Import Panasonic HX-WA03 MP4 recordings to iMovie for free editing

Summary: This guide will show you how to ingest mp4 movies from Panasonic HX-WA03 and edit them in iMovie quickly and easily on Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks.

Panasonic HX-WA03 Video Camera

First off...it's blue and white, very gorgeous! This compact little vid cam is also water proof, shock proof, freeze proof and records in HD! I'm a video producer, always looking to travel lightweight. I bought this camera specifically to shoot video at the LA Auto Show. The camera shoots beautiful 1080 HD video in low light and the audio is great.



Panasonic WA03 MP4 video not work with iMovie?

The video camera we are using is Panasonic HX-WA03, it gives us videos in .mp4 extension while iMovie 11 seems to not working with it. We are wondering if anything simple workflow to help with this?

Reason:

Since MP4 is created by Microsoft and it isn't compatible with most Mac software program, and iMovie is one particular. When importing a MP4 file from Panasonic HX-WA03 to iMovie, it'll goes gray, that signifies iMovie does not assistance WA03 MP4 files. Thus, we will have to do anything just before editing Panasonic HX-WA03 files with iMovie. To get iMovie willing to import MP4 files from Panasonic HX-WA03 cameras, the ideal resolution should be to convert WA03 mp4 video to iMovie compatible formats, right here, AIC .mov, the natively supported format by iMovie.

Solution:

To perform this job, a third-party software is needed. Here Pavtube HD Video Converter for Mac is highly recommended. It's a professional and powerful high-quality Mac video converter and editor. With it, you can effortlessly transcode Panasonic HX-WA03 MP4 files to AIC encoded MOV for iMovie. Meanwhile, the Mac Video Conversion tool can create files compatible with various non-linear editing systems like Avid, FCE, FCP X, and Adobe Premiere (Pro) etc. Just download it and follow the tutorials below to transfer and import Panasonic HX-WA03 footage to for smoothly editing in iMovie.

Guide: Transcoding Panasonic HX-WA03 MP4 to AIC codec for iMovie

Step 1. Download, install and run the Mac MP4 to AIC Converter, click "Add" or "Add From Folder" to load your WA03 footage.

Step 2. Click the format bar, and move mouse cursor to "iMovie and Final Cut Express > Apple InterMediate Codec(*.mov) as output format.

Some more helpful features of the app:

1. Settings- click to set video resolution(1920×1080/1440×1080/1280×720/720×480), bitrate(from 1Mbps to 20Mbps), frame rate (24p/30p)

2. Editor (next to "Add" icon)- click to set deinterlace, denoise, mute, volume up, trim, crop, etc.

Step 3. Click "Convert" button to start WA03 MP4 to AIC MOV conversion.

As soon as the encoding process finished, you can get the final output aic .mov files via clicking "Open" button effortlessly. The transcoded files now are ready for editing in iMovie.

Additional Tips:
1. If you want to edit Panasonic HX-WA03 MP4 video in Final Cut Pro X or FCP 7/6, you just need to choose the "Final Cut Pro > Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)" as output format in the second step; For Avid Media Composer, choose "Avid Media Composer > Avid DNxHD(*.mov)" as output; For Adobe Premiere Pro or Vegas Pro, choose Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas> MPEG-2(*.mpg) as output.

2. Need to convert more various formats besides MP4, or convert DVD and blu-ray movies for backup or further playback? Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac can help you to accomplish both of them. It is integrated software for converting different videos, DVDs and blu-ray discs. Good news to you that you can get 20% discount at Pavtube Christmas Giveaway. Go to get it now.

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Why Premiere Pro and After Effects doesn't like Sony EX3 XDCAM files

Got Problems importing Sony PMW-EX3 xdcam mp4 footage into Premiere Pro/After Effects for further editing? Look no further, follow the easy workaround to achieve your goal smoothly.

Question:

I recently purchased two PMW-EX3 cameras for use here at my work, and I thought that I had them up and running perfectly but recently ran into a problem importing footage. When I shoot anything over around 13:40:00 long, PP CS4 will not import the entire length of the clip, only the first 13:40:00 (give or take a minute or two). When I play back the clips on the camera or in Sony's clip browser software I can play the entire duration of the clip. When I'm in PP using the Media Browser window to get to my footage, it even shows me the correct duration of the clip in the Duration column, but when I copy it over into my project bin, only that first 13 and a half minutes makes it. And a similar problem importing the files from EX3 into After Effects. AE only imports the first MP4 file of your clip and not the rest.

I've searched lots of other forums, and while I've seen various issues with importing XD EX footage into PPro and AE, I haven't seen this best solution yet. 

