13 July 2009

Last year I bought a Sony HD Camcorder that records in AVCHD. It came with a program called Picture Motion Browser which is a complete joke. So for the past year I've been looking for a free AVCHD player so I can at least watch my archive without plugging my camcorder into the HDTV.

Of course it's my fault. As an early adopter you run into things like this. The hardware is available but your computer (software) can't handle it.

I tried numerous recommended options but each either didn't work or required hoop jumping in terms of downloading external codecs that didn't seem to help either.

The closest I came was the Oxygen Player by Mirillis. But just as I began testing it they had to pull it from the market due to some legal dispute over the technology used to create it.

And that's where I was stuck until last night.

I decided to check out Mirillis again and what do you know they're back! The new product is called Splash HD and it works like a charm. Great picture with clear and concise playback.

Thanks Mirillis - you just saved my life...

Now...here are a few quick tweaks that I'm already looking forward to:

• The ability to see thumbnail images of your clips so you don't have to open the file to see what it is.
• An upgraded player that allows for insanely quick and easy editing (cropping and stitching) of AVCHD.

If you can make that happen I'll buy you something...or at least buy the product...