Converter for .mts files?

Who at Apple told you this? This is an AVCHD camera, right? After you tried to use it? There are very few AVCHD cameras that don't work with FCP 7; there are some AVCHD formats that don't work, but not cameras.

Plug your camera into your computer's USB or Firewire port. Open Final Cut Pro. Click File>Log and Transfer

If you're looking to convert .mts files outside of Final Cut Pro you can use Roxio Toast 10 or newer. The setting I found to be the best for HD 1080p is Quicktime Player file format with H264 codec restricted to 12000 Kbits/s (12 Mbits/s) and the Size set to 1920x1080. This is roughly the same codec and data rate that most AVCHD cameras record in natively. Also, make sure to set the audio to Linear PCM so that it can be edited without needing to be rendered in Final Cut.

I think this is actually a pretty good option for ingesting/converting AVCHD .mts video since the file size is only 10% that of ProRes 422 (the file size is actually smaller than the original source .mts file). I've just discovered the best settings for this process. So, I haven't had a chance to verify how easy the footage is to edit with in FCP or if there is a noticable quality difference. But, intial tests look good.

I hope this helps. Let me know what you figure out.

Most of the pro's here are liking a nice piece of software called ClipWrap for handling footage like this ... you can grab a trial copy here to check first that its the possible solution you need:

http://www.divergentmedia.com/clipwrap/trial

NO ! Please do not do this ! (Sorry JKRundle for the exclamation marks)

Read upon this forum about editing in h264 and you'll know this is wrong.

H264 is NOT an editing codec, nor is AVCHD.

You should convert to Prores (LT). And yes, those files are bigger. That's no coincidence. That's because every single frame is described in the compression, whereas with h264 only every 24 (or so) frames one frame is fully described, while the other frames only describe the changes to that first frame.

This may be a good method for a continous stream of footage, but that makes it very hard for your processor to work with if you are cutting in the footage.

In Short: ProRes

rienk

Thank you Rienk! I'm very glad you said something. I hadn't had a chance to test editing with h264. So, I went ahead and tried it after you posted your comment. I imported the clip, dropped it in a sequence and set the sequence to the clip setting. Just like with trying to edit with compressed audio... Trying to edit with h264 requires re-rendering with every edit. And that doesn't even account for the potential quality loss. I should have tested my experiment before I posted my comment. It was wishful thinking that I found a way around the huge file sizes of ProRes. Fortunately hard drives are cheap.

REVISED MTS CONVERSION WITH ROXIO TOAST:

If you're looking to convert .mts files outside of Final Cut Pro you can use Roxio Toast 10 or newer. Use the Quicktime Player file format with ProRes 422 codec and set the Size to 1920x1080. For smaller file sizes you can use ProRes 422 (LT). Also, make sure to set the audio to Linear PCM so that it can be edited without needing to be rendered in Final Cut.

Thanks again Rienk!

You're welcome.

I'd like to add that you not only should choose Lineair PCM for audio, but also make sure that is set to 48 kHz. That's what's the standard in videoworld.

Rienk