How to transcode Canon R52 AVCHD MTS to AIC for iMovie’11?


Summary: If you have troubles while importing Canon VIXIA R52 AVCHD footage to iMovie’11 for further editing, you will need to transcode R52 footage to an intermediate codec that is well compatible with iMovie’11, like Apple’s InterMediate Codec .mov. This post tells you how-to.

canon r52 to imovie'11User Question
“Hi, there! I’m looking for some help working Canon VIXIA HF R52 footage with iMovie’11. I have some loose MTS video files taken with a Canon R52 camcorder. They are delivered to me by one of my clients. I tried to import and edit them in iMove’11, but wouldn’t do it. I cannot seem to get iMovie’11 accept Canon R52 MTS clips at all. Does anyone have any suggestion on this? Thanks for you help.”

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If they are .mts files, it’s possible your client did not copy the whole AVCHD structure to you so iMovie’11 refused recognizing Canon R52 AVCHD footage. If you have the .mts clips in some folder on your drive, you could try to rewrap R52 MTS to Apple InterMediate Codec .mov using a software program like Video Converter for Mac. That useful software has helped a lot of people a couple of times getting usable media out of a somehow defective card.

The Video Converter for Mac, which works great as a Canon R52 MTS Converter for Mac, is a converter program designed for transcoding HD media, including camera and camcorder videos files to whatever format you need with best video and audio synchronization. It supported camera brands include Canon, Sony, JVC, Nikon, Panasonic, Fujifilm, Pentax, Red, Blackmagic, Sanyo, and so on. With this little tool, you are able to create editable files for NLEs like FCP X, FCP 6/7, iMovie, Final Cut Express, Avid MC, DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro CS 6, Sony Vegas, etc. and export playable files for iOS devices, Android devices, HD Media Players, Game consoles and more.

Download a free trial of Video Converter for Mac
canon r52 avchd converter for mac

How to transcode Canon R52 AVCHD MTS to AIC for iMovie’11?

Follow these steps:
1. Install and run Video Converter for Mac as a Canon AVCHD to iMovie Converter. The main interface appears as below:

2. Click on ‘Add File’ to add your R52 MTS files to the program.

3. Select output format for iMovie
To create editable files for iMovie, 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 Express and 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.

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.

By the way, to convert Canon R52 footage for FCP X, you can choose ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as output format from ‘Final Cut Pro’ catalogue.

4. Click ‘Settings’ button and go to ‘Profile Settings’ window to custom video and audio settings. (for advanced users)

5. When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start transcoding VIXIA R52 AVCHD files to AIC – the best suited editing format for using within Apple iMovie’11 and its former version iMovie’08 and iMovie’09.

6. When the conversion process is done, click ‘Open Folder’ button to get the generated AIC QuickTime files and open them in iMovie to create your own masterpieces.

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