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Level 1

109 points

iMovie won't import my video from SD card

Hi All,

I cannot get iMovie to import any video from an SD card plugged into my (new) MB Air SD card slot.

The movie was taken with my Canon camera and plays back in the camera perfectly. I've tried copying the contents from the card to the Desktop and tried various iMovie import options but the app merely states there's nothing to import.

Oddly, also when I ask iM to "Import from Camera" it hangs for a minute before the import window opens. When it does open, the green LED on the MB glows. I've checked the import options at the bottom of the window to look for video on the SD card..... nothing, zilch!

What's going wrong people? Help please.

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Sep 8, 2013 9:54 PM

Best reply

hermandaz

Level 1

20 points

Posted on Sep 9, 2013 4:06 AM

The problem lies the video format, I guess that your Canon camera takes videos in AVCHD MTS or H.264 MOV in 1080p format, both these two video formats are not supported by iMovie (previous imovie only support 720p videos, the lates version may supports 1080p), you can convert the AVCHD or H.264 MOVto ProRes MOV for iMovie, then you will be able to edit the videos freely in iMovie. the tool you need is just a AVCHD Converter for Mac, which I have been using to convert HD camera videos to iMovie.You can have a try.

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22 replies

Tony T Author

Level 1

109 points

Sep 9, 2013 4:00 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Karsten, you're a star!

Creating a new user enabled iM to work as it should.

All the movie files from both AVCHD cameras importable. Great thank you.

But why does iM behave like that on my user-account?

Sep 10, 2013 12:10 AM in response to Tony T

Tony T wrote:

… But why does iM behave like that on my user-account?

… that is here the question … 😉

My assumption:

There're plugins installed in YOUR account, which make iM to stumble.

Goto your Macs Library, open the folder Quicktime

I'm pretty sure, you'll notice a long list of … stuff.

One really 'bad guy' is anything containing the word 'divx' or 'xvid' in it.

Drag to trash, relaunch Mac.

Another one could be the flip4mac plugin… shoudl be the 'latest' version, if you need it anyhow.

....

Tony T Author

Level 1

109 points

Sep 11, 2013 6:07 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

OK, no changes, I'm afraid.

Could not see a "QuickTime" Folder in users/TT/Library. There's one in Mac HD/Library and this lot resides therein:

AppleAVCIntraCodec.component

AppleHDVCodec.component

AppleIntermediateCodec.component

AppleMPEG2Codec.component

AppleProResCodec.component

DVCPROHDCodec.component

FCP Uncompressed 422.component

IMXCodec.component

Nothing with "divx" or "xvid" found.

No Flip4Mac installed.

Very strange...

tbirdvet

Level 6

13,707 points

Dec 29, 2013 4:19 PM in response to Tony T

I have been importing my Canon AVCHD files with no issues until the latest iMovie with Mavericks. Now it imports sometimes and not other times so I just keep using iMovie11 version 9+.

pat1128

Level 1

4 points

Dec 30, 2013 5:41 PM in response to Tony T

i have a variation on this same problem. i have an SD card from a handycam (some kind of canon) that i used while in africa. i can't get the footage off the card. if i insert it in my MBP or put it in a disk reader it gives me an error message saying this disk is not readable by this computer. i don't have access to the camera. anyone know what i'm doing wrong?

thanks

sre02116

Level 1

0 points

May 30, 2014 1:22 PM in response to Tony T

I realize this is a older thread, so forgive me, but I just solved this issue, similar to one I was having. You should not have to use a converter to convert your AVCHD files. Your should actually be able to plug in your camcorder, and iMovie will read the files with no problem -- Import From Camera, no other conversion necessary! The problem is, when your camcorder card (or internal memory I suppose) is too full, iMovie has trouble with with the AVCHD file. The solution is to avoid filling your memory card too much.

See https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6276830 (which references the original guy Tim who discovered this from calling the camcorder support).

Again, sorry for posting this so late, but many people seem interested in this issue!

Cheers!

Tony T Author

Level 1

109 points

Jun 7, 2014 10:40 PM in response to sre02116

Never too late for good advice "sre02116"... thanks for the tip 🙂

iMovie won't import my video from SD card