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General discussion

How the heck do I hook up my TM10 to my Mac?

Dec 18, 2010 1:22AM PST

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...

Discussion is locked

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choices.
Dec 19, 2010 2:43AM PST

"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?

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How the heck do I hook up my TM10 to my Mac?
Dec 27, 2010 2:14PM PST

Thanks so much, Choices, for your superbly detailed explanation that this tech moron can actually almost understand! You rock!

I am not sure how I am going to "archive" the vids as you say, but I need to make them youtubable (it's for a musician I manage) so to that end, I got a little card reader that came with the honkin' big (32 /class 10) memory card I bought, and it did let me transfer the MTS files to the Macbook, but it doesn't "read" the files so much as dump them, and there they sit on the desktop; it doesn't appear that my iMovie recognizes them.

I tried using the Apple MPEG STreamClip but it tells me it can't recognize the file type and then spins forever when I tell it to open it anyway, then asks for $20 because "The Apple QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component is not installed"... some "freeware"!

But HandBrake works beautifully! Thanks so much for the tip. It takes forever, but it will produce an MP4

I'm wondering how I can get the vids I recorded in the internal memory outa there in any other way than having to buy that AC adaptor. If I could only transfer them onto the memory card, I could pop it into my reader, but I couldn't find any info in the manual about that. Maybe I'll just use cards so I don't have to buy an adaptor; all these bells & whistles are getting pricey!

And my iMovie doesn't read MTS files, apparently. since I don't have iMovie09 (I have a 2 gb 667 mhz 2.16 ghz intel core 2 duo Macbook running iMovieHD 6.03, which is newer) and iMovieHD isn't recognizing them.

Well, even though it seems to take hours for just a few minutes, it seems like HandBrake is working, and I'll be able to put these online soon.

Odd that in this day and age, with a lot of nontech folks videotaping, they wouldn't have an easier process... ah well.

I don't have a TV but will need to figure out how to synch music on top of the vid images when we make the music video. We have Final Cut Pro but since I can't even grasp Movie at all, that may be beyond me, so I'm looking for something easier (if it exists).

Big thanks for all the advice; it has made this machine much more usable.

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Glad to know HandBrake worked.
Dec 27, 2010 10:29PM PST

I use it for all sorts of stuff.

Re: getting the internal memory stored items onto the removable memory... The link to the manual is in the earlier post. Seepages 85 and 86.

iMovie 08 was the first version to work with MTS files - but it (as with newer versions and Final Cut) need to have the camcorder attached for that importing job. That is when the file decompression happens. When the files are copied as you have done, they are still compressed and the transcoder step (as you did with HandBrake) is needed.

I found Final Cut pretty scary at first - but I watched the online tutorials and the light went on. I actually find it easier than iMovie. It is certainly a LOT more powerful and flexible. A bit of a time investment to learn the tools - as with learning a musical instrument - can be beneficial.

When you get a project rolling and are ready for the final rendering, you can repost here - or use the "tutorial" at Vimeo for which file types for Vimeo, YouTube, computer, DVD or personal/portable media player (i.e., iPod) use... There is no single file for ALL media playback. And you want to have a "Best" quality" that can be used in the future.

If you are curious about "archive" we can go there, too - but the investment in that infrastructure will be interesting...

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Re How the heck do I hook up my TM10 to my Mac?
Dec 28, 2010 2:33AM PST

Thanks for the additional info, Boya84!

I am stuck, however, because I got another error message about my Mac lacking a quicktime Mpeg-2 playback component. Weird, because these are supposed to be MP4s, I thought.

I guess I'll have to cough up the $20 after all... darn it!

This $79 "bargain" is starting to rack up an impressive total:
$58 32gig class 10 memory card
$68 Extra-capacity battery
$15 cord...

and I haven't even gotten the adaptor yet... gulp. Well, enough complaining. Despite its abysmal low-light performance (and I suspect that most basic camcorders like this aren't much better) the images (at least as I see them on the camera screen) look fabulous.

Thanks so much for your kindness in helping this newbie. Now I'm confident enough to start nagging y'all all the time, so I will return once I figure out a bit more in the process and get that new MP2 reader on board.

You all rock!

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Glad to know HandBrake worked.
Jan 11, 2011 4:32AM PST

Hi,

Any chance you could give links to the tutorials.

Thanks in advance!

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Glad to know HandBrake worked.
Jan 11, 2011 7:58AM PST

Was in reference to this...
'I found Final Cut pretty scary at first - but I watched the online tutorials and the light went on. I actually find it easier than iMovie. It is certainly a LOT more powerful and flexible. A bit of a time investment to learn the tools - as with learning a musical instrument - can be beneficial.'

tia

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more and easier to watch...
Jan 11, 2011 8:09AM PST
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um...
Jan 11, 2011 8:01AM PST
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Glad to know HandBrake worked.
Jan 11, 2011 5:47PM PST

Thanks for that but I don't think I posted clearly, apologies for that.

I can work FCP no problem but for some reason can't get it too accept the MTS files therefore I thought you had found a tutorial/solution!

I can get imovie to accept them no problem but the conversion to .MOV is horrendous!

Thanks anyways!

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Final Cut does not directly take
Jan 11, 2011 10:04PM PST

MTS files once they are already in the computer. Final Cut takes the MTS files when the are in the camcorder by connecting the camcorder to the the Mac with a USB cable, then use Log & Capture in Final Cut to bring them over.

If the MTS files are already in your computer and no longer available, you can transcode them with MPEG Streamclip
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html
or one of many other available transcoders...

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Modification for clarity...
Jan 11, 2011 10:11PM PST

"If the MTS files are already in your computer and no longer available, you can transcode them with MPEG Streamclip"

should read

"If the MTS files are already in your computer and no longer available in the camcorder, you can transcode them with MPEG Streamclip"