AVCHD files

Question

AVCHD files

Wondered if anybody could help. I have two Sony cameras. A6000 and ZV1. The output file type is AVCHD which I’ve always understood are a pain with macs. I have footage recorded which can be seen on both cameras respectively. But when I add the file to the Mac the AVCDH file shows blank and having about 620 bytes of info which is clearly incorrect. I have gone through the process of showing package contents etc and still I cannot find footage. This must have worked previously as I have some old footage taken from the A6000 but now I cannot do anything. Is this because of an apple update to my iMac? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

iMac 27″, macOS 11.3

Posted on Dec 1, 2021 12:16 PM

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Answer 1

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Dec 1, 2021 12:29 PM in response to WesGphotography

I don't see anything that says these cameras shoot AVCHD. The specs seem to indicate they shoot movies as a sort of burst mode of images. I can't find any mention of AVCHD, H.264, MPEG-4, or anything that shows a video format.

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Answer 2

Dec 1, 2021 12:33 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

They definitely do. From why I have seen then way to view clips is to open the ‘private’ folder and then on the AVCHD file to open package contents. This opens another (can recall the name) and do the same - open package contents. Then in the stream folder the clips can be found. But this doesn’t work. It shows no clips at all. Yet I know they are there cause with the card back in the camera I can watch them???

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Answer 3

Dec 1, 2021 12:46 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

So they use SD cards. Same result if I connect cameras direct or insert the SD into the Mac. In FCPX I can find the file but it’s greyed out which seems to be normal according to everything I’ve read. I’ll add some shots to the convo soon. Thanks.

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Answer 4

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Dec 1, 2021 12:51 PM in response to WesGphotography

I don't know what you've been reading, but it's complete garbage. AVCHD has been one of the most widely used formats in FCP and on the Mac for years, with the H.264 codec written onto the Intel motherboard.

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Answer 5

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Dec 1, 2021 12:52 PM in response to WesGphotography

Are these the cameras you're talking about?

https://electronics.sony.com/imaging/interchangeable-lens-cameras/aps-c/p/ilce6000l-b

https://electronics.sony.com/imaging/compact-cameras/all-compact-cameras/p/dczv1-w

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Answer 6

Dec 1, 2021 12:57 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

That’s the cameras yeah. One search on YouTube and you’ll see literally thousands of creators saying the Mac doesn’t work well with this file type.

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Answer 7

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Dec 1, 2021 1:29 PM in response to WesGphotography

Usually that’s way worse. It’s a horrible format. Really for acquisition only and not for post.

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Answer 8

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Dec 1, 2021 12:36 PM in response to WesGphotography

Please post screenshots of what you're seeing where. Do these cameras shoot on cards? I don't see any information about that. Do they record on a drive that you can connect to your computer? AVCHD media should be in a folder structure that needs to remain intact. What happens when you connect the camera and use the FCP import window, or the Image Capture application? I assume the drive or the card mounts on the computer. We need to see what you're doing.

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Answer 9

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,815 points

Dec 1, 2021 1:03 PM in response to WesGphotography

I'm looking forward to seeing what you post. The one piece of information I could find was that the a6000 started to use XAVC S in 2015, which is a Sony proprietary acquisition format.

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Answer 10

Dec 1, 2021 1:27 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Yes that’s one of the formats you can use on both cameras but not the one I selected. Perhaps I may have been better off with that?

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AVCHD files

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