Discussions on the Thread "Final Cut Pro 7 - Can't Get Files From My HMC150 - Help!"

You're welcome! Also, just to clarify, you don't have to get Snow Leopard to make it work, but it's good to have. Once you've changed your recording settings "High" or "Highest" try shooting a short clip at both and then see it that works in the Log and Transfer tool.

Thank you!

Hello, in your Camera Menu go to Recording Setup, then go to Record Format. REC FORMAT. You'll see these options:

PH 1080/60i
PH 1080/30P
PH 1080/24P
PH 720/60P
PH 720/30P
PH 720/24P
HA 1080/60i
HG 1080/60i
HE 1080/60i

The "PH" settings are Highest Quality, the "HA" settings are High Quality, the "HG" setting is Standard Quality and the "HE" is Below Standard Quality (or Long Duration Mode).

You can find a nice table that shows how much recording time you get at each quality level on page 32 of your user manual for this camera (if you don't still have the user manual, just do a search on the internet for "HMC 150 User Manual" to find a PDF of it.) You also need to upgrade your Mac to Snow Leopard, and depending on what setting your current footage was shot at, you may also need to convert those already shot files to .mov files using a third-party software like ".MTS to .MOV". (These are usually very cheap or even free). Hope this helps!

Hi Kelly, Thank you SO much for your help. I'm not running Snow Leopard. For some reason, I cannot find the setting on my HMC 150 that allows me to adjust the quality. Do you know where to find this? I can see the files but they are grayed out and final cut will not import them or log and transfer. Thank you again!

There are a few things you can try. First, go into your camera settings and check the Quality settings. If it's on "Standard" setting then your camera is creating files that FCP won't read. You should change your setting to "High Quality" which creates files that FCP can read. If this is the case, then the footage that you've already shot at "Standard" will need to be converted into .mov files using a third-party software like ".MTS to .MOV". You might want to change the quality settings in your camera, shoot a little footage, and then see if FCP will recognize it. Another thing to check is that your computer is running Snow Leopard. And finally, if a message comes up that says "card contains unsupported media or has an invalid directory structure", but you can still see thumbnails in the Log and Transfer window, then try it anyway and see what happens.

Hi Kelly,

Thank you for that information. My computer does have a card reader but for some reason the files will not open. They are .MTS files and Final Cut says the card contains unsupported media or has an invalid directory structure. Please choose a folder whose directory structure matches supported media. Any idea why this is happening? We also tried to connect to the computer from the camera but it will not import the files for some reason.

kellykorzan wrote: Final Cut is a great software, and the good news is that there is an easy way to get your video files from your HMC 150 into FCP. If your Mac laptop has a card reader and all of your footage is on that card, you can insert it into the card reader slot, launch FCP. Then in the FCP app, go to "File" then "Log and Transfer". The Log and Transfer window will open and the thumbnails of the video clips from your camera's card will show up in the top section of this window. You can either choose to "Import All" or select individual clips by clicking on the button to the left of the clips that you want, then choosing "Import Selected". You can also drag the clips that you want to import down into the lower window. The import will start automatically. No need to copy files to your computer. By Importing your footage via the Log and Transfer tool, FCP will take the AVCHD files from your cameras card and create a 'wrapper' that allows Final Cut to use it. This process also automatically puts the imported files on your hard drive. **Note: that if your mac laptop does not have a card reader slot, then you can turn your camera on, put it into PC mode, then connect it with the USB cable that came with your camera. Launch the FCP app and then follow the same steps as above.
In either instance don't forget to "Unmount" the card icon from the Mac desktop before you unhook your camera or eject your media card. Hope this helps!

Final Cut is a great software, and the good news is that there is an easy way to get your video files from your HMC 150 into FCP. If your Mac laptop has a card reader and all of your footage is on that card, you can insert it into the card reader slot, launch FCP. Then in the FCP app, go to "File" then "Log and Transfer". The Log and Transfer window will open and the thumbnails of the video clips from your camera's card will show up in the top section of this window. You can either choose to "Import All" or select individual clips by clicking on the button to the left of the clips that you want, then choosing "Import Selected". You can also drag the clips that you want to import down into the lower window. The import will start automatically. No need to copy files to your computer. By Importing your footage via the Log and Transfer tool, FCP will take the AVCHD files from your cameras card and create a 'wrapper' that allows Final Cut to use it. This process also automatically puts the imported files on your hard drive. **Note: that if your mac laptop does not have a card reader slot, then you can turn your camera on, put it into PC mode, then connect it with the USB cable that came with your camera. Launch the FCP app and then follow the same steps as above.
In either instance don't forget to "Unmount" the card icon from the Mac desktop before you unhook your camera or eject your media card. Hope this helps!