How to import Sony HDR-PJ790V footage to Avid, Premiere and FCP X

Here will outline how to import Sony HDR-PJ790V footage into Avid Media Composer, Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro X.



As one of the high definition Handycam camcorders, the Sony HDR-PJ790 makes your filmmaking debut with ultra-smooth HD, a 5.1 channel mic and built-in projector to showcase your masterpiece. This 24.1MP camcorder delivers Full HD 24p/60p recording, ideal for rich storytelling. While enjoying the stunning HD image quality, many folks are having problems when importing Sony HDR-PJ790V 60p footage into Avid Media Composer, Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro X to do some editing. If you're in such a situation, you can read on the article to learn more, which mainly shows you how to get Avid, Premiere and FCP X to work perfectly with Sony HDR-PJ790V 60p AVCHD files.


The reason that you can't sucessfully ingest those recorded AVCHD footages on 60p format to your non-linear editing systems is simple. Currently 1080/60p footage is a very non-standard format and it's not added into the supported lists of Media Composer (even with Avid 7), Premiere Pro (CS6), Final Cut Pro X and other NLEs. In order to edit Sony HDR-PJ790V 60p footage smoothly, the easy workaround is to use 3rd-party to rewrap and covnert 60p to 30p or 24p files.

First you need to download Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac, a powerful high-quality video converter, player and editor. If you're facing problems when uploading 60p/50p AVCHD footage to Final Cut Pro X, Premiere Pro CS6 and Avid Media Composer on Mac, chances are you already installed this great free utility. If not, download it it from below.

(Note: Click here for OS X 10.5)

Frankly, the program is an easy-to-use yet professional app which can help you transcode Sony HDR-PJ790V 60p AVHD to Avid DNxHD, ProRes and MPEG-2 to ensure maximum editing quality and efficiency when working with Media Composer, Final Cut Pro X and Adobe Premiere Pro under Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.7 Lion, Snow Leopard 10.6, Leopard 10.5. It's clean, safe, free to install and use. and it works well and converts flawlessly.

The Steps: Transcoding 60p AVCHD footage for editing in FCP X, Avid and Premiere Pro

Step 1. Run the nice AVCHD MTS Converter on your Mac and load mpg clips to it by clicking “Add” button. The software supports batch conversion, so you can import several videos to it one time.



Step 2. Click "Format" bar and then move your pointer to "Final Cut Pro > Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)"; For Avid MC, choose the "Avid Media Composer > Avid DNxHD(*.mov)"; For Adobe Premiere, choose "Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas --> MPEG-2(*.mpg)" as output.



Step 3. Press "Convert" button to start encoding.

Now your 60p files will be converted into DNxHD, ProRes, MPEG-2 files ready to be imported into Avid, FCP X, Premiere.

You're done! Now you may know how to ingest and edit Sony Handycam HDR-PJ790V 60p footage in Avid Media Composer, Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro X.

Useful Tips
Importing 60p AVCHD footage to Sony Vegas Pro
60p/50p AVCHD to iMovie workflow