How to downscale 1080 to 720?

[Catinaz]

Hi all,
My brother visited me over weekend and transferred some of his footage from his Sony hd camcorder to my pc. Unfortunately, my pc isn't powerful enough to play them back (cpu load 100%) I can still see individual frames now and then. Extension of the file is .MTS and I assume it's 1080 (full HD). How can I downscale it to 720 so my pc would be able to play it back?
Thanks.
P.S. I don't know the model of the camcorder, but I could ask him if needed. I have dell dual core laptop (vostro 1700), so I guess 720 would play fine.

[lowellriggsiam]

You might try using handbreak.

[guns1inger]

Before you go converting (because it may take some time), what are your computer specs ? Are they capable of 720p playback ?

[yoda313]

What software have you played it with?

Try mediaplayerclassichomecinema and see if it might do better.

Also if you do try to downconvert PLEASE SAVE A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL VIDEO. That way if you plan to convert to bluray or dvd or avchd you'll have the best possible source to work with and you won't have to reborrow the camera.