Trust ourselves & embrace the world!Play Panasonic DMC-ZS3 AVCHD Lite with QuickTime Player on Mac
- Before my trip began, I purchased a Panasonic DMC-ZS3 which uses AVCHD Lite as video format. A couple of days ago, we returned from Africa where we took movies/pictures with our new Panasonic Lumix dmc-zs3. Awesome camera, but I didn't realize that the movies are recorded in AVCHD (I think) and won't play with QuickTime, etc on my Mac; and also can't be played on DVD. We'd really like to be able to email some of our short movies out to people and also put them on DVD. But no one will be able to view these movies in this format. How can I convert the AVCHD Lite files? I'm a novice at this and so far the research I've been coming up with is confusing to me.
- Afterwards, I am informed that the AVCHD Lite file type shot by the camera identifies a subset of AVCHD format, in which HD-recording is limited to 720p/30. The 720p/30 video is recorded in the AVCHD 720p/60 format by storing every other frame, and using a bitstream flag to tell the playback device to play each frame twice. So I need a converter to transcode the footages first. That is to say, before import the AVCHD Lite footage to QuickTime, I should convert Panasonic AVCHD Lite to MOV, etc. As I tried the Brorsoft AVCHD Lite Converter and it worked quite well. Now, for those novices who are also confused, I’d like to show the detailed steps in the following guide.
- Step By Step Guide
- Preparation: Connect Panasonic DMC-ZS3 camera to Mac via USB cable, import the AVCHD Lite footages to hard drive.
- Step 1: Load Panasonic DMC-ZS3 AVCHD Lite footages to DMC-ZS3 AVCHD Lite Converter program.
Download and set up AVCHD Lite to MOV Converter. Run the program as the most easy-to-use Panasonic AVCHD Lite Mac Converter. Click the "Add" button on the up-left corner of top tool bar, by clicking it or dragging & dropping the video directly you can import the AVCHD Lite files to the program. Plus, multiple files are allowed to be imported altogether.
- Step 2: Choose the “H.264 HD Video (*.mov)” as the output format
In the format pop-down list, navigate mouse cursor to “H.264 HD Video (*.mov)” option in the “HD Video” section to select the output format. Then, click “Export to” for setting the destination folder which the output files belongs to. - Step3: Set the parameters in 'settings' button
As Panasonic DMC-ZS3 HD-recording is limited to 720p/30 while the program default video size is 1080p, you should follow the customized parameters below to keep image quility:
Video Codec H.264, Size: 1280*720p, Bitrate: 8000kbps, Frame Rate: 30/29.97,
Audio Codec: AAC, Sampling rate: 48khz, Bitrate: 320kbps, Channels: 6.
After specified the parameters, hit “Save As” button after renaming so that next time you can apply the customized settings again. Click “Ok” after all these steps. 
- Step 4. Convert Panasonic DMC-ZS3 AVCHD Lite videos to MOV on Mac
Click the 'convert' button if all the settings have been done, and the Mac AVCHD Lite to MOV Converter will start the conversion from Panasonic DMC-ZS3 MTS to MOV for viewing on Mac Quicktime Player. The converting process will take you several minutes, please wait patiently. You can:
Be clear about the total achieved percentage of scheduled progress
"Pause" or "Cancel" the conversion at any time
"Shut down the computer after conversion" by ticking the box - Once all the simple steps showed above are finished, the Panasonic DMC-ZS3 MOV files are prepared for you to play with QuickTime Player on Mac. Enjoy your movies!
- More information about the best AVCHD Lite Converter for mac
Convert AVCHD Lite files from Panasonic cameras in extraodinarily high speed
Compress, trim, crop, add special effects and different watermarks.
Upload the recording content online with converted FLV formats.
Backup the recording videos in your computer or mobile devices.
Support VFW codec encoding and 5.1channel audio output.
As an easy-to-use AVCHD Lite converter with user-familiar interface. - More Knowledge about Panasonic & AVCHD Lite
- Panasonic and Sony developed several brand names for their professional as well as simplified versions of AVCHD such as AVCHD Lite, AVCCAM, NXCAM. Announced in January 2009, the Panasonic DMC-ZS3/DMC-FT1/DMC-TZ7 digital cameras were the first digital cameras to offer AVCHD-lite movie mode. Since then, Panasonic has added AVCHD-lite to more of its digital cameras, such as the Lumix GF1 Micro Four Thirds, Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2, Lumix DMC-FZ35/38, Lumix DMC-TZ10/ZS7, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX75, Panasonic LX5, LEICA D-LUX 5, LEICA V-LUX 2.