32 responses so far ↓

• 1 Steve Norton // Apr 16, 2007 at 6:45 pm

  Andy:

  Like you, I poured over the FCP specs — does not appear to support AVCHD. I have the Sony SR1 camera. Love the camera. Wish I could edit the $&$&(# footage!

  I hope that Apple addresses this soon.

  Best

• 2 John Parsons // Apr 16, 2007 at 9:05 pm

  Add me to the list of people who are questioning the decision to purchase the SR-1. From all the ballyhoo on Sony’s site about the impending widespread adoption of the AVCHD format I decided to gamble on it and buy the SR-1 last fall. How long could it take, right? The camera captures decent video for something in its price range. Boards were abuzz that the spring release of FCP2 would be our salvation. Come April 2007, Apple’s site blares on about the broad format support of Quicktime and FCP2 with no mention of AVCHD. Now I’m starting to think nobody’s going to jump on this bandwagon. As we all know by now, SONY’s own Windows-only software offers little more than back up. AVCHD editing support would be a great opportunity for Apple to out do everyone else, like usual. I’d buy FCP2 for that alone. At this point, maybe we’d better start referring to AVCHD as a “wanna-be HD standard,” aka the Betamax of high def. At this point, when friends ask about my slick HD Handycam the first thing I tell them is to hold off getting one until the footage is editable like everything else they can buy today.

• 3 Martin Baker // Apr 17, 2007 at 12:15 am

  Andy

  There is a station on the Apple booth with the words “AVCHD workflow” above it. I didn’t take much notice but will try and have a look tomorrow.

• 4 Andy Coon // Apr 17, 2007 at 6:58 am

  Thanks Martin, that would be huge if you can figure this out. Other than AVCHD, how is the conference going?

• 5 James // Apr 20, 2007 at 3:04 am

  Yes, I have been waiting a long time for apple to come out with some support for the sony sr1 camera. I am a film student and would love to use this to capture some HD footage and edit it. The only way I can do anything with my camera is record in SD and transfer it into FCP. I would really like to hear some news about apple and AVCHD support.

• 6 Cam // Apr 20, 2007 at 2:50 pm

  Same here. Can hardly wait for this!

• 7 LAK // Apr 21, 2007 at 1:12 pm

  I am yet another person who needs Apple to step up and support AVCHD.

• 8 Tim // Apr 21, 2007 at 10:10 pm

  Firstly let me make it clear I am not a techie or pro. I just make home movies of my holidays and kids.
  I have the SR1(E) camera and FCP. Like you all I was very disappointed to find I could not edit the footage directly in FCP.

  I did some research into work arounds for this and have four solutions you may want to investigate.

  1) Using a combination of Virtualdubmod, Avisynth and Power DVD Ultra. I got this tip from Jake Luddington’s Media Blab site. IT WORKS and I have made two short home movies in FCP with the SR1 camera using it.
  I won’t attempt to explain how to do it here as the instructions on Jake’s site are easy to follow…. even for me.
  The hassle with this approach are that you must nominate each clip individually ,,,ticking a few boxes each time….(You can batch process though)….and the files are HUGE. I am doing this on a Windows XP computer which is networked to my Mac,
  Regarding the quality it seems to be OK….but I have nothing to compare it to so would like to hear the opinions of some of you more expert folks.

  2) I found a tip that said it was possible to use Nero Premium Reloaded ). This comes with Nero Vision 4, which unbelievably provides AVCHD editing and exporting. I tried this last night and the Nerovision software recognises the MT2s files as supported and you can import into the Nero timeline. I was able to export as an AVI file and send to the MAC. While I could import the file happily into FCP it is almost unplayable. Pixelly, stop start, choppy etc.
  Could somebody take a look at this who is techie and advise if it is just a settings issue. Nero allows compression and I have not tried to fiddle with any of that.
  3) Black Magic Intensity Card. In theory at least this should work. This allows you to import the raw HDMI onput from the Camera. I have seen several threads suggesting this but yet to hear anybody that has tried it. I contacted BM and they told me it SHOULD work. I live in Japan and the BM card here is Y38000 which is about 20% the price of the camera….so I am hanging of this option for the moment until either another solution emerges….or I hear from somebody that it definitely works.
  4) Elecard. It sems that it is possible to recompress the files using one of their Studio converter products. I am going to try this on a demo version later this w/e and see how it travels.

  Hope all of this is some help.

  Meanwhile….where is Martin with his update on the Booth at the show?

  Tim

• 9 Francis Shepherd // Apr 22, 2007 at 11:03 pm

  FCP 6 adds support for the Panasonic AVC-Intra codec.

