Import of AVCHD .MTS files

Did you check the rewrapped file from ClipWrap in the QT player? Are you looking at the event browser in list view or filmstrip view? If it appears in the timeline and not the browser, you think the problem might be in FCP?

Using ClipWrap to transcode to ProRes is the equivalent of optimizing in FCP, which you should do with a clip of this humongous length anyways. A single two hour is really risky and unless absolutely necessary, probably something to avoid. Is this like a single two hour performance, without a single break?

I checked and it played in QT X and 7. In FCPX it is black in the Event Browser thumbnail view and the viewer and seems to be OK in the Timeline. Interestingly, the clip of the similar length from the second camera (the same TM700) of the same resolution behaves much better. It plays in the Event Browser but shows a static image in the thumbnail while playing.

In fact transcoding in Clipwrap and FCPX is not equivalent, Clipwrap uses 32 bit libraries and FCPX uses the brand new 64 bit libraries which by Apple tradition are two different beasts. I haven't tried to transcode the "black" clip in FCPX because I already have it in ProRes from Clipwrap. I'm only interested in saving some space if I could make FCPX work with 1080/60p AVCHD natively.

This is a live concert recording from 4 cameras done without breaks to facilitate synchronization. To my surprise FCPX did synchronize them all automatically.

Yes, 1080 60p AVCHD recordings can't be surpported by FCP. You have to use a third convert tool to help you convert 1080 60p to 60i, 30p prores for editing in FCP (X).

From googling, I found the post http://www.editavchdmac.com/1080-50p-60p-avchd-to-final-cut-pro-x-importing-edit ing-tips/ from a blog has the detailed analysis and guide.

Hope it can give you a big help. Enjoy yourself.

"Handbrake. Just imported .mts and output it as .mp4."

OK, what is the point of transcoding from one Long-GOP mega compressed lossy format to another Long-GOP mega compressed lossy format? Why not go directly to ProRes?

My comment was based on this:

" Prior to 10.1, I simply used an inexpensive program called Clipwrap to transcode the individual .MTS files to ProRes prior to importing them into Final Cut."

I said you could do this prior to 10.1. You have been able to do it since 2011 if you had the whole folder structure. I presume you're archiving your media. If you are, it's better to do it with the whole folder structure. For most users there is no great benefit in transcoding H.264 to ProRes, unless of course you're importing the native .mts file. I just do not see any benefit whatsoever in not archiving the folder structure, not importing rewrapped in QuickTime, and importing the .mts files directly. What does importing the .mts files do for you, when there is a perfectly good system to import your media and work with it efficiently in FCP using the native codec?

"so your suggestion that there is no benefit in transcoding to ProRes should probably be shared with Apple's developers."

The developers know this perfectly well. Optimization is available in every import window for non-I-frame media, and has been since the beginning. I don't think they should remove it. It's valuable in some instances. The fact is the vast majority of users working in H.264 do not have a need to nor do they optimize because their computers are perfectly capable of handling this GOP structure codec. The output file goes to ProRes, but you're wasting a huge amount of drive space converting all your original media. The folder structure holds the metadata about the camera, without it there is no manufacturer, no camera ID, no camera type. As cameras have gotten more sophisticated using AVCHD or its variants, other metadata that can be included like GPS, aperture, shutter speed, is all lost. I haven't heard a single reason not to preserve the folder sturcture. It isn't as if this folder structure is taking a huge amount of space, probably something like few megs for all the media content. What are you trying to achive by not saving the folder structure if you're archiving your original production recordings? Why are you bothering to dig out the .mts file, which is getting increasing cumbersome to do with each new version of the OS? Why not just archive the card? One step. Done. Import from archive. Done.

Or ClipWrap

http://www.divergentmedia.com/clipwrap

I did, ProRes 422 seems to be ok on FCPX, no green frames. It took 1 hour to transcode 10 min of video on my 8-core MacPro with MPEG Streamclip.

Yes, 1080 60p AVCHD recordings can't be surpported by FCP.

I'm sorry, buit this is crap. FCP has supported 60p and 50p AVCHD from most cameras for some time.

Handbrake. Just imported .mts and output it as .mp4. Working like a charm!

I use Elgato Turbo264HD to convert AVCHD MTS files. I find that it is much cleaner than Clip Wrap.

I'm pretty certain that final Cut will support 60p, although it is not officially supported in the AVCHD standard s of yet. Could you post a Rapidshare / Dropbox / whatever link of a sample recording — please make a short video and copy the full contents of your memory card to a folder, ZIP it and post the link.

I can try it out for you.

Bart Pfeffer wrote:

Several people keeps saying that you can't import mts files because the other data on the card is 'necessary', and to 'read the instructions' before you delete anything. Seems we are stupid or incompentent for not knowing ahead of time that Apple would put an artifical restrictionon these types of files.

While I completely agree that the restriction is artificial, you need the index files that come with the .mts files to tell a separate clip from a spanned clip that takes several .mts files. Not that you cannot merge them in the software, but just the matter of convenience. Supporting all kinds of index file formats from all kinds of manufacturers could be a nightmare though, so I also think FCP should be able to import .mts files directly.

nfoo wrote:

No, I'm responding to the original poster of this question.

I'm not missing your point.

He asked for HIS camera specifically.

Thanks for not paying attention and then criticising me.

Sorry but I stand corrected. The original question was about a Panasonic camera with 1080p footage. Switching to 720p can't solve the problem of importing 1080p footage in any way.

Apple said Final Cut X, btw. That is the product name. The number has nothing to do with the version of the codebase.

"Final Cut Pro X" is a marketing name, which I cannot care less about. The codebase version (AKA build number) is not made public by Apple. I was talking about the standard version designation "10.0" which is given on the splash screen and in the About menu.

And, btw.: 1080p60 is not an official part of the AVCHD spec. Right now it is unsupported by the AVCDH importer of FCPX and I think FCP7.

Most likely it is unsupported by Quicktime X and 7, the former because Apple relied on the third party, the latter because it's already dead. Somehow it did not stop Adobe to support it in Premiere 5.5. Moreover, Premiere does not import, archive, rewrap, transcode, whatever, it just uses the *.MTS files right where I throw them on the hard drive.

But I think this is also Apple's fault. Let's just settle it there.

Agreed.

Just for a test, can you try a clip that's already been run through a rewrap, and use MPEG Streamclip to export that clip to Pro Res 422 and try that? I know it's 2 steps but I'm curious about the green flash frames.