Panasonic M700 camcorder and iMovie

When we bought our new Panasonic M700 camcorder, the salesman said that it would work with iMovie. The manual said that iMovie 11 can't read 1080/60 pi films.

I can't even get my laptop to read the stills that I took with the movie camera.

Do I take it back to the store and ask to exchange it or have I missed something?

Thanks for any help that you can give,
radiomother

radiomother said:

When we bought our new Panasonic M700 camcorder, the salesman said that it would work with iMovie. The manual said that iMovie 11 can't read 1080/60 pi films.

I can't even get my laptop to read the stills that I took with the movie camera.

Do I take it back to the store and ask to exchange it or have I missed something?

Thanks for any help that you can give,
radiomother

Click to expand...

Hello there radio mother...unfortunately iMovie 11 does not support 60p so I think the salesman may have made an error. It even says that the format 1080/60p relating to that camera is not supported on Apple support's website.

Most people get round it by using an AVCHD to iMovie convertor. There are quite a few available online and here's a couple of ideas for you.

How to Import AVCHD to iMovie 11

How to Convert AVCHD to iMovie (iMovie 11) in Mac (Mountain Lion)

I wouldn't let it spoil your experience of your first iMac because it's not unusual for us to have to download a few plug-ins to work with all the formats of AV kicking around.

I'd opt for open source software vs all the spamware that is available out there - pretty much no matter which name, it's all from the same Chinese source.

Freeware and walkthrough - here.

Actually, I went to the Apple site followed their instructions (click on PC) and iMovie opened the films. The quality seems pretty good. Then I unplugged the USB, plugged it back in and iPhoto started as if it was a camera so I was able to import the stills.

Pretty amazing if confusing.