Convert 1080i AVCHD directly to 720p avi with ffmpeg 0.5

With the realease off ffmpeg 0.5 there is much better AVCHD support in my experience, so you can use it for perfect conversions. You can download ffmpeg from ffmpeg.org and then use this script:

#!/bin/sh
# ffmpeg-avchd script by linux-tipps.blogspot.com

# to encode a directory use this command:

# for i in *.m2ts; do ffmpeg-avchd $i; done

IN="$1"; shift

OUT=$(echo $IN | sed 's/.m2ts//')-720p.avi

echo Encoding $IN to $OUT.

ff="ffmpeg -deinterlace -i "$IN" -acodec copy -vcodec libx264 -vpre normal -crf 25 -sws_flags lanczos -s hd720 -r 25"

echo $ff $OUT

nice $ff "$OUT"