Summary: If you are having troubles while loading AVCHD footage shot on a Canon VIXIA HF R40/R42 camera into FCE/iMovie for further editing, you may wish to read this article. It elaborates a workaround to help you import Canon R40/R42 AVCHD files to FCE/iMovie smoothly by transcoding R40/R42 AVCHD .mts files to Apple InterMediate Codec, the favorite editing format of FCE and iMovie.
Incompatibility issues between FCE 4 and Canon R40 60p AVCHD video
“I have been using FCE 4.0 for a long time and like it as an edit package. Recently I replaced my Olympus DSLR with a new Canon R40 camcorder and recorded some footage in AVCHD format at 1080-60p. However, it it seems that there are incompatibility issues between FCE 4 and the Canon R40. I was told that FCE works only with interlaced with AVCHD 1920 x 1080. Is this true? If so, how can I fix this? I don’t want to switch to the new Final Cut Pro X because this system has a horrible interface and isn’t designed for professional users. Appreciate any and all feedback/help. Thanks.”
If you are unable to import Canon R40/R42 1080-60p AVCHD files to FCE or iMovie for editing, you will need to convert them to a format that is compatible with FCE/iMovie, like Apple InterMediate Codec. The AIC format is FCE/iMovie’s favorite editing codec, which FCE and iMovie will recognize and handle well without incompatibility issues. To process R40/R42 1080-60p AVCHD to AIC conversion on Mac, you can give Video Converter for Mac a shot. It offers optimized format settings for FCE and iMovie, being able to bulk process Canon R40/R42 AVCHD to AIC .mov conversion with very good results.
Download a demo of Video Converter for Mac
How to convert Canon R40/R42 1080-60p AVCHD MTS clips to AIC for editing in FCE and iMovie?
Follow these steps:
Step 1: Open up Video Converter for Mac as a 60p AVCHD Video Converter for Mac. When its main interface comes up, click ‘Add File’ to load your source media.
Step 2: From ‘Profile’ list, choose ‘Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC)(*.mov)’ as output format under ‘iMovie and Final Cut Express’ column.
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 Canon R40/R42 60p AVCHD video to AIC MOV conversion
When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start Canon R40/R42 60p MTS to iMovie/FCE conversion. Once the conversion process is complete, click ‘Open Folder’ button to get the generated AIC MOV files for editing in Final Cut Express or iMovie with optimum performance.
Tips:
If you don’t want to wait for the entire conversion process, you can tick off ‘Showdown computer when conversion completed’ and go away to do other things.
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