Need advice about AVCHD conversion programs for the Mac OS 10.5 at DVinfo.net

William Hohauser · March 4th, 2009, 09:56 AM

I have been experimenting with AVCHD and am wondering what sort of success people have had with the various ingest options out there.

I have a three year old MacBook Pro and the only success I've had has been with iMovie9 or MPEG Streamclip. The other programs which I can download demos, Cineform NeoHD or Voltaic, crash on my completely updated computer.

So far iMovie9 is the most cooperative with the AVCHD files but I rather work with FCP. Is there an efficient way to use iMovie to capture AVCHD and export FCP ready files?

MPEGStreamclip makes edit ready files but it might not be giving me the best results. My experience with HDV and MPEGStreamclip shows that it's not the best program with that type of codec.

Thanks for helping.

John C. Plunkett · March 4th, 2009, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by William Hohauser

I have been experimenting with AVCHD and am wondering what sort of success people have had with the various ingest options out there.

I have a three year old MacBook Pro and the only success I've had has been with iMovie9 or MPEG Streamclip. The other programs which I can download demos, Cineform NeoHD or Voltaic, crash on my completely updated computer.

So far iMovie9 is the most cooperative with the AVCHD files but I rather work with FCP. Is there an efficient way to use iMovie to capture AVCHD and export FCP ready files?

MPEGStreamclip makes edit ready files but it might not be giving me the best results. My experience with HDV and MPEGStreamclip shows that it's not the best program with that type of codec.

Thanks for helping.

If you have FCP 6 it's as easy as using the log and transfer feature to turn the AVCHD clips into ProRes422 Quicktime files.

William Hohauser · March 4th, 2009, 02:54 PM

It's one of the methods I tried and got nowhere. Log and Transfer wouldn't recognize the files off the AIPTEK camera I have. Interestingly, I can import the files directly into FCP and it recognizes them but they always need rendering. Not the easiest way to work. FCP will change the sequence settings to H.264 if I let it.

John C. Plunkett · March 4th, 2009, 03:09 PM

What's the extension of the file?

William Hohauser · March 4th, 2009, 04:35 PM

.mov, believe it or not.

John C. Plunkett · March 4th, 2009, 05:01 PM

Looks as though you're dealing with a quicktime file with mpeg4 compression rather than an actual mpeg4 AVCHD file. The extension would be MTS or some other transport stream mpeg derivative.

Reuben Miller · March 7th, 2009, 10:32 AM

Toast 9 or 10 will convert your .mts files to any codec you have available on your Mac. I like it better than Log and Transfer personally.

As John mentioned if your seeing a .mov extension, then you are seeing a mpeg4 file.

March 4th, 2009, 09:56 AM	#1
William Hohauser Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 2,650	Need advice about AVCHD conversion programs for the Mac OS 10.5 I have been experimenting with AVCHD and am wondering what sort of success people have had with the various ingest options out there. I have a three year old MacBook Pro and the only success I've had has been with iMovie9 or MPEG Streamclip. The other programs which I can download demos, Cineform NeoHD or Voltaic, crash on my completely updated computer. So far iMovie9 is the most cooperative with the AVCHD files but I rather work with FCP. Is there an efficient way to use iMovie to capture AVCHD and export FCP ready files? MPEGStreamclip makes edit ready files but it might not be giving me the best results. My experience with HDV and MPEGStreamclip shows that it's not the best program with that type of codec. Thanks for helping. __________________ William Hohauser - New York City Producer/Edit/Camera/Animation

March 4th, 2009, 02:54 PM	#3
William Hohauser Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 2,650	It's one of the methods I tried and got nowhere. Log and Transfer wouldn't recognize the files off the AIPTEK camera I have. Interestingly, I can import the files directly into FCP and it recognizes them but they always need rendering. Not the easiest way to work. FCP will change the sequence settings to H.264 if I let it. __________________ William Hohauser - New York City Producer/Edit/Camera/Animation

March 4th, 2009, 04:35 PM	#5
William Hohauser Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 2,650	.mov, believe it or not. __________________ William Hohauser - New York City Producer/Edit/Camera/Animation

March 4th, 2009, 03:09 PM	#4
John C. Plunkett Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Jacksonville, Illinois Posts: 130	What's the extension of the file?

March 4th, 2009, 05:01 PM	#6
John C. Plunkett Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Jacksonville, Illinois Posts: 130	Looks as though you're dealing with a quicktime file with mpeg4 compression rather than an actual mpeg4 AVCHD file. The extension would be MTS or some other transport stream mpeg derivative.

March 7th, 2009, 10:32 AM	#7
Reuben Miller Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Playa del Rey, CA Posts: 61	Toast 9 or 10 will convert your .mts files to any codec you have available on your Mac. I like it better than Log and Transfer personally. As John mentioned if your seeing a .mov extension, then you are seeing a mpeg4 file.