Description: A quick, step-by-step guide to help Panasonic AG-AC160 users to encode AG-AC160 AVCHD to ProRes for Final Cut Pro 6/7; you can also convert the FCP edited video to Quicktime MOV for sharing with family.
"I am having problem in getting Panasonic AG-AC160 AVCHD footage working in FCP 6, but could not find a step-by-step workflow on this. I need to get the video keep original size, deinterlaced and without quality loss as much as possible. Any ideas?"
The AG-AC160 is one of the high-end HD AVCHD handheld Camcorders. Contributes to Panasonic's special AVCHD footages, it's really the top-quality choice at high rate shooting such as 24 Mb/s. For high-def output, the HD-SDI terminal puts out HD signals including 1920 x 1080 at 24fps.
You can playback AVCHD files in Windows Media Player (Free MTS/M2TS Converter for Mac is recommended); but if you want to play/edit Panasonic AG-AC160 AVCHD files on Final Cut Pro 6/7, the best workflow is to encode AVCHD to FCP 6/7 friendly video codec, such as ProRes 422 MOV.
To accomplish this goal, a powerful Mac AVCHD to FCP Converter is recommended to help encode Panasonic AG-AC160 AVCHD to Apple ProRes so that you can edit them smoothly in FCP 6/7, as well as encoding the edited video back to normal mov files for sharing with friends.
Free Download Pavtube MTS/M2TS Converter for Mac
The program which can not only encode Panasonic AG-AC160 AVCHD footage to Apple ProRes codec for FCP 6/7 editing, but also support simple video editing functions. Pavtube MTS/M2TS Converter for Mac can encode MTS, M2TS, M2T, TS, MOD, TOD videos from HD camcorders or DVs (like JVC, Panasonic, Sony and Canon) for editing in Final Cut Pro (X), iMovie, Final Cut Express, Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro, Apple Aperture 3, Kdenlive, Avid Xpress Pro, Adobe Creative Suite 6, Adobe After Effects CS6, DaVinci Resolve etc. Just download it and follow the tutorial below to get the work done.
Step-by-step: How to Encode AVCHD footage from Panasonic AG-AC160 to Apple ProRes for FCP 6/7
1. Launch this AVCHD to ProRes Converter for Mac. Click the +top left icon to load individual mts files; or click the second icon to load the entire AVCHD file. Here is a guide of corresponding icon's function.
2. Click "Format" and choose Final Cut Pro - > Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov) as the preferred codec for Final Cut Pro 6/7.
For normal use, ProRes 422 is enough for most users; if you want to get better video quality, pls choose the second one - ProRes 422 HQ.
FYI: the better video quality you choose, the larger output file size will be; so pls ensure there's enough storage under the output path.
Besides, ProRes HQ and ProRes Proxy come with FCP 6 while ProRes LT and 4444 are relased together with FCP7. In this case, pls choose proper profile according to your FCP currently version.
Types of Apple ProRes Codecs | Apple ProRes Format Specifications
3. Click the Pencil - like "Editing" icon on the top, you will find several tabs enable you trim out a part of this video, or crop it. In the effect tab, you will find a the Deinterlacing box, check it according to your needs.
4. Click the "Convert" button to start encoding Panasonic AG-AC160 AVCHD to ProRes on Mac. There's no need to wait on front of screen; you can check "shut down computer after conversion" and leave it working directly.
When the AVCHD to Apple ProRes conversion process is 100% completed, you will be able to get the output mov files for Final Cut Pro 6/7 by clicking on "import" button effortlessly.
Tips:
1. A quick guide to show The Correct Way to Ingest and Import AVCHD to Final Cut Pro 7.
2. More step-by-step guide for Panasonic users are available on how to convert Panasonic footages to various video formats.
3. Before you try to do the conversion, if you are also a FCP X user, please make sure that you have installed the Apple ProRes Codec manually since the FCP X asks users to install it by themselves.
Learn More AVCHD MTS Guides:
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Source: Getting Panasonic AG-AC160 AVCHD working in FCP 6/7