How to upload and convert AVCHD video footage on a PowerPC Mac.

Overview & Problem

The problem concerns users Mac users who own video cameras with built in hard-drives (in my
case, a Sony HDR-XR105) which record footage in a AVCHD format. The issue arises if you are
using a slightly older Mac that has a PowerPC processor instead of the newer Intel-based
processor. To check what kind of Mac you are using click the Apple logo in the top left hand
corner of your screen and then chose “About This Mac”. A pop-up will appear displaying all the
relevant details, my Mac’s information is below.

Where PowerPC users come into difficulty with newer video cameras is that the cameras
recorded format, AVCHD, will not upload to any video editing software (such as Final Cut, Final
Cut Express or iMovie). Thus you are stuck with great footage that you can’t do anything with.
Until now!

Remember, following this guide is done so at your own risk. This method has worked for me and
will hopefully work for you. Your video camera may very well have slightly different
preferences, but this has worked on a Sony HDR-XR105. The idea should be pretty much the
same, but navigating to the actual clips (which is explained later on) could be different.

What I Used
Final Cut Express 3.5
Toast 10 Titanium

What You Will Need

A Mac (this method uses Mac-only based software)
Either Final Cut Express 3.5 or higher or iMovie ’08 or higher
Toast 10 (May work on Toast 9, but is untested)
Power up your video camera and connect it to your computer. In this case (with a Sony HDR-
XR105) it connects via USB, once connected the following option appears on the video cameras
view finder. Select “USB Connect” with the circular dome next to it.

The camera is now connected to your computer, when this is done on my computer iPhoto
always automatically opens and displays the pictures saved on the video cameras hard drive
(this may or may not happen with you). You can close iPhoto as this is not needed.

Once the camera is correctly connected the view finder screen should go blue and display the
following message “Connected. Do not unplug the USB cable. Do not turn off the power. Do not
close the LCD Panel”. Nothing to worry about here, your video camera should now be showing
up in your finder side menu, mine always appears as “No Name”. Click on the camera.
Next open the file “AVCHD” followed by “BDMV” and then “STREAM”. If correctly navigated
you should now see a series of files named “00000.1MTS” “00001.MTS” “00002.MTS” and so
on. These are the clips you have recorded on your video camera. You can now minimize this
finder window (careful, don’t close it, you’ll need it again in a few seconds).

Now open Toast 10 and select the “Convert” button from the side menu, then make sure
“VIDEO_TS Folders” is highlighted.
Re-open the video camera files (which we minimised a few seconds ago) and select the files you
want to convert and edit. Next, drag and drop these files into the Toast 10 window.

After a few seconds (depending on how many clips you selected) all of your clips will appear in
the Toast 10 window. You will see each of them has a thumbnail so you can see what each piece
of footage contains. Now, click on the “Settings” tab, which is located at the bottom of the
Toast 10 window (circled below). A pop up will appear.

If you intend to edit using Final Cut Express or Final Cut Pro keep reading.
- - - For iMovie conversion go to PAGE 7 - - -
From the pop-up menu that has appeared, click on the “Devices” drop down menu and select
“High Definition Video (HDV)”. From the “Quality” drop down menu pick “1080i” and then
select where to “Save To” (for this example I saved to “Desktop”). Now click “OK” and the pop-
up will disappear.
Once you have added all of the clips you want to convert, click on the big red button in the
bottom right hand corner. This will start the conversion. You will be prompted to check the
conversion settings, once you are sure they are correct click “CONVERT” and the conversion
will begin.

Conversion is usually quite quick, it depends on the number of clips, but I can usually convert
about 10 minutes of footage in approx 5 minutes. After a short while Toast 10 will “ping” to let
you know it’s finished. Check the location you told the clips to “Save To” (for this example I
saved to “Desktop”) and your clips should all be there waiting for you.

Almost there now.

Now you need to open Final Cut / Final Cut Express. I am using version 3.5. Once Final Cut has
opened, from the top menu select “File” and then “Import” and then “Files”. A pop up will
appear asking you to “Choose A File”. Navigate to where you saved the clips (in my example,
“Desktop” and highlight all of the clips you want to add. Now click “Choose”.

You will now notice all of the clips you selected have appeared in the project as editable clips!
They may need to be arranged in order etc, but they are all there – ready to edit!

The final step is a further solution. For some reason (which is unknown to me) the clips audio
will all be 3 seconds out of sync. This is easily resolved, when you add a clip to the time line,
simply grab the audio and drag it until it says “+3” and presto – it’s now in sync!
…and there we go, you can now edit and create movies to your hears content!

iMovie Users
Continuing on from Page 4
(Sorry about the lack of pictures!)

From the pop-up menu that has appeared, click on the “Devices” drop down menu and select
“Digital Video (DV)” You can now customise the quality settings to your needs, the default
settings do a pretty good job. Finally choose your “save as” location (for this example I saved to
“Desktop”). Now click “OK” and the pop-up will disappear.

Once you have added all of the clips you want to convert, click on the big red button in the
bottom right hand corner. This will start the conversion. You will be prompted to check the
conversion settings, once you are sure they are correct click “CONVERT” and the conversion
will begin.

Conversion is usually quite quick; it depends on the number of clips. After a short while Toast 10
will “ping” to let you know it’s finished. Check the location you told the clips to “Save To” (for
this example I saved to “Desktop”) and your clips should all be there waiting for you.

Now you need to open iMovie. I am using iMovie ’08, this is untested on other versions. Once
iMovie has opened, from the top menu select “File” and then “Import Movies”. A pop up will
appear asking you to “Choose A File”. Navigate to where you saved the clips (in my example,
“Desktop” and highlight all of the clips you want to add. Now click “Choose”.

And there you go, your clips are now in your iMovie project ready to edit. There may be an issue
similar to Final Cut, whereby the audio is just slightly out of sync with the video, moving the
audio +3 seconds can rectify this. And there we go!

________________________

Hopefully this guide will have helped you out. I read on many forums that the
solution to this issue was to “upgrade to an Intel Mac” – well this solution has
shown that’s not the case, thankfully. Once again, I really hope this has worked
for you!