Mts files into Imovie

From the fact that iMovie does not see your camera while it is connected to USB, you might conclude that the camera is not compatible with iMovie or the format you recorded in is not supported. For your camera it seems you should record in 1080i and not 1080p. Please refer to the iMovie site about compatible cameras http://help.apple.com/imovie/cameras/en/index.html?lang=en_US I don't know how up-to-date this is.

try this: record a movie at your current settings.

then set the settings down to lower Quality and record a 5 second movie and try to import again.

seems it will recognize lower quality MTS or if saved as MP4 but not 1080p 60FPS MTS...

if you absolutely want the best quality setting id recommend handbrake...

It's a pretty poor oversight from Apple to not have corrected this by now though its been a known issue for a long time.

Handbrake worked just fine for this purpose.

iMovie can only import MTS files via the import screen (which you don't see) or via import camera archive. The camera archive is normally automatically created by iMovie from the same import screen. Since you don't get that maybe an option would be to create a camera archive yourself. What is the directory structure on your camera ?

A camera archive looks like this:

The directory STREAM contains the MTS files. Manually creating all required files in the required format may be some kind of a challenge and maybe this articlewill help you. It woud be nice if your camera already contains all these files and you can simply copy them all to disk. The first directory should be your camera archive name (Sealife 07-01-13 in the example)

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.

Ok, let me explain what is going on...

With iMovie open, I connect the camera to my macbookpro and on the camera screen I am asked me to select:

PC

or

RECORDER

I select PC and no iMovie dialogue boxes open, only iPhoto opens. I close down iPhoto. There is no way I can import the 1080/50p (.MTS) files I have just recorded via FILE>IMPORT>MOVIES>AVCHD>BDMV>STREAM because these are greyed out. If I recorded in iFrame, I can see the files no problem.

iMovie will (after some time) show an import screen, giving you the option to archive all video content from your camera and/or import clips (selectively).

This does not happen

If it doesn't choose "Import from camera..." under the File menu option

When I do this, Facetime opens and there is an option to change the camera from the built in macbook webcam. I also though this option was for when you want to record live directly into iMovie?

The mac is defo seeing the camera, because when I go to devices I can see CAM_HDD.

Has nobody used this same camera model with iMovie?!

iMovie does not support footage recorded in 1080-50p from this Camcorder....

Time to buy FCX! Although having used the Final Cut Pro X 'supported cameras' feature, it does not mention anything about supporting 1080/50p from this camera?

You need to transfer the AVCHD folder footage to your computer. If you can't load the .mts files into iMovie. You can covnert MTS to iMovie editing video via a video conversion software. iMovie supported video format:iMovie HD: Supported video formats

I think you can import the converted videos into iMovie for editing on Mac.

I agree. Anyone dealing with video should have the free handbrake.fr software.

@ 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.

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?

Panasonic HDC-HS900

iMovie 11 Version 9.0.4

I have recorded at 1090/50p. When I launch iMovie and go to:

FILE>IMPORT>MOVIES>AVCHD>BDMV>STREAM

the .MTS files are greyed out, so I cannot select them?

Any ideas would be appreciated.