Sony HDR-CX550V: First AVCHD Camcorder: What should I expect with Mac?

[NJRonbo]

Getting tired of owning a tape camcorder that, when downloading to iMovie, has to be done in real time.

Looking to get my first AVCHD camcorder, but I hear stories that it could be a difficult format to use with the Mac.

The camcorder I am looking to purchase is the Sony HDR-CX550V

I have iMovie '09, but really, I find the simplest iMovie to use is iMovie HD ('06/'07).

Will I be able to simply hook up the camcorder to the Mac and pull clips into iMovie instantly and then edit with no hassles?

Will it pull over complete 10 minute clips or is the transfer only capable of smaller size clips?

In case some of you feel there may be issues with the Mac, there looks to be a really great program called VoltaicHD which acts not only as an AVCHD transfer tool but an editor as well. The only drawback is that, to date, the CX550V is not supported.

In a nutshell, I really need to find out all the pros and cons of going with AVCHD on a Mac and what difficulties I should expect when hooking it up to iMovie for the first time. Can I just simply drag and edit? Also, interested to know if iMovie '06 supports AVCHD.

Thank you in advance

 

[mmm2m8r]

I have the CX360V and a new intel based iMac. I have no problems getting the clips into the iMovie but so far have not been able to drag anything there. I have had to click the camera icon on the iMovie and wait a moment to download a four minute clip. That is as far as I have gone so far. So, it will go into iMovie. The camera's clips are extremely sharp and so far I am impressed with it. Still looking at video conversion apps but haven't decided yet. This may be enough for me. I am new to Mac and video cameras. It is confusing with the myriad of compression regimens in use.