Imported iMovie video 6 times larger than .mts files on camcorder
I would like to be able to watch all my HD video footage on my iMac, but when imported using iMovie it takes up FAR too much hard drive space.
I am importing video from a Canon Vixia AVCHD camcorder (HF21). The native .mts files on the camera are about 10GB per hour (~ 6 hrs of footage on the 64GB internal memory), but when I import the video using iMovie, they expand by around 6 times, to about 60GB per hour (that is, the .mov video files saved in iMovie Events folders are HUGE, 60GB per hour, or ~ 1GB per minute).
This seems too large to be practical; the first 6 hours of import took up ~360GB of storage - and that was only the first time I'd used the camera and imported footage! So I only get less than 2 full uses and imports of the camera's memory before my 1TB iMac is completely full (not including what is already on there).
I have started "Archive All" to save the video footage in it's raw format, but now the footage is not usable or watchable on the iMac unless I go and import it again with iMovie - where once again it expands to 6 times it's size.
Is there a solution to this? How can I make all my HD footage watchable on the iMac, retaining the full quality raw HD of the video, but not take up more than 1/3 of my 1TB hard drive each time I import from my camcorder?
If I import to iMovie, then export as a smaller file, surely I will lose quality?
I have heard it can be done with Final Cut, is that correct?
Thanks a lot.
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7)