Converted AVCHD to Prores, now I need to hand over to iMovie

[nickane]

I used log and transfer for the first time yesterday. I was supposed to edit one video from the footage but there are others still to be edited by other people, probably using iMovie. Unfortunately, I didn't know to clone the SD card beforehand. I also had to delete my backup of the SD card to free up space (20 gigs of AVCHD become 150 gigs of Prores leading to me frantically deleting stuff from my laptop!) and it has since been formatted.

1. What would be the best codec for me to convert the prores files to, so that the other editor can get them into iMovie without any hassle (quality is not as much of an issue as size given the look on their faces when I said there was 150 gigs of footage)? I was thinking Photo JPEG but I keep reading about AIC. I've never used iMovie.

2. Is there a way I can batch convert them or will I have to do each file individually?

3. I still have an old backup of the card (not a clone) with 30 of the 43 clips on it. Assuming I can identify the right 13 clips from the Prores, and then convert them to something useable (as suggested in 1), will it be a hassle for my novice editing friends to get some of the footage as .mts files and the other 13 in AIC/Photo JPEG/whatever, or just all of them in AIC/Photo JPEG/whatever?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

1. Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC)
2. MPEG Streamclip and its Batch List (CMD+B).
3. That is up to you, but as they don't seem to be so interested in quality, just give them the transcoded media.

Btw, do you have a backup of the media files, just in case?

 

[nickane]

Many thanks.

1. Thanks. I guess I just always assumed this was an inferior version of Prores.
2. Makes sense, that's what they use at work.
3. Fair reasoning.

Yep, I have a freenas box with all the footage backed up.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Many thanks.

1. Thanks. I guess I just always assumed this was an inferior version of Prores.

It is inferior to ProRes, but that is the format for HD footage that iMovie understands.
And as the source of the footage is AVCHD, AIC is better than AVCHD anyways.