This tutorial will show how to install FFmpeg, and the required libraries that you need to convert AVCHD videos. The extra libraries enable FFmpeg to decode and encode M2TS/MTS codecs into a different format, like .avi or .mkv.

This section deals with the specifics of decoding HD video from a HDC-SD9 camera. The HDC-SD9 is Panasonic’s third generation of memory card-based camcorders. The HDC-SD9 camera uses the AVCHD audio/video format. We need to tailor our switches to these formats.

Update: Please follow my updated ffmpeg tutorial: convert your AVCHD movies with ffmpeg. It is quicker to install, and does the trick.

In this tutorial I will describe how to configure and install m2tstoavi from command line, on Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope)

The m2tstoavi script was written by Axel Olmos, and is the easiest way to convert mts/m2ts video files into an avi. Here is the work flow I followed to get m2tstoavi installed.