mpg video editing software

Freeware:

Windows Movie Maker is a video creating/editing software application, included in Microsoft Windows Me, XP, and Vista; Windows Live Movie Maker is a video creating/editing software that is a part of Microsoft's Windows Live initiative which is intended to replace Windows Movie Maker that is currently included in Windows Vista.

iMovie(for Mac) is a proprietary video editing software application which allows Mac, iPod Touch 4th generation, iPhone 4 and iPad 2 users to edit their own home movies.

Tips: WMM and iMovie are free one, but they can not accept AVCHD files natively, iMovie '08. Apple only supports a few of AVCHD camcorders.

Shareware
CyberLink PowerDirector 7 Ultra. about $120; no trial download.Pinnacle Studio Plus 12. about $100; no trial download available.

Final Cut Express 4. about $200; no trial download. For Intel-based Macs only. Final Cut Pro 6. $1,299 (part of Final Cut Studio 2); no trial download available, and AVCHD editing requires a Mac Pro with Intel Xeon CPU.

Sony Vegas Video Movie Studio 9 Platinum Edition about $74; 30-day trial download. As of Version 8.0c, Vegas Platinum supports Panasonic and Canon files. I opened a few files to check. According to the release notes for Version 8.0d, now supports 1,920x1,080 files, but not for Panasonic. Now Sony Vegas Pro10 costs 600$ maybe.

Corel Ulead VideoStudio 11.5. $99.99; The current version of VideoStudio now lets you import AVCHD files--it no longer requires the entire directory structure--and author AVCHD discs.