Will a mac work?

Hi All

I have a Sony HDSR12 handycam and have been using my laptop and Sony Vegas to edit AVCHD. I need a faster machine and am seriously considering a mac

Questions
- HDSR12 is it pretty compatible with a mac eg. recognizes it etc?
- If i get a Mac can I beleive I can edit AVCHD in either Imovie, Final cut or Premier Pro? Or does it change the format out of AVCHD?
- I can use Toast to burn either a AVCHD disc to play in my Blu ray player or a DVD to play in standard DVD players?

At the end of the day i need to be able to edit my movies and put effects in. I must ensure i can playback my movies at 1080i in my Blu Ray player or burn a DVD for friends of the same footage

Any advice welcome and if i can do the above which Mac do you think?

Here is a list of supported camcorders from Apple's site:

iMovie ’08: Camcorder Support

So yes, a Mac would work and so would a Windows computer.
Either one would work just fine and there really isn't any advantage of one OS/machine over the other.
It all comes down to personal preference.

My opinions:

1) If you're going to use premiere CS4, either Mac or Windows PC will do fine, if your laptop is sluggish, then it's probably just time for an upgrade
2) If you want to use Final Cut (either Pro or Express) then you're locked to Mac (personally I prefer Final Cut over Premiere, but it's personal preference.
3) BluRay Support on OSX is rather limited at this time (it may improve with snowleopard, I don't know). You can use Toast to burn a bluray disk or AVCHD DVD (assuming your footage is short enough) or a regular DVD, but it isn't really a full fledged DVD / BluRay authoring system - you are limited on menu choices, ability to add extra features, etc.

I personally find OSX more pleasing to work with, and snapier then Windows, especially after all of my software was installed - but I also don't do any bluray work (hd video I output I either downsize for SD or output to .mp4 for playback). The only thing that would lock you into OSX is if you wanted to use Final Cut. The only thing that would lock you into windows at this time is if you want highly customizeable bluray authoring. Other than that, it's really an "up to you" based upon what you like and don't like.

To be clearer, there are Blu-Ray burning solutions for the Mac. Toast is the simplest. Adobe Encore may be a part of the Premier package, but I'm not sure how it is sold. These tools both can create a Blu-Ray discs playable on many Blu-Ray players. Also of use is the ability to create DVDs with Blu-Ray disc images also playable on many Blu-Ray players. The Blu-Ray spec says both single and dual sided DVDs are suppose to be usable in such machines. Apparently that is a hit & miss situation at the moment.

A new application called BlueStreak Premaster can create a master for replicators from images made from Encore or Toast.

I believe iMovie changes the AVCHD to Apple Intermediate codec. I thought Final Cut Express does too.

I don't know if Toast will take your AVCHD and create a playable disc with it. It certainly could burn the data files. Check their site for more information.

According to Apples compatibility page, your camera should work. Also, give the other information here, you should be able to edit and create HD discs.

Imovie 06, which you can download from Apples site, which most people like better than the current iMovie, supports DV, HDV, and MP4, and renders many other formats to any of those. A mac is usually more favored for editing videos as you get an easy to work with interface, and macs are more reliable but that doesn't mean you shouldn't lay off the save button.

Unfortunately, unless Apple has put it back up on their site, iMovie 06 download has been yanked from Apples download as of January...