  There is no support for AVC-HD in FCP. It is currently considered a consumer “destination” format, and not an editing format. Canopus recently announced support for AVC-HD editing with Edius Pro 4 and ProCoder 3. I spoke to an Adobe engineer at NAB who said they planned to add AVC-HD to Premiere Pro CS3 “sometime in the future”. An HDMI solution is a good option. Blackmagic Design is working on a 4 port Intensity Pro card. They showcased a 2 port HDMI Intensity Pro card with their “On-Air 2.0″ switching software. http://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/

  Here is a decent thread on AVC-HD:
  http://cineform.blogspot.com/2007/04/avchd-support.html

  You can always send feature requests to feedback@apple.com

  Best advice is to make sure your favorite editing software supports your camera before purchasing it.

  Final Cut Compatibility Guide
  http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/resources/devicelist.php

• 10 TechWizard // Apr 24, 2007 at 2:13 pm

  I just got back from NAB in Vegas and spoke to several apple engineers on Final Cut Suite team. - They plan on announcing full AVC - HD support soon. AVC-HD is a much more efficient format than HDV and is actually capable of better quality through the entire editing process. Additionally these new cameras have native AC3 5.1 surround and that makes it not a quick drop in to FC. This not a ‘destination format’…
  Its just new. Missed the release cutoff for Final Cut Studio.
  Apple clearly is ‘hearing us’ and I shoved the camera in their faces to solidify that we need it asap!
  Give it 3-4 weeks - expect to see an announcement.

• 11 Tech Wizard // Apr 29, 2007 at 3:45 pm

  Here is my Video Blog on how to Edit your AVC-HD footage in Final Cut Suite.

  http://web.mac.com/bankman2/iWeb/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html

  TW

• 12 C-Reed // May 7, 2007 at 2:52 pm

  Well i’m just another of you hoping that Apple or someone will come out with an editing program that works flawlessly for Macs! but lately I’ve been getting really really down on the whole situation…I’ve been waiting for almost 6 months now and I really love the camera’s quality but why would they come out with it before any program would support the totaly new format??? This makes no sense to me because I’m sure they lost alot of sales from people making the smart decision to return it right away! I, on the other hand, kept the camera and am very disappointed at waiting so long for something that may never even happen for Apple-Goers! I really hope Apple looks at all these posts of all these people waiting to jump on any product that supports the format and puts something in iMovie and FCP for it! They could make alot of money out of this if they just huried up and did something about all of this! So please people post if you have the camera and whats up! Maybe they’ll read all this and understand our pain with having this amazing camera and just the priveledge of sitting here staring at it! Whos with me?! : (

• 13 Cam // May 13, 2007 at 11:37 pm

  A buddy of mine just sent me a link letting me know that Sony just updated Vegas to support AVCHD. At least it’s something for us PC users to use until Final Cut includes this ability. Of course, lots of people will go out and buy Vegas now, which will mean they won’t purchase alternative software when it comes out….oh well, first to the punch I guess…

• 14 Affinity Skateboards // May 14, 2007 at 9:36 pm

  Hopefully this is added to Final Cut 6 in the very near future because I spent a lot of money on this camera(just as you all did) , and now i’m stuck with all this footage that can’t be edited.

• 15 highdefw // May 23, 2007 at 2:08 pm

  Well, I bought the SR1 camera 3 days after it came out, since I was such a big HD fanatic… little did I know that NO application supported the new format it recorded in. So I went ahead and kept it and have been backing up all the footage I have recorded. Its been almost 7 months now, and I am still unable to edit the files directly.

  Recently, I found out about this program developed by Ulead. Apparently, their newest version of their editing program, DVD Moviefactory, will import footage directly from my camera’s HDD, but it is a very basic editing application, unlike FCP. So i messed around with it, and found out that I am able to export a M2TS file to a HD mpeg-2 file format. There was little quality loss, but it was technically still HD. So I took that file and imported into Final Cut Pro and it worked!!!! So for those who want to edit this with FCP, but don’t want too much quality loss, this is probably your best bet.

  Just remember, this program is ONLY made for windows (I had to install Boot Camp with XP to run this app). If you want to try out this program, go here for the trial….

  http://www.ulead.com/dmf/trial.htm

  I really hope Apple updates FCP with an AVCHD update. That would be a huge help to many people!!!

  P.S. Its been past 4 weeks now, and I still haven’t seen an announcement about the AVCHD update.

• 16 CM // Jun 14, 2007 at 11:07 pm

  This is why I just bought the Canon HV20. TAPES STORE BETTER QUALITY VIDEOS THAN HARD DRIVES, THEY CAN’T CRASH, AND MY MAC ACCEPTS IT REAL WELL FOR EDITING! SONY SUCKS.

