AG-AC90 compatibility problem.

jamedia.uk

jamedia.uk

Well-known member
Hi

first post and first video camera... so please bare with me if this is a silly question!

I am about to get an AG-AC90 as my first video camera. This is for event and conference work for our sister company.

We intend to use a Mac Pro with OSX 10.6.8 (snow leopard) and a MacBook Pro OSX 10.7.5 (Lion)
However page 80 of the AC90 advanced manual says it is compatible with OSX 10.8.1 (Mountain Lion)

Confusingly the AVCimporter claims compatibility with Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and 10.5 (Leopard)

and the AVC Viewer
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard , 10.5 Leopard 10.4 Tiger
but says This software does Not support Mac OS X 10.7 Lion.

​
The AVC Restorer and the SD file recovery DO claim to work with OSX10.4, .5, .6 and .7

and the http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/sales_o/avchdcomp/index.html compatibility guide does not mention the AG-AC90 (which has clearly been around at shows and with testers since August)


So has anyone actually used the AG-AC90 with a Mac running OSX 10.6.8 and 10.7.5 with Final Cut Pro 10.0.5
Does it work?


Regards
Chris
 
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I upgraded to Moutain Lion because I'm going to FCPX. I was told there would be no problems with that set up. But you might be with older stuff.
 
my main editing system is the 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) because I need to keep Rosetta for the Nikon Cool Scan slide scanner.

I have FCPX (trial) running on that at the moment but I don't yet have the video camera. Don't want to buy the camera just to discover the camera and SW that comes with it won't work with OSX 10.6.8
 
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jagraphics said:
my main editing system is the 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) because I need to keep Rosetta for the Nikon Cool Scan slide scanner.

I have FCPX (trial) running on that at the moment but I don't yet have the video camera. Don't want to buy the camera just to discover the camera and SW that comes with it won't work with OSX 10.6.8
Click to expand...

Just test it out. Call a local camera store (you may not know about one, just Google it, I'm sure you'll find one nearby) and see if they have the camera. Most camera stores allow you to try out the camera in-store, which includes testing the compatibility between the camera and your software (just let them know what you're doing).

And who knows, camera salesmen are smart folks, they'll probably know if it's compatible as soon as you ask - they do sell it for a living and FCP is commonly used enough for them to know.

----
Zack Hosseini
 
Thanks Zack, I asked Panasonic direct and they are getting back to me.

Having looked at all the Panasonic Support SW for the AVCHD it runs on Mac OSX 10.4 though to 10.8 in varying amounts. All the SW I need seems to be on 10.6 and 10.7
FCP certainly runs ON on my MAC's

For the camera itself I can't see where the OS matters.... So why do they mention it?

There must be some one out there using the AG-AC90 on Mac Snow Leopard and FCP?

Chris
 
I have my AC90 and FCPX on the latest mac OS. If you plug in the camera and then go into FCPX and do an "Import Files" all works perfect.
You cannot just plug the card into your iMac (in my case) and then pull files from the finder...
 
What is the connection from the AC-90? I don't think it has firewire. To bad you can't plug in the card

Stryker said:
I have my AC90 and FCPX on the latest mac OS. If you plug in the camera and then go into FCPX and do an "Import Files" all works perfect.
You cannot just plug the card into your iMac (in my case) and then pull files from the finder...
Click to expand...
 
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Zim said:
What is the connection from the AC-90? I don't think it has firewire. To bad you can't plug in the card
Click to expand...

Lots of people run into issues importing AVCHD footage into NLE's. It is a very common question no matter what editor you use, as the import procedures for AVCHD are very specific. Just look at Apple's own FCPX support forum, and you will see tons of messages there asking about importing AVCHD video.

There should be nothing to prevent copying the contents of the camcorder's card to a folder on your hard drive, and then importing the video from there. Using the USB connection from the camcorder should by no means be mandatory.
 
I too was disturbed to read that some software might only work in OS 10.8 Mountain Lion. I'm one of those people who has stuck with Final Cut Pro v.7 and I'm still running Snow Leopard (OS 10.6.8). I have a AG AC-90 on order, but my university ordering system is very slow, so I may have to wait some time.
In the meantime I've done some searching around the Panasonic website and looked at the leaflets and user manual.


First I found a document on how to import AVCHD into FCP. It's on this page
http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/sales_o/avchdcomp/AG-AC160.html
This is the same page for all the AG-AC cameras, although the menu does not list the AG AC-90 camera yet as you have noted.
The instructions for FCP7 say use Log and Transfer (which I do anyway with my existing camera) and then use the Preferences button to choose Apple ProRes 422 under the AVCHD item. When I looked at my copy of FCP 7 that item is already there. So I presume I can log, transfer and convert AVCHD files.


However, there is also a AVCIntraDecoder available from Panasonic and at least one of the leaflets seems to suggest you may have to download that add-in to Quicktime to enable you to edit AVCCAM .mts files without conversion and, for example, play them in Quicktime. With no camera yet, I can't test this out. But the download page
https://eww.pass.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/dload/qtime/qtime_dl_e.htm
has a title that says this is for Final Cut Pro and for Mac OS 10.4 to 10.8 but not supported for FCP v 6.0.2 or earlier. There is also a helpful pdf of installer and uninstall instructions. I've just checked my Quicktime Library files and it is not installed, so it's not part of the FCP7 standard install. Given the slightly hazy specifications, my hunch is that it will work fine with FCPX and OS10.8 and probably (I hope) with FCP7 and OS10.6.


