AVCHD HDR-UX1 High Definition Works With Apple iMovie '08!

[Jerry Jones]

One keeps reading and hearing that DVD disc camcorders are difficult; that it's tough to edit the video... blah, blah, blah.

Well, I've just finished some tests that expose that line of thinking as a complete crock.

My test camcorder: the Sony HDR-UX1, which records high definition AVCHD video to 8cm mini DVD discs. I used a 2.6GB DVD+R DL (double layer) Sony 8cm disc.

I opened Apple iMovie '08.

I connected my USB 2.0 cable to my Apple Mac mini and then to my Sony HDR-UX1.

I turned on the camcorder with the disc -- finalized -- inside.

The disc mounted without a problem and a very nice Apple iMovie thumbnail capture menu appeared, allowing me to easily select the scenes I wanted to capture.

Each scene that I selected for capture transferred flawlessly to Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) I-Frame .MOV format for easy editing and previewing and -- ultimately -- output to the format of my choosing.

Flawless.

Easy.

Happy.

I'm running the latest Apple operating system -- Leopard -- and I am so pleased with the performance so far.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

Also tried a second experiment.

I put the camcorder away.

I then took the mini DVD disc -- by itself -- and inserted it into my USB 2.0 external Sony DRX-S70U ultra-slim DVD drive, which I plugged into the USB 2.0 port on my Apple Mac mini.

The disc mounted automatically and Apple iMovie '08 saw it and read its contents, once again presenting me with that nice thumbnail menu to capture the clips.

Very nice.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

Having succeeded with my AVCHD 8cm DVD camcorder using a mini double layer DVD+R disc, I was then curious to find out if I could capture clips from an 8cm DVD-RAM disc recorded in my old Panasonic VDR-M30.

First, I purchased the MPEG-2 playback plug-in for QuickTime.

Second, I downloaded the free Squared 5 "MPEG Streamclip" application.

1. I opened "MPEG Streamclip" and it saw the .VRO file in the DVD_RTAV folder on the 8cm disc that I recorded in my Panasonic VDR-M30 DVD disc camcorder.

2. Then, I was amazed that the "MPEG Streamclip" application then gave me the option to "fix timecode breaks" and open the entire .VRO set of cells as one MPEG-2 clip.

3. "MPEG Streamclip" then allows me to convert to a wide variety of formats, including the APPLE INTERMEDIATE CODEC (AIC).

Works flawlessly; very pleased.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Jerry Jones]

P.S. Same terrific results in Final Cut Express 4.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net