Ask questions via twitter! Message any question to @answers on twitter. We'll publish the question and send you a reply each time there's a new answer.
Next Question

Answered Question

davedonoh... davedonoh...
 
M$3 December 19, 2008 08:05 PM

Is there an OS X application that will let me import AVCHD files from a Hitachi HD camcorder?

The software bundled with it is Windows-only, but I process videos on my MacBook Pro. It's a Hitachi DZ-BD7HA 30GB Blu-Ray HDD/DVD camcorder, which doesn't appear on Apple's iLife compatibility list at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1014
Interesting Question?  Yes (0)   No (0)   
RSS
 
 

Best Answer  Chosen by Asker

mrnemo mrnemo
 
 December 19, 2008 08:18 PM
To import AVCHD, you can use iMovie 08.

For iMovie 08, start the application and then connect your camera and iMovie will detect it.

If your camera is not recognized as a camera for some reason but is recognized as a mass storage device, you can drag your files from the camera to the Mac and import from there, but you must create a disk image (using Disk Utility) and drag all of your camera files to the disk image. Now mount the disk image and it will be recognized as a camera.

iMovie will convert the AVCHD into Apple Intermediate Codec for editing.
Asker's Rating:
• Thanks for going the extra mile - this was enormously helpful information.


Helpful Answer?  (0)   (0)    Tip mrnemo for this answer
Permalink | Report
   Reply  
 
 
davedonohu... davedonohu...
 
December 19, 2008 08:22 PM
Thanks for this. Is there any quality loss when it's transcoded to the Apple Intermediate Codec?

Report
 
 
mrnemo mrnemo
 
December 19, 2008 08:35 PM
I cannot say that it is technically loss-less, but this is standard practice with AVCHD. I have a core 2 quad box, liquid cooled, 4GB DDR3, overclocked to 3.5GHz and editing video is a chore without creating intermediary files.

Report
 
 
mrnemo mrnemo
 
December 19, 2008 08:39 PM
Did it work? I guess my point below is that I am SURPRISED that AVCHD is in the marketplace at this point when the computer hardware hasn't caught up and these cameras are being marketed as easier to use than MiniDV and perfect for grandma. Yeah, after hours of research, and then some... and then some... converting them to TRUE 24P is also an incredible challenge. AVCHD conversion also KILLS your HDD space. You'll see.

Report
 
 

Other Answers (2)

Sort By
eatthatpop... eatthatpop...
 
December 19, 2008 08:11 PM
Don't worry about the software bundled with the camcorder. It's usually garbage anyways.


iMovie HD probably lets you do it. I know that Final Cut Pro let's you.

Helpful Answer?  (0)   (0)    Tip eatthatpopcorn for this answer
Permalink | Report
   Reply  
 
 
johnsonaar... johnsonaar...
 
December 19, 2008 08:18 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD

Editing
The following video-editing software features support for the AVCHD format:

Adobe Premiere Pro (from version CS4 onward; not the trial version)
Adobe Premiere Elements (from version 7 onward)
Apple's Final Cut Express 4, Final Cut 6.0.1, and iMovie '08 (Bundled with all new macs) do not support editing of AVCHD clips directly. Imported AVCHD clips are auto-converted into the Apple Intermediate Codec format, (MAC OSX 10.5 or greater).[20]
ArcSoft's TotalMedia Extreme
Avid Xpress Pro, Avid Media Composer
Corel's Ulead DVD MovieFactory 6
CyberLink's PowerDirector 6
Grass Valley's Edius 5.0
Nero 7 Ultra Edition Enhanced and Nero 8 Ultra Edition are software suites which contains the AVCHD editor, found in Nero Vision. Also included in this suite is Nero Showtime, which plays AVCHD files natively. Edited video can also be burned to DVD discs in AVCHD format for playback on hardware players or in Blu-ray format.
Pinnacle's Studio Plus 11 & 12, now even better with 12.1
Sony Vegas 7.0e
Vegas Pro 8
Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 8
Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9
TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress.
Kdenlive for Linux/BSD platforms
Other developers have pledged their support but it may still take some time for the implementation.


PowerDVD Ultra comes with an AVCHD codec that can be used with AVISynth and VirtualDubMod

FFDshow is a free, Open Source collection of codecs, including AVCHD.[18] To

Helpful Answer?  (0)   (0)    Tip johnsonaaron for this answer
Permalink | Report
   Reply  
 
 
davedonohu... davedonohu...
 
December 19, 2008 08:47 PM
Thank you!

Report
 
 

Answer this Question

How tips and payments work

This question has already been resolved. You may add an answer to it but you will not be eligible to win best answer or any associated tips.

Related Questions

View All Apple Questions

Ask a Question


140 characters left
Top of Page
Buy Mahalo Dollars with Credit Card or PayPal

Top Members

This Week All Time
  • buddawiggi
    buddawiggi
    2nd Degree Black Belt
    26830 Points
    M$782.84 Earned
  • kty2777
    kty2777
    Purple Belt with a Brown Tip
    5313 Points
    M$198.17 Earned
  • opher
    opher
    Purple Belt
    4027 Points
    M$170.67 Earned
   See All
 

Most Popular Tags

mahalo(1575)
twitter(942)
iphone(460)
music(458)
google(347)
food(312)
internet(301)
online(288)
beer(277)
money(260)
movies(253)
facebook(252)
apple(249)
aotd(235)
answers(220)
health(217)
video(201)
free(200)
dog(200)
windows(196)
   See All
 

Categories

Welcome New Members


 
 
Mahalo Dollars are the currency of Mahalo Answers.

Each Mahalo Dollar costs $1.

Once you earn more than 40 Mahalo Dollars, you can request to be paid via PayPal. Each Mahalo Dollar is currently worth $0.75 when paid out via PayPal. Learn More

 
 

Please log in to use this function.

Answers Home | Ask a Question | Earn Points | How Tips Work | Widget