AVCHD files, Converters and editing ??

I have just been given a really nice digital camera
http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/panasonic_lumix_dmc_ft2_review/
The video files are this new AVCHD format
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD

Which seems to a propietary format from Panasonic and Sony specifically designed not only to make life difficult for us pond scum endusers but more specifically designed to tie users into blue-ray discs.

There seems to be lots of problems getting files into more user friendly formats.

Has anyone got experience with these files, converters and/or video editing utilities that can handle this format ??



PS: best player for these formats ??

 

Ta
I saw that page: the AVS Editor has some good wraps here and there.
There are/seem a lot of tools around claiming to handle the new format H.264 codecs and .m2ts ..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC

The page is meant to look like some sort of "industry standard", but realistically is a link to AVS4You: http://www.avs4you.com/index.aspx

There seems to be a lot of 'rebranding' and some toing and froing re propietary tools using open source codecs improperly.

There are tools from Canon and Sony and Panasonic: LOL. the Sony softs may not work with the other 2 and vice versa.
Pathetic really: release a new codec and file format and not even have in house software to use it.

Even the big boys: ULead, Corel, Adobe, Pinnacle, Cyberlink & Nero for eg dont seem to have adequately grappled with this codec and format as yet. ??


Interesting and distasteful corporate manouvers to grab the commercial primacy and lock people in:
Sony players only work with Sony Digicams and still have 'special' flash drives.
Panasonic recommends to play your camcorder in your "Viera TV" LOL

Of course part of the ongoing push to make peeps cough up the hard earned for some new ( prolly short-term ) HW and software.
Got to keep those corporate wheels spinning .

Taking advantage of lack of proper standardization...smells a bit off.

Lots of confusing and contrary claims around on the intertubes:
Lots of HW seems to be sub-par ??
Pushing the burn to dvd-BluRay = more HW and less penetration, not really useful for most I suspect.
Pushing the must use "our TV", and "our HW" line :
No interoperability.
Of course; just as there already is a very stable and mature set of HW and utilities out there. !!

FYI: most of the mid/top range digicams/camcorders are moving to this format for vids.
Will have to grapple with this sooner or later: looks like an interesting transitional stage about to roll out.

WMP 11 and KMPlayer and VLC -may- play these files, but cannot -handle them- well: indexing, etc and may need extra codecs ( another fertile ground for the malware downloads)

There seem to be a number of video converters around which may make things somewaht more accessible, but seems like a retrograde step:
One of the reputably best is OS and free: Handbrake.
http://handbrake.fr/
Hard to get a proper take on how any of them work.

I suppose this will sort itself out but looks like a real con job so far.
Marginal improvements for home users and I suspect the big players are well ahead of this curve.

Be caerful if buying some new gear: I hadn't looked at this because this camera was a gift: went back to the local photo shops: realistically, NOT ONE of the floor staff could answer ANY of my questions or provide an info site.
Have to get involved with some more capable help I guess.
I just want to take a few vids now and then, pin them together, top and tail: can it be so tricky. ??

Have no idea how this new format will go when trying to put into PP presentations or pdf files ??
Lots of places I go with presentations do NOT have fancy embedded players, & most still on XP.
More PITA: just when I had most of it down pat...

I am off to the video forums I guess...
Any insights welcome

 

If I find anything useful...

 

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r24637509-AVCHD-files-Converters-and-editing-
Gettin' there..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-linear_editing_system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.m2ts
http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en#h...9gTMjaIZSEygTtl5nAAQAAAKoEBU_QpQjb&fp=1&cad=b

Maybe post my own "home video" soon LoL.

Maybe rekindle a long dormant interest in photography ( some of the high end digicams are absolutely incredible ) I am at the rather sad interesting stage of life where 'memories' are becoming more poignant.
I just finished going through through all my fathers old photo albums ( he died 5 years ago) -back to mid 1940s- so many names and faces I can just recall and so many adventures.
Attempting to give some continuity and depth for my children.

Been getting in touch with some of his friends children; many I have not seen for some time...

Right ... getting a bit mawky and melodramatically poignant here:
back to the now ...back to the past later.


regards

 

LooL

Phew: the responsibility weighs heavily already

 

Most reviews I've read complain about AVCHD and suggest using the motion JPEG option instead for the very reasons your looking at. Here's my camera and the reviewer talks about the difficulties of the AVCHD format and offers a few suggestions.http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_zs7-review Here's another on yours http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/TS2/TS2A.HTM