Sony PMW-EX3 can shoot XDCAM EX MP4 recording with true 1920x1080 resolution on dual SxS cards. As the XDCAM mp4 footage still cannot fully supported by some video editors like Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects on Mac. So if you are using Premiere and AE for editing just like the above user, the best workaround for us is to convert Sony PMW-EX3 mp4 to Adobe Premiere Pro/After Effects most compatible MPEG-2 format, and it will make the editing work much smooth and easier. 

At first, you need to find a third party program to do EX3 files to MPEG-2 transcoding. As far as I konow, the best hd video converting program is Pavtube HD Video Converter for Mac, a powerful XDCAM Converter for Premiere/AE, which is use-to-use, capable of converting XDCAM video to various formats for editing with Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, iMovie or FCE on Mac, and supports batch renaming painlessly. Download it here and get to konw the detailed steps as below.

Guide on transcoding Sony EX3 XDCAM to MPEG-2 for Premiere Pro and After Effects editing on Mac

Step 1: Install and run the best Sony XDCAM Converter for Mac. Click the “Add Video” or "Add from folder" button to import .mp4 files from the Sony EX3 camcorder. Join mp4 clips via checking the “Merge into one” box.



Step 2: Hit the Format box and select Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas --> MPEG-2(*.mpg) as output format for editing EX3 XDCAM video in Premiere Pro and After Effects natively.



Step 3: Click the “Settings” icon to do some audio, video parameter settings like video bitrate, frame rate, audio sample rate, audio channel, etc. (Optional)

Step 4: Click the "Convert" button under the preview window, the Mac XDCAM Converter will start the conversion from EX3 to Adobe Premiere Pro/Adobe After Effects immediately.

After the conversion, you will be able to get the output files via clicking on “Open” button effortlessly. Afterwards, you can import Sony EX3 MP4 footages to Premiere Pro CS and After Effects for further editing easily.

XDCAM Related:

• Transform Sony XDCAM EX MP4 to FCP 6/7
• Open Sony PMW-200 XDCAM MXF in iMovie

How to Import MP4 footage from Sony XDCAM EX into Final Cut Pro

If you are puzzeled with the problem that you can't edit your MP4 footage from Sony XCAM EX in Final Cut Pro, here recommend you the best Sony XDCAM EX Video Converter for Mac to solve this incompatible problem. So would you like to join us and add the MP4 movies to Sony XDCAM files to FCP for editing?

Sony XDCAM has four different product lines: XDCAM SD, XDCAM HD, XDCAM EX and XDCAM HD422 differ in kinds of encoder, contain type and in recording media.

Sony XDCAM EX series (like PMW-EX3, PMW-200, PMW-EX1, PMW 150) are one of the high-end professional Sony camcorders with outstanding video quality. The footages are wrapped in XDCAM codec MP4 format at data rate of up to 50 Mbps. However, due to the codec incompatibility issue, Sony XDCAM EX MP4 footages cannot work smoothly in Final Cut Pro, which makes the editing become harsh to some extend.

Hot Search: MXF to FCP X | P2 Files to FCP | XAVC to FCP

Don't worry, Pavtube HD Video Converter for Mac can give you easy but effective solution for importing XDCAM EX MP4 footages into FCP for editing. With the assistance of the Mac MXF Converter, you can effortlessly transcode MXF file to FCP acceptable formats like ProRes .mov. Then, what you need is just to import the converted file into FCP for editing. Just follow the steps below to transcode Sony XDCAM EX MP4 to ProRes for importing to Final Cut Pro editing.

[How-to]: Transocde Sony XDCAM EX MP4 recordings to FCP with highest quality

Preparation:
Connect your Sony XDCAM EX camcorder to Mac and backup the recorded .mp4 file on Mac.

1. Install and launch the Mac XDCAM EX Video Converter. This professional HD Video Converter can help you convert Sony XDCAM EX to ProRes 422 MOV format for Final Cut Pro, more output formats are also supported.

2. Click Format bar to choose the output format. Click and choose Final Cut Pro -> Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov).


4.You can click "Settings" to customize the output parameters, adjust the resolution, bitrate as you want.



5.Start convert Sony XDCAM EX to ProRes for FCP editing on Mac.

Click the "Convert" button to start transcoding Sony XDCAN EX MP4 to Prores for Final Cut Pro immediately. 

When you get ready to convert the added MP4 videos on Mac, Click the "Convert" button to start conversion. The conversion processes will transcode MP4 to ProRes MOV videos to be compatible with FCP editing.

After the MP4 to Prores conversion finished, you can easily import video files and projects into Final Cut Pro for further editing without any trouble. Congratulations! You have successfully taken the first step to make your own masterpiece.

With this Sony XDCAM EX to ProRes Converter, you can easily change XDCAM EX files to FCP for editing, this software runs fast, so you can convert your XDCAM EX MP4 footages to FCP in less time, video and audio synchronization are perfectly guaranteed.

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