Mac Transcode AVCHD Footage to ProRes for Final Cut Pro from Sony XR160 Camcorder

Sony HDR-XR160 Handycam camcorder records stunning 1920 x 1080 Full HD videos. It features an "Exmor R" CMOS sensor for superior low-light performance and wide angle Sony G lens to take in more of the scene, plus 42x extended zoom for getting you closer to the action. Also equipped with a hard disk drive (HDD), you can record and store up to 54 hours of high-definition video footage (HD LP mode).

Talking about editing AVCHD video footage on Final Cut Pro, it’s not that perfect as we imagined. Final Cut Pro 6 claims to give full support for Sony AVCHD (*.mts, *.m2ts) format, but many people including our customers have experiencing enormous troubles about handling AVCHD clips on FCP. For easier and more convenient handling camcorder footage for Mac users, Aunsoft Studio has developed Aunsoft Final Mate for Mac.

How Aunsoft Final Mate for Mac help FCP users?
-Capture video footage AVCHD from camcorder
-Convert AVCHD MTS/M2TS to Apple ProRes for editing on FCP

This guide will tell you how to convert/transcode Sony XR160 AVCHD MTS to ProRes for smooth editing in Final Cut Pro without rendering.

Step 1. Capture/Import Sony XR160 AVCHD to the program
There are two ways to import videos to Aunsoft Final Mate for Mac: you can directly capture video recordings from camcorder to the program or you can browser videos from your computer.
- Capture Sony XR160 AVCHD videos from camcorder.
Connect camcorder to computer via USB cable, and then launch Aunsoft Final Mate for Mac in Application folder. With built-in wizard, you can easily to capture mts video files from XR160 to the program. Select “Import” instead of Backup to quickly capture videos from camcorder. You can find imported videos under Camcorder tab in the main interface of Final Mate.

- Import Sony XR160 mts videos from computer.
If you have already backup all your video recordings from XR160 to your computer, you can browse your video path and the software will automatically show your AVCHD clips in Resource tab.

Step 2. Merge XR160 MTS clips to one for conversion
Click the drop-down button of “Add Movie” icon and choose “For Conversion” to create a blank movie.

Once you’ve imported your video footage, drag and drop the video clips from Camcorder Tab (imported from your camcorder) or Resource Tab (imported from your computer) to the blank movie in Movies Tab. In this way, all video clips will be merged as one single movie for conversion.

Step 3. Convert merged AVCHD movie to Apple ProRes Codec
Click the Export button and choose “Export into Editor”. Follow Final Cut Pro> Apple ProRes 422 HQ (*.mov) to choose export format for further editing in Final Cut Pro. Or you can also choose QuickTime Movie Format > Apple Intermediate Codec (*.mov) for editing in FCE/iMovie. Click OK to start converting XR160 MTS files to ProRes MOV.

Click Ok to confirm your settings and start conversion. When the process is done, you can directly import the exported Sony XR160 ProRes MOV movie to FCP for editing without any rendering and make your great home movies. It’s that easy!

Import Canon Rebel T2i/550D 1080/30fps H.264 MOV to ProRes 422 Codec for FCP 6/7
EOS Converter-Transcode Canon DSLR 550D Video to ProRes 422 in Full HD 1080p for FCP editing

Canon EOS Digital Rebel T2i / 550D recorded videos are saved in H.264 for image and linear PCM for audio. You can choose different recording modes like full HD 1920×1080p at 30/25/24 fps, HD/SD 1280×720p/640×480 at 60/50 fps. Even though the videos are saved in .mov format, you may also face problem importing the video to Final Cut Pro. So you need a Mac Canon EOS Video Converter for converting and importing 550D1080p MOV for Final Cut Pro without rendering. Aunsoft Video Converter for Mac is the recommended Mac Canon EOS Converter for you to edit Digital Rebel T2i / 550D videos.

Below is the quick guide for those who have a hard time editing Canon EOS Digital Rebel T2i / 550D H.264 MOV files to ProRes 422 at 30fps in Final Cut Pro 6 or 7.

Step 1. Download Canon 550D MOV files to Aunsoft Video Converter for Mac.
Run Aunsoft Video Converter for Mac as the best Canon EOS Rebel T2i H.264 MOV to ProRes MOV converter on Mac OS X. Click the “Add” button to import .mov files from the camera.

Step 2. Choose MOV format with ProRes 422.
Click the “Format” option, and navigate to Final Cut Pro > Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov) as output format. The Mac Digital SLR camera video converter will convert H.264 mov to prores 422 mov.

You may notice that there are also other options like Apple ProRes 4444, Apple ProRes 422 (HQ), Apple ProRes 422 (LT), Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy), DVCPRO HD 1920*1080 30fps etc.

Step 3. Choose 1080p size with 30fps.
Click the “Settings” button and choose 1920*1080 from the video size drop-down box to keep the original HD resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio. Click the drop-down box for frame rate, and you can choose 30fps.

Step 4. Convert DSLR video to ProRes 422 HQ MOV for FCP.
Click the convert button under the preview window, the Mac Canon 550D DSLR video converter will start converting DSLR video to ProRes 422 in full HD 1080p for FCP editing.

After the conversion, you can import ProRes mov to Final Cut Pro without rendering.Hope you enjoy the optimal way to convert Canon H.264 mov to ProRes 422 for FCP 7 and 6, so that you can edit the H.264 files easily.