problem with video file

[Macgeeza]

Hi everyone,
This is my first time on this forum, so i am sorry if i am posting this in the wrong place.

I have just got my first mac and i am really enjoying it so far.

Having said that there is something I am having a problem with and I was just wondering if anyone could help me?

I am trying to import video files from the hard drive in to iMovie, the video clips were captured using a Panasonic lumix tz7 . I think the format is AVCHD or m2ts? , and my Mac is a macbook pro 17inch i5.

is there something I could be doing wrong or some software that I needed when I purchased my computer (when I purchased it from the apple store the genius's said that format was compatible).

Any help with this will be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[mstrze]

What happens when you plug in your camera? Does iMovie start automatically? (I'm assuming it does not).

Does iPhoto open? If so, import into iPhoto, then you can use those movie files within iMovie...you can find them in the 'iPhoto Movies' folder.

 

[Macgeeza]

What happens when you plug in your camera? Does iMovie start automatically? (I'm assuming it does not).

Does iPhoto open? If so, import into iPhoto, then you can use those movie files within iMovie...you can find them in the 'iPhoto Movies' folder.

Thanks for the reply, I just tried what you suggested

When I plug in the camera nothing happens except the camera is shown on the desktop like when you plug in a pen drive,but it calls it "no name"

When I opened iPhoto and tried to import the video files that way it just says "the following file could not be imported.(the file is an unrecognized format.)"

 

[Macgeeza]

Hope it's just something I am doing wrong and not a problem with the mac, this is like the sort of problems I used to get with a windows pc?

 

[Makosuke]

Hmm... the specs say that camera is capable of recording in AVCHD Lite or MJPEG. I assume you're using AVCHD (and would want to, since it's probably going to give better quality than MJPEG).

According to what I'm finding, a fully-updated version of iMovie '09 SHOULD be able to read AVCHD Lite video. If your Mac is brand new it should have iMovie '09 on it, but to confirm, have you run Software Update and installed anything it suggests?

If it turns out that iMovie isn't capable of reading the files for some reason, the other two questions would be:

1) Did the camera come with any Mac-specific video software, maybe a convertor of some sort? I know Panasonic ships their cameras with RAW software that's Mac compatible, so there's a chance it came with something.

2) This program should be able to convert to a usable format for you, but it's not free:
http://www.avchdconvertermac.biz/

The DVD/Blu-ray authoring program Toast might be able to as well, though I'm not positive.


All that said, again, iMovie SHOULD be able to read those files without any help. You said that iPhoto said it didn't recognize the files--you did mean iPhoto, not iMovie, right? If so, that's expected--iPhoto indeed can't read them until converted by iMovie. In iMovie (not iPhoto), with the camera attached, if you open up its import dialogue, it should find the video camera's card and offer to import clips from it. I've done it with a Canon video camera, which uses a similar format.


An aside on all this: Video formats on flash-based video cameras are currently a total mess. There are a number of competing formats and most companies offer exactly squat by way of tools for the Mac. This is why Apple stepped up and put support for nearly everything in iMovie (and Final Cut, for pros), which somewhat ironically results in a better video editing experience on the Mac than any of the Windows software that ships with cameras. What's galling, though, is that instead of camera companies including a walkthrough on how to use iMovie to import video from their camera, most just say "Sorry, not Mac compatible!" Which is just dumb.

 

[Macgeeza]

Hmm... the specs say that camera is capable of recording in AVCHD Lite or MJPEG. I assume you're using AVCHD (and would want to, since it's probably going to give better quality than MJPEG).

According to what I'm finding, a fully-updated version of iMovie '09 SHOULD be able to read AVCHD Lite video. If your Mac is brand new it should have iMovie '09 on it, but to confirm, have you run Software Update and installed anything it suggests?

If it turns out that iMovie isn't capable of reading the files for some reason, the other two questions would be:

1) Did the camera come with any Mac-specific video software, maybe a convertor of some sort? I know Panasonic ships their cameras with RAW software that's Mac compatible, so there's a chance it came with something.

2) This program should be able to convert to a usable format for you, but it's not free:
http://www.avchdconvertermac.biz/

The DVD/Blu-ray authoring program Toast might be able to as well, though I'm not positive.


All that said, again, iMovie SHOULD be able to read those files without any help. You said that iPhoto said it didn't recognize the files--you did mean iPhoto, not iMovie, right? If so, that's expected--iPhoto indeed can't read them until converted by iMovie. In iMovie (not iPhoto), with the camera attached, if you open up its import dialogue, it should find the video camera's card and offer to import clips from it. I've done it with a Canon video camera, which uses a similar format.


An aside on all this: Video formats on flash-based video cameras are currently a total mess. There are a number of competing formats and most companies offer exactly squat by way of tools for the Mac. This is why Apple stepped up and put support for nearly everything in iMovie (and Final Cut, for pros), which somewhat ironically results in a better video editing experience on the Mac than any of the Windows software that ships with cameras. What's galling, though, is that instead of camera companies including a walkthrough on how to use iMovie to import video from their camera, most just say "Sorry, not Mac compatible!" Which is just dumb.

Thanks for the help. I tried to update but I already have the most up to date version.
I think I have solved the problem, I had to download a programme called handbrake convert the files first then I could import and edit the movie files in iMovie. Hopefully when apple next update iMovie they will solve this problem but until then I will just continue to use handbrake.

 

[Makosuke]

Glad Handbrake solved it for you, but being that I deal with this sort of problem regularly at work, I don't suppose it would be possible for you to upload a VERY short bit of (raw, unconverted) video from your camera somewhere so that I could check it out and figure out why iMovie doesn't like it?

Lot to ask, I know, but even a second or two of video would be enough to experiment with. Appreciated if you can, understood if you can't.

 

[mapollo2112]

Lot to ask, I know, but even a second or two of video would be enough to experiment with. Appreciated if you can, understood if you can't.

I could upload for a bit of video of the .m2ts file type for you. Let me know if you are still interested in doing this...

 

[mac2thefuture]

iMovie 09 will work will mts files ( no need to encode via any other software) as long as your sd card has been formatted. When you connect your camera or insert your sd card it will then recognise the files.
Took me ages to fathom it - format your card 🙂
I use AVCHD via a Panasonic FZ38