How to edit AVCHD footage on Mac OSX? Final Cut Pro 6.0.1 and Voltaic to the rescue! : Suburbia

How to edit AVCHD footage on Mac OSX? Final Cut Pro 6.0.1 and Voltaic to the rescue!

I've written a few times recently about the difficulties people have had editing video footage in the AVCHD format that is used by the new generation of Disc-based HD Cameras such as Sony's HDR-SR7 and HDR-SR8. The main issue when I first wrote about it was that there wasn't really *any* software available to edit the footage regardless of whether you were using a Mac OSX or Windows based system. Although the cameras had been out since mid 2006 the first fully capable software for editing the footage only became available with the recent release of Sony's Vegas 7 editing software for Windows.

Ok, so you can edit AVCHD on Windows, but how do you edit AVCHD on Mac OSX?

So things were looking up at least for the Windows using owners of AVCHD capable camcorders, things weren't looking nearly so bright for those of us wanting to edit AVCHD footage on Apple Mac OSX. Fortunately there are at least a couple of options now for Mac OSX systems. The first option was a bit of a surprise, albeit a very pleasant one!

Final Cut Pro 6.0.1 update adds AVCHD transfer capabilities

Apple's own Final Cut Studio 2 suite had a minor update for Final Cut Pro to version 6.0.1 which added the capability to transfer the AVCHD footage. The reason why this update was a little bit of a surprise is that Apple were not listed on the Official AVCHD Consortium website, at least not until recently. The transfer process converts the AVCHD footage into either Apple's new ProRes 422 codec or the Apple Intermediate codec. One very important point to keep in mind here though is that the AVCHD transfer on Mac OSX only works on Intel processor based Macs!

Apple has posted a few technote articles regarding working with AVCHD in Final Cut Pro which are worth reading, here's a few key points to keep in mind:

AVCHD support is available only on Intel-based Macintosh computers.
DVD-based AVCHD camcorders are not currently supported in Mac OS X.
Standard definition video recorded with AVCHD camcorders cannot be accessed in the Log and Transfer window.
AVCHD footage is transcoded to the Apple ProRes 422 codec or Apple Intermediate Codec.
When you choose to transfer AVCHD audio in the Logging area, audio is automatically mixed down to stereo.
AVCHD files are transfered as entire files from beginning to end.

You can find further information in the following Apple technote, Technote 305997: About transferring AVCHD footage.

Voltaic from Mac1080HD.com

Final Cut Studio is a great solution for editing AVCHD footage on Mac OSX, however, if you don't have Final Cut Studio and can't afford the £849 to buy it, or if you've got Final Cut Studio but you're using a PowerPC based system (in case you missed the two references above, AVCHD support in FCP is only available on Intel processor based machines!) then there is an alternative - Voltaic.

Voltaic is a $30 utility that converts AVCHD footage into HDV 1080i Apple Intermediate Codec format Quicktime movies. The Voltaic website sums up it's purpose clearly: "Voltaic converts your HD movie clips into a Mac-friendly format, ready for editing in iMovie HD and Final Cut Express HD". This shouldn't be taken as a limitation, the converted footage can be used on any video editing application.

The purchase price of $30 is a lot less than the cost of Final Cut Pro and the advantage of working with both Intel and PowerPC based Macs is also pretty awesome. It's a pretty new application but it is at least past the version 1.0 mark and is fairly stable, although the Voltaic FAQ page does list a few common technical issues that they are working on.

It's worth reading through the Voltaic FAQ as they answer quite a lot of common questions about the issues encountered converting AVCHD footage using Voltaic. Some of the questions answered are:

How long does the conversion take?
How big are the output files?
What is the output format
Is there any quality loss in the conversion?

The Voltaic development blog is well worth reading as it gives the background to the past and future development of Voltaic. There are also some screencasts which are very useful, and finally there is a demo version of Voltaic available to download so you can try it out before paying any money for a licence. The only limitations in the demo are that it will only convert a single file less than 20mb and a limit of up to 10 conversions. However, for $30 buying a licence isn't going to break the bank!

So which is best, Final Cut Pro or Voltaic?

Well, at the moment I can't say, I haven't tried either of these options at the time of writing. I have just purchased Final Cut Studio so I am now in a position to do a bit of a comparision between these two applications, I've had a fair bit of footage sitting waiting for the time that I would be able to edit it without having to resort to a Windows PC running Vegas 7! ;)

I'll hopefully post a bit of a comparison once I get a chance to try both applications out.

