Best REAL Program to use for AVCHD video format conversion

[questorfla]

Not looking for a Freebie necessarily, I need something that works properly.  No one here is a Pro at making movies  These are just several hours of Family Home Movies where we used a new (at the time) Video recorder and the format AVCHD must be a One-off from a Sony/Panasonic marriage of minds.  Nothing wrong with the video quality that the camera took.  Colors and all are astounding for such a tiny gadget but AVCHD wont play on Windows at all apparently and I am trying to keep all our videos and Photos in a digital format for storage

I have to convert it to some format that can be stored on a Home Media center and watched whenever someone wants to without having to play it back back through the camera.  There is no lack of software that claims to work but most of it has weird descriptions of capabilities and they always want you to get the FREE version first, THEN upgrade to the paid.  I hate to spend hours getting one configured only to find out it does not perform well or is a pain to configure.

Anyone know of one that works well and can handle the AVCHD format?  I am mot much into editing, I just like to see it like it was but minor adjustments and at least the ability to merge separate sessions into a single play would be nice

[4wd]

VidCoder

http://vidcoder.codeplex.com/

Install, run, drop video on it, hit Encode.

[franstam]

ever tried this?

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

HTH

[questorfla]

VidCoder

http://vidcoder.codeplex.com/

Install, run, drop video on it, hit Encode.

  WORKS!  Thanks 4WD and has a boatload of options that i presume  are best left alone by neophytes such as myself?
I thought the conversion time was a bit long (took 36 mins to do a 3.2 GB file) but it id it with no errors and no questions asked and NO little hand poked out of the screen asking for $$ so I guess this is a really Free version?

[questorfla]

I also managed to DL yours Franstam but have not yet tried.
I can tell you that whoever wrote their webpage does a great job of seeming to be trying to convince you that "Theirs' is the Greatest" .. BUT ...
then they proceed to issue and even BIGGER WARNING about reading the EULA with your attorney present, a thing that always manages to rattle my nerves.
Do you know what they mean by that? 

[4wd]

Thanks 4WD and has a boatload of options that i presume  are best left alone by neophytes such as myself?

The default Normal preset is good for anything that isn't device specific.  Otherwise, it has presets for Apple/Android devices among others.

I thought the conversion time was a bit long (took 36 mins to do a 3.2 GB file) but it id it with no errors and no questions asked and NO little hand poked out of the screen asking for $$ so I guess this is a really Free version?

It's just a different interface to the HandBrake engine, a bit easier by default but you can still get in and tweak settings if required.

Otherwise, there's also ClipToolz Convert V2, (also free - need to use DropBox download link near page bottom), which is designed for quality conversions using ffmpeg or ffmbc but it has a interesting interface, (ie. VidCoder is easier).

In theory, given that AVCHD is just MPEG4-AVC + audio in a transport stream, you could just remux the video+audio stream into a MP4 format container which would only take a minute or two.

eg. Using ffmpeg in a CLI:

ffmpeg -i inputvideo.m2ts -c:v copy -c:a copy outputvideo.mp4

The media player just needs to be able to handle whatever audio format the stream is, most likely AC-3 if it's from a camcorder.

[Curt]

... they proceed to issue an even BIGGER WARNING about reading the EULA with your attorney present, a thing that always manages to rattle my nerves.
Do you know what they mean by that?

^ it means the author of the page is #beep# #beep# #beep#, who should be whipped and removed from office. Don't just remove him, it's important that he gets a whipping as well - not because of the poor eula joke, (that's all it is, a poor joke), but because of the (lack of) design of the site; It's unbelievable bad.

The quality of the program is above average.

[kyrathaba]

Yep, VidCoder works. I used it to convert movies to MP4 format, so they'll stream properly from my WD Cloud.

[TaoPhoenix]

I can tell you that whoever wrote their webpage does a great job of seeming to be trying to convince you that "Theirs' is the Greatest" .. BUT ...
then they proceed to issue and even BIGGER WARNING about reading the EULA with your attorney present, a thing that always manages to rattle my nerves.
Do you know what they mean by that? 

That's a new wrinkle!
I normally expect Eula/installers to include about four things, sometimes copyright grabs of your content, installing weird stuff, and "don't sell our program" and your choice of a fourth.

But having an attorney present ... yikes!
At the meta level what does that even mean?!!

[CWuestefeld]

ever tried this?

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

This used to be my go-to conversion tool, for video and audio. But the byzantine process the developer makes you go through to get to downloads to upgrade was just so ridiculous that I quit trying.

[franstam]

haha sorry the process was rough but i used to use that program a long time ago i must have forgotten how bad the process was. but the amount of coversion options are crazy alot

[MilesAhead]

I tried Super a few times because people who liked it really liked it.  But it seemed like every time I hit the button to start processing I realized I forgot one setting.  And after a few times when I would remind myself not to forget that setting I would forget a different one.  It was too frustrating for me.

[superboyac]

SUPER has not recommended because there are so many more alternatives now without the confusing interface or crazy website.  I use xmedia recode now.

[MilesAhead]

SUPER has not recommended because there are so many more alternatives now without the confusing interface or crazy website.  I use xmedia recode now.

I have been away from video conversions for more than two years.  An eternity.  So I try to refrain from suggesting software.  The landscape has shifted too much. 

I took a brief look at their web site.  It claims to convert nearly all audio and video formats.  Would I be right in assuming it utilizes AviSynth?  Converters that do tend to be very flexible.

[Curt]

SUPER © Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Recorder.
    A GUI to FFmpeg, MEncoder, MPlayer, x264,
    MusePack, Monkey's audio, Shorten audio, TAK audio, True audio,
    WavPack, the libavcodec library & the theora/vorbis RealProducer's plugIn.

Download only from http://www.erightsoft.com/Superdc.html ; + scroll down

SUPER © v2015.build.65+Recorder (May 31, 2015) is NOT suitable to run in a Windows emulator environment like VirtualBox, WINE or any alike

[attach=#]


^ silly? Just you wait until you see the homepage and the program's GUI...