I did a search and didn't find this posted anywhere. I just got an email about this...

Panasonic released this cool (windows only) app that converts AVCHD to P2 DVCPRO HD. The app was developed by main concept.

The best part: It's Free.

https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/desk/e/download.htm#avchd

This is interesting, I'm surprised I haven't seen anything mentioned about this convertor elsewhere.
I'd like to hear what others who've used this have to say about it.
Although, I'm kind of dissapointed that it will only apply to Panasonic cameras.

I've used this transcoder with the Canon HG10 AVCHD footage and it works very well. I have to process one clip at a time as it will not do "all clips at a specific Folder/Drive. Somewhat time consuming if dealing with multiple clips. But, it's doing what it's supposed to do and the quality is just like the original.

How do you edit DVCPROHD??

Most pro NLEs support DVCPRO HD. It's actually less CPU intensive to edit then AVCHD or even HDV. It's also a keyframe only format, which means it's cleaner in multi-generational editing.

It does loose some resolution though - 720p is really 960x720 and 1080i is really 1280x1080. Sketchy!

~MiSfit

I've used this transcoder with the Canon HG10 AVCHD footage and it works very well. I have to process one clip at a time as it will not do "all clips at a specific Folder/Drive. Somewhat time consuming if dealing with multiple clips. But, it's doing what it's supposed to do and the quality is just like the original.
That sounds great Bob, thanks for the info.
Have you transcoded from 24P in AVCHD to 24P in DVCProHD?
About how long would you say on average does the process take to transfer an hour of footage?

I have used this to import AVCHD into an Avid Media Composer, works great, just a bunch of steps.

I did a search and didn't find this posted anywhere. I just got an email about this...

Panasonic released this cool (windows only) app that converts AVCHD to P2 DVCPRO HD. The app was developed by main concept.

The best part: It's Free.

https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/desk/e/download.htm#avchd

The only problem is that it doesn't work quite right at the moment. Here's an email from MainConcept support (dated 2/7/08):

Hello Jay,

I've asked our developer and says that there were some problems with files
made by Sony's soft and hardware, but at this moment he has 1.2 beta version of this transcoder which transcodes these files perfectly. Soon (about a week) there will be a release, so you could check Panasonic website.

Regards,
********
Customer Care Team

MainConcept AG
Elisabethstrasse 1
52062 Aachen
Germany

The link no longer works and I've tried looking up a newer version off of Panasonic's website. So far the results are not good. They need to step-up there support for this otherwise AVCHD is going no where...

Link just worked for me.

or try this one:
https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro-av/support/desk/e/download.htm