[maddernj]

My wife has just bought me a panasonic SD9 for my birthday today and I was wondering if I will need any extra software to edit on a iMac ? or can I plug straight in and play around ?

Thanks

[A n d r e w]

Hi there.

First of all, happy birthday. I hope you enjoy your SD9: I love mine.

As you probably know the SD9 records high definition video in the AVCHD format. Unfortunately there is no way to simply drag AVCHD video files onto your harddrive and click and play them. They need to be converted into something more friendly first. This is where the fun begins!

It's recommended that you have at least a Core 2 Duo processor for handling AVCHD video. Incarnations of iMovie prior to iMovie '08 (v7.1.2) won't import clips from the SD9.

However there is a third-party application called VoltaicHD (google it) which will take AVCHD files and convert them into Quicktime files suitable for iMovie. The Mac version is designed for Power PC Macs like yours.

When you connect the camera by USB and switch it to playback mode (or eject the SD card and use a card reader which is easier because connecting the camera itself means using the AC adapter) you'll get a "NO NAME" drive icon on your desktop. You'll have to delve into the relatively occult folder structure on the SD card to find the video files as follows: PRIVATE -> AVCHD -> BDMV -> STREAM. The numbered .mts files in the STREAM folder are your video clips.

Drag and drop the required clips into the Voltaic window. You'll have to calculate which are the ones you want carefully: preview on the camera first, but note that the clip number displayed by your SD9 in playback differs from the filename number by one digit because the SD9 saves the first clip you record as 00000.MTS not 00001.MTS - i.e. say you've recorded 80 clips and the one you want to import is listed as 52/80 in the SD9's clip list, the filename for the clip will be 00051.MTS. Once you've dragged your files across, click convert, and Voltaic gets to work . . .

. . . slowly (chug, chug, chug). Unfortunately Voltaic takes 12 times the clip time to convert, but that's the only option on a PPC Mac as things stand, I'm afraid (iMovie '08 is much speedier, converting in 2x to around about real time depending on processor speed and RAM).

Once you've got the Voltaic-generated .mov Quicktime files, you can view them in Quicktime or drag them into a new iMovie project. With any luck your machine will have the grunt to edit them.

Good luck!
Andrew.

[milkmanchris]

Originally Posted by Courtaj

Unfortunately there is no way to simply drag AVCHD video files onto your harddrive and click and play them. They need to be converted into something more friendly first. This is where the fun begins!

Toast Video Player will play them

Not sure if it will work on the G5 though

[A n d r e w]

Good point, forgot about Toast - it costs some though.

According to the Roxio website the requirements are:

• Macintosh computer with a PowerPC™ G4, PowerPC G5, or Intel® processor. PowerPC G5 or Intel processor required for encoding and viewing high definition content
• CD, DVD, Blu-ray, or HD DVD recordable drive
• Mac OS X v10.4.x and Mac OS X v10.5.x
• 600 MB of free disk space to install
• Up to 15 GB of temporary free disk space during usage
• Additional space may be required when working with high definition content
• QuickTime 7.x
• Internet connection required for some functionality

So it should work . . .

There are a few freeware solutions, too, such as VLC, mplayer, or ffmpeg, but if anyone is interested in researching them please don't ask me how to get them working on their machines because life is just too short - good luck!

[milkmanchris]

Originally Posted by Courtaj

There are a few freeware solutions, too, such as VLC, mplayer, or ffmpeg, but if anyone is interested in researching them please don't ask me how to get them working on their machines because life is just too short - good luck!

Your right there, my 2.4 Dual Core 4gb Macbook refuses to play the .mts files with VLC or mplayer whatever I try.

Having fun though learning FCE, iMovie is ok for webclips, but express really is the way forward (and the log and capture allows you to play the files straight away as the OP wanted), although 1920 is not fully supported, but thats another story

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by milkmanchris

1920 is not fully supported, but thats another story

Hm. I thought that 1920x1080 was supported as of v4.0.1.

See here (under "Final Cut Express 4.0.1 Release Notes").

I think we've now officially hijacked this thread . . .

[maddernj]

thanks all....Seems like I will need to upgrade from OSX 10.3.9 first so that i can run any of the above. I have 125gb of HD space left so thats okay, but only 1gb of ram.

As a side note i take it i can just plug it straight into the side of my pioneer 428xd for playback ?

[A n d r e w]

Should work fine by running an HDMI cable (though the SD9's HDMI connector is mini-HDMI).

[milkmanchris]

Originally Posted by Courtaj

Hm. I thought that 1920x1080 was supported as of v4.0.1.

See here (under "Final Cut Express 4.0.1 Release Notes").

I think we've now officially hijacked this thread . . .

The disadvantage of turning auto update checking off.

It now plays nicely with 1920 with no rendering issues, however I still cant see the difference between 1440 and 1920, apart form getting less mpg from my 4GB cards.

All the same thanks for the heads up

[A n d r e w]

No worries.
They say vertical res is more important than horizontal res, but it's seldom enough you can have the best of both worlds, so why not I say?

[maddernj]

Right i have only just got round to looking at this....I have purchased OSX 10.5.5, I have checked but my iMovie is only 4.0.1, I went on to the apple website and downloaded 7.1.2 but i am unable to update ? Do i need to purchase something extra ?

I have now downloaded Voltaic also....but this is wanting iMovie 7.1.2 also

Thanks

[supernaut]

You need to upgrade to iLife 08. However, you need an Intel processor to use AVCHD with it.

[A n d r e w]

Originally Posted by supernaut

You need to upgrade to iLife 08. However, you need an Intel processor to use AVCHD with it.

The G5 should handle it, you'll just need to import with Voltaic because iMovie won't transcode AVCHD unless you're on Intel.

Andrew.

[maddernj]

Which is preferable ? Toast or iLife & Voltaic ? Looks as though money will have to be spent either way..

Ta

[A n d r e w]

Well, Toast is an suite of applications (basic editing, DVD authoring) whereas Voltaic just handles the conversion side of things, effectively operating in conjuction with, say, iMovie. So I suppose it comes down to what you need. Why not download the Voltaic trial and see if that does what you need it to do? I've never used Toast so can't vouch for whether the additional expenditure is worth it or not. But one thing that Toast will do that iLife won't is author Blu-ray discs, if you purchase the HD plug in (which I expect you are planning on doing if you go down that route).