You are probably reading this page because you bought a brand new high definition video recorder (HD camcorder) and your memory has run out so you’ve decided to copy the video footage to your computer or to a DVD and that’s where you ran into some difficulty. What you need is a AVCHD player to play your video footage and to record it onto DVD or Blu-ray. Unfortunately there aren’t that many AVCHD players out there and most AVCHD players that are bundeled with HD camcorders are inadequite or should we say rubbish. If you’re simply looking for a free AVCHD player, look no further! (click on the free AVCHD player link in the previous sentence to go to a list of AVCHD players)

But let’s not jump the gun. What is AVCHD and why is my camcorder using it? Is AVCHD a format that only my camcorder uses and now I’m stuck with it?

I’ll start by setteling the nerves. DON’T worry. Whether you bought a Sony Handycam, Canon Vixia, Panasonic or any other brand chances are very good that it will be recording AVCHD video. AVCHD video recording format is a variant of the H.264 used in Blu-ray. It’s basically a video compression format, much what .jpg is for photos and it’s pretty standard although very new. Luckily, all the big players like Sony, Canon and Panasonic have opted for the AVCHD video format meaning we’ll see a lot of development for software like AVCHD players and AVCHD editors in the next few years. As we all know Blu-ray won the “Next Generation Player” battle against HD-DVD, AVCHD works on Blu-ray and is thus compatible with Blu-ray players like the Sony playstation 3 or PS3.

It’s good to know you’ve made the right choice of HD camcorder, but the question on your mind is still how on earth do you watch these on your HD television (HD tv) or on your computer. The HD camcorders are easiest to use if you plug them directly into an HDTV via HDMI. HDMI is a cable, much like a USB cable which comes with some HD camcorders like the Canon Vixia but not with all HD cameras like most Sony Handycam. Luckily HDMI cables are not expensive and can be bought from Amazon or any other online store.  All HD camcorders have HDMI output, so it’s easy to just connect that camcorder to your HDTV and use the supplied remote. In fact, it feels like this is what the camcorder companies would prefer you to do, because the editing software included with every one of the camcorders is almost unusable. That’s what this site is all about, the AVCHD players that we can use as substitutes to what we’ve been given when buying our HD Camcorders. There are a number of AVCHD players on the market, some are free, some are not, all have their own advantages and disadvantages. We’ve reviewed them to make choosing your AVCHD player easy. Feel free to leave comments on any AVCHD player and on any of our pages.

There is a new AVCHD player that’s been released by Elecard. The Elecard AVCHD Player is designed for high-quality decoding and playback of AVCHD Video.

You can download a 21 trial of the Elecard AVC HD Player which cost $65 thereafter. There are also options for:

• Elecard AVC HD Suite $99.50
• Elecard AVCHD Editor $49.95
• Elecard Converter Studio AVC HD Edition $75.00

We have not tried nor tested this AVCHD player or editor, but do have a list of Free AVHCD players we’d recommend as well as AVCHD editors. If you have used the Elecard AVC HD Player please write a short write up of your experience in the comments section below.

Apart from the standard features one would expect from an AVCHD player the Elecard AVCHD player also includes according to the website:

There’s a huge contigent of people who wonder where AVCHD come from, why it is used, what it stands for and more. If this kind of info tickles your fancy, continue reading.

AVCHD video is recorded using the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video compression codec. The AVCHD video format was jointly announced by Sony and Panasonic in May 2006. In AVCHD comperssion, audio is stored in a compressed form (Dolby AC-3). What makes AVCHD a unique and advanced compression is that it includes features to improve media presentation such as:

• menu navigation,
• slide shows and
• subtitles

As is the case with DVD, AVCHD video allows the user to access individual video from a common startup screen. Furthermore it allows for slide shows to be shown from a sequence of AVC stills which can be accompanied by a background audio. In some HD camcorders Subtitles are used to timestamp recordings.

Here is where things get hairy if you’re not techinical. The subtitles, video and audio as well as ancillary streams are now multiplexed together into a MPEG-2 transport stream which is stored as binary files.

The structure of AVCHD video is derived from the Blu-ray Disc specification although it’s not identical to the Blu-ray spec.

AVCHD video is easily transferred to a computer by connecting the camcorder via either a HDMI or USB connection. Many HD camcorders can record to removable media such as SD, SDHC or Memory Sticks. Because of the fact that AVCHD camcorders record digital footage, transferring the AVCHD footage to a computer is much faster than copying video from a tape based system as it does not have to be done in real time.

Generally speacking, AVCHD editors requires powerfull computers and even playback of AVCHD video requires either a lightweight AVCHD player or a high end computer.  Luckily there are a number of improvements in multi-core computers and graphics processors which brings AVCHD editing to general desktops and laptops.

References: Wikipidea.org