But what about Adobe Premiere Pro CS3? Doesn't it edit AVCHD?

Although Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 has now returned to the Mac platform neither the Mac or Windows versions supports the AVCHD format. There were quite a few rumours and unofficial statements by Adobe employees that indicated that it may have support for AVCHD but I have had it confirmed that there is definitely no support for it in Premiere Pro CS3, although it does look likely that it wil be in the next version. Perhaps there will be an incremental update to bring some kind of compatibility there in the way that Apple have added it to Final Cut Pro? Until that happens Voltaic is the best option for Premiere Pro CS3 Mac users.

Update - Sony HDR-SR1 / SR7 Apple Tech Support Article

Someone posted a link in a comment below to an Apple tech Support article called "iMovie ?08 and Sony HDR-SR1 and HDR-SR7 compatibility" which is worth reading if you're using one of those cameras, especially if you're using a G5 processor based system rather than an Intel processor. It just goes to show that Voltaic is definitely a very useful application for those on non-intel, older machines who want to work with AVCHD footage.

~Rick

Visitor Comments:

Left by Souljah on 2007-08-02 13:37:07 #

I recently purchased a HDR-SR5E to replace a 4 year old Sony DV Camera that got wet during a shoot and was horrified to learn that my new HD camera was incompatible with iMovie or Final Cut Express!

I read all the forums (including the Apple Forums) and ended up downloading Streamclip and paying for an Apple MPEG 2 encoder as suggested on the Apple site. I am running a 24' iMac on Intel and i found that this did not work as i could not edit my footage.

I found Voltaic by accident and after some adjustments I purchased the program and it does what it says on the box. The reality is pay $30 (£15.60 at current exchange rate) or drop a cool £900 on Final Cut Pro, which im not afraid to admit i am not ready to use yet.

Basically Voltaic works and until Apple include AVCHD support in Leopard or iLife then its going to be the only choice for those wanting to leave media storage behind and go HD on a HDD.

I hope this helps!

Left by Michael Abel on 2007-10-08 23:53:43 #

I'm a Mac user and just bought the Sony SR8E Camera and not being able to return it I was starting to worry that it would be useless to me ht - thanks to you I now have hope that it will be alright anyway!..

Thanks,
Michael from Denmark

Left by Luc on 2007-10-11 08:11:27 #

I have Panasonic HDC-SD1, great camera BUT.
When i import in iMovie08 and play there all is ok. When I open an exported mov file
with Quicktime the movie is NOT played smoothly. When i burn with iDVD the quality
is very very poor.
Hardwre : iMac Intel 2.8Ghz and 2 Gb RAM
Anybody have the problems ?

Left by Diego on 2007-10-24 03:34:07 #

I have a Panasonic HDC-DX1, which records footage on DVD's... and it's not working, even with Voltaic... what should I do? I'm using iMovie'08, but it shows me a message that MAC OS 10.4 is not compatible with High definition camcorders.
My hardware: Mac Intel (macbook pro 2.16)

Left by Rick Curran on 2007-10-24 10:25:45 #

Diego, did you check out the page on the Voltaic website "Dealing with Mini-DVDs on a Mac"? It actually deals with the issues encountered with Mac OSX and these DVD based cameras. The biggest problem you'll face is that you can't insert the mini-dvds into the slot loading drive of your MacBookPro.

Left by Simone on 2007-11-11 22:05:37 #

Hi!
i have a sony hdr-sr5e and i had big problems with my iMac...
But since i updated iMovie, the video's will be inported through iMovie. It converts! And then, i export them to Final cut pro. I've 6.00, not 6.01...
So, Voltiac isn't necessary.
And you have to read this: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305919

Left by Simone on 2007-11-26 16:10:38 #

Hi!
look at Final Cut Express 4.0! it's made for avchd!

Left by Brian on 2007-12-14 13:52:57 #

So let me see if I can get this straight: I'm about to buy an iMac (new), Final Cut Studio (new) and thinking about the HDR-SR7. Given what I've been reading, there were lots of problems with AVCHD, but the above combo should work fine?

Left by Rick Curran on 2007-12-14 17:02:59 #

@Brian - yes, the iMac and Final Cut Studio will work well with AVCHD. Make sure you download the latest updates for Final Cut Studio as both the recent subsequent 6.01 & 6.02 updates added and improved AVCHD support.

