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Mts files into Imovie

I have a brand new camera and of course file formats are mts cannot figure out AT ALL how to put them in Imovie. Seems like I am chasing the wind as I have spent countless hours on My Mac surfing many converting softwares trying out trial versions trying to find something that works. I am willing to purchase something however I dont want to waste my money if it wont be what I need.

I am still unsuccessful and very frustrated. Someone just told me recently that the new version of Imovie excepts mts files. However it would appear I think that I do have the new version and it does not accept mts files. I have Imovie 11 9.0.4


PLEASE HELP ME!!!

iMovie '11, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on May 13, 2012 9:23 PM

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Posted on May 13, 2012 9:35 PM

You should be able to attach your camera to your Mac with a USB cable. Make sure the camera is plugged in (not batteries only). Set camera to play mode. In iMovie click FILE/IMPORT FROM CAMERA.


If that does not work, tell us what camera you have.


If your camera records to an SDHC card, you can put the card in a USB card reader and FILE/IMPORT FROM CAMERA.

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May 13, 2012 9:35 PM in response to MistyStreet

You should be able to attach your camera to your Mac with a USB cable. Make sure the camera is plugged in (not batteries only). Set camera to play mode. In iMovie click FILE/IMPORT FROM CAMERA.


If that does not work, tell us what camera you have.


If your camera records to an SDHC card, you can put the card in a USB card reader and FILE/IMPORT FROM CAMERA.

May 13, 2012 9:51 PM in response to AppleMan1958

I have the videos stored in a folder on the desktop of my mac that are in mts format. I pulled them off the SDHC card already. I have a sony hdr -cx190 camera.


My camera does not seem to come with something that will hook it to the computer it came with this odd cord that has the usb on one side (male end) and then on the other side it would appear the female end of a usb if that makes sense. One side can plug into the other but neither end plugs directly into the camera. Possibly I am supposed to buy another piece?


However that being said. Doesnt solve the problem of the files that are on my desktop of my mac and not in the camera.


Look forward to hearing from you.

May 14, 2012 4:26 AM in response to MistyStreet

In the future, you can remove the SDHC card from the camera and put it in a USB card reader. Then use iMovie to FILE/IMPORT FROM CAMERA. Actually, iMovie should automatically detect the card and bring up the import screen. iMovie needs the whole card to import, not just the .mts files. While you can import directly from the card, I prefer to first make an archive copy of the card, so I can erase the card and shoot some more. On the iMovie import screen, if you scroll down, you should see an option to "Create Camera Archive.". This will make an exact copy of all the files and folders on your card, so you always have what was on your camera.



However, you still have the problem of doing something with the .mts files that you currently have. If you used the Finder to make a copy of the entire SD card, you may get lucky. In iMovie, you can click FILE/IMPORT FROM CAMERA ARCHIVE and navigate to the Folder that contains the camera files and folders.


If however, you extracted the .mts files, and have nothing else, you will need a third party app.

There are two that I can recommend. I have not used them myself, but I have heard enough positive feedback from others in these discussions that they seem to be safe. Pick one. You don't need both.

1) ClipWrap http://www.divergentmedia.com/clipwrap

2) Voltaic HD http://www.shedworx.com/voltaichd

May 14, 2012 8:19 AM in response to MistyStreet

You generally should not import by drag and drop. In iMovie, drag and drop is pretty muched reserved for creating your movie by dragging event clips into your project.


To import your file, click FILE/IMPORT MOVIE. You will need to provide the name of an Event to import into. This can be anything that makes sense to you, like Christmas 2012, etc.


To import from your camera, use FILE/IMPORT FROM CAMERA. Drag and drop will not work.



There is a way to drag and drop if you really need it. You can use FILE/NEW EVENT to create an empty event. Now you can drag and drop the file into this Event name (or any existing event name) in the Event Library List along the left.

May 24, 2012 2:45 AM in response to AppleMan1958

@ AppleMan1958


I have a Canon Vixia HF S30 which shoots video in .mts format. I also downloaded the latest version (9.0.4) of iMovie 11 but was unable to import the files from my camcorder to my macbook or to iMovie.


