There’s a huge recurrent bug on many Macs if you use AVCHD video and try to import them either on iMovie 08/09 or Final Cut Pro 6.0.5 or 7… Many people can’t import footage and get this “Error Message” “NO NAME” contains unsupported media or has an invalid directory structure. Please choose a folder whose directory structure matches supported media

When I bought my MacBookPro (the first day Leopard was launched), it was my first Mac dedicated as a working unit (I owned several mini’s but just for playing around with rather than using OSX and Mac as a primary device)… When I bought my Mac, iLife could import AVCHD files like magic… until one day I could not longer import AVCHD videos, either on iLife 08, 09 Final Cut 6.0.5 or even until yesterday with Final Cut 7…. While both my OSx86 PC and my mini could import these videos without any problems…

Additionally the error message displayed by Final Cut is completely bogus, since I never modified the structure of the cards and copying the contents of the card on a HDD works on other Macs but not my MBP…

I spent a lot of time searching for a solution and couldn’t come up with anything, or at least my problem… There were solutions like using Voltaic (that I bought) but this software is a waste or time… Last night I tried again and again to find a solution on the Internet. I reset the PRAM of my Mac in the past but this didn’t fix anything… And when I gave it another try I found this command list on Tuaw form 2006 TUAW Tip: keyboard shortcuts during Mac OS X startup… I tried the PRAM thingy again and nothing… then saw that “cmd-opt-n-v – Clear NV RAM. Similar to reset-all in Open Firmware.” Reset All in Open Firmware, sounds interesting… then I tried, plus a little zapping of PRAM just after that one… and guess what… I can finally could import AVCHD files in both iMovie and Final Cut 7…. I finally succeed in fixing this problem once for all.

I’d like to keep this post clean and don’t want to see any stupid comments about how Macs suck, or whatever. I just posted this to help other people who may face the same problem, that by the way Apple Japan wasn’t able to fix at all! They wanted to take my MacBookPro for repair.

No PCs, Mac or Linux boxes are flawless… To give you an idea, the Fax service on my SBS 2003 no longer works after reinstalling the system (same hardware, same patches, same applications…) so no products are prefect, and keep your trolling mind, if you happen to have one, in its cage…

Thanks!