Final Cut Pro X - Import AVCHD?

I managed to change 16 bit to 24 bit little endian (Preferences... Audio) in Media Converter, but that missing "Color profile: HD (1-1-1)" still bothers me... Could it be important?

Dear Sir.

I have read all your post about importing AVCHD .mts files to FCPX. First i want to thank you for all the knowledge and of our time. I would like to make you a few questions if you d like to help me.

I have the Panasonic TM-900 and my problem is that i cannot import the maximum quality file at 1920x1080 50p .mts to FCPX, directly.

I have used all the Aunsoft, Brosoft, iHDclip, Aimersoft, Mts converter programs to convert to ProRessHQ or H.264. To my eyes there is a quality loss. Some friends lough at me bacause i just want to make videos for my webpage and advertize some products of my shop and for this they say it's ok, but i say to them that i paid Salvador Dali (Panasonic TM-900 50p) to make my portrait and he sent me his best student!! I mean that i strongly want the 50p file not converted!

I have to admit i did not use ClipWrap. But i suppose i will have a drop loss to the image quality. I do not know.

I would like also to ask you why you do not mention for converting, the Handbrake? A friend of mine tells me it is very powerful.

You said somewhere ( i cannot find it now) that you have downloaded the ProAppsQTCodecs 2.0.1. I cannot find this version. Only the 1.0.1. Is it fix the problem?

I have found also this https://eww.pass.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/desk/e/avc_download.htm

Do you think this a solution? I have downloaded but i do not understand how it works?

Thanks again.

None of those are good converters. Professionals viewing the media on professional broadcast monitors say there is no quality loss.

Use ClipWrap. Rewrap to QuickTime. The codec and format is unchanged.

Handbrake is used to convert media for delivery for Apple devices and the web; it should never be used to convert media for production.

The link is for AVCAM, a proprietary Panasonic format, which your camera does not shoot.

[Supported equipment]

Data recorded with AVCCAM series (Panasonic's professional AVCHD line) can only be supported.

AVCCAM series : AG-HMC150 series, AG-HMC40 series, AG-HMC70 series, AG-HMR10 series,AG-AF100 series

(as of December 2010). AVCHD clips recorded with other equipment (not listed above) such as AG-HSC1U, it may

cause unstable audio and other symptom with audio in play back mode.

If they're both doing what they say (just re-wrapping) they should be equivalent.

You can use "VideoSpec" (http://videospec.free.fr/english/index.html) to compare the files (data-rate, audio-bitrate etc)

Unfortunately, Media Converter gives me a nasty error on my .mts files when using the rewrap preset, so I can't use it, otherwise it looks perfect.

Application provided invalid, non monotonically increasing dts to muxer in stream 0: 1 >= 1

av_interleaved_write_frame(): Operation not permitted

Actually, I almost had a free solution to this, by using ffmbc - which is a fork of ffmpeg but basically supports .mts streams, as I understand it.

The bad news is, although it works, the resulting .mov files are guaranteed to crash FCPX.

This is the command line I run (after downloading and compiling the source code for FFmbc-0.7-rc4, which is a task in itself)

ffmbc -i 00023.mts -vcodec copy -acodec pcm_s24le 00023.mov

This basically wraps the video (ie no reencode) & does it's best with the AC3 audio I had by converting it to 24-bit PCM (a 'copy' or wrap on the audio doesn't seem to be supported as it didn't produce any audio).

The resulting video file (00023.mov) plays in Mac Preview, but crashes FCPX - so I needed to delete the Event or Project being worked on to get FCPX to run without auto-crashing on startup every time.

I'll persist with this, and try other ffmbc versions, because it seems pretty promising.

Furthermore, the audio with this setting, is noticably louder than the equivalent .mov file produced by ClipWrap (which I compared it to).

I have a suspicion that ClipWrap usses ffmbc (or similar) because it also didn't wrap the original AC3 audio but converted to PCM data as well. Just like the file I produced, except its files didn't crash FCPX.

Hello and Happy New Year to all.
I have a question to ask yourself.
I have edited a project in AVCHD.
When importing the clips I've checked the option to transcode to ProRes, not because I wanted to work in their native format.
Well, the clips were imported to H264 and not to Apple ProRes.
I did all the tests without any success.
Transcoding after the acquisition only if the operation is successful.
Does anyone know give me useful information?
Thanks in advance.

Answered in another thread. It's not necessary to double post.

Exscuse me!

This meassage can be deleted.

After reading this thread a few times, i used Clipwrap without altering video samples and the results have been flawless in FCPX. I tried DV first, which resulted in very poor quality when exported. I then tried AIC which was sharp on stills but blurry and jagged while playing. Finally a rewrap without any alteration resulted in the best quality.

I do have a question about clipwrap, i was rewraping M2TS files and it only gave me the option of not altering video samples, rewraping to DV, or rewraping to Apple Intermediate Codec AIC. Why weren't the other options open to play around with?

Did you download the additional codecs for FCP? Are they available in FCP?

sorry, i chose the wrong place.

how to reply on a older post in this treat?

@Biochirality - For me the free Media Converter works as good as ClipWrap.

Re: Final Cut Pro X - Import AVCHD?

Jul 3, 2011 5:23 AM (in response to Travisimo)

fantastic explanation! Thanks Chris!

sorry, i does not work to set a reply under the right part, it always comes at the end. what is wrong (with me)?

@Bruce27 I wasn't able to find "media converter" they only thing i found was an online version or something. Can you provide a link?

Why not try both to see if freeware works the same as payware

I rewrapped a few more M2TS videos today and after really digging in there is still an artifact problem when the video is paused or if you are shooting something with lots of lines and sharp edges.

I really hope apple patches FCP to support other formats....