Edit Sony HDR-PJ780VE 50p AVCHD in iMovie


If you’ve captured some MTS-format movies at 50p using a Sony HDR-PJ780VE camcorder, you may find it’s hard to let iMovie recognize PJ780VE 50p AVCHD MTS clips. In that case, you will need to transcode Sony 50p MTS to a format that is compatible with iMovie. This post tells how to do this.

sony pj780The Sony PJ780VE records 1080 HD video files in AVCHD MTS format at movie frame rate ranging from 50p, 50i and 25p to 24p, all with various bitrates from 2 to 28 Mbps. In addition to AVCHD recording format, the Sony PJ780 can also shoot 720p Video at 25p in MP4 format or standard definition MPEG-2 footage that is fit for DVDs. The 50p function can be used for slow-motion video with 25p playback, but if you try to open the PJ780VE 50p MTS videos in iMovie for basic editing, you will find it’s hard to do so. That’s because iMovie doesn’t have native support for 50p/60p AVCHD footage. To be able to ingest Sony PJ780VE 50p AVCHD to iMovie smoothly, you will need to re-encode PJ780VE 50p MTS to Apple’s InterMediate Codec (AIC), the native editing format of iMovie, which iMovie will recognize and handle well. (Note: If you’re using Mavericks, iMovie’10 natively support 50p and 60p import of AVCHD MTS files now, so Sony HDR-PJ780VE 50p MTS to iMovie AIC conversion is not required.)

By using our Video Converter for Mac, you are able to transcode PJ780VE 50p AVCHD MTS to QuickTime AIC for working with iMovie beautifully. It performs excellently as a Sony PJ780VE AVCHD to iMovie QuickTime Converter, featuring optimal format preset for iMovie and ensures audio and video in sync with best quality.

Download a free trial of Video Converter for Mac
sony pj780 avchd to imovie converter

How to make iMovie work with Sony HDR-PJ780VE 50p AVCHD MTS movies?

To be able to get iMovie to read Sony HDR-PJ780VE 50p AVCHD MTS videos, you will need to convert Sony HDR-PJ780VE AVCHD footage to AIC MOV in advance using Video Converter for Mac. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Open up our Video Converter as a Sony AVCHD 50p to iMovie Converter. When its main interface comes up, click ‘Add File’ to load your source media into it.
convert pj780 50p mts to aic

Step 2: From ‘Profile’ list, choose ‘Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC)(*.mov)’ as output format under ‘iMovie and Final Cut Express’ column.
transcode pj780 avchd to quicktime
Important: If you’ve loaded a number of MTS 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 Sony HDR-PJ780VE 50p MTS to iMovie AIC conversion
When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start format conversion. Once the conversion process is complete, click ‘Open Folder’ button to get the generated AIC MOV files for editing with iMovie’11/9/8.

Tips:

If you don’t want to wait for theentire conversion process, you can tick off ‘Showdown computer when conversion completed’ and go away to do other things.

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