Summary: What to do if iMovie/FCE can not recognize Sony a5100 footage? If you are planning to preorder a stylish new Sony Alpha α5100 camera, you may want to ask this question. This post explains how to transcode a5100 AVCHD/XAVC S/MP4 footage to AIC .mov for use in iMovie/FCE smoothly.
If you are planning to preorder a stylish new Sony Alpha α5100 camera, you may want to know if you can use a5100 footage within iMovie/FCE natively. The a5100 has versatile video features for its price, including support for full HD video recording in AVCHD as well as XAVC S format, which allows for recording at up to 50Mbps, and ability to perform dual video recordings, allowing Full HD (AVCHD or XAVC S) and lower resolution MP4 shooting simultaneously. The MP4 format is a smart choice for uploading, sharing and post-processing, while the AVCHD and XAVC S codec sometimes may bring troubles while processing post-production.
What to do if iMovie/FCE can not recognize Sony a5100 AVCHD/XAVC S footage?
If for some reason you can not use Sony a5100 AVCHD/XAVC S footage in iMovie/FCE natively, you can consider transcoding a5100 video files to an intermediate format that is compatible with iMovie/FCE before editing. HD Video Converter for Mac is ideal for this. It is able to open Sony Alpha α5100 Full HD AVCHD files and XAVC S1080/60p/24p recording at 50Mbps, and converts them to AIC MOV for use in iMovie or FCE with best quality.
Download a free trial of HD Video Converter for Mac
Sony a5100 and iMovie/FCE workflow: convert a5100 footage to MOV for editing in iMovie and FCE
Follow these steps:
1. Install and run HD Video Converter for Mac as a Sony a5100 to QuickTime Converter for Mac. When its main interface appears as below, you can click ‘Add Video’ to load your a5100 footage to the program.
2. From the Format bar, choose ‘Apple InterMediateCodec (AIC) (*.mov) as output format from ‘iMovie and Final Cut Express’ column. Note that the AIC codec is also accepted by Final Cut Pro (HD 4.5 through 5), but rarely used in Final Cut Pro as of Version 6 since it now uses the ProRes codecs instead of the Apple Intermediate Codec.
3. Click ‘Settings’ button and go to ‘Profile Settings’ window to custom video and audio settings like resolution, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate, audio channel, etc.
4. When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start transcoding Sony a5100 footage to AIC – the best suited editing format for using within Apple iMovie Version 11, 8, or 9, as well as Final Cut Express.
5. When the conversion process is complete, click on ‘Open’ button to get the generated AIC QuickTime files and open them in iMovie/FCE for further editing.
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