HD authoring using Edius HDV output?

[kwshaw1]

Has anyone here successfully authored either Blu-ray or HD-DVD discs using HDV files output from Edius, and if so what is your current workflow? I know there was some talk about Sonic DVDit Pro a while back, but I didn't hear much about anyone actually burning discs with it. Also, now that Adobe CS3 is shipping has anyone managed to make a Blu-ray disc from that yet?

I know one person locally who tried to author Blu-ray using the Mac version of CS3 and ended up having to send the disc image files through Toast to get that to work. I'm more interested in Windows-based solutions myself, but wouldn't mind hearing about other Mac solutions.

[shueardm]

I have made BD-R from both DVDit PRO HD and Encore CS3. They both work fine but some BD players wont play the discs. (dont support BDMV playback on BD-R)

If you are using EDIUS you simply export to Mpeg2HD with ProCoder Express/2/3 just the same as if it was for DVD. There are ProCoder 3 presets posted in the ProCoder section, you must use these or you will not be able to make compliant streams. If using ProCoder Express then good luck making a compliant stream, there are settings available in Roxio's forums for that.

I have made H264 Blu-ray from Encore CS3 but have had to use the Adobe encoder. There's no program I am aware of that can make H264 for Blu-ray at a reasonable price.

Once you have encoded your video, everything else is the same as for DVD, except you use HD menus.

[kwshaw1]

If using ProCoder Express then good luck making a compliant stream, there are settings available in Roxio's forums for that.

Yeah, that's one of my concerns - guess I'll have to go check out the recommended settings. For what it's worth, HDV output from PCE using the default HDV 1080i setting will play on my Sony Playstation 3, so there's at least some compatibility there.

As far as H.264 is concerned, is it possible that's a standard output option for Quicktime Pro? I'm not concerned about H.264 for Blu-ray delivery since my projects will fit in HDV format on a Blu-ray disc, but if I was delivering on HD-DVD I might want the tighter compression.

[shueardm]

Firstly, HDv can not be used to make a BDMV disc, you can use it for BDAV, which is aplay only disc. If you want to make menus for the Blu-ray disc then you need BDMV and so HDV can't be used.

Quicktime can not make H264 for Blu-ray at this stage. It needs to be m4v format, transport Mpeg2 header with H264 mpeg4 encoding. I have tried movies, mp4's and .h264 files, none work.

[Bluetongue]

Blueray has been killed by the Big end of Town

I have made BD-R from both DVDit PRO HD and Encore CS3. They both work fine but some BD players wont play the discs. (dont support BDMV playback on BD-R)

Read this from Pioneer
Hi guys

This info has been passed up the chain.

Apparently the latest spec BD players have had BDR playback closed down due to demands from the movie companies and sooner rather than later Panasonic will also be affected. PS3 is an interesting one, as Sony is behind the demand to remove the playback of BDMV on BDR discs.

We are treating the matter as one of urgency, as a manufacturer of Blu-ray burners, but with these bureaucratic things nothing ever happens in a hurry.

Brad Morton | Product Specialist | Commercial Business Group
Pioneer Electronics Australia Pty Ltd
Lets hope something can be done about this
Regards Barry

[kwshaw1]

Firstly, HDv can not be