Thursday, January 2, 2014

Edit JVC GY-HM650U ProHD MXF files with iMovie on Mac 10.9 Mavericks

Summary: This guide will show you how to easily convert and import JVC GY-HM650U ProHD MXF footage into iMovie for further editing on Mac (OS X 10.9 Mavericks included).

"I have a JVC GY-HM650U ProHD camcorder that records .MXF video format, now I would like to import these projects to iMovie for editing. What I want is to edit MXF files smoothly without codec problems, what video codec should I use? Can you recommend some software which can help me import and convert JVC MXF to iMovie smoothly?"

Everything goes perfect until you try to edit JVC GY-HM650U .mxf file in iMovie. Fail in import the MXF file into iMovie as iMovie can't recognize this file. Why does it happen? The answer is MXF file format incompatibility with iMovie (even iMovie'11).

As far as I know, in order to edit JVC GY-HM650U ProHD MXF files in iMovie flawlessly, the best method is to convert JVC MXF to Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC) which is a best editing codec for iMovie.

At first, you need 3rd-party tool - Pavtube MXF Converter for Mac

It is a professional MXF to iMovie Converter which can not only convert JVC GY-HM650U ProHD recorded MXF files to AIC for iMovie editing on Mac OS X Mavericks, but also provide simple video editing functions for you. This Mac MXF Converteris especially designed for converting Panasonic P2 MXF, Sony XDCAM MXF, http://www.pavtube.com/canon-camera-file-transcode.html]Canon XF MXF files for editing in Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Pro X, Final Cut Express, iMovie, Avid, Adobe Premiere etc. Below is how. (Learn more about MXF: MXF Column)

Guide - Encode JVC GY-HM650U ProHD MXF to AIC for iMovie editing on Mavericks

Step 1. Import MXF files from JVC GY-HM650U to the top MXF to iMovie Converter for Mac.

(Note: Before conversion, you need to transfer MXF files from your JVC GY-HM650U to Mac Hard Drive, then click the "add" button to browse to import MXF videos. This MXF Converter for Mac support batch conversion)


Step 2. Click the Format bar, and move mouse cursor to "iMovie and Final Cut Express -> Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov)", it's the best format for editing in iMovie.

convert mxf to aic mov for imovie

Step 3. Click "Convert" button to start transcoding JVC GY-HM650U ProHD MXF files to AIC Codec for iMovie under Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks.

iMovie Importing: How to import video files or projects to iMovie?

Some more helpful features of the app:

1. Settings- click to set video resolution(1920×1080/1440×1080/1280×720/720×480), bitrate(from 1Mbps to 20Mbps), frame rate (24p/30p)

2. Editor (next to "Add" icon)- click to set deinterlace, denoise, mute, volume up, trim, crop, etc.

So there you have it. Pretty simple. After the workflow, you can go to the output folder to find the converted video files. Now you are free to start importing/editing JVC GY-HM650U ProHD MXF files in iMovie under Maveircks without problems.