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General discussion

How to convert .cpi files for editing in iMovie?

Mar 19, 2010 10:48PM PDT

I've just purchased a Sony HDRXR150 (internal HD) and am trying to work out how to download the files to my iMac for editing. Plugged it in and unlike my old Sony miniDV model, the files are not recognised (greyed out) by iMovie and iMovie does not open at all. The Imac recognises the Sony HD in the camera though but nothing else.
Do I need to upgrade my OS, iLife or would another editing software be able to do the conversion? I've been looking at reviews and things seem to point towards Macs not being able to effectively deal with tapeless camcorders Sad
Any advice is much appreciated!

Discussion is locked

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It is a bit of a challenge to know what you need
Mar 20, 2010 2:29AM PDT

if we don't know what you have.

What version OSX? What version iMovie?

Did you check the compatibility list?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3290

There are many tapeless camcorders on that list. I don't see yours - but there could be others reasons for that omission (like it has not yet been tested; issues with the NTFS format used by the camcorder). For what its worth, AVCHD/MTS files compatibility has challenges with other operating systems, too.

The Camcorder's Operating Guide
http://www.docs.sony.com/release/HDRCX110_EN_ES.pdf
directs you to
http://guide.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/mac/ms/us/
and has instructions ONLY for connecting the memory card...

Are you willing to spend any $ to get this to work?

The AVCHD compressed video files are typically "MTS" or "TOD" files. A "CPI" file sounds like a "housekeeping" index file" that the camcorder uses to keep track of what is on it's hard drive - the Mac doesn't need that...

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Any luck converting CPI files?
Mar 22, 2011 7:59PM PDT

Hiya Macnoobie - your page came up on a search I was doing for converting CPI files. I see this post is about a year old, but I'm hoping you've had some luck since then...

I'm thinking it might be a Sony vs Mac thing to be honest. We've just got the Sony HXR-MC50 HD camera which is a real beauty, but I just can't seem to get the files onto my macbook for editing. I got it right the first time, just opened iMovie and imported from camera archive and all was well in the land. Until I tried to offline the next lot but the file type (CPI) is not supported nor recognised and everything is greyed out. I've tried a few file converter downloads, but nothing seems to be working at all. Really frustrating considering the Sony chap said it wouldn't be a problem with mac...

If you've found a solution, I'd really appreciate your advice and direction. I've just learnt to spell mac so I'm a real baby when it comes to all the jargon. I might ask you to draw me a picture... (", I don't know what to tell you as far as my system info goes, other than I have a macbook and something about Mac OS Extended and Macintosh HD...

Looking forward to hearing from you
L

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There is no reason
Mar 22, 2011 10:51PM PDT

to do anything with the CPI file. It is a camcorder housekeeping file that keeps track of the video and still files and provides the pointers for the camcorder's playback capability. The high definition video files have a ".MTX" suffix.

iMovie can deal with the files the way you dealt with them the first time if the camcorder is connected to the Mac for the Capture. If you copied the files to the Mac and do not have to camcorder connected to the computer, then you will need to transcode the files to a format iMovie can deal with.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html