iMovie is a nice little program. Unfortunately it’s a little too little. It has no native support for the AVCHD format, which means it has to import those files and convert them to it’s own format (a .mov file that uses Apple’s Intermediate Codec). This takes up more space, but it’s only a working file, so fair enough. Being in this intermediate format means the it’s quick to work with.

So, how it SHOULD work is: you start iMovie, then plug in the camera’s USB cable, and it will open a window, show you your clips, and you hit “Import All”, and it just works. Yeah right.

Of course, you had a problem, which is why you are here. Something like “No camera connected”? or “Folder is not a Camera Archive”?

Now you probably know that AVCHD files are stored in the .MTS format, and if you look at your camera (open up the NO NAME volume that mounts when you plug the camera in), then you’ll see that in /PRIVATE/AVCHD/BDMV/STREAM there are several .MTS files which contain your video.

What you CAN do is work with the .MTS file directly, and convert them using a program such as VoltaicHD, which is designed specifically for this purpose. This works fine, you drop in an MTS file, click go, and it will produce a .MOV file about 7x the size. You can then import this into iMovie with File->Import->Movies. This then creates ANOTHER copy of the file, this time about twice the original size.

Well that’s one solution, but why can’t iMovie import the files directly?

The simple answer to that is “You broke it”.

iMovie expects to find an AVCHD folder, and the various files inside that, which contain thumbnails, playlists and other meta-data. This data must match up with the .MTS files, and is very fragile. The easiest way to break it is to delete one of the .MTS files, which is something you’d likely do after copying it manually to your PC.

And once the AVCHD folder is messed up in any way, like by deleting any file in it, then it’s broken forever. You can record new files, and you’ll still not see them, and iMove will tell you that’s not a camera you just connected, even though you know that it is. The only thing you can do is delete the ENTIRE AVCHD folder, or (preferably) format the memory card. Once you’ve done this, record some new video, start iMovie, plug in the camera (in PC mode) and you will be able to import.

Things to do:

* Already have an .MTS file? You’ll have to convert it before you import it. Use VoltaicHD, or maybe Handbrake. There’s talk of “recreating the directory structure”, but it all you have is the .MTS then it’s not going to work.
* iMove can’t detect your camera, even though the volume shows up the desktop? Copy all the files off it, and reformat the card.
* Want to delete some files? Delete them using the camera, or delete the whole folder. If you delete individual files from the computer, then iMovie will no longer detect your camera.
* Want to keep the original files for archive purposes or just make room on the camera, but don’t want to convert them yet? You can quickly copy the entire AVCHD folder to your hard drive. Then you can import this later with File->Import->Camera Archive…

Remember: NEVER CHANGE ANYTHING INSIDE AN AVCHD FOLDER.