Need help with AVCHD and MTS

[craftydad]

Hi! I have a Sony Handycam that uses AVCHD. When I plug it into my new Mac, I see a file structure - a bunch of .mts files, and what appears to be a >7GB AVCHD file. I've read the AVCHD file is really a structure that contains .mts files, audio, etc.

What exactly should I copy or move to the Mac (or any computer) to see the videos? What is this AVCHD thing? Is it a file? A locked directory? Do I leave it alone? It's over 7GB big. Do these .mts files have contain everything (video/audio/etc) for each clip I've shot?

Confused now that I'm actually using the Handycam.... and being brand new to Mac (which doesn't apparently know ".mts").

If anyone can explain all this, I'd appreciate it.

Craftydad

[smrpix]

Ideally you want an editor that can read the entire folder structure. In Mac that pretty much means FCPX, Adobe Premiere, or Avid. You're already too far down, you want to save the entire PRIVATE folder. It contains metadata for stitching spanned clips and time/date information among other things.

Sony makes a mac version of catalyst browse (free) to prepare your material. http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/catalystbrowse