I used iMovie 08 and I am now working with Final Cut Express 4. Both programs downgrade the AVCHD surround sound to stereo when importing. There is simply no other way.

My question is: is Final Cut Pro 6 able to import AVCHD filed with their native captured 5.1 surround sound? My camera records in surround and it is a pity I can only get stereo on my computer.

Do you know of any other solution that is able to do that?

Thanks for any tips.

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Sony HDR-SR5E HD AVCHD
MacBook Pro 2.2GHz, 2GB DDR2, GeForce 8600GT 128VRAM

I've been considering this.... http://shedworx.com . I haven't used it yet. I am waiting until the end of the year to see if apple upgrades there software for full avchd support. With so many avchd camcorders coming out, its a matter of time. I use a Sony SR11 and can't wait for iMovie to fully support avchd. I import to iMovie 8, then reimport to iMovie 6HD so I can use my plugins from geethree. Sucks the audio quality is reduced. If you try this, let us know how well it works.

I've had a look on their website and nothing changes with respect to the downgrading of the surround sound: they do the same thing. I still don't get this. So I'll stick with Final Cut Express for now; it's the best I can get for the money.

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Sony HDR-SR5E HD AVCHD
MacBook Pro 2.2GHz, 2GB DDR2, GeForce 8600GT 128VRAM

According to the user guide.... http://shedworx.com/volmac-userguide , it does extract 5.1 ch audio. Now don't know when importing to FCE or iMovie if it is still there but assume so. They do have a demo to try.