Panasonic’s new 700-series cameras shoot in amazing 1080p50. (In the USA, 1080p60. I’ll be using the “1080p50″ term in this article but everything will work the same for the 1080p60 version.) This format is slightly non-standard and difficult to use on the Mac. The following is the result of my experiments in getting it to work.

Note: Please, no tech support questions. This is a technical article and I don’t have time to help you. Please ask elsewhere.

Step 1: Converting the video to be usable

You can use ffmpeg to convert the files into a usable format. I get ffmpeg from MacPorts but you can build it yourself if you’re into that kind of thing.

The correct command to convert the video is:

ffmpeg -i video_from_camera.MTS -acodec copy -vcodec copy fixed_video.m4v

Replace “video_from_camera” and “fixed_video” with the names of the video file from the card, and the name you want to save as, respectively. You’ll find the videos on the card in the folder PRIVATE/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM.

I wrote the following bash script to automatically convert all the files from the card into a folder on my hard disk:

#!/bin/bash
mkdir -p ~/Movies/Camera
cd /Volumes/CAM_SD/PRIVATE/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM
for f in *.MTS; do
echo $f
ffmpeg -i $f -acodec copy -vcodec copy "$HOME/Movies/Camera/$(basename $f .MTS).m4v"
done

Change “CAM_SD” to be the name of your card or camera.

The converted files end up in a folder called “Camera” inside your “Movies” folder. Make sure you rename the Camera folder before you run the script again, or it will overwrite the movies already there.

2. Editing the video

2a. Using Final Cut Express

Final Cut Express does not support any video greater than 30fps. You can import the video and edit it, but you will end up with 25 or 30fps upon export. The quality will still be higher than shooting in 1080i, however, so you may be happy to go this route.

Note: I’m not rich enough to own a copy of Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Pro X, so I don’t know anything about it, sorry. Again, if you’d like to buy me a copy of Final Cut Pro X I would be happy to update this page.

2b. Using iMovie ’11

It is possible to keep the 50fps frame rate using iMovie 11.

Import the converted video into iMovie, and turn on the “Optimize” option, setting it to “Full – Original Size”.

If you want to preserve the high frame rate on export, you’ll need to use “Export using QuickTime” to export to MP4 and manually choose 50 (or 60) fps, or iMovie will default to 25/30.

If you don’t care about the frame rate, you can use iMovie’s other “Share” menu options, but these will convert to 25 or 30fps. You’ll still get better quality than you would if you’d shot in 1080i, so you may be happy with this.

Three years later this guide is no longer relevant, and so I have removed it. For good quality video, do at least one of these two things:

1. Upgrade to iMovie 11, which you can download from the Mac App Store. You’ll need to be running Mac OS X 10.6 (“Snow Leopard”) or Mac OS X 10.7 (“Lion”). If you’re running an older version then you will need to upgrade, as Apple no longer supports those versions.
2. Use a camera which records in a “progressive” format. As well as “progressive”, your camera may call this “720p” or “1080p” mode. If your camera has an option to choose one of these modes, use it!