AVCHD - how should I extract separate clips?

Question

AVCHD - how should I extract separate clips?

My first go around with AVCHD which I know nothing about except that after buying a nice new Sony video camera I have as a result on my first try-out, a single file called AVCHD even though I took several separate clips. When I click on that file on my computer, it opens up and shows thumbnails of each of the separate clips. When I click on one of the clips it opens in Quicktime and from there I can export the file to save it as a separate clip on my computer.

Is there an easier way to batch save the separate clips or do I need to go through this process of opening each one separately in Quicktime and exporting it in order to save it?

Any information on how I should approach working with this AVCHD format would also be greatly appreciated.

TIA,

Ken

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion, 8G RAM

Posted on Feb 14, 2013 10:20 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Meg The Dog

Level 6

13,561 points

Feb 14, 2013 11:27 PM in response to Kenneth Nielsen

You will connect your camera, launch FCP-7, and use Log and Transfer (not Log and Capture) which can be found under the File menu.

This will allow you to choose the clips you want to ingest.

You can read the FCP documentation for Working with AVCHD material here.

MtD

Reply

Answer 2

Feb 15, 2013 10:38 AM in response to Meg The Dog

It's just interesting to me, being a long-time still photographer, that video engineers manage to come up with the most convoluted systems of files for video. It amazes me that there is not just a simple list of files, clips that were shot, on the camera or on the card, that can be dumped onto the computer for storage and individual files can be reviewed and chosen from there.

Anyway, thanks for bringing me into realitly on this as we all must work with what we have been given.

Have a good weekend MtD,

Ken

Reply

Answer 3

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Feb 15, 2013 10:53 AM in response to Kenneth Nielsen

Ken...video is FAR more complex than still photography. And it makes it worse when we have to deal with camera manufacturers that make dozens of different recording formats. Ready for this?

Tape (HD):

HDCAM

HDCAM SR

DVCPRO HD

HDV

XDCAM (disks)

D5

Tape (SD):

Digibeta, Betacam SP, Betacam SX

M-II

DV, DVCAM, DVCPRO 50

Umatic (3/4")

Now...onto tapeless.

P2 MXF (DVCPRO HD and AVCIntra)

XDCAM EX

AVCHD (about 8 different types of this)

H.264 (a few types from different DSLRs)

RED RAW

Alexa (DNxHD or ProRes)

Canon XF

HDV (there is a tapeless format of this)

MPEG-2

MPEG-4

Op1A

HDCAM Native

And those are the professional formats. Then there are phone video formats and small point and shoot formats. And there are all sorts of different file structures and separate files that tie together to make the media and metadata work together. There is no simple drag and drop of files. Each format has a different file structure, and different support files. Different recording formats...be it .MTS, Quicktime, RED RAW, MP4, MXF...the list goes on.

There is no standard.

I have a tutorial on the process for tapeless in FCP...

http://library.creativecow.net/ross_shane/tapeless-workflow_fcp-7/1

Reply

Answer 4

Feb 15, 2013 11:27 AM in response to Shane Ross

Shane Ross wrote:

Ken...video is FAR more complex than still photography. And it makes it worse when we have to deal with camera manufacturers that make dozens of different recording formats. Ready for this?

Wow, I think I'd just better be happy with AVCHD for now. I did find out that quicktime can open the AVCHD file and offers a thumbnail and opportunity to preview each 'clip' - I think this is what I will start working with as it gives me a chance to 'weed out' clips and save them to appropriate places before I even fire up the editor.

Thanks for the expert help through the years on these forums.

Reply

Answer 5

CarlTNZ

Level 1

4 points

Nov 28, 2016 11:24 AM in response to Kenneth Nielsen

I also had this issue. I managed to figure it out and wrote a step-by-step article to help others.

http://bronami.video/avchd-files-extract-files/

Reply