Sony HDR-SR11 /AVCHD/NON-INTEL MAC/HELP

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Level 1

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Sony HDR-SR11 /AVCHD/NON-INTEL MAC/HELP

I have called both sony and apple tech support and both offered little help today.

I have a Sony HDR-SR11 that I shot some HD content with. The computer registers that the camera is there as an external HDD. Sony's FAQ suggested that I save the AVCHD file to my HDD and it should work....NOPE

I hooked it up to a PC and installed the software it comes with and I was able to view my files but not export them into a normal format.

I have 2 sets of files one set is .m2t and the other is .mts both say they are Unix Executable files..***!

I have a Power MAc G5 running Leopard and Final Cut Pro 6 I ran the software update and it says that as of today 100% up to date yet it says that FCP should be 6.0.2 mine says 6.0

Apple support said that it may not even work on a non-intel Mac.....HELP

anyone get this to work, supposedly Imovie work s with it but the files are grayed out in the menus for imovie so I dunno all I know is I need this footage off the camera ASAP.

Thanks

Power Mac G5 Quad Core, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Apr 18, 2008 6:18 PM

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Answer 1

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Apr 18, 2008 6:31 PM in response to famousrob

YOu have to be running FCP 6 and you have to use the LOG AND TRANSFER tool to import the footage. You can choose to transcode it to ProRes or the Apple Intermediate Codec in the preferences of that tool (the sprocket drop down menu).

Not sure if it will transcode to ProRes on a non-intel...but AIC might work.

Shane

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Answer 2

hanumang

Level 6

9,250 points

Apr 18, 2008 7:48 PM in response to famousrob

This is no help to you, but Apple's Knowledge Base Document on AVCHD does mention that you need an Intel-based Mac.

Outside of that, it's weird that your FCP says 6.0, yet it won't update via Software Update. Have you tried manually updating via the Final Cut Studio Updates page? You will need your Serial Number handy.

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Answer 3

famousrob Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 18, 2008 7:45 PM in response to Shane Ross

LOG AND TRANSFER does not recognize either the.ts or the .m2t files.. they are all grayed out and the folders say their directory is unsupported

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Answer 4

famousrob Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 18, 2008 8:23 PM in response to hanumang

Yeah I downloaded the most recent update and it still says 6.0...maybe .0.1 and up is intel only which is BS my G5 is not even 2 yrs old yet....

Do I have a very expensive paperweight on my hands with 4gbs of ram in it lol

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Answer 5

famousrob Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 18, 2008 8:31 PM in response to famousrob

Iam looking into getting a 17in Macbook Pro once they make the announcement in June...I will be able to read AVCHD at that point.....will I be able to save the file in an HD format that will work on my main system (the G5) for the editing

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Answer 6

Apr 18, 2008 10:07 PM in response to famousrob

Try using MPEG Streamclip to convert the MPEG-2 Transport Stream (.m2t) files into an editable format. If you can't do it on your Mac, you can try the Windows version of MPEG Streamclip: http://www.squared5.com/

-DH

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Answer 7

mhmcfee

Level 1

5 points

Apr 22, 2008 7:52 AM in response to famousrob

I came here actually looking for a different solution and not the one I'm about to say... but I will tell you that the new iMovie will import the video straight off the camera (in either 960x540 or 1920x1080). It's not ideal, but it works.

In fact, I'm doing so right now, but I came here hoping there might be news of a new fix so that FCP will import it directly (it will not, log & capture will not do it, just so others are clear on this).

That said, the video off the camera looks very nice. I'm still happy with the camera, even if I do have to do one hoop jump before I can edit.

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Answer 8

Apr 22, 2008 8:09 AM in response to Shane Ross

It will not transcode to AIC or ProRes. FCP 6.0.1+ does not recognize AVCHD files on PPC machines (It pops up with a message saying your machine is non-Intel when you try to select the source files.)

As an aside, I know there's been talk by Apple about ProRes not working well (or at all) on PPC machines, but I've used and encoded ProRes in a variety of situations on my G5 and never had a problem.

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Answer 9

Apr 22, 2008 8:12 AM in response to famousrob

IMovie '08 is supposed to handle AVCHD (previous versions do not), altough I'm not sure if it does so on pre-Intel machines.

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Answer 10

Apr 22, 2008 8:16 AM in response to David Harbsmeier

Have you ever transcoded AVCHD with MPEG Streamclip? I don't think it does.

We use Voltaic, which I think is about $30. Works pretty well, although very slow at 12x realtime.

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Answer 11

Apr 22, 2008 3:12 PM in response to Community User

I have a Sony HDR-SR1 and HDR-SR7, both AVCHD based camcorders. I'm on an Intel Mac Pro and both fcp 6.03 and iMovie (part of iLife'08) will take the video from the camcorder to my mac. Every once in awhile, I have to disconnect the camcorder and then reconnect it for things to work. I personally like iMovie better because it names the video clips based on the date/time the video was recorded and it keeps long videos together as one file instead of 3 or more clips.

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