Sony HDR-XR550V Review-Convert AVCHD to Apple ProRes in FCP for Editing

Sony Handycam HDR-XR550V records your memories and snap 12.1-megapixel photos directly to the massive 240GB hard disk drive (HDD). The shooting quality of the HDR-XR550V is impressive and naturally lives up to its flagship status and price. In line with Blu-ray formats in the market, recording is supported up to 24Mbps. High definition videos are recorded at 1920 x 1080 resolutions primarily to the in-built HDD. Picture quality was sharp and crisp, a result which was equally pleasing when viewing on a HD monitor or TV.

Many people say Sony HDR-XR550V is the best hard drive camcorder from Sony at the moment and its excellent performance has won hearts of many customers. A lot of our customers use Sony HDR-XR550V for recording family videos, such as holiday vacation at east coast beach, your children’s birthday party or your pet’s playing video. In most cases, they want to do some basic editing and make great home movies to preserve their memories with highest quality.

For windows users, it might be not such a problem as bundled software from Sony Picture Motion Browser is capable of basic editing and output videos to BD/DVD or upload to YouTube. But how do you edit AVCHD on Mac OSX?

Final Cut Pro 6.0.1 update adds AVCHD transfer capabilities but is everything ok now?
Apple's own Final Cut Studio 2 suite had a minor update for Final Cut Pro to version 6.0.1 which added the capability to transfer the AVCHD footage. But is everything really so promising for Mac users? I guess not. We’ve been receiving complaints and problems from our customers about their frustrating experience with AVCHD on final cut pro 6 or 7.

Is there a simple and useful tool for Mac users to handle AVCHD for smooth editing in FCP without rendering?
Aunsoft Studio nearly released product on Mac OSX Aunsoft Final Mate for Mac is specifically designed for camcorder users to easy handle, convert, share, playback AVCHD, TOD & MOD high definition videos.

In the article, I will take Sony HDR-XR550V as an example to show how to convert AVCHD MTS/M2TS video footage to Apple ProRes for smooth editing in Final Cut Pro 6 & 7.

1. Capture/Import Sony XR550V AVCHD files to Aunsoft Final Mate for Mac.
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 XR550V 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 XR550V 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 XR550V mts videos from computer.
If you have already backup all your video recordings from XR550V to your computer, you can browse your video path and the software will automatically show your AVCHD clips in Resource tab.

2. Merge Sony DSC-XR550V AVCHD files into one movie 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.

3. Convert Sony XR550V MTS files to ProRes MOV.
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 XR550V MTS files to ProRes MOV.

When the conversion process is done, you can directly import the output ProRes MOV files to FCP for editing without rendering and make your great home movies.

The steps above are also applied to other AVCHD camcorders developed by Sony, Panasonic, Canon or JVC brands.
Featured product from Aunsoft Studio Aunsoft Final Mate for Mac is the ideal companion for camcorder users who also use Mac machine to easy convert AVCHD to Apple ProRes Codec.

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.