Converting .MTS files to edit in final cut pro

[Shane Ross]

Trash your FCP preferences. That cures wonky behavior. Use Preference Manager from digitalrebellion.com. It’s free.

Shane
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[Dorit Grunberger]

Thanks for all your help Shane. Have a lovely weekend.
Dorit

Thanks in advance,
Dorit

[Meredith Wright]

this is my first time editing MTS files in FCP 7. I converted the files to .mov, i then converted those files to Apple Pro Res .mov as suggested.

edited the video and text in fcp in a sequence with these settings:
720×480 NTSC DV (3:2)

square

none

editing time base 24
Compressor Apple Pro res HQ
rate 48khz
16-bit

clips in sequence are:
the same except pixel aspect: NTSC CCIR 601

Have tried exporting a million ways and the viewer and canvas are perfect and crisp, but the export remains fuzzy, especially the text.

am running out of ideas. help!

[Dorit Grunberger]

Hi Meredith

You should “Log and Transfer” the files into FCP7 and save the 1st transcode to .mov if possible. Do you have all the metadata or just single .mts files?

[Meredith Wright]

Thanks for the quick response, only the MTS files were given to me.
However, I kept tampering with the sequence/codecs and discovered that if I create a new sequence, then manually change the settings to match the clip setting, THEN paste in the video it exports well.

The problem was I added clips to a sequence and allowed FCP to change the sequence settings instead of me. For some reason that does not allow the sequence to export properly.

hopefully that helps anyone else with MTS-FCP problems.

[Matt Campbell]

this is my first time editing MTS files in FCP 7. I converted the files to .mov, i then converted those files to Apple Pro Res .mov as suggested.

You should go straight from you MTS conversion into ProRes, which is a .mov format. No need for 2 conversion. Every time you change them, you loss a generation and degrade the video quality.

Also, convet your MTS files to the same resolution they were shot in. Meaning if shot in HD, 720 or 1080, convert them to that first, edit with that, then do you conversion using Compressor if you need a final output of SD.

edited the video and text in fcp in a sequence with these settings:
720×480 NTSC DV (3:2)
square
none

Square? NTSC video is not square pixels. they are NTSC pixels. If you’ve converted the MTS files properly, you should be able to load a clip in the viewer, edit into a new sequence and say yes to FCP prompt of matching clip setting to source setting.

editing time base 24
Compressor Apple Pro res HQ
rate 48khz
16-bit

With MTS files or even any Standard definition material, you shouldn’t use ProRes HQ. This is generally for high end work, 2K and above. Use ProRes 422 or even ProRes 422 LT.

Have tried exporting a million ways and the viewer and canvas are perfect and crisp, but the export remains fuzzy, especially the text.

Make sure you export in your native editing codec and do not transcode on export. If done properly, your new self-contained QT file should match your sequence settings and be crystal clear. Use that file as you master to create whatever it is you need.

OS 10.6.7, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 4 gb ram and AJA IoHD

[Juan carlos Arellano]

I use iMOVIE to capture the clips from the camera, It takes a long to capture but I do no see any alteration in the quality, my clips are saved in a iMovie events folder, I just drag’em to the final cut timeline, since they are captured in .mov it works perfectly on my computer, it also takes a lot of storage space, so make sure you capture your clips in an external hardrive, I hope this works also for you.

[Greg Pacheco]

Dave –

The recommendation to try the Free MTS app from the app store saved my bacon.

Thank you.

Greg

[Wei Xu]

Bros MTS converter is especially designed for HD video lovers to convert their MTS files to all popular video files like MTS to AVI, MTS to WMV, MTS to MPG, MTS to MOV, MTS to DVD, etc. At the same time, it also supports all other formats that common mobile phone supported.

It provides rich fuctions: capture pictures, setting diverse advanced profiles, create video from pictures, split one source file to several or output certain segment by setting exact time length, etc.

You can try this function is very powerful MTS converter software, there are those functions that you say, you can learn from it and see that you have no help.

Browser from Google search elements Keywords: Bros MTS converter you can find this powerful software.

[Peter Bello]

ok hi everyone!

i am having a similar problem with .MTS files.

I use a Sony A65 camera witch can record 1080P at 60fps… i have been trying to capture at this 60fps to get some nice slowmo but i just can find a way of converting the .MTS to apple pro res at 60fps to then use the cinema tools and conform it to 24 or 30fps witch i think is the way to go because its the way i do it with the gopro footage… can someone help me with this? explain to me what am i doing wrong? what converter should i use that doesn’t screw up the video quality? please this is driving me nuts!

thanx to everyone