FCE 4 supports various of formats, including most DV25-format camcorders and decks: MiniDV and DVCAM; most HDV-format camcorders and decks: 720p, 1080i; most AVCHD-format camcorders and decks: 720p, 1080i; FireWire device control of most FireWire-equipped MiniDV camcorders from such leading manufacturers as Sony, Canon, Panasonic, and JVC.

Apple Intermediate codec is one of the apple built-in codecs, while others could be Apple DV/DVCPRO – NTSC, DVCPRO50 – NTSC. Pavtube Video Converter for Mac is the recommended camcorder software to convert AVCHD to apple compatible formats. iMovie 8/9, Final Cut Pro/FCP7 are also compatible with AIC for editing.

Sony HDR-CX550V records breathtaking 1920 x 1080 high-definition video directly to 64GB of embedded Flash memory. An “Exmor R” CMOS sensor provides superior low-light performance. However, there still exits some limitations that when the Sony HDR-CX550V users intend to import/load the 1080/60i AVCHD to the editing software like iMovie 08/09/11, they often encounter some troubles. Below are the quoted words from one Sony HDR-CX550V user.

Question: I wanan import the Full HD 1920 x 1080 video recorded by Sony HDR- CX550V camcorder to FCE 4 for editing but it frustratingly doesn’t recognize the .mts file. What can I do?

Answer: Converting Sony HDR-CX550V 1080/60i AVCHD to AIC MOV for FCE 4 with a converter tool – Mac AVCHD to FCE Converter.

Guide: step-by-step guide on how to convert Sony HDR-CX550V 1080/60i AVCHD to FCE 4 with the professional CX550V AVCHD to FCE 4 Converter on Mac OS X.

Step 1. Transfer or Copy Sony HDR-CX550V 1080/60i AVCHD files to Mac.
Connect your HDR-CX550V camcorder to Apple computer via USB cable, find the .mts files by following the camera folder AVCHD > BDMV > STREAM. Then copy and transfer the .mts files from camera to the Apple hard drive disk.

Step 2. Import HDR-CX550V 1080/60i AVCHD files to Pavtube Video Converter for Mac.
Download Pavtube Video Converter for Mac as Sony HDR-CX550V AVCHD to AIC Converter on Mac OS X, connect Sony HDR-CX550V to Mac via USB, then follow the smart camcorder wizard to import the files to the program quickly.
Tip: If you have multiple AVCHD MTS video files, you can tick the “Merge into one” box to join the multiple video files into one single file so that you can play these files without interruption.

Step 3. Select an output format for Final Cut Express 4 and set the output folder.
Click “Format” and then move you pointer to “iMovie and Final Cut Express > Apple Intermediate Codec(AIC) (*.mov)”. The Apple Intermediate Codec(AIC) is the compatible format for Final Cut Express 4. Then you can set the output folder by clicking “Browse” icon as you need.

Tip: If you want to adjust audio and video parameters, click the “Settings” and you will go into a new interface named “Profile Settings”. You can adjust codec, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate and audio channel in the interface according to your needs and optimize the output file quality.

(Note: You’d better set the video frame rate as 30fps, video size as 1920*1080 and choose 5.1 audio channel to keep the best quality for FCE 4. While, if you wanna smaller file size but keep high qualtiy, you can set video size as 1440*1080.)

Step 4. Convert Sony HDR-CX550V AVCHD Footages to AIC MOV for FCE 4 editing.
Click “Convert” button, start transcode Sony CX550V AVCHD Footages to AIC for Final Cut Express 4 editing.

After conversion, you are able to Import CX550V AVCHD footage to FCE 4 for edting without rendering.

That’s all! Hope the article will be of great help for you!

I have some TiVo recording shows. And I intended to bring the TiVo HD shows into iMovie for editing and then share my movies with my friends. But iMovie don’t support TiVo files. I figure a conversion is needed. I tried VLC to make a .mov file without luck (don’t know how to set up the output specs). When searching google, I find I need a mac TiVo to iMovie Converter to transcode TiVo to AIC MOV or H.264 MOV iMovie can recognize. I tried several TiVo to iMovie Convert sotfwares, And only the program from Pavtube Studio works for me. With PavTube, I easily transfer TiVo shows to AIC MOV and import it to iMovie for editing freely.

