Yea, as i stated before in the beginning, i'm aware that it shoots in .mov files and that obviously that's what i need. And i also stated that it wasn't me who did the recording. if i could go back in time i'd obviously tell the person to record in .mov without hesitation. but he didn't, and this is me trying to deal with .mp4 files right now. this doesn't have to do with me fixing the issue for my next shoot. if given the option of recording in .mp4 or .mov i would have always picked .mov. i didn't need to get on the forums to know that. i needed to get on the formus to figure out how to work with the situation i'm in right now.
so i appreciate everyone telling me the camera can shoot in .mov and that that's prefered. but i feel like it's just going in circles, especially because it A) doesn't help me figure out how to work with the .mp4 files i have sitting in front of my face right now unless i own a time machine, and B) shows that no one took the time to read my original post where i said it wasn't me who shot it in .mp4 on the camera. it was someone else. if i was running the camera, i would have put it in .mov.
sorry for the rant, i just get really frustrated in forums when i feel like it begins to go in a circle and looks like if everyone keeps going in the direction, it's going to stray away from actually helping me solve my actual problem. then what's the point in even being on here?
ANYWAY, @djcastaldo, i think you solved it. I went to JVC's website and they actually have a plugin to get it to work. for anyone else having this problem, here's the only solution right now....
Go to JVC's website and download their .mp4 Log and Transfer for Final Cut Pro plugin. HOWEVER, this only works with Final Cut Pro 7 or earlier. It's a plug in that will allow the .mp4 footage to show up in Final Cut only when you go to Log and Transfer. That way you can log and transfer the footage as Apple Pro Res or whatever you want. then you can work with the footage.
If you only have FCPX this will not work. You must still have the older FCP software to do this. It does not work for FCPX unfortunetly.
Hopefully they'll come out with a solution for this later with FCPX. Or at least hopefully Apple will recognize that .mp4 files are common files, and that it is something a professional editing suite should be able to handle in some sort of way. whether it be working with them natively like in iMovie, or it be allowing Compressor to at least recognize the file and allow you to convert it to Apple Pro Res. It just seems like it should be something addressed with a professional editing system.
