Uploading/Import footage from Sony HDR-X105 to a mac?

Thanks for your reply, i've spent pretty much the whole weekend working with this camera and trying various different things and I have found a solution/work around which works (for me, at least). The cause of the issue was the file type (AVCHD) which the sony HDR-XR105 uses, and an incompatibility (or so I thought) with my PowerPC mac.

I am using a PowerMac with a PowerPC processor, I read online that AVCHD file format will not work with a PowerPC and that in order to play/edit/use the footage I would have to upgrade my system to an intel Mac. This isn't the case.

I am using OS 10.5.7, editing on Final Cut Express 3.5 and converting with Toast 10 Titanium. The process is surprisingly simple. Plug the camera (this doesn't apply to JUST the Sony HDR-XR105, I am sure this process will work with any AVCHD camera) and on the cameras menu chose "Connect USB", the camera will then show on your computer in your finder menu as an attached device (just like an external hard-drive, iPod or similar). Now open Toast 10.

In Toast 10 select "convert" from the top menu options - the farthest icon to the right - and from the drop down menu on the left pick "Video Files". Now you will need to open your finder window, select the camera (mine shows up as "NO NAME" on the finder side menu) and navigate to the clips. With my Sony HDR-XR105 the clips are located in ADCHD > BDMV > STREAM. This is where the clips are located. My clips are numbered 00001.MTS, 00002.MTS and so on. Drag all of the clips you require over to the Toast 10 window, it will take a few seconds for the clips to appear in the Toast 10 window.

Now, down at the bottom of the Toast 10 window, just left from the red "burn" button and the "space remaining" information there is a little cog icon - click this - a pop up window will appear. You can now set the type of video you want toast to convert the footage to. So that I can edit the footage in Final Cut Express 3 I chose "High Definition Video (HDV)" which was towards the bottom of the "Device" list. I selected the quality 1080i and chose my location as the desktop. I converted the clips (which didn't take very long) - 20 short clips took approx 3 minutes.

Once converted Toast 10 will ping and the clips all appear in your specified location (in my case, the desktop). I now opened Final Cut Express 3.5 and simply dragged the clips into the sequence window - you can also chose FILE > IMPORT > FILES and select the files from their location. The clips are now in my timeline in and editable format.

I found one issue with the footage, the audio is approx 3 seconds out, using final cut express however I just move the audio to +3 (to the right) and the audio is now in sync with the video. This may not be an ideal situation for everyone, but for me it is a workable solution - considering 2 days ago I thought I would never be able to get my footage off the camera.

Hopefully this will help someone else out, I am going to write a full in depth guide and post it on scribd soon. I will link when I am finished. Thanks again for the help!

As promised, you can now find the full guide on how to do this over at Scribd. You can find it by visiting the site here - http://www.scribd.com/doc/16656524/How-to-Upload-and-Convert-AVCHD-Video-Footage -on-a-PowerPC-Mac