For helping folks who wanna import/edit TiVo,TiVo HD,TS TiVo shows on iMovie8/9 with HD Quality, here i will share my experience in how to convert(trascode) TiVo HD shows to iMoive for Editing?

Before transcoding TiVo shows, you need to transfer recorded TiVo shows from TiVo DVR to your Mac. To transfer TiVo shows to PC, you need to use a TiVo Desktop Software for Mac. When your TiVo is connected to your home network, Mac TiVo Desktop provides you with a list of available shows for transferring to your Mac.

After transfer TiVo files to your Mac, you can free download the Mac TiVo to AIC Converter. Install and run the application. Do as follows.

1. Import TiVo to the program.
First click “Option” button, enter Media Access Key. Then, load TiVo files to the Mac TiVo to iMovie Converter.

2. Choose Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov) output format for iMovie 8 /iMovie 9 editing Without Rendering.
Click on “Format”>”iMovie and Final Cut Express”>”Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov)” as output. The Mac TiVo to iMovie AIC Converter will rewrap and convert TiVo, TiVo HD shows to AIC MOV with high quality.

3. Start TiVo shows to AIC (*.MOV) conversion for iMovie on Mac.

After conversion, you can easily import converted TiVo HD shows to iMovie for editing without rendering.

That’s all. Hope the guide on “Convert TiVo/ TiVo HD Shows to iMovie for Editing on Mac” will be of great help for you. Any Question ? Please leave me a message.Thanks for reading. Have a good time!

Reference: camcorder1080pvideotips.com

I either need a free downloadable programme that will allow me to convert the full length of the videos, or I need a different Pinnacle Studio that will allow .MVI format files. Any suggestions?

As you see, some Canon digital still cameras (Powershot A75, A63, S410 etc), are capable of shooting a limited amount of video, since there is no tape, it is saved as an MVI file format. However, the MVI file format is not compatible with other programs. Even windows media player refuse to play MVI file. Besides, editing software like Windows movie maker and Pinnacle Studio do not work with the format. Because of this, the files need to be converted to a format that is more widely used, such as AVI so that these videos shot with still camera can be played and edited as easily as other common videos. This guide is to tell how to do that.

Introduction & Requirements
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Download and install Pavtube MVI Video Converter

Pavtube Video Converter is an easy-use-to use yet powerful video transcoding software. The output files created by the program can are compatible with lots of video editing programs including Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas, Avid, Ulead VideoStudio Plus, Pinnacle Studio, CyberLink PowerDirector, etc. To be honest, i really like the software. Very quick conversions and lots of file format options. I find the software doing a Google search for video converters.

The Conversion Process
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Step 1. After installing, run the top MVI Video Converter for Pinnacle Studio, click “Add” to load MVI files or directly drag the files into file list. By default, the files are selected. If you would like to join all the selected files together, check the box of Merge into one. You could view the files in preview window, simply highlight the file and click play button.

Step 2. Click “Format” bar to determine output format. Follow Common Video -> DivX AVI – Audio Video Interleaved(DivX)(*.avi). Click “Settings” if you’d like to customize advanced audio and video parameters like Video Codec, aspect ratio, bit rate, frame rate, Audio codec, sampling rate, bit rate, channels. Do not forget to click “Step 2. ” to confirm your settings. Then type in a desired output location in the “Step 2 ” box.

Step 3. Click “Convert” to start converting MVI files to AVI. You could set auto shutdown in progress window or leave it there and come back later. After conversion you could edit the converted video in Pinnacle Studio, and make a film out of it or burn it onto DVD.

There you have it. Pretty Simple! Now you could import and edit the MVI files in Pinnacle Studio without problems as you like. Hope the article helps.

“Hello we captured footage with the Canon HF S20 Hi-Def Camcorder, transfered the video files onto an external drive. We’re now trying to import those MTS files into Final Cut Pro 6.0.5 but it seems they are not supported… how do you import them?”

Recently, I have received many customer feedback problems described above. Through Google search, I also found that many people have the same problem – about “how to import MTS files to FCP Editing without quality loss?” So I want to write a solution based on this problem, look forward to helping more people. The following is the detailed steps:

Step 1: Load Canon HF S20 MTS files.

