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What I'm looking for is something that will burn AVCHD video to a BD5 disc - that is, a DVD with Blu-ray data on it, which holds about 40 minutes of 1080i video.

Sony's Picture Motion Browser software does this, but it's Windows-only, which is the main reason I use Boot Camp. A Mac equivalent for that would make me very happy.

Uncommon, on 10 March 2010 - 11:47 AM, said:

Roxio's Toast Titanium 10 with the optional Blu-ray plug-in will do this.

I had a video project involving someone's Sony HDR-SR1. I hooked it up to iMove and did a test import. It worked and I was able to bring the AVCHD video onto my Mac.

So we went and shot the project and I reconnected the camera. But the Mac refused to recognize the camera in iMovie. So I went to other Mac systems and even the Apple Store. No one could make it work. Google for it. Searched forums for it. No one had a good workable solution. The Disk Mount thing mentioned in the article was suggested. iMovie stil refused to recognize the "virtual" camcorder.

There were a lot of people having the same problem even though the HDR-SR1 was on Apple's approved list for AVCHD conversion into iMovie.

This was about a year ago. The only option available was to connect the camcorder to a Mac Pro and use Final Cut to import the footage (not the iMac, it would not work per Apple). I don't own a Mac Pro.

Sooooo... I didn't have a second Mac handy that could convert via VoltaicHD quickly enough while I worked under deadline on my Mac. Now the fun begins:

I took my friend's Sony laptop, downloaded the trial of Vegas. Then I had to download the trial of the VeggieTools plug in. I could connect my camcorder and manually set up each clip for conversion through VeggieTools. Oh, the fun I had let me tell you. I still haven't caught up on all the lost sleep.

So my advice is...
avoid AVCHD on your Mac like the PLAGUE! Ruuuuuun!

Things might be different now. But it's just not worth taking that chance.

Uncommon, on 10 March 2010 - 11:47 AM, said:

Toast 9 or 10 will do this. I've done it, works great.

lister, on 10 March 2010 - 11:59 AM, said:

After your experience, I understand where the advice comes from.

But AVCHD is a very popular format in consumer HD camcorders and I don't think it's practical to suggest that people stay away. I've had success with iMovie and a Sony SR11. And the utilities I recommended work perfectly well with its files.

Well, I was being mirth-y, but at the very least people need to run multiple tests on at least a few systems. And I recommend rebooting between each test! That would have saved me a lot of heartache.

Again, things may be smoother now. I know that Adobe CS4 was supposed to have expanded support for AVCHD, but I think it was just about to come out at the time and it was not enabled in the pre-release trial versions. (my memory of the exact timetable may be fuzzy) Not sure how well it handles it now. I imagine CS5 might offer more support if AVCHD is as ubiquitous as you make it sound.

The problem with Toast is it costs the same as Parallels (which I would need because Boot Camp is having video driver issues I can't figure out). So for the same price I can:
- Keep burning AVCHD DVDs, or
- Keep burning AVCHD DVDs and run other Windows software too

I don't understand the need for apps like Voltaic. I have been importing AVCHD files to my Mac using iMovie. Below is the workflow:

- To save the movies to your Mac, open iMovie and connect the camera to the computer or use a flash card reader. The Import window should open. (If not, choose File/Import from Camera.)

- Click "Archive All" at the bottom of the Import window. In the "Save As" field, type a name for the archive. Choose where you want to save the archive, and then click "Create." (Don’t save the archive inside the iMovie Events or iMovie Projects folders. This could make iMovie operate more slowly.)

- This workflow will allow to give a distinctive name to each archive and keep each PRIVATE folder separate from the next one you import. This is critical to easily finding the right movie later.

- To import the Archive into iMovie, use "File/Import/Camera Archive" and navigate to the folder in which you archived the movie.

Do Voltaic or ClipWrap deliver better HD quality in the conversion process or is there some other advantage compared to the method I described?

My digital camera records video in AVCHD format and iMovie happily imports the footage without a problem.

jzj, on 10 March 2010 - 01:43 PM, said:

That's great if you have the camera on hand or a full image of its drive. But with Voltaic or ClipWrap you need only the .mts or .mt2s file. So, for example, if someone were to pass along a .mts or .mt2s clip to me, I could still use it.

Chris, Thanks for the quick answer. Is there likely to be any quality advantage to ClipWrap vs. the method I described?

jzj, on 10 March 2010 - 02:10 PM, said:

Nope.

jzj, on 10 March 2010 - 02:10 PM, said:

Hey everyone...a great solution for AVCHD files to Mac, try the program WonderShare Video ConverterPro. The program allows you to transfer the video files from the HD Camera to Mac rewrapped in just about any format you choose. The program has some 30 different precanned formats (wrappers) including iMovie, FCP, iPhone, QT, iPod, WMA, etc... You can also custom build your own preference. I have chosen 1280x720 HD, h.264, 48khz, 30fps.

Easy program to use and just works great. Try it out. I am using FCP and a Canon HFS10 HD Camera.

Chris D