[Bob Kohler]

The problem may be with your reader. Does the disc image mount on the desktop.
I bought a “boutique” reader made by Pro Gear called the “G5”. I was told this is the only one that works 100%. I can’t back up that statement except to tell you it’s works every time for me.

You set up should work other than that, you’ve got the correct hardware and software.
By the way, the new iMovie can use AVCHD.

[Bob Kohler]

I’ve been thinking about upgrading my workstation to either a Quad or 8 core. I’m mostly looking for more processing power to render movies to Flash. Why are you considering the Quad rather than the 8 Core…

[Bob Kohler]

Here’s the deal. First, not many card readers will “see” the SDHC 4 gig card. I bought a “boutique” reader made by Pro Gear called the “G5”. I got it at Fry’s, it’s about $50. From my research it’s one of the only readers out there that see the card.

Second, it will only work on an Intel Mac. G5’s won’t work. I tried but it won’t work. On Apple’s site they list that AVCHD only works in FCP 6.0.1 on Intel based machines.

On my Intel MacBook Pro it works exactly like P2 cards. The files come in via Log and Transfer. You can see all of the clips on the card and choose what you want by simply dragging the clips icon into an import area. As soon as you drop in a clip the import area
it starts coming in.

The files are conveniently listed as #1, #2 etc. so it’s pretty easy to keep track of them.
After the import the files are ProRes 422 according to the info. panel.

As a third camera it’s great. The only downsides are no pro sound. But if you’re running better cameras it’s not a problem.

I still need to experiment with the best Sequence settings for optimum workflow. I’m currently in the middle of a project but I want to see if it’s better to use the AVCHD clips on a DVCPro HD timeline or make the timeline ProRes 422. If anybody tries this let me know!

Bob

[Bob Kohler]

I’m the consumer grade model. It’s the HDC-SD. I’m mixing it as a third camera with 2 HVX 200’s. For what I’m doing it’s perfect. I checked this one out against the higher end model, the AG-HSC1U at NAB and apparently the only difference is the gamma curve. Since I’m going to try an match the footage against better camera’s I’m going to be doing color correction anyway so I choose to save some money.

I picked it up at B&H for $800. It’s the best $800 camera I’ve ever seen. It certainly has a lot of limitations but the picture quality is very good. I don’t use the mics but they are actually pretty good.

[Bob Kohler]

Flip4Mac makes a plug-in for Compressor called Episode.
I saw it at NAB. It’s a great solutiom for WMV or Flash using Compressor.
The downside is the pricing is steep, too steep for me.

You can read about it here: https://flip4mac.com/

Pay close attention to all of the different versions and capabilities to find what you really need. Batch processing is only available in the most expensive versions.

Bob