PMB or similar for iMac?

[bordinggaard]

Hi,

I would like to import my pictures and movies to my iMac. As I can´t use the included PMB, what kind of software does SONY offer?

Kind regards,

Christian

[Blencogo]

Hi Christian,

Most people use Apple's preinstalled software - iMovie and iPhoto.

If you tell us which Sony cameras and which version of OS X you wish to use, there may be alternatives.

[bordinggaard]

Hi,

HDR CX360VE

I have problems to convert the sony video files .m2ts and .modd

Hope, you can help 🙂

Christian

[Blencogo]

Hi Christian,

Do you have an Intel processor or a Power PC in your MAC?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1531

iMovie does not have AVCHD Video support and needs to convert the video on importing to iMovie friendly AIC files.  It cannot import individual .mts files and you need to import using the 'Archive' method which needs to import the entire file structure on your camcorder.

Alternatively, you can convert the files to MAC friendly formats using Roxio Toast 11 or another conversion program.  Final Cut Pro will presumably do this also.  Try Google for free conversion programs.

You may find this Apple Forums post of interest: -

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2620458?start=0&tstart=0

I hope Mick or Simon will visit these forums later.  They are the real experts and may be able to add valuable advice.

[Mick2011]

The .modd files are for use in PMB, so you won't need to worry about them on the Mac.

There's no need to deal with .mts files at all if you follow the simple connect-click-upload procedure in iMovie; your movies should appear in iMovie without having to copy original files to the Mac.

Apple have a number of tutorials for importing into iMovie, including this one for iMovie 11: http://support.apple.com/kb/VI104

Hope it helps. If you're using an earlier version of iMovie, or need any further help copying over or archiving your camera footage, just shout

Cheers

Mick

[bordinggaard]

Hi again,

Thanks for your fast reply´s 🙂

Importing directly from the camera works perfect (now...). I still struggle to copy/move the mentioned files from external back-up drives.... What can I do???

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Christian

[Mick2011]

Hi Christian

As with iMovie, you don't need to touch the individual files to back them up, and it's best to leave folders as they are too. Most video editors require a specific folder hierarchy to import footage, as well as files in the right place within those folders.

The way to keep this structure in Mac OS X (and keep the files the same size, which is another problem) is to use Disk Utility to make a Disk Image of your memory card, which you then store on your hard drive.

This blog explains that procedure a lot better then the Apple site, as it's specific to video/SD cards and has pictures & stuff

http://blog.scoopz.com/2008/10/13/backing-up-raw-avchd-video-from-sdhc-cards-to-disk-image/

Hope it works for you

Mick

ps if you've already backed up files to an external drive you'll need to 're-wrap' them to get them into iMovie again. Best thing for this is a cheap program called ClipWrap http://www.divergentmedia.com/clipwrap

Cheers