finished clip turned out to be ALL of the footage, 26:07 worth, 1.38 gb, The info window on QT says it is H.264, 960x540, 29.97...
What happened?
1) Why did the entire project get exported when only one section of one clip was selected?
2) Is the exported clip 960x540 because my monitor is set to 1024x768? Why wouldn't it be 1920x1080?
I think my original footage is 1080i. iMovie 11 only does 1080p, doesn't it? Is that an issue?
Additionally, it took a LONG time to import the two clips into iMovie 11, 20 minutes or so. It also took 2 HOURS to export. (I now know why the export took so long as it exported the whole movie.) With iMovie HD you could get around long import times by opening the project package and drag and drop the files into the Media folder. Then, when you start up iMovie again, it tells you you've got some things in the trash. You take them out and put them into the clips pane. That saves so much time and clips are ready to be used right then and there. Is there a similar process for iMovie 11?
I also tried editing the original footage in iMovie HD (6.0.4). I exported using the the QT - For CD ROM version. I ended up with ~30 mb files (which is what I am used to for a 6 minute segment.) They are H.264, 320x180 (current size 478x269), 14.98 fps. They are too blurry so I may try again with some different settings. (My exports of SD content using the CD Rom export version have been fine for my purposes, uploading to YouTube and not ending up with large file sizes.) They were brought into iMovie HD as a HD 1080i project. (iMovie HD does 1080i and iMovie 11 does 1080p? and neither does the other?)
Many thanks.
John L
PS For those who may have noticed my other post about getting an HD camcorder and how to edit with it, that camcorder should arrive today, a Panasonic HCV 100K. This project is from someone else's camcorder but is in HD.

Everything in your project will be exported when you use the share menu.
If you want to export only half, I suggest that you
1) Select the project in the Project Library.
2) Click FILE/DUPLICATE PROJECT
3) Give the duplicate a name, like Project A snippet.
4) Open the duplicate project in the Project editor and delete the segments that you do not need.
5) Then Share.
You mentioned surrounding a portion of the clip you were editing in Yellow. Once you do this, you should right-click and then select either DELETE SELECTION, TRIM TO SELECTION, or one of the other options available. That is a key tool in editing.
You mentioned MPEG Streamclip. I agree that MPEG Streamclip is a great tool.

Can you change import settings..? Getting poor quality AVCHD Lite results.

Further my earlier post regarding AVCHD Lite (.mts) clips being too dark after import, I have established that it makes no difference whether I use values of 1.8 (10.5 native) or 2.2 (10.7 native).
Is there any way to affect the iMovie import settings that I've missed...?
iMovie has some excellent clip adjustment tools, but if I let iMovie import my clips at Full Quality (they are 720p AVCHD Lite .mts format clips from a newly purchased Panasonic FZ38), and try to use the video adjustment tools to 'lift' the clips – i.e. adjust exposure, brightness – the results are terrible, with blotchy areas and loss of definition. It seems the Quicktime conversion to get the clips into iMovie loses all detail in the shadowy areas, which obviously can't be recovered.
I've found a temporary workaround by converting the .mts clips using a third-party video converter which has brightness, contrast and saturation controls – a little boost on both the brightness and contrast is all that's needed to get the clips coming out the same on my Mac as they do on camera LCD (and TV playback off camera) - but I'd much prefer not to have to resort to an extra piece of software.
Is this a 'problem' with iMovie (and indeed Quicktime's) support for the relatively new AVCHD format that we may see 'fixed' in time?
Any other thoughts or advice would be much appreciated!!

I'm not sure if this is the cause, but there is a difference in the way iMovie 08 handles the video after import, as compared to iMovie HD6, the older, better version. Something to do with the interlacing? or something, but I'm not sure. Some people here think HD6 produces a better quality image than 08.
Oftentimes too, the image you see on your monitor will not be the same as you see on the final DVD product.
Anyway, you are entitled to a free download of iMovie HD6 from the Downloads page of this Apple website. Maybe get that and see if the picture is better.

Who is processing ZS3 AVCHD lite with iMovie '09?

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