I’m new to the Mac World and now have a MacBook Pro with the most current OS and plenty of RAM.
I can successfully import Digital Video files from an SDHC card through a Card Reader onto an external hard drive and Edit the videos in IMovie or create a Movie in IMovie.
What I’m trying to do is get them into Aperture 3.1.1 so I can create a slide show with mixed media. The minute I try to import any one of the video clips into a given Library the pinwheel starts spinning and it goes on indefinitely before I eventually quit the application.
This same thing has happened whether taking digital video files from a Droid X phone or the Panasonic HDC-SD60 digital video camera.
I’ve repaired the database and done the following but keep getting the same results.
Tom,
You’re trying to import the videos into Aperture from where; from the same SDHC card/card reader as you imported into iMovie, or are you trying to import already-imported-to-iMovie movies? (lots of repeated words there but I think they make sense!)
Have you tried importing into a brand new library? If not, try that to eliminate the possibility of a problem with your existing Library (go File > Switch to Library > Other/New… and create a new temp one).
If possible, try on another machine as well. The fact that you’re having the same issue with multiple devices is certainly odd.
cheers
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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With the video files I parked them on my external drive. All I’m saying is I can import them in into IMovie without problems. When I try to import them into a new Aperture Library from the external drive (not from IMovie per se) I see the spinning pinwheel.
Once I see that my assumption is the test library I just created is bad because I can not open in again.
Thanks for replying
Tom,
It could be the video format then. Aperture will read Mpeg4 movies, for example, but I’m pretty sure it won’t read AVCHD. I actually couldn’t find a list of video formats supported on the Apple website, curiously.
If the movies will import into iMovie but not Aperture, that could be the problem.
However I’m concerned with your last message—you said you can’t open your test library? Is this before or after you tried to import the video? What is happening when you try to open it?
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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It doesn’t look like Aperture can import AVCHD files.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11638842
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD
Thanks for your help. It does look like when IMovie imports the AVCHD files it converts them to .mov files. Somehow I need to get either those files or the original AVCHD files converted into something Aperture can read like .avi or mpeg4 files.
Tom,
Thanks for looking that up.
If you’re converting the movies on import with iMovie, then it shouldn’t be heard to find those files and import them into Aperture as well.
However, I’d suggest that you look at your camera settings and switch the recording system to MP4. In my experience, most small cameras can do both, but AVCHD is the default. MP4 is a bigger file, but higher quality and readable by Aperture and the OS without any conversion. Look at the AVCHD movie files on your SD card next time you plug it in—it’s a folder full of stuff, not a movie. iMovie makes it into something readable. Personally, I prefer to have a file I can work with without any conversions.
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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Even after importing the videos from the SDHC card into IMovie and ending up with .mov files they would not load into Aperture without the same pinwheel problem I was chasing. The wikipedia url I found pointed me to the structure where they could be found. They can be viewed with Quicktime and I did find a utility from that wikipedia url for converting them directly to MP4 files which worked well and with minor tweaking appeared to minimize conversion quality.
I’ll see if that’s an option with the camera to record directly to MP4. That sounds even better.
Thanks very much for all your help Joe.
My pleasure Tom, and good luck.
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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One last comment. I called Panasonic and the person I talked to told me that AVCHD and MPEG4 files are the one and the same. Given the file extension differences between the .mts files I can convert with HandBrake to .mp4 files I’m not so sure she was correct.
I tried again today to import a video file directly off the SDHC card and Aperture can’t even see it. IMovie on the other hand finds it right away. The difference is that IMovie still converts it to a .mov file when reading off the SDHC card.
Tom,
You have got to be kidding me… that’s like saying that a bowl of water and bottle of Coke are the same. The only similarity is that they are both drinks… or in this case, both video formats!!
OK in their defense, perhaps she meant that they are the same in that they are both video formats—not to be confused with, say, JPEG. But seriously, these two codecs are radically different. The way the video is encoded and decoded is radically different.
