Will it Blend?:: .Mts format from Sony HDR and OSX

[mach1andy]

I showed a friend of mine my macintosh setup and he was sold on getting one. Sweet. He and I went to the Apple Store last night to playback a .mts file from his Sony HDR SR-12 and on every machine we tried (including the latest Mac Pro desktop) the video was very jumpy. The clip was a 3:00 video (appx. 180 MB) in HD-- no biggie right? We used VLC to play it back. FinalCut Pro wouldn't import it either.

My questions is:

Does anyone know how to get .mts and OSX to play nice? We tried using a free converter (from .mts to several formats) but the results weren't usable. He wants to play it back on his new machine (probably the 15" MBP) and edit it.

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[DooDaaDame]

I'm not having this problem at all, I can view, and playback .mts files in imovie 09 with no problems, smooth and in-sync. I have a sony HDR-SR11, (same camera, smaller HD).
I can also import into Final cut, use log and transfer function.
You can also use http://www.aquafadas.com/en/videopier/videopier_std_vs_hd.php to preview your .mts movies, I just downoaded the trial and it seems to work great.
The sony HDR-SR?? cameras are 1080i (interlaced) so you'll need to de-iterlace them to get a good playback on digital.