SOT: Mac Laptop Question

Kimberly wrote on 9/20/2013, 11:24 AM
Hello All:

I have a friend overseas with an older Mac laptop. Last year he bought an NTSC Sony CX160. Right now he uses iMovie to edit his footage.

So his problem is that the Mac will recognize his SD footage, but it won't recognize HD footage. I have no problem with either format on my Dell of course. I feel bad that he cannot use HD because I helped him pick-out the camera. I would like to help him figure out which drivers, etc., he is missing, but I haven't a clue where to start.

I wrote to him to get the model and specifications of the Mac. He is not a power Mac user either so will have to figure out where to find the specs on the Mac . . .

Thanks for any suggestions!

Kimberly

Comments

ddm wrote on 9/20/2013, 12:09 PM
It would be helpful to know what OS # he's running and what version of iMovie. They go hand in hand somewhat as you can update iMovie to a certain point before needing to update the OS. There was a time in iMovie's life that it did not support HD video, seems like that was long ago. The Sony camera is pretty recent so my guess is he will need a pretty recent version of iMovie, which then begs the question, which OS does he need to run that version of iMovie. Macs are simple, right.
Steve Grisetti wrote on 9/20/2013, 12:31 PM
This is just a consumer AVCHD camcorder, which is a fairly common format to edit. Current versions of iMovie certainly will edit it. Particularly if you use iMovie to get the video from the camcorder to your computer (as opposed to just pulling the SD card from the camcorder or using Finder to copy the files from the camcorder).
Kimberly wrote on 9/20/2013, 4:07 PM
Here are some particulars about the Mac. It is older and low spec, but my friend is happy with it for now.

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook3,1
Processor Speed: 2GHz
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Boot ROM Version: MB31.008EB02
Serial Number (system): W8751CExxxx (last digits hidden)

I think this is the iMovie version:

7.1.4, Copyright 2007, 2008 Version

Does any of this make sense in terms of which versions are suitable for AVCHD video?

We have tried importing footage from within iMovie as well as putting the files on the computer. iMovie recognizes that the HD is a file, but cannot open it. SD footage works either way.

Regards,

Kimberly
Steve Grisetti wrote on 9/20/2013, 5:17 PM
Support for AVCHD was added in iMovie 2008. So, if that's the version he has and he uses iMovie to get the video from the camcorder to his computer, he should be able to edit it.
ddm wrote on 9/20/2013, 5:59 PM


here's a silly little movie on how to import from this camera into imovie. seems like it should be easier but maybe not.
Kimberly wrote on 11/12/2013, 3:58 PM
I'm just now revisiting this. I'm going overseas in about 6 weeks so trying to find a solution for my friend.

[I]here's a silly little movie on how to import from this camera into imovie. seems like it should be easier but maybe not. [/I]

Nice tutorial! I'm pretty sure this is how we've been doing this. The SD works fine. The iMovie recognizes the AVCHD file but cannot work with it.

[I]Support for AVCHD was added in iMovie 2008. So, if that's the version he has and he uses iMovie to get the video from the camcorder to his computer, he should be able to edit it.[/I]

I've been reading up on how some older versions of iMovie do not recognize the *.MTS wrapper on AVCHD files. Inside it's an H.264 file, but the *.MTS wrapper confuses the software? I've read that you can transcode using Handbrake (and other tools), but when I try this, I get a file with a *.MP4 or *.MKV file. Are these wrappers still compatible with *.MOV? I'm going to put a sort transcoded file on DropBox for my friend, but our challenge is that he doesn't have fast Internet access so not sure how long it will take him to download.

Thanks for any ideas you all may have.

Regards,

Kimberly



robwood wrote on 11/12/2013, 4:24 PM
I've read that you can transcode using Handbrake (and other tools), but when I try this, I get a file with a *.MP4 or *.MKV file. Are these wrappers still compatible with *.MOV? -Kimberley

HandBrake is your friend
http://handbrake.fr/

i can't speak to iMovie, but whenever i can't import a video file to Vegas, Premiere or After Effects, i throw it into HandBrake and it has never failed me so far... the file will come out as MP4 or M4V; never had a problem importing to any NLE i've tried.

the only setting i fuss over is under the Video tab, where you choose between Constant Framerate and Variable Framerate... pick CONSTANT.
Chienworks wrote on 11/12/2013, 4:43 PM
"he doesn't have fast Internet"

Even a clip as short as one second should be enough to see if it works or not. Handbreak can let you set in/out points for the transcode. A one second clip should be a pretty small file in any format.
set wrote on 11/12/2013, 6:16 PM
AVCHD is not a 'friendly' format for Apple's editor.

Trying FCPX short time in 2011, and I need to transcode them with Clipwrap
Although just rewrap or change the container work where FCPX can finally accept them, they were still transcoded in background to Prores codec.

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Kimberly wrote on 11/12/2013, 7:59 PM
I saw Clipwrap offered as a possible solution on another website.

I looked briefly at the website but couldn't figure out how it works. Do you drag your clips to it, or drag it to your clips? My friend is not a computer super-user and we both struggle with his Mac as I am PC and this is the only computer he has used.
set wrote on 11/12/2013, 9:22 PM
>I looked briefly at the website but couldn't figure out how it works. Do you drag your clips to it, or drag it to your clips? My friend is not a computer super-user and we both struggle with his Mac as I am PC and this is the only computer he has used.

It is a very little app, just like handbrake, so you are dragging your clips into this Clipwrap app, and let it make the conversions.
The manual for the app:
http://www.divergentmedia.com/support/documentation/clipwrap/view

Setiawan Kartawidjaja
Bandung, West Java, Indonesia (UTC+7 Time Area)

Personal FB | Personal IG | Personal YT Channel
Chungs Video FB | Chungs Video IG | Chungs Video YT Channel
Personal Portfolios YouTube Playlist
Pond5 page: My Stock Footage of Bandung city

 

System 5-2021:
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10700 CPU @ 2.90GHz   2.90 GHz
Video Card1: Intel UHD Graphics 630 (Driver 31.0.101.2125 (June 15 2023 Release date)
Video Card2: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB GDDR6 (Driver Version 537.58 Studio Driver - 2023.10.10 release date)
RAM: 32.0 GB
OS: Windows 10 Pro Version 22H2 OS Build 19045.3693
Drive OS: SSD 240GB
Drive Working: NVMe 1TB
Drive Storage: 4TB+2TB

 

System 2-2018:
ASUS ROG Strix Hero II GL504GM Gaming Laptop
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 8750H CPU @2.20GHz 2.21 GHz
Video Card 1: Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (Driver 31.0.101.2111)
Video Card 2: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 VRAM (Driver Version 537.58)
RAM: 16GB
OS: Win11 Home 64-bit Version 22H2 OS Build 22621.2428
Storage: M.2 NVMe PCIe 256GB SSD & 2.5" 5400rpm 1TB SSHD

 

* I don't work for VEGAS Creative Software Team. I'm just Voluntary Moderator in this forum.