If you are Mac user, go here: How to transfer AVCHD footages  for playing and editing on Mac

Pinnacle Studio 12 /14  is a powerful video editing tool and ranks among the best. The program comes with all of the standard editing features, as well as some unique perks, such as the ability to work with HDTV video format and original transitions and sound effects. With improved navigation and additional filter features, this video editing software is more user-friendly and hard to beat. Even with a user-friendly interface, Pinnacle Studio offers many features and customizable options.How to edit MTS files with Pinnacle Studio smoothly?

Well, I’m not a video professional but I do run into chopping some videos together every now and then for work. I also am looking for a clean workflow to downsize the source videos so I can archive them. I’m looking for some advice on workflow and how to achieve the desired results.  Money is not really an issue with software as most of this is for work and I have a decent budget to do these types of things. I also have access to some nice machines to crunch the videos.

I am basically looking for an easy workflow that does a few things:
1. Be able to transfer these videos in the correct aspect ratio into a much smaller WMV container that can be streamed on our intranet for work
2. Be able to easily transfer these videos into a little smaller container for archiving, so they take up about half to 1/3 the space

The following tutorial will guide you through how to import MTS footage to Pinnacle Studio Ultimate friendly format using Pavtube AVCHD to Pinnacle Studio Converter. You can download AVCHD MTS  to Pinnacle Studio Converter (trial version) for trial.I really liked how Pavtube trial version provided full access to the functions of the software. It allowed me to test the conversion quality.

Converting MTS to MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVI, DV, WMV and other formats that Pinnacle Studio handles well:
Step 1. Import MTS  to  AVCHD to Pinnacle Studio Converter.
Transfer .mts files from camcorder to computer via USB cable. Run Pavtube AVCHD to Pinnacle Studio Converter as the best MTS converter, and click the “Add” button to load .mts videos.

Step 2. Set Pinnacle Studio friendly output format.
Click “Format” bar to determine output format. Follow Common Video-> AVI Video (*.avi). To maintain HD quality, you may choose HD Video > WMV HD(*.wmv) for converting MTS to 1080/30p WMV with WMV3 as video codec. The MTS converter also keeps the 5.1 channels by default.

You can also choose MPEG, MP4, DV as output format, which are available in Common Video, HD Video and DV tab of MTS AVCHD to Pinnacle Studio converter. The converter also works with AVCHD footages shoot by various AVCHD camcorders, like Panasonic TM700, Sony HDR-CX110, Canon HF S200, and so on.

Step 3. Determine you video resolution, bit rate, frame rate, etc
Click “Settings” if you’d like to customize advanced audio and video parameters like Video Codec, aspect ratio, bit rate, frame rate, Audio codec, sampling rate, bit rate, channels. Notice that you can not “convert up” video quality. If you selected HD Video in Step 2, we advise you to adjust the A/V parameters to be the same with source MTS footage so as to bear least quality loss at proper file size. You may check the A/V parameters of original video in preview panel, and it will display the video information when you select an item. In case it displays no information, please click the “《” sign. To cut down file size, you may set down video bit rate, the lower bit rate you set the smaller file size you get. Do not forget to click “OK” to confirm your settings. Then type in a desired output location in the “Output” box.Check the option “Merge into one file”, you can join multiple MTS files  into one file for conversion.The deinterlacing option allows you to convert interlaced MTS file into a non-interlaced form, so that you can enjoy a better and clearer video effect.

Step 4. Convert AVCHD  MTS to AVI for editing with Pinnacle Studio friendly video format.
Click the convert button under the preview window, the MTS to Pinnacle Studio converter will start converting MTS to AVI  for importing to Pinnacle Studio edit. Soon after the conversion is finished, just click “Open” button to get the generated files and edit mts file with Pinnacle Studio .

How to convert HD footages for burning with Windows DVD Maker