Does iMovie have native support for Sony a6500 4K XAVC S video? How can I expect a smooth workflow between Sony a6500 4K XAVC S video and iMovie? If you are struggling to edit a6500 4K XAVC S MP4 files in iMovie for Mac, you may follow the guide to solve your problem.
How to edit Sony a6500 4K XAVC S video in iMovie?
“Hello guys, my Sony a6500 records 4K UHD (3840x2160p) footage in XAVC S format with MP4 extension. When editing the XAVC S files under iMovie 10.1.7, video is very choppy. Computer is 2011 iMac i7 3.4G, 32G RAM, 500G SSD and OS X Sierra. Does anyone have a similar issue? I’m guessing it’s a computer or iMovie problem? Any insights on this? I would really appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.”
The choppy issue happens probably because you are using a slow Mac machine. Keep in mind that 4K XAVC S footage requires a ridiculous amount of processing power if you want to edit it in its original format, so you’d better convert Sony a6500 4K XAVC S video to Apple InterMediate Codec first before you start editing in iMovie on your old Mac. Apple InterMediate Codec is less hardware intensive than XAVC S (H.264). You don’t need a fancy graphics card and you don’t need a fast computer to edit these transcoded formats. Here is how.
How to transcode a6500 4K XAVC S video to AIC .mov for iMovie editing?
Here’s what you need
HD Video Converter for Mac
The steps:
Step 1: Open up HD Converter for Mac as a Sony a6500 XAVC-S Converter for iMovie. When its main interface comes up, click ‘Add File’ to load your source media.
Step 2: Select output format for iMovie
To convert Sony 4K a6500 XAVC-S video files for iMovie, from ‘Profile’ list, choose ‘Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC)(*.mov)’ as output format under ‘iMovie and Final Cut Express’ column. This codec is also suitable for use in the discontinued FCE.
Important: If you’ve loaded a number of video clips to do batch conversion, please do remember ticking off ‘Apply to All’ option before you start.
Step 3: Custom video and audio settings (optional)
If necessary, you can click ‘Settings’ button and go to ‘Profiles Settings’ panel to modify video and audio settings like video encoder, resolution, video bit rate, frame rate, aspect ratio, audio encoder, sample rate, audio bit rate, and audio channels. 3D settings are also available.
Step 4: Begin a6500 4K XAVC-S to AIC MOV Conversion for iMovie
When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start format conversion. Once the conversion process is complete, you can click ‘Open Folder’ button to get the generated AIC MOV files for editing in iMovie with optimum performance.
Tips:
If you don’t want to wait for the entire conversion process, you can tick off ‘Shut down computer when conversion completed’ and go away to do other things.
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