An evolution of Sony’s industry leading PMW-EX3, the Sony PMW-300 is able to record 50Mbps HD material in MPEG HD422, meeting broadcast standards around the world. The camcorder can also be upgraded in the future to support Sony’s revolutionary XAVC codec. If you’ve shot XDCAM digital videos with a Sony PMW-300, you might want to import the XDCAM files into your Mac for editing. This article outlines the Sony PMW-300 XDCAM to iMovie workflow. Go through the article, to find some tips and tricks you need.
As you know, all Mac laptops come with the free iMovie application already installed, but you can’t import Sony PMW-300 XDCAM files into iMovie, as the application has to convert the video files into a different codec that it can support. Some guys mention the XDCAM Transfer tool, but as far as know, Sony’s XDCAM Transfer tool but that only seems to transcode to a format supported by Final Cut Pro. So, you will need another tool to help you convert Sony XDCAM to iMovie. Overall, Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac is highly recommended here.
XDCAM Transfer will turn XDCAM files into QT MOV when it copies source files from the camera media to the computer. Well, this XDCAM Converter allows you to convert Sony XDCAM to AIC .mov with zero quality loss for editing in iMovie 08/09/11. Plus, it also supports transcoding Sony XDCAM, XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX to ProRes for FCP, DNxHD for Avid Media Composer, MPEG-2 for Adobe Premiere Pro. Download the program and learn how to turn Sony PMW-300 XDCAM to Apple InterMediate Codec for iMovie.
Convert and Import Sony XDCAM footage from PMW-300 to iMovie
1. Import XDCAM video clips Install and run the Sony XDCAM to iMovie converter on Mac, and then click “Add files” icon to import your XDCAM MXF files directly from your camcorder or the copied folder on the desktop.
2. Choose iMovie preferred format Hit the Format box to select the specially designed video codec for editing in iMovie: iMovie/FCE —> Apple InterMediate Codec(AIC) (*.mov) as the optimal output format.
3. Advanced video/audio settings (Optional) Adjust the video and parameters, including the Bitrate of Video and Audio, Audio, Video Size, Sample Rate, Frame Rate, Audio Channels, etc., by clicking the Settings buttion on the main interface.
4. Start Sony XDCAM to iMovie conversion Click the arrow button to start converting Sony XDCAM .MXF footage to AIC for iMovie immediately. After the conversion finished, you can directly transfer the AIC .MOV video to iMovie for further editing without any problem(Just launch iMovie, click Import File > Import > Movies to add your videos.).
Additional Tips: Besides transcoding Sony XDCAM to iMovie, Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac can also convert Sony XDCAM, XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX files (from PMW-EX3, PMW-EX1R, PMW-EX1, PMW-320K, PMW-200, PMW-100, PDW-F800…) to FCP, FCE, Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere Pro, etc NLE systems on Mac(Mavericks included). Choose a proper format in the second step.
Related Guides:
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