That's right. I'm unable to get .m2t files I've downloaded off the net to import into iMovie HD. Am I an idiot for not knowing how to do this, or is iMovie HD fundamentally flawed. Perhaps it can only capture directly from the camera, and cannot parse .m2t files?

Anyone with firsthand knowledges explain this. I will visit the Apples discussion forums to find more informations on this turn of events.

How did you get a copy already?

Yes, iMovie only captures from the camera.

but you can get a .m2v file into iMovie HD, using Lumiere HD or one of the shareware tools to demux the .m2t.

See hdforindies.com for this article:

http://www.hdforindies.com/2005/01/yes-you-can-edit-hdv-in-fcp-with

with discussions on this stuff and more

I use Mpegstreamclip to convert .m2t files to demux unscaled .m2v + .aiff and it is able to import into iMovie.

However problem when I open the .m2v file in Quicktime, and export out as .mov (Apple Intermeditate Codec), it not opens in Final Cut Pro HD. I get warning. However, if I pick up converted AIC from iMovie Project file, and import into FCP, it works. I look at the difference between QT output and iMovie output, but do not see anything wrong. Perhaps QT needs update to work "properly" with Apple Intermeditate Codec, for saving, since currently, it is incompatible.