Panasonic HDC-SD9 compatibility and workaround

Good News.

I just read that iMovie '08 now supports Panasonic HDC-SD9.
Update to QuickTime 7.5 and iMovie 7.1.2 to make this camera work with the Mac.
It seems to be working with Final Cut too.

source:
http://37prime.com/news/?p=160

I am importing video from my SD9 as we speak. I am so happy right now. Was right about to throw my computer and camera out the window. The only problem I have now is when I use Roxio Video Player my audio plays fine but the video is choppy. Upgraded to 2 GB and still have that problem. Anyone else have that same problem?

I don't use Roxio Video Player as I found it to be flaky in general.

Since now you can use iMovie '08 to import the video from HDC-SD9, use QuickTime Player to view it.

thanks very much for this. Just two questions, on the SD9 for FCE or iMovie - which is the best format to record in?
HA1920
HA1920 24p
HG1920

Also, where do I find iMovie 08 7.1.2? Mine is 7.1.1 and it seems to be the latest version.

Hi Justin. I have uploaded the latest iMovie 08 7.1.2 and have the latest Quicktime. but I am unable to work the SD9 .MTS files still.

How are you importing the files across? Are you converting them in Toast first, or are they simply native .MTS? Is it directly from the camera, or are you placing them on a flash/USB connector instead?

You have to get the quicktime update first. THen when you goto system update the iMovie and iDVD update will be there

Thanks, I did just that. But iMovie 08 and FCE still won't read my .MTS files from the SD9. Am trying to get it to import directly from a folder where I have them installed. I have an Intel Powerbook, core duo, etc

Is it better to plug the SD9 camera directly to the computer and have it import directly? (ie instead of importing from a USB card reader?)

I have just purchased the panasonic hds-sd9. After reading your post, I downloaded both avc1decoder and perian. I was then able to import the clips, BUT they don't show up in the events folders in iMovie. I checked the events folder and the clips are there and have changed from mts to mov, but quicktime or imovie won't read them still. Any suggestions on what I can try next?

Annamarie

*THERE IS NO NEED TO USE 3RD PARTY UTILITIES, SIMPLY USE IMOVIE 08 & YOUR CAMCORDER*

Here is what I've done...

On an *Intel based Mac*, follow these steps:

01- Run the latest SOFTWARE UPDATES: iMovie, QT & OS (10.5.3).

. . . . . . Restart your system after the updates.

02- Remove any 3rd Party plugins that may be interfering with QuickTime.

. . . . . . Here are the only 2 files in _MY QUICKTIME FOLDER:_

. . . . . . / Library / QuickTime / AppleIntermediateCodec.component
. . . . . . / Library / QuickTime / AppleMPEG2Codec.component

. . . . . . If you do have more than the 2 files listed above, then temporarily
. . . . . . move the "NON APPLE" components outside of the QuickTime folder.

03- Using your camcorder, record at least 30 seconds of video.

. . . . . . Just to make sure that the camera has some video content.

04- Turn your camcorder OFF.

05- Make sure to Quit all running applications on your Mac.

06- Launch iMovie 08.

07- Connect a USB cable from the camcorder to your Mac.

08- Open the LCD viewer on your camcorder

09- Turn your camcorder ON.

. . . . . . . Some camcorders require you to select a mode - Video, PC or Computer mode.

10- Wait about 20 seconds for the camcorder to mount to desktop & be detected by iMovie 08.

11- The Imovie 08 "IMPORT WINDOW" will open.

12- From the Import Window, choose "MANUAL" or "AUTOMATIC"

13- Begin to import your video by clicking the Import button.

----------------------------------------------------------

CREDITS GO TO:
The various posts that I've read & the Apple Video Tutorial:
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie-oneplace-15

-Enjoy

Thanks a million. One final question though - any reason why one cannot import into iMovie directly from a USB card reader, than the camera directly?

Robenzo wrote:
Thanks a million. One final question though - any reason why one cannot import into iMovie directly from a USB card reader, than the camera directly?

I'm pretty sure you can use a USB card reader, just as long as it's a SDHC reader.

_*Simply replace steps #7, #8, #9 with these steps:*_

07- Remove flash card from camcorder.

08- Insert flash card in a USB SDHC card reader.

09- Connect the USB card reader to your Mac.

Just to add to that, I have tried all of the various things to get films to work. Here is what I found. I tried all of the files on the Mac Book, HD TV via Apple TV, and compared to the originals on he camcorder via the HD TV.

I bought Voltaic, however did not think the quality was anywhere near the original. You can however work off .MTS files without the camcorder plugged in

I bought Toast9, works really well, quality is good for the file compression, you can work off MTS file directly, again without the camera plugged in.

For iMovie, I could only get direct import working when I switched to the 25fps cinema mode, iMovie imports them well, and quality is very good. You need to have the camera plugged in.

I tried toast and iMovie with the Elgato H.264 stick, it works really well, and brings down the conversion time massively whilst off-loading the CPU. It went from 80% without to 40-50% with. Only down side of this is the largest format supported today is 960x540. However, if you want to share with anyone, this is a good size. Make sure you download the 1.3v software as the boxed version 1.1 did not support AVCHD. Also Elgato has a little batch utility conversion, much like Toast or Voltaic.

BIGGGGGGGG NEWS, Apple have snuck out an imovie 08 update, downloaded it last night and now all of my .MTS files can be imported directly from camera (I was using HGX setting I think). iMovie creates a massive .mov file (for the imported event) with Apple Intermediate Codec (I think it is called). For a 58s clip this worked out to approximately 900MB, so be warned if y ou have a few hours! Once you convert to H.264 the file size is much more sensible around 15MB depending upon quality etc. Anyway the files I tried at 720p, 4Kbps look good, not as good as the orginal, however that size is not usable if you want to play it on anything other than your own system

Thanks, but the problem still persists.

I did everything you suggested, both directly from Flash card reader, and directly from camera. Still no joy.

I then looked into the Library/Quicktime folder and had only two files:
XviD 1.0 Pref App
XviD_Codec 1.0 alpha.component

Could the problem be that I am missing the two files that are listed in your directory?

I tried firing up iMovie with these files in folder, and without - still nothing. My Quicktime, and iMovie updates are all the latest. Have a Intel Core Duo processor - but still nothing.

Even in Toast - I cannot read .MTS files directly. But need to convert them (which is time consuming) directly into DV or MOV files.

Any tips gratefully received.

R

Just as an aside: Everytime SD9 camcorder was connected, it started iPhoto automatically. So I switched off certain preferences on iPhoto.

However, now each time the USB connection starts and I try to import a movie directly from the camera or directly from the flash disk, the Built-In Isight on my macbook activates (with no evidence that iMovie, or FCE can recognise a camera is connected)