Left by Avi on 2007-12-18 19:52:44 #

i'm working with FCP and Voltaic on PPC and it's great. way to long for converting, but better then nothing. i had the Sony SR5E and i don't like it. i replaced it with the Canon HG10. the HG10 is amazing-the best.

Left by Brian C on 2008-01-15 21:48:32 #

I've just got myself the Canon HG10 and run into the problem of getting the video into FCP 5.1.4 on my MacBook (Intel). It sounds like Avi has it working so I'm going to try the Voltaic fix for starters. Any other suggestions?

Left by Fiona Millen on 2008-01-16 23:12:49 #

Hi, I got totally frustrated with this Sony to Mac problem on the new HDR cameras and wasted 3 days trying to sort it - I ended up using an conversion service that did it overnight for me - the link is http://web.mac.com/bradleydotcom/AVCHD2MAC - they send you back quicktime files with no loss of quality. Saved my life! FM

Left by Divyesh on 2008-01-21 17:12:57 #

I have panasonic HDC-DX1 avchd camcorder. I can not convert them to mpeg2 using nero 8.I have recordred them on mini-dvd. any suggestion.

Left by Brian on 2008-02-24 17:05:00 #

I am thinking of buying a camcorder for my macbook, any suggestions? From what i have read it seems like a mine field. I think i will be using finalcut express and want to input and edit my footage as easily as possible. I would prefer a hard drive camera as i cant be bothered purchasing minidv tapes anymore.

Left by blah on 2008-03-19 15:32:21 #

free! - http://www.squared5.com/
or final cut express 4 now does it

Left by Shnarfer on 2008-04-17 22:56:14 #

Once we have our footage onto the Mac, then how do we create BlueRay DVDs with the footage?

Left by amanda on 2008-04-28 20:03:44 #

real techno phobe here. I bought a panasonic HDC SD5 for the single purpose of recording teaching sessions with my son who has special needs. The idea was to put them on my (bog standard windows PC) and turn into DVDs that I can sent to his teacher to tell us what we are doing wrong/monitor progress.
After spending £500 on a camera I can't get a single DVD out of it. Should I cut my losses and buy an old type of camcorder without AVCHD
any help would be really appreciated - this is a hassle I could do without

thanks

Left by Rick Curran on 2008-04-29 10:28:57 #

For anyone using a Windows PC there is now a Windows version of Voltaic:

VoltaicHD for PC
http://shedworx.com/?q=voltaichdpc

Left by mac sucks on 2008-05-12 20:51:36 #

macs suck. get your head out of your uptight apple loving @ss and get a real computer. one with TWO mouse buttons, perhaps?

Left by cata on 2008-05-26 15:41:45 #

Hi i have a panasonic hdc-dx1, mini dvd. The computer opens it as an empty untitled disk, no use opening with final cut, still shows bank, if i finilize the disc, final cut doesn´t recognize the file extnsion (.clpi)
Voltaic doesn´t work either
any ideas?

using Mac Intel (macbook pro 2.4) macosx 10.5
FinalCut express 4.0

Left by Rick Curran on 2008-05-27 12:18:33 #

@cata - Have you checked out the FAQ on the Voltaic website:

http://shedworx.com/?q=volmac-dvds

I've no experience using the DVD based cameras at all so I've got no suggestions, perhaps you could enquire about this with the Voltaic developers?

Left by Simone on 2008-05-28 08:14:07 #

Hi Rick,

i have a Sony HDR-sr5 camera and an iMac. Software: Fincal Cut Express. Last ear, the problem was to get the get the video's on my Mac. Now, it's possible with the new FCE4. BUT: The output is horrible! Is it a converting problem, is it the interlacing? I don't know! In FCE i use the button QuickTimeMovie.
Can you help me Rick?!

Greetings, Simone
Holland

Left by Paul George on 2008-06-04 13:46:05 #

Hi. I've been trying to solve this problem on behalf of a client for about 4 weeks now. Your site and it's links have been terrific. Log and Transfer (as opposed to Log and Capture) into FCP 6.0.3 seamlessly. Problem solved. Thank you.

Left by Rick Curran on 2008-06-05 12:41:18 #

@Paul George - Glad it was helpful!

Left by Tania on 2008-07-30 18:32:08 #

Hi
I wonder if you can help I have Final Cut Pro 5.1.4, and i just got Panasonic HDC-SD5. I was trying to capture images by connecting the camera via USB to the MacBookPro and use Log and capture from final cut, but i was not sure what settings i need to set up for capturing and if this is the right way to do it.
I hope you could explain how it could be done.
thank you

Suburbia