Importing AVCHD video files from a Canon VIXIA R500 to Avid


Summary: If you are facing importing issues while editing Canon VIXIA HF R500 AVCHD MTS files in Avid systems, you will need to use a VIXIA R500 AVCHD to Avid Converter to transcode VIXIA R500 files to DNxHD MOV for use in Avid smoothly.

Does anyone know a converter that will convert R500 AVCHD files to QuickTime for Avid with best quality?
“As a retired pathologist I enjoy photography as a private hobby. Several days ago, I received a Cannon HD R500 camcorder as a birthday gift from my daughter and son. We’ve captured some 1920 x 1080 Full HD video in AVCHD Progressive (28 Mbps) format with it during my birthday party. Now I’m planning to edit the Canon R500 AVCHD files in Avid MC, but it seems that Avid doesn’t want to accept R500 MTS clips at all. I heard someone said I need to transcode VIXIA R500 to DNxHD MOV for use in Avid. So I searched for a long time for a workable converter that will easily convert my R500 footage. Unfortunately, the converter apps I’ve tried made audio and video always slip out of sync which is very frustrating! Does anyone know a converter that will convert R500 AVCHD files to QuickTime for Avid with best quality?”
canon r500

Our Quick Answer
By using Video Converter, you are able to re-encode R500 AVCHD MTS files to an intermediate codec (DNxHD .mov) for working with Avid beautifully. More than handling Canon VIXIA AVCHD files, this converter utility is also able to convert video files in MXF, MOV, AVI, MKV, VRO, TiVo, etc. to whatever format you request for editing and playing.

Download a free trial of Video Converter
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Canon R500 and Avid workflow – transcode VIXIA R500 AVCHD MTS to DNxHD for Avid apps

Follow these steps:
Step 1: Run Video Converter as a Canon R500 MTS to QuickTime Converter, then click ‘Add File’ icon to load R500 footage. You can load directly from your camcorder, or load from a card reader or from an achieved folder that contains your R500 media.
convert r500 avchd to avid

Step 2:Choose output format for Avid MC, Avid Symphony and Avid NewsCutter
From ‘Format’ bar, select ‘Avid Media Composer’ > ‘Avid DNxHD (*.mov)’ as output format.

Step 3: Advanced settings (for advanced users)
If you are an advanced user, you can click ‘Settings’ button and go to ‘Profile Settings’ window to custom video and audio settings like resolution, video codec, bit rate, frame rate, audio codec, bit rate, sample rate and audio channel.

Step 4: When ready, click ‘Convert’ button to start converting HF R500 MTS to DNxHD that is well compatible with your Avid NLE applications.

Step 5: When the conversion process finished, click ‘Open Folder’ button to get the generated DNxHD MOV files for using with Avids.
Tips: The Canon AVCHD to Avid Converter is capable of processing batch conversion, so you can input loads of your R500 MTS clips into it to do format conversion at a time (Do remember ticking off ‘Apply to All’ before you start.). If you don’t want to wait for the entire format shifting process, you can tick off ‘Showdown computer when conversion completed’ and go away to do other things.

Also read
How to import MXF footage into Avid Media Composer
How to import and edit AVCHD footage within DaVinci Resolve?
How to edit AVCHD files taken with Canon LEGRIA camcorder on Mac?