Sony HDR-TG3 Camcorder and the Mac

Several readers contacted us to get information about the compatibility between the Sony HDR-TG3 and our Macs and iMovie. As we use one unit since the beginning of this summer, it is rather easy to answer.
This camcorder model is perfectly supported by the last version of iMovie. Once the camcorder is connected, iMovie automatically launches and creates thumbnails corresponding to the different video sequences.
However, it is NOT a simple importation but a conversion from the AVCHD format to another format which can be edited by iMovie. You will need a powerful Macs (only Mac Intel are supported) to avoid having this importation/edition step to turn into nightmare, especially if you recorded in Full HD mode. You will also need a rather large space on your HD
As usual Apple offers a list of iMovie compatible camcorder, however it has been been updated: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1014
In summary, Mac Intel will support almost all camcorder, and all formats while Mac PPC will not be able to handle popular HD video format such as the AVCHD.