There is also a AVC viewer for Mac on the Panasonic site
https://eww.pass.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/dload/avccam_mac/avc_mac_dl_e.htm
that as you say, only seems to support OS10.5 and 10.6.
BTW, you need to login for the downloads, login and password can be obtained from this page
https://eww.pass.panasonic.co.jp/download/downloadtop.html
Use the pull down menu to select the software you want a password for. You'll be sent an e-mail with the password etc.

Graham
 
AVC Intra Decoder is not necessary. That's only for AVC-Intra, which is on P2 cameras.

What you may want to get is the AVCCAM Importer download for Mac, that'll let AVCHD files be edited directly in FCP.

I'm not an FCP user so I don't know the answer to this but -- does FCP 7 support 1080/60p timelines? If so, it might work. But if FCP 7 doesn't support 1080/60p timelines, then nothing you do will make it work, right? But all the other modes of the AC90 (1080/24, 1080/30p, 1080/60i) should work in FCP 7 right now.
 
Hi All,

Now got the AC90 and FCPX (10.0.6) just plug in the USB cable and "it works" on OSX 10.6.8 no problems (other than I *still* don't look pretty in front of a camera. :-) It seems no decoders required.

Barry when and when is the ac90 book coming out?

Some one mentioned it would be bundled with the AC90? What if we already have the camera?
 
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jagraphics said:
Barry when and when is the ac90 book coming out?
Click to expand...
Just picked them up from the warehouse Monday.

Some one mentioned it would be bundled with the AC90? What if we already have the camera?
Click to expand...
For those in the USA who are residents of the USA and buy an official USA version from an authorized USA reseller, there's a mail-in card that they fill out and send in, and a free copy is sent to them.

No other division of Panasonic outside of the USA division offers that.
 
Barry_Green said:
No other division of Panasonic outside of the USA division offers that.
Click to expand...

Barry,
it looks like us non US people will have to pay for our copy. I hope you get a better royalty for your overseas sales. Who is the publisher, so we can order copies?

Graham

PS thanks for the hints about the AVCCAM Importer on the Panasonic website. It's here:
http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/download/index.html
There are very mixed messages from the webpage and from the installer itself about compatibility. About time Panasonic updated the instructions and made them consistent.

Even my old FCP7 manual says that FCP will import AVCCAM files but it trancodes using the Apple ProRes 422 codec. Apparently this can lead to a ten fold increase in file size. Aside from that (and the time it takes to do the transcoding, is there any other loss (e.g. of quality) in doing the transcode?
 
Graham_R_Gibbs said:
Who is the publisher, so we can order copies?
Click to expand...
The company I work for, Fiercely Independent Films Inc., publishes the books, and our European distributor is Holdan. But retail copies aren't available yet; we're still working out a redesign to make them full-sized (the books I have now were a specific print run made for fitting in the box of the AC90; they imposed certain limited size restrictions that mean that the AC90 book is a lot physically smaller than my normal sized books... All the same great info is in there, it's still 180 pages, full color printing, all that; it's just really small and uses thinner paper, tighter margins, smaller font, etc to fit all the content into the requested smaller form factor. I can't and won't compromise on the quality of the info in it, so we had to work to find some ways to fit all the same content within a much-smaller size. I'm not sure that's the size I want to release for retail sale though; so I may be redesigning it to full-size for retail distribution.

Even my old FCP7 manual says that FCP will import AVCCAM files but it trancodes using the Apple ProRes 422 codec. Apparently this can lead to a ten fold increase in file size. Aside from that (and the time it takes to do the transcoding, is there any other loss (e.g. of quality) in doing the transcode?
Click to expand...
Depends on what version of ProRes you transcode to. LT is the lowest-quality version and yes, there will be a quality loss if you go to LT. But if going to full ProRes 422, it should be able to retain all the image quality that is in the original AVCHD footage with little if any degradation due to the transcode. But yeah, those files are going to be a lot bigger than the AVCHD files are!
 
just tried the SDCH card in the MACbook Pro and that also happily loads in to FCPX (10.0.6) without any other converters or loaders. (MAC OSX 10.7.5)
So as far as I can see the AC90 works with FCPX on both osx 10.6 (via USB) and 10.7 (via internal card reader)
 
jagraphics said:
just tried the SDCH card in the MACbook Pro and that also happily loads in to FCPX (10.0.6) without any other converters or loaders. (MAC OSX 10.7.5)
So as far as I can see the AC90 works with FCPX on both osx 10.6 (via USB) and 10.7 (via internal card reader)
Click to expand...

Chris,
that's looking very hopeful for when I finally get the AC90 and work with FCP7 and Mac OS 10.6.8

Graham
 
Barry_Green said:
our European distributor is Holdan.
Click to expand...

I did a quick search on Amazon UK and found no sign of it yet. Sometimes books appear on the site well before they are published. One of my academic texts appeared a year before it finally came out.


Barry_Green said:
Depends on what version of ProRes you transcode to. LT is the lowest-quality version and yes, there will be a quality loss if you go to LT. But if going to full ProRes 422, it should be able to retain all the image quality that is in the original AVCHD footage with little if any degradation due to the transcode. But yeah, those files are going to be a lot bigger than the AVCHD files are!
Click to expand...

I noticed you could opt for different bit rates on the transcode. I guess there has to be a trade off for the lower bit rate. The HD 1920 x 1080 25fps files I create at the moment with the same transcode from my Canon camera come to about 1GB per minute so I'm used to big files.

Graham
 
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