avchd on Final Cut Pro

Hi Anthony,

After our phone conversation, I did a quick search and found out more about editing AVCHD (.MTS) with FCP.

1) FCP 6 and 7 (plus Final Cut Express 4, iMovie 2007 and 2008) support AVCHD (.MTS) files

The AVCHD (.MTS) files must be imported using "Log & Transfer", which will transcode into ProRes or Apple Intermediate Codec.
Apple's tech note on FCP 6.0.1 support for AVCHD - http://support.apple.com/kb/ta24840

For more info, go to http://www.panasonic.com/avccam and look under "Resources".
Attached are 2 PDFs for your reference,
- Editing AVCHD with FC Studio 2
- AVCHD Whitepaper

A great place to read about AVCHD and the different names e.g AVCCAM, NXCAM - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD

2) FCP "Log & Transfer" supports only HD, not SD

3) The new Panasonic "3D Wally-Cam" AG-3DA1 is recording AVCHD onto 2 SD cards, 1 for left, 1 for right.

4) There are several 3rd-party software to convert AVCHD (.MTS) into QuickTime movies.

- ClipWrap : Recommended, simply re-wrapping the header as a QuickTime movie - http://www.clipwrap.com/

- VoltaicHD : Recommended - http://www.shedworx.com/voltaichd



  Cheers, 

 

Ben Cheng · Application Engineer · The Media Village Pte Ltd
----------------------------------------------------- new stuff -----------------------
Anthony called earlier and he shared his solution.
Without the metadata folder, the .MTS file itself can't be recognised by FCP.
He recreated the metadata folder structure (with empty new folders) and created the metadata files (using Text Editor to create empty text files and named them accordingly).
He used the AVCCAM Restorer (https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/dload/avccam_restorer/agree_e.htm) to "repair" the folder and "restore" the metadata into the empty meta data files.
With the newly-created metadata, he is able to use FCP Log & Transfer to import the AVCHD clip, by pointing to the metadata folder (with the .MTS file inside).
Here's the Download link for all Panasonic AVCCAM software - https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/desk/e/download.htm#avchd
1) AVCCAM Viewer
2) AVCHD Transcoder (AVCHD to P2 DVCPRO HD Transcoder) : Windows only
3) AVC-Intra Encoder for Compressor (QuickTime to AVC-Intra encoder plug-in for Compressor)
4) AVC-Intra Codec for FCP 6 : No need for FCP 7, as the codec is included in FCP 7
5) P2 CMS (Contents Management Software) : Able to convert AVC-Intra100 clips (shot with Film REC mode) to DPX


Cheers, 
Ben Cheng · Application Engineer · The Media Village Pte Ltd

Keywords: avchd FCP final cut pro HD Mac video

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