Editing And Outputting AVCHd WitH ApplE FinAl Cut ExprEss 4 Transferring AVCHD Footage to Your Mac………………………………………….... 4 Copying AVCHD Footage to A Hard Drive………………………………………….... 5 Transferring AVCHD Footage Directly from the Panasonic AVCCAM Cameras to Your Mac………………………………………..………………………………………....Editing With Final Cut Pro Express 4 …………………………………………………..7 Output OptiOns To Standard Definition DVD………………………………………………………...…...
The AVChD WorkfloW on Apple CompuTers Apple Intel-based Mac computers (MacBookPro laptops, iMac or Mac Pro Towers) work really well with Panasonic AVCCAM cameras shooting AVCHD footage. Working on a Mac platform presents four editing solutions, based on your budget and the complexity of your final edit. The four editing applications are: iMovie ’(08 or ’09), Final Cut Express 4, Final Cut Pro (v.6.05 or higher) and Adobe Premier Pro as part of CS4 or CS5.
eDITIng AnD ouTpuTTIng AVChD WITh Apple fInAl CuT express 4 key poinT #1. To ediT aVChd in final CuT express 4 you musT haVe an inTel based maC CompuTer. keY poInT #2. WhIle AVChD Is A superIor ACQusITIon formAT, IT Is noT A greAT eDITIng one. fInAl CuT express WIll AuTomATICAllY TrAnsCoDe Your fooTAge InTo Apple InTermeDIATe CoDeC DurIng The TrAnsfer proCess.
key poinT #3. wriTe proTeCT your sdhC Card prior To mounTing. Your SDHC card has a small little slider on the left hand side of the card labeled Lock. Push this slider down to write protect the data on your card. This is a critical step to protect your footage before you insert the SDHC card into your Card reader, Camera, or computer SDHC Slot for mounting.
Fire Wire output. sTep #1 – ConneCT your panasoniC Camera Via a usb Cable To your CompuTer. Note: It is recommended to connect your camera to an AC power supply, as a low battery could damage your transferring footage.
On the ag-hmC40 camcorder, when you connect your USB cable to your computer, the LCD display on the camera will prompt you to touch either the PC or Printer Device button. Touch PC. The Printer Option here is for the still picture functionality of the camera, and has nothing to do with this video file transfer.
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sTep #2 – seT you sCraTCh disC Designate your Primary Scratch Disc. Make sure you have enough disc space! Click OK. sTep #3 – seleCT file > log and Transfer.
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Your AVCHD media will appear in the Log and Transfer Window. If Final Cut Express does not display your clips, you will need to point it to the hard drive or folder where your footage is stored. To do this click on the gear icon at the top right of the log and transfer window. In the drop down menu, click on Add Custom Path.
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sTep #4 – seleCT a Clip. You can now view the selected clip in the Preview area. Here you can change the reel and clip name and add any logging notes you prefer. You can also make your rough “in” and “out” points here. This is a good idea as only that section of your native AVCHD footage will be transcoded in the next step, making the process much faster.
From this point on you edit your AVCHD transcoded footage, just like you edit any other footage in Final Cut Express. For further details on editing in Final Cut Express, please visit: www.apple.com/support/finalcutexpress ouTpuTIng To sTAnDArD DefInITIon DVD Even though you have shot your material on high definition and edited it in HD, you still might need to downconvert it to standard definition.
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sTep 2 - name your moVie and Chose a file loCaTion, Then CliCk on opTions sTep 3 - aT The Video seCTion, CliCk on seTTings. Set Compression Type to DV/ DVCPRO-NTSC, this sets up the down conversion to standard definition. In the compression section, adjust your quality from least to best and set the scan mode and aspect ratio.
sTep 4 - if neCessary, in The moVie seTTings window Change your sound and inTerneT sTreaming opTions and CliCk ok. At this point, if you want to transfer this movie to a DVD, you will need a DVD burning software, such as iDVD.
ouTpuTTIng To AVChD DIsC You can burn an AVCHD disc (which is a Duration limited Blu-ray image on standard DVD media, using the Mac’s internal DVD / Super Drive). You are limited to 20 minutes of AVCHD footage on a DVD-5 disc and 40 minutes on a DVD-9 disc.
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sTep #2 - name your moVie and Chose a file loCaTion sTep #3 - Choose ipod or iphone from The formaT menu Then CliCk saVe Your movie will be saved as a .m4v file ready for adding to your iTunes library to be synced to your iPod or iPhone.
ouTpuTTIng To YouTube You might want to share your movie with the world on YouTube. This is easy to do. Note: You must of course have a YouTube account, in order to upload your movie. To prepare your movie for YouTube uploading follow these simple steps.
The AVChD WorkfloW – ArChIVIng Once your project is finished, you will want to archive your High Definition AVCHD footage (not just your transcoded Apple Intermediate Codec footage). There are a number of options available at this time depending on your budget and how long you want to keep the footage. How long you want to keep your footage is a very important question when dealing with Archiving.
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Director, a Multimedia Person of the Year and member of the DVD Association Hall of Fame. Bernie is the Panasonic AVCHD Evangelist and a paid consultant to Panasonic. Panasonic provided AVCCAM cameras for this white paper. Apple Hardware and Software are provided...