Ok folks, here we go.
The film viewer can convert AHF to AVI, but you have to use the "Microsoft Video 1" CODEC in order to do so. I am testing all the CODECS and so far the ones that fail are the H.261 and H.263.
It does take a long time to convert the file to AVI. Be patient. The time slider in the film viewer will increment along as work progresses.
We also lack any 16:9 aspect ratio selections in the conversion panel. I'll add that to the 'todo' list.