AVCHD Video Format

What is AVCHD video format? AVCHD video format, abbreviated for Advanced Video Codec High Definition, is a brand new high definition (HD) digital video camera recorder format recording 1080i*1 and 720p*2 signals onto certain media by using highly efficient codec technologies. The format has been jointly developed by Sony and Panasonic. Announced in 2006, AVCHD video file formats specification allows using several kinds of recording media, in particular recordable DVD discs, memory cards, non-removable solid-state memory and hard disk drives. AVCHD camcorders do not use magnetic tape.

AVCHD video format utilizes MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 (AVC) video compression codec and either Dolby AC-3 or linear PCM audio compression codec. AVCHD video format also includes features to improve media presentation: menu navigation, slide shows and subtitles. The menu navigation system is similar to DVD-video, allowing access to individual videos from a common intro screen. Slide shows are prepared from a sequence of AVC still frames, and can be accompanied by a background audio track. Subtitles are used in some camcorders to timestamp the recordings.