The videos i have shot are stored on the inbuilt harddrive in the camcorder and I have directly connected it to my computer but when connected iMovie does not detect the camera and no pop up window comes to allow me to import the file.


Extremely frustrated and do not know what to do?


1) Is there a way to import these .mts files from my camera to my macbook using iMovie?

2) Also incase i need to use a third party software to convert the file to a mac friendly format, what file format is recommended so that I do not loose clarity in my videos?


Thanks in advance for your help.

May 24, 2012 3:49 AM in response to Akhilm30

I don't have your camera, but here is advice from Canon.


In addition, some other things to try.

1) Is your Canon plugged in to wall power? Will not import from USB power or battery power alone.


2) Have you tried copying from hard drive to a SDHC card (using your camera's menu? Then you can import through a USB card reader.


3) With your camera attached, open the Image Capture utility. Set the default app to either iMovie or nothing.


4) Can you see the contents of your camera in the Finder? If so, you could try creating a Disk Image of the camera, using Disk Utility. Then try importing from the Disk Image.


5) Follow the instructions in your manual for the how to set the controls of your camera while importing. It is usually "Play", but sometimes you may have to select a choice on the menu.

Jun 3, 2012 8:00 AM in response to AppleMan1958

I think the question we and many others are asking at this point is, when will iMovie support the native .mts file format. It is pretty much standard now for all new camcorders, and if iMovie will not allow us to import the files from our hardrive, then iMovie does not do us much good. It's not uncommon to copy the files off during a trip with the hope of editing them later... so just importing from the camera everytime is a poor requirement.


Does anyone have any ideas when iMovie will truly support this common file format?

Sep 10, 2012 5:03 AM in response to mfleig

mfleig wrote:


I think the question we and many others are asking at this point is, when will iMovie support the native .mts file format. It is pretty much standard now for all new camcorders, and if iMovie will not allow us to import the files from our hardrive, then iMovie does not do us much good. It's not uncommon to copy the files off during a trip with the hope of editing them later... so just importing from the camera everytime is a poor requirement.


Does anyone have any ideas when iMovie will truly support this common file format?


iMovie has the option to archive all clips from your SD Card onto your harddrive. Just choose the option "Archive all" after connecting your camera to the USB port. You can then delete the clips from the SD Card. After archiving you can import clips from the archive using the "Import Camera Archive" option.

Oct 18, 2012 6:05 PM in response to MistyStreet

Hi, as far as I know, iMovie surpports to import MTS files from camera via usb, but the new AVCHD 2.0 1080 60p MTS format is incompatible for iMovie. You have to use a MTS Converter to make full HD 60p MTS footages editble for iMovie before ingesting on Mac.


In addition, I heard the FCP X 10.0.4 or above can surpport the 60p AVCHD by using Log and Transfer sometimes.

Dec 5, 2012 9:21 AM in response to MistyStreet

You may have already resolved this issue, but I found out some great information today from Sony directly. I was having the same problem, and I was convinced iMovie (i'm using iMovie 09) couldn't import MTS files. I was wrong iMovie does it very easily. The problem iMovie has is when you connect your camera, most people click the "video camera" icon so they can see the videos on their camera they wish to import. What I found is that if you haven't cleared off your video camera in some time, and have over 10 gigs of video on the camera, iMovie has a real hard time, because it has to search the camera and bring up the clips in that lower window pane and often times it will basically time-out, and if you click that camera again the iSight camera launches.


What I did was go thru the clips on my video camera that I could delete (actually watched them on the camera itself), this can be time consuming. But, once I cleared down the content on my camera under 10 gigs, iMovie saw the information quickly. Here's another thing I did, that also may help...instead of clicking on that little camcorder icon, use FILE, Import from Camera at the top menu bar instead. When I did this, it started looking for my attached video camera. From now on I will clear off my video camera more frequently so that iMovie doesn't bog down looking for possible imporatable videos on the camera. Recommendation from Sony was keep it under 10 gigs.


Hope this helps.


Tim


P.S. There is no truth to the idea that iMovie does not import MTS files. My Sony HD Handycam takes all MTS files and iMovie has no problem with them at all.

Mts files into Imovie

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