Download, install and run Pavtube MTS to FCP Converter for Mac (Recommended). Connect and stream Canon HF S20 mts files to Mac OS X Lion for convert MTS to ProRes and Edit ProRes in Final Cut Pro.

Step 2: Choose Apple ProRes 422 as Output video format.

Choose Format > Final Cut Pro> Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov) as output format to convert MTS to prores. According your own situation, you can also ProRes 422(HQ), ProRes 4444, ProRes 422(LT) or ProRes Res(Proxy).

Step 3: Convert Canon HF S20 footage to ProRes 422 for FCP

Click “Convert” button, start Transcode Canon HF S20 MTS to ProRes 422 and keep high quality.

After conversion, you can Import and Edit MTS files in FCP without rendering on Mac.

Tip:
Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac can also Convert MTS clips to ProRes 422 and Edit the converted MTS files in Final Cut Pro(X), iMovie, Avid etc..

On Wednsday, I’m going to start filming my short film. I was originally going to use Final Cut Pro, but now that I have learned Avid, I think I have enough confidence to edit a short film with Avid. The problem is… I’ve never edited AVCHD before.

So my question is, how would I go about bringing the AVCHD files from the SD card into Avid to edit? I know these files aren’t directly editable. We will be using a Sony HDR-SR11 by the way.

Along with the DVD-recording HDR-UX1, the SR1 compresses video in AVCHD, the new high definition format that, for the first time, allows consumers to leave tape behind. However the fact is that there is few even no 3rd party support is yet available for editing. Accroding to my experience, Avid Media Composer doesn’t work with well with the SR1 AVCHD files. And the highly-compressed content are not so friendly for almost all editing softwares. How to get Avid Media Composer work perfectly with AVCHD footage? A best way is to convert the AVCHD files to QT MOV, something that Avide MC supports along with some help from the third-party tool.

In order to transcode Sony HDR-SR11 AVCHD files to Avid Media Composer for editing on the Mac, we need a AVCHD Converter Tool. Video Converter Application varies. However, when it comes to handling camcorder 1080p AVCHD MTS/M2TS recordings for video editing programs(e.g. Avid, Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas, Ulead VideoStudio Plus, Pinnacle Studio, CyberLink PowerDirector), a Mac AVCHD to MOV Converter for Avid, entitled Pavtube Video Converter for Mac stands out from the rest. Specially designed for video zealots who use Mac OS, the program can achieve all kinds of Video Recodification tasks. It can help you fast convert AVCHD .MTS or .M2TS to MOV for importing to AVID Media Composer.

To be honest, the Mac AVCHD to Avid MC Converter owns the VERY user friendly interface. It is very simple and direct. What’s more, this ideal program adopts advanced audio and video encoding technology, which will never bring you troubles of audio and video out of sync issues. The program is on sale at the company’s site through Nov. 25, 2011 if you choose this option.

Keep up with the following Guide to learn how to convert/transcode Sony HDR-SR11 AVCHD footage to MOV for AVID Media Composer editing.

Step 1. Install and run the Mac AVCHD to Avid MC Converter.

Click the Add button to import AVCHD files or drag and drop the files to the application UI. When the box of Merge into one is checked, all selected videos will be combined together as one output file after conversion.

Step 2. Set MOV as output format.

Click on “Format” bar when you’d like to specify an output format. “Avid DNxHD (*.mov)” will be found in. This format creates videos of medium quality, if you feel like keeping higher visual quality, simply click “Settings” to se bitrate up to 10000kbps to 25000kbps. Note that the file size grows with bit rate. You may also customize other video and audio parameters in Settings panel, such as frame rate, channels, sampling rate.

Step 3. Start the conversion from AVCHD to MOV for Avid Media Composer.

Tip:

You can click “Edit” button to perform edit functions such as crop, trim, flip, effect, watermark and audio replace. To eliminate interlacing effect, simply check Deinterlacing box under Effect tab.

After conversion completes, you can click the “open” button to locate the converted files. Then you can import/edit Sony HDR-SR11 AVCHD files into Avid Media Composer.