• 17 Kurt_W // Jun 22, 2007 at 11:57 pm

  After returning from NAB, I spoke with an Apple engineer about AVCHD. He suggested the Intensity card — you simply bypass the AVCHD encoding and import uncompressed HD, which you can then convert to any format that FCP can edit. Apparently, AVCHD is so highly compressed that it is difficult to edit. I’ve just installed the Intensity card — hope this works.

• 18 Dazza // Jun 28, 2007 at 1:53 am

  Stupid question — I’m still a step away from trying to edit AVCHD in FCP. I am just trying to import my SD format videos for editing, but the sound does not import with the video. I was warned about this as a possible problem, but I have not found a good solution to solve the issue yeet (I assume I will need to use some application to convert the files?). Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

• 19 Matthew Garrison // Jun 28, 2007 at 8:09 pm

  It seems as if Final Cut Pro can finally handle the AVCHD format thanks to Apple’s latest Pro Applications update…

  http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/download/

  Can anyone confirm or deny this?

  Thanks.

• 20 DG // Jul 2, 2007 at 12:27 pm

  6.0.1 has AVCHD! Works fantastic.

• 21 Azteca // Aug 1, 2007 at 3:31 pm

  It could be DG, but I think is a stupid Update because It does not work on PPC, why not support this system, why not include updates in old versions if many people have computers based on PPC, I hate Intel processor in this moment.

  I will wait a new update for my PPC, and I hope will be soon

  Sorry for my bad english

  Greetings

• 22 Jon // Apr 18, 2008 at 3:02 pm

  I know this is a year later but perhaps still helpful

  Still not able to import m2ts files into fcp, not even with 6.0.2.

  The answer I found is to use VoltaicHD, which converts m2fs files to movs which fcp can read.

  Takes time, but works!

• 23 keith // May 20, 2008 at 3:44 pm

  It’s only HDV, who cares? HDV sucks!

• 24 Andy Coon // May 20, 2008 at 4:44 pm

  Be that it may… many people use HDV.

• 25 Benny Rietveld // Jun 14, 2008 at 12:12 pm

  Just got an HF10, and I have 6.0.1, and yep it all works as advertised, Canon even has a nice little FAQ that details how to Log & Capture, etc.

  Except - for me, my imported clips are stretched horizontally. I know it’s something I’m doing wrong, but I’ve been poking around at settings, etc. for awhile and still no luck.

  Any ideas? Thanks!

• 26 JRCX // Jun 25, 2008 at 11:34 pm

  What about Blu-ray support for DVDSP? Did they forget that too? How are we supposed to get HD on to disk to deliver content? 99% of my clients are consumers (not professionals) and they want to be able to watch their hidef video in hidef on their HDTV!

• 27 Benny Rietveld // Jun 26, 2008 at 1:13 am

  Hey, try these guys… I’m demoing their conversion program, but they also have (it seems) a way to burn discs playable on PS3…

  http://shedworx.com/?q=revolverhdmac

  It may not be exactly what we’re looking for, but it could fill in a few gaps.

• 28 Josh Marsden // Aug 15, 2008 at 6:19 pm

  I’m about to buy the Canon HF-10 which uses AVCHD and the final cut studio specs suggest that this format is only compatible with Mac Pro computers. Is this true?

  I have the top of the line Macbook Pro currently with maxed out specs.

• 29 Andy Coon // Aug 15, 2008 at 6:25 pm

  Josh-

  I believe that it is only compatable with Intel Chip computers. I know my G5 can’t do it. I’ve stayed away from AVCHD camcorders. I’d look around some more before purchasing that camcorder.

  Good Luck

• 30 Benny Rietveld // Aug 15, 2008 at 11:26 pm

  Yep, it’s true… I also have a MacBook Pro, the latest and greatest, maxed out, etc. My rig gas no problem seeing the Canon at all.

  Ingesting the video was easy, except that you have to render the video to play it, and for some reason, the image was always “stretched” horizontally somewhat.

  I haven’t had time yet to chase down what setting I might be getting wrong, so I was just copying files to my HD, and then using VoltaicHD to convert. Super slow, though, Final Cut seemed faster.

  I do enjoy my HV-10, though.

• 31 Joshua Marsden // Aug 16, 2008 at 1:41 am

  Sweet, thanks for the advice Benny. Do you work a lot with final cut on your macbook pro?

  Question for the thread: Does anyone know any websites that have networks of people making independent films in different areas of the US?

• 32 Benny Rietveld // Aug 16, 2008 at 6:22 am

  Hey Josh,

  I just got the ‘book and FC a few months ago. Also, I’m a musician by trade, and have never done video editing before in my life. So I haven’t been able to put in a ton of hours, but I have edited a short piece, with voiceover and music on the rig, and I found it quite enjoyable!

  Cheers!

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