How to transfer AVCHD videos to Macbook and share with Windows users?

First of all:

1. AVCHD is a good container to record to for camcorders. It is a terrible codec to manage on any operating system.

2. AVCHD is just a container, like .mov or .avi, whereas the main thing about the quality and playability of the videos is the codec used inside. For more info on this, I made this video:

pandalovebear said:

I would like to know how do I first transfer it to my Macbook Pro? Which file format should I transfer it over as and using what method or program (to retain the AVCHD good quality)?

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Well, if you want to edit the videos, you should import them into your editing software, just like you did with iMovie. Then edit them and export them out in a codec that other people can view. On import, iMovie will convert them to "ProRes" files, which are very good quality but huge in size and will not play back on a standard Windows system without special players.

If you don't want to edit the videos, but want to show the clips "as they are" to your Windows-friends, you can convert the container for example with this little tool I programmed. Just select the .MTS files in the STREAM folder of your AVCHD data and for example ".mp4" as output container. This will retain the quality and size exactly, but lose all the metadata. Should be okay for playback though. You might run into trouble with very long clips, since they spread over multiple .MTS files...

pandalovebear said:

What do I convert them again to and using what program?

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As stated in the video I linked to, an ideal codec and container for playback on most modern systems is "H.264" in an ".mp4" container. Your AVCHD files are already H.264, they are just in a strange AVCHD container. So to just show the clips, you can convert them with my tool. If you want to export from iMovie, be sure to pick "H.264" as output codec. If you already have videos (e.g. the files imported into iMovie you mentioned) and want them to play back anywhere, I can highly recommend the pretty awesome Handbrake to do the conversion. Again, H.264 in an .mp4 container.

pandalovebear said:

How do you manage and backup your AVCHD videos?

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Hm. Short answer: It's terrible.

Slightly longer answer: Get a newer editing software. If you want to spend any money, consider buying for example Adobe Premiere Elements, which will do the importing and switching the container for you while retaining the original video stream in its full quality. Final Cut Pro X will do the same, but is more expensive.

Even longer answer: iMovie (and older versions of Final Cut) will on import convert all your footage into a "ProRes" codec, which is editing friendly but very, very big as you already noticed. To just do a few cuts here and there and make a holiday movie, the conversion is probably not needed, but these programs can not handle a different format natively for editing. Without spending money on software, I would recommend to copy the AVCHD folder as is from the original card to an external backup drive. This is a real backup. Then you could buy a dedicated external drive for editing (make it Firewire, not USB, if possible), where you can import and convert all your footage to. It will speed up your editing enormously (the hard drive is the bottleneck on many systems) and not clutter your internal drive, which you might need for other things.

pandalovebear said:

Sidetrack. For Sony NEX-6, should I use AVCHD 50i/24Mbps/FX, instead of 50i/17Mbps/FH - any big difference in the quality?

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Well, I would say go and try it. The original AVCHD files will be a little bigger, but the converted iMovie files will be the same size. I would expect that you see a difference in sharpness whenever there is big motion in your scene, for example moving the camera wildly or filming through wind-blown leaves. But the difference is not huge. I usually pick the better quality settings for those really cool artsy shots and the slightly lesser quality if I go on a long trip and want my cards to last through it all.

Good luck,

Floh