Home » How To »Transcode Sony HDR-CX560/CX560V MTS to Apple InterMediate Codec for iMovie
Transcode Sony HDR-CX560/CX560V MTS to Apple InterMediate Codec for iMovie
  • sony-hdr-cx560-cx560v-mts-to-mov-for-imovie.gif
    “I am trying to get film shot on a Sony HDR CX560 onto iMovie. The camera is attatched by a USB, but nothing shows up on the iMovie screen. “ As we know, the HDR-CX560(HDR-CX560V) Camcorder encodes footage in AVCHD which utilizes MPEG-4 AVC/H.264(AVC) video coding and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio coding. Although Apple claims that iMovie ‘09/11 supports most commonly-used video codecs, including DV, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, AVCHD and AIC, due to the wide range of media types and the different way manufactures store video on these media players, not all AVCHD camcorders including Sony HDR-CX560/CX560V camcorder are compatible with iMovie ‘09/11. In this case, the workaround for the HDR CX560/CX560V Camcorder owners is using a Mac AVCHD Converter to convert/transcode HDR CX560/CX560V AVCHD Videos to AIC for iMovie ‘09/11.
  • About Apple Intermediate Codec
    “The Apple Intermediate Codec is a video codec designed by Apple, Inc to be an intermediate format in an HDV workflow. It features high performance and quality, being less processor intensive to work with than other editing formats. Unlike native MPEG-2 based HDV - and similar to the standard-definition DV codec - AIC does not use temporal compression, enabling every frame to be decoded immediately without decoding other frames. As a result of this, AIC takes three to four times more space than HDV.
    AIC is available only on the Mac OS X platform and cannot be read on other platforms to date such as Windows or Linux. All Mac OS X software which makes use of the QuickTime codec libraries - primarily Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Express, and iMovie, but also freeware such as MPEG Streamclip - can use the Apple Intermediate codec.”
  • What you will need?
    Brorsoft MAC MTS to AIC MOV Converter.
  • Preparation: Connect Sony HDR-CX560/CX560V Camcorder to iMac/Mac Book. On the left hand, there's a port of USB cable for you. Import the .AVCHD files that you want to deal with into hard drive. After transferring to MAC, the footages become files with extensions of .mts.
  • Step 1: Add or import HDR-CX560 MTS files to Brorsoft MTS Converter for Mac.
    Drag and drop specified HDR-CX560/CX560V MTS files to the best MTS Converter for Mac or click the "Add" button to accomplish this importing. If you want to get only one single editable file, you can use this Mac HDR-CX560 Converter’s “merge into one file” feature. Load all of your separate mts files to the program; check the box “Merge into one file” on the main interface with only one click.
  • Step 2: Select Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov) as output format for iMovie '09/11
    In order to convert MTS to AIC for iMovie, you just need select AIC (*.mov) as output format for iMovie. Please click on the dropdown menu of “Format”, and then follow “iMovie and Final Cut Express” > “Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov)”.
  • Step 3: Adjust audio and video settings
    The Mac MTS Converter enables users to adjust audio and video settings before transcoding HDR-CX560 MTS to Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC). Click “Settings” button, then you will enter the following interface, on which you are allowed to customize size, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate, and audio channel, etc. If you feel like to keep 1080p as the source file features please set video size to 1920*1080. Or set smaller bitrate to further cut down export file size.
  • Step 4: Transcode HDR-CX560/CX560V MTS files to Apple InterMediate Codec AIC MOV Videos.
    Click “Convert” button to start transcoding HDR CX560/CX560V MTS files to Apple InterMediate Codec AIC MOV videos with the best MTS to AIC MOV Converter for Mac. The converting process will take you several minutes, please wait patiently. You can:
    Be clear about the total achieved percentage of scheduled progress
    "Pause" or "Cancel" the conversion at any time
    "Shut down the computer after conversion" by ticking the box
  • After the HDR-CX560/CX560V MTS to Apple InterMediate Codec AIC MOV video conversion, open iMovie and click the "Format" pop-down menu, and then choose "New event" item instead of "New Project" to load the output .MOV videos to iMovie 09’/11.