Import XAVC-S Video to iPad Pro 9.7

I came across your question and I’m not sure if it really got answered, I know it’s been like a year since you asked so I’m sure you’ve gotten it figured out by now but just in case, in response to your question about an editing app other than iMovie, I got started with iMovie and grew out of it pretty quickly yet was a little intimidated by premiere pro which you can only get on a laptop and I had an iPad Pro, I found an app called lumafusion, it’s the closest thing I’ve found to premiere in regards to editing videos professionally, it’s a nice middle ground between iMovie and premiere it’s 20 bucks but well worth it, hope this helps!

On the off chance that you or someone else hasn’t figured it out yet, another thing that works is this... film in xavcs, then take the sd card to a friend that has a Mac or MacBook, import the files to iMovie, then save those files to documents or desktop or somewhere you can easily find them, then air drop them one by one to a phone or iPad, and on the account that you have no friends, go to the Apple store and repeat that process.. or, if you want to avoid nonsense altogether, stop eating out, take that money and buy yourself a MacBook and in a few years when you’re editing crispy videos you’ll look back on what you used to have to do to get videos on your iPad and you’ll have yourself a nice laugh, and you’ll thank the good Lord in heaven that you listened to me..

Even the larger iPad Pro has issues with this file format.

This article gives some insight as to what one videographer discovered.

http://ipadinsight.com/ipad-pro/importing-xavc-video-to-ipad-pro/

I always appreciate the posts and reviews on DPReview, too.

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/56321371

I hope these resources are of help to you.

It is possible to import 4K Sony XAVC-S footage directly into an iPad Pro but the process requires a few extra steps and a 3rd party SD card reader.

As you know, Apple doesn't directly support the XAVC-S file structure (as of iOS10) so you can't use the Apple SD Card reader. The Apple USB adapter is problematic because of power issues between the iPad and the camera.

However, XAVC-S uses an MP4 wrapper (creates mp4 video files) which the iPad can play and you can extract them using a 3rd party lightning to SD card reader.

Here's what I do:

I bought an "iReader" Lightning to SD card reader made by YKSH from Amazon.com. I'm sure there are others but this was $20 and had 4.5 star rating. It's kind of like Apple's SD reader.

The trick to the process is the card reader needs an app that supports file browsing through all folders on an SD card. It also needs to be able to copy files to the camera roll on the iPad.

I plug the SD card into the reader then plug the reader into the iPad. Launch the app (in this case, it's called iDiskk Pro) then navigate to PRIVATE/M4ROOT/CLIP subfolder. This is where the XAVC-S 4K files are stored (they're saved as MP4 files). I select the files I want to import then add them to the camera roll.

From there, you can use the files like any other video on the iPad...view them, import them into iOS iMovie, etc. Works well and the reader is pretty fast at copying.

I have an iPad Pro 12" but also tried on my iPad Air 2 and it worked.

Hi Scott3G: Great answer! I have a generic USB card reader that I stuck into the Apple USB3 camera adapter connected to my iPad Pro 12", and the standard Photos app recognized all the files I recorded as an MP4 file with my Sony HDR-AS200V ActionCam. But the XAVC-S files were not recognized. I tried using the Sony PlayMemories app to download the files via WiFi, but that was a bust too. I'm assuming that when you download the MP4-Wrapper XAVC-S files via the file browsing app, you then go on to edit the files with something other than iMovie? Which video editing app do you use on the ipad?

Hi Hockeychic2,

iMovie can edit the XAVC-S files (note: not AVC files, those are different). But, in order to get the XAVC files on to your iPad, you'll need a file manager app for your card reader that let's you view the folder I mentioned above. Inside it are MP4 files. You then need to share those to your photos app. You can't use the photo app to do the import because it doesn't support the XAVC file structure. Does that make sense?

iScottMac: Thank you for letting me know that iMovie will edit XAVC-S files. The Vimeo video embedded in the DP Review link above mentioned that you'd need the Pinnacle Studio app to edit the XAVC-S files in the ipad. But knowing that once I can get the XAVC-S files into the iPad, the iMovie will allow me allow me to edit it is great news. I understand exactly what you mean regarding the MP4 wrapper. My PC shows that all my ActionCam files are MP4. All I need to do is get a reader that will have a file browsing software (the USB card reader that I used was one of those cheap generic ones). I wonder if the app store has a file browsing app that I could use instead of me having to go purchase another card reader?