Unable to import AVCHD (BMDV) movies to photos app since High Sierra update

AVCHD media (including the .MTS files contained in there) use AC3 audio tracks.

Check if you have an older A52Codec.component installed in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components. Remove it as AC3/A52 codecs are build-in to macOS nowadays. After rebooting, AVCHD import should work fine again.

The third party software Perian installes this incompatible version of an AC3 codec in the components folder, so uninstalling this might have the same effect.

Hold the presses. I tried this strategy of b.art's: Re: Unable to import AVCHD (BMDV) movies to photos app since High Sierra update

It worked. I can now just click on the AVCHD files and they work as before. Note I also had done an NVRAM reset as per the above post so maybe that was involved too. Anyway, thanks to b.art!!

Try this: Re: Unable to import AVCHD (BMDV) movies to photos app since High Sierra update

It worked for me, though I was dealing with videos and not moving to Imovie, just dragging to the desktop.

Procedure (via user b.art):

Check if you have an older A52Codec.component installed in /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components. Remove it as AC3/A52 codecs are build-in to macOS nowadays. After rebooting, AVCHD import should work fine again.

Note I did this but also did an NVRAM reset prior, which may have also helped. Try the above, if it doesn't work do the NVRAM reset and then try the above again.

NVRAM reset procedure (write this down or take a photo with your phone as you have to turn off your computer to do it):

• Shut down your Mac.
• Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command (⌘), Option, P, and R.
• Turn on your Mac.
• Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys immediately after you hear the startup sound.
• Hold these keys until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for a second time.
• Release the keys.

Hi Baracude,

I have been having similar problems since updating to High Sierra. Any attempt to download images from a Sony RX100iii using the USB cable results in my Mac freezing totally whilst displaying the following screen

I am unable to do anything until I physically restart by turning the Mac off and on again. I can down load images normally using an SD card reader but it does not recognize video files. Video files have to be downloaded onto my Macbook (running El Capitan) and then moved to my Mac using Airdrop! Apple really need to up their game with photo software as I am having similar problems with my Fuji X100f in that the Mac no longer recognizes Fuji Raw files. Heres hoping that the next update will sort it out

This has been going on for several weeks now and hundreds of post about it on both Apple and Adobe. I got Apple Support on the phone at 5am Sunday morning and they spent about 2 hours with me.. They said they had no report of this problem and luckily I had copied many of the comments from this and other boards. They got a suppervisor on the phone with me. I'm to call them back tomorrow and they are putting an engineer on the phone with me. They assured me that they will solve it. We'll see... but this cost me a client and really has made me look bad.

When I doubleclick the AVCHD file first I see all the files in a popup window. And then when I doubleclick a single file I see this:

No success importing files.

I can import these files using Adobe Media Encoder CC, but no audio comes in. Weird!

Al_Martinsen wrote:

Sorry for the rant, but it's frustrating to remember the old slogans like "it just works!" being not relevant anymore with each new OS or iOS releases.

Excerpted from the Apple Support Communities Terms of Use:

"If your Submission contains the phrase "I'm sorry for the rant, but…" you are likely in violation of this policy."

I hit the same problem with my Sony HX60V today. My workaround, such as it is, is this:

1. Insert SD card
2. When it appears on the desktop, select "Open" from its menu to open it in the Finder
3. Go into the "private" folder, which should contain the AVCHD file
4. Drag it into a folder on your Mac to copy it across
5. Double click the copy to open it in QuickTime
6. Quicktime should give you a selection of your clips to open
7. Select a clip to open it in QuickTimePlayer
8. Use "Save As" to save it as a movie file
9. Repeat 5. to 8. until you've got them all

I'm keeping the AVCHD file too, in the hope that Apple will issue a fix, but this at least lets me look at my videos and clear the space on the SD card.

Since the conversion to High Sierra this is a major problem. IF you still have iPhoto on your Macbook computer the "fix" is easy for us non-techies. Just use iPhoto to get your videos into the computer and then transfer them to Photos.

1. Close Photo and open iPhoto. Attach camera to computer via USB port
2. You should now see all of your new photos and videos on the screen.
3. Highlight those videos you want to import into iPhoto [You will import these into Photo as noted below].
4. Now click on Import Selected and the videos will now be in iPhoto as “Last Import”
5. Highlight the videos you want to move into Photo and right click. Choose “Copy”.
6. Minimize [or close] iPhoto and place the cursor on the desktop. Right click “Paste” and your videos are now on the Desktop.
7. Open Photos
8. At top left click File/Import and choose your source from the center top drop down list to Desktop.
9. From Desktop find the videos you want to import and highlight them. Then click lower right where it says Review for Import
10. You will now see your videos in Photo and they are ready to import
11. Click on “Import New Videos” and now they will be in Photo as the most recent import.
12. From here you can drag into an existing album or start a new album.

I had this exact same problem, here's how I solved it on macOS 10.13.4 High Sierra:

1. Insert the SD card into your iMac.
2. Launch iMovie, and make sure 'Media' at the top is selected.
3. Click the Import icon (top left).
4. The first time you do this, select the 'Import To' dropdown, and create a New Event named 'Transfer to Photos'. Subsequent times just make sure 'Transfer to Photos' is selected.
5. Under 'Cameras', select your SD card. You should see thumbnails for all your videos.
6. Click 'Import All'.
7. When the import is complete, you'll be prompted to Eject your SD card. You can go ahead and click 'Eject'.
8. Click File -> Reveal in Finder. This will open a Finder window showing the imported videos.
9. Select all the videos, click the Share icon, and select 'Add to Photos'
10. Switch to the Photos app and wait. There's no progress indicator, and if the videos are large it can take a while. Eventually they'll show up under Imports, then they'll show up under Photos, then their thumbnails will appear.
11. Now that the videos are in Photos, you can remove them from iMovie. Switch back to iMovie, select all the videos, and click File -> Delete Media from Event.

We had this problem trying to import film clips from our Canon video camera to our MacBooks that are running High Sierra. Apple Support told us to do the following (and it worked immediately!):

• Go to the apple icon and open 'System Preferences'
• At the bottom, we found that Perian was installed - they told us to uninstall it
• Once we clicked 'uninstall', we were able to download the clips with no problem!

Sadly, you are correct. It's also possible to import the clips straight from the SD card into iMovie and use File->Reveal in Finder to get to the files but the result is the same: .mov files apparently without supporting information. Actually, looking at some pre-High Sierra clips already in Photos from the last 2 years, they seem to be in a similar state. Hmmm...

I used instructions from video link below for attaching camera directly to computer. I opened Photos App first, then connected the USB to laptop. Photos App immediately showed all the videos and asked if I wanted to import. Videos are importing now. So far, "Info" window gives correct date and time of video as well as size, fps and length (in minutes/secs).

How To Transfer 4K Video From Sony RX100v To iPad - YouTube

Same issue. I used to brag about Mac being so simple to use. I'd hook up my Sony vid camera and just drag everything over, bingo, no problem.

Now since High Sierra ("It'll be fine," they said. "Upgrade," they said) when I go through the same procedure it's:

Plug in camera. See AVCHD file. Click on it. Get a window of video thumbnails. Click on the relevant one to open. Quicktime teases with a swirl then says "Could not open file."

Restarting, unplugging, beginning again, nothing works. IMovie imports the video but *without sound*!

I spent over two hours of my time on this this morning when I had a zillion other things to do.