Windows Media Player Plays HF10 AVCHD Footage
 

I see a lot of confusion out there on this point so thought I would post. At least on my system, WMP 11.0.6 plays AVCHD footage from my HF10 beautifully. ***You must change the .m2ts extension to .mpg*** or simply choose "open with" and check the box going forward to use windows media player with the .m2ts extension. I have NOT been able to get quicktime to work with these files.

So my basic question is, why wouldn't Microsoft simply add the .m2ts file extension to those recognized by WMP? This seems like complete insanity, so there must be some logical reason. Thoughts?

and it still won't play the hg10 footage for me no matter what I name it :/this is another reason I think to upgrade

There is a way to use freeware utilities to do the job. But it's tricky. Here's what you need to do:
You need to install the latest generic ffdshow build from clsid: http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...roup_id=173941
Then you need the splitters here (the .ax files should be placed on the ffdshow folder on "Program Files"): http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...roup_id=205650
and if you want install media player Classic too to playback AVCHD.

Strange its not working here for the HF100 file, I assume they are the same. I will have to play more this week and see if I can get it to work at all.

Is there any program that does play it? VLC and media Classic see it and can play either audio only or it just breaks up, everything has to go through vegas to be converted to a format they can play.

Maybe because windows doesn't come with the codec? Your system appears to be picking it up.

Stuart, I'd be interested to see what a Microsoft utility named graphedit says about your .m2ts files. I'm wondering if your computer came with PowerDVD or some other piece of software that has a decent AVC decoder.

More on graphedit here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GraphEdit

+1, if you have an AVCHD decoder already installed on your PC (like coreAVC) WMP may be using that....can anyone else with HF10 files try this?

I have an HF100 and installed the Pixela software that came with it. I can tell you that installation didn't do anything in terms of the default AVC encoder my PC uses. I have Vegas Pro 8 installed which I believe registers a MainConcept Decoder. That was the default until I installed CoreAVC and made it the default. When I recently uninstalled CoreAVC due to the Haali media splitter interfering with Pixela the MainConcept decoder became the default again.

One thing I find strange is that the included Pixela Player does a great job of playing back AVCHD. Maybe they install a decoding codec but it's dedicated to the Pixela video player itself?

The only way WMP is going to play back AVCHD is if there's a DirectShow codec registered with the system. Out of the box - in other words without any non-Microosft software - it won't play back AVCHD.

My friend has a HF10. The included player shows very ugly colors!

Mediaplayer Classic play the files with Coreavc filter, but without audio.
Why? AC3filter is also installed, and listed on the used MPC filter.
thx

Why struggle with WMP11
 

I see no reason to struggle to get wmp11 to work when you can simply download one of a host of free avchd players from various providers. You can download free avchd player everywhere on the web lately. The mirillis website is back up and running with a new avchd player called splash which I'm using and it works great!

my Windows Media Player playes MTS files without any alterations. I'm on Windows 7

I use WMP to view files from my HF10 - but it must be picking up on the codec that's already in the system I guess.
Anyway, it's must smoother playing than with the player software that Canon bundled with the camera...

I got the K-Lite CoDec pack that includes ffdshow and MPC HomeCinema Version. My WMP 11 plays all sorts of AVCHD, AVC and MOV video with it.

Mirillis Oxygen Splash Beta 2 is a Great AVCHD/AVC Player
 

John, thanks so much for giving the tip on that Mirillis Oxygen Splash Beta 2 player. It's only 3 days old in the Beta 2 version. It works better than I'd have imagined and does have WMP 11 beat for color, brightness and smoothness on AVCHD and AVC. It's just the thing for Sony HX1 and Webbie HD videos, as well as those from AVCHD camcorders.

Not all the features work yet, but maybe later. I had to go to Settings under Video and check the box on, for Hardware Acceleration, to get it to work (Vista Only). You exit fullscreen by doing a double left-click. I had to do a right-click on a video file and then on Open With, then browse down in the lower list of playing programs to first find it and activate it. It stalls when you try to play an MOV or WMV video and some others, so it's best to stick with AVCHD and AVC with it.