"Read in the manual online that you must take out the battery and use the AC adaptor to do this."
Yup. This is to prevent power failure during the import process that could result in corrupting both the source file (in the camcorder) and the destination file (in the computer). AC Adapter available from Panasonic:
http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/support/Cameras-Camcorders/Camcorders/Hi-Def-Camcorders/Parts-Accessories/model.HDC-TM10K.P#ts
The Panasonic HDC-TM10 (K/S) is a flash-memory based consumer cam that records AVCHD compressed MTS files. Yes, iMovie '09 can transcode the files when the camcorder is connected to the Mac and the video is imported to iMovie - assuming your Mac meets the minimum requirements (better yet, hopefully your Mac exceeds the minimum requirements) for dealing with AVCHD files. This process decompresses the video MTS files and transcodes them to MOV files that are high definition h.264 video files for editing.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3290
An alternative is to copy the MTS files to your Mac, use a third party transcoder like MPEG StreamClip
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html
or HandBrake
http://handbrake.fr/
to a file format iMovie will deal with. After transcoding, quit the transcoder app, launch iMovie and either drag/drop the converted file to the iMovie sequence pane or import (or capture) the file form the "File" command line item. The trick for maintaining the video quality is to use low compression. This will result in large file size and use hard disc space on the computer, but it is what it is.
This is not any different than other consumer camcorder recording to AVCHD-compressed MTS files... I've used both processes (importing and 3rd party transcoding) with a Canon HF S100.
Link to the manual:
http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/HDCSD10-MUL.PDF
The other cables you are missing from the box are the AV cable which would allow connecting the camcorder to any composite, analog, video monitor and the HDMI cable that would allow high definition video connectivity to a HDTV. This way, no computer importing or video file manipulation is required. But archiving the video once the memory (in the camcorder or the computer) fills is a different issue.
Speaking of which... what are your plans for that?
Hi all. I just got a great deal on a TM10 ($79) because a jerk stole the box, with the battery, charter and AC adaptor.
I bought a battery and it works beautifully -- but I couldn't find a way to hook it up to my Mac to get the vids OFF the camera.
Read in the manual online that you must take out the battery and use the AC adaptor to do this? I did buy a non-Panasonic brand battery and battery charger, which work -- but still do I need the AC adaptor? I have been looking for one, but can't find it.
When I do hook up to Mac, it says iMovie 09 works. Is this true, or would I be better off using converter software?
Dying to see how these vids look on a big screen!
Thanks for anyone who may offer an opinion; I really appreciate it as I am clearly (you may have guessed) a tech moron, and Cnet is the place for folks who understand these mysteries...

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