Even though Windows 7 Media Center is supposed to read AVCHD files, I could not get my video footage from Panasonic GH2 to Windows 7 Media Center. After copying the files from GH2 camera to computer hard drive, Windows 7 Media Center does not recognize the native video format. There are some comments about installing proper working codec for Windows 7 Media Center, but I could not find it.

However, after googling searching, I find Aunsoft Video Converter as the recommended Lumix GH2 video converter on Windows to convert AVCHD files to Windows 7 Media Center supported formats like WMV, AVI, MOV, MPG, ASF, etc. It also keep the high video quality by providing the custom settings for frame rate and bit rate.

If you would like to keep high video quality of the recorded AVCHD videos for playback on Windows 7 Media Player or Media Center, the following guide will help you a lot.

Step 1. Import Lumix GH2 files to Aunsoft Video Converter.

Run Aunsoft Video Converter as the 2011 best Panasonic GH2 video converter on Windows 7, and click the "Add" button to load the .mts or .m2ts videos from directory like AVCHD > BDMV > STREAM. You may also open the STREAM folder in Windows Explorer, drag and drop the AVCHD files to the program UI.

Step 2. Choose Media Center format.

Click the "Format" option, and choose HD Video > WMV HD(*.wmv) as output format. The video converter will convert Panasonic GH2 native video format to WMV for Windows 7 Media Center. The options like .mp4, .mov, .mpg also work for media center.

Step 3. Keep AVCHD quality to Windows 7 Media Center.

To keep high video quality, just click the "Settings" button, change the frame rate and bit rate according the source video properties. For example, for the 1080 24p AVCHD files at 24Mbps from GH2, you can set the frame rate to 24, and enter 24000 for bit rate in kbps.

Step 4. Convert Panasonic GH2 video to Media Center format.

Click the convert button under the preview window, and the AVCHD Video to Media Center converter will start converting GH2 MTS/M2TS to WMV/AVI/MOV/MPG according the format you choose in step 2 for Windows 7 Media Center.

After the conversion, you can add the output HD videos to Windows 7 Media Center and play Lumix GH2 files on Windows 7 Media Center in high quality.

Tips:

1. If you use the interlaced recording mode and get 1080i files from GH2, you may also select the 1080i video, click the "Editor" button, go to the Effect tab and make sure the checkbox for deinterlacing is ticked for smooth playback without unexpected lines.

2. Aunsoft Video Converter also works with Sony Handycam camcorders like HDR-CX350, Panasonic HDC-TM700, JVC Everio GZ-HD7, etc. If you would like to put TiVo videos, MKV videos, Blu-ray movies and DVD movies to Windows 7 Media Center, try Aunsoft Blu-ray Video Converter Ultimate as the all-in-one Windows 7 media center converter.

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