Does your camera record to Mpeg-4 (which is just a codec, and will result in a .mov file)? Or even any other .mov file instead of AVCHD? If so, switch it, test it, and bask in the simplicity. And don’t ever call that Panasonic rep again ;-)
cheers
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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I agree. Sadly I couldn’t find a way to change the recording setting on the camera.
I asked the rep about both items. She said there is no way to switch recording format modes since from her perspective they are the same.
There are 4 setting changes but they only refer to recording quality not format.
http://www.digitalrev.com/en/panasonic-hdc—sd60-full-hd-camcorder-8498…
Note this is listed under the camera specifications for file format.
MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 (AVCHD standard compliant)
That gave me hope there was a way to record in either format but she said “no” and I can’t find anything in the manual other than different resolutions for recording mode adjustments.
Tom,
I just looked at the manual and I can’t find a way to change modes either, but it’s not exactly a comprehensive manual. I’d dig through the settings some more, I’d be surprised if that’s the case.
Anyway, good luck with it… and worse case, you can capture in iMovie and move them to Aperture after, right?
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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Yes the manual is on the weak side.
Once I import off the SDHC card with IMovie the file is converted to .mov files.
When trying to import them with Aperture the pinwheel immediately starts to spin.
I’m back to converting the files off the SDHC into .mp4 files or getting another camera (got any recommendations?) or figuring out how to get the camera to record .mp4 files directly.
It keeps getting better. This sums it up pretty well.
http://www.jomtube.com/forum/template-and-css-support-and-questions/1521…
Transfer/Edit Panasonic HDC-SD60 Camcorder AVCHD MTS Files on Mac:
The Panasonic HDC-SD60 camcorders can also transfer video data to a Mac computer via USB so they may be edited in HD image quality using iMovie software, since iMovie 9 supports AVCHD MTS files. But if you want to edit 1080P/1080i AVCHD MTS file on Mac with FCE4, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer on Mac, you need a powerful Mac Panasonic AVCHD Converter to help you convert.mts files from the SD60 AVCHD camcorder to other popular and suitable formats like AVI, MOV, WMV, MP4, MPG, etc with quality lossless and perfect A/V sync. Then you can do fluent editing on Mac in a breeze.
I guess the Panasonic rep doesn’t know about their powerful AVCHD Converter. LOL
Tom,
Hm, what a drag. Is it too late to say “did you keep the receipt”? ;-)
I realized once you posted the model that this is a video camera that takes still pictures, not a still camera that shoots video. Aperture is of course a photography app, that handles video—so it really is for the latter category of camera.
If you’re primarily shooting video, then you should be importing into iMovie. It has much more robust movie editing tools, including themes, image stabilization, facial recognition and more. And you can integrate stills with your video, too. Aperture will only allow you to trim the heads and tails off a video clip, and incorporate a video snippet with a stills slide show—that’s it.
To close the matter, I’d say: if you’re mostly interested in video, start using iMovie. If you’re mostly interested in stills, get a different camera.
If you stick with iMovie, I do have a basic training video series over on MacCreate you should check out: iMovie Videos on MacCreate.
Cheers
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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Thanks for all the tips. I tend to agree with your decision process.
If I travel I’m more interested in the still pictures with a camera I can fit in my pocket. A few videos on top of that plus the easy way with which you can add slides with text on them make Aperture great for most of my needs.
I may even have a mixed media where I would toss in a power point slide if I can do that. Not quite sure yet how to do that with Aperture but suspect I can easily build a .jpg and import that and insert it.
I wasn’t sure I could do that stuff with IMovie but I’ll take a look at that too.
Tom, i think you can convert avchd mts files to mov or mp4 format on mac osx. try it!
http://www.ilikemall.com/how-to/convert-mts-to-mov-mac.html
why not try FFmepg,Handbrake or Freemake are all good selection, completely free and no other cost. Handbrake has both windows and Mac version. all great for converting mkv to mp4/avi and other foramts, and rip dvds for all users. have a try. and some rechargeable software such as iVideotool Video Converter(http://www.ivideotool.com) may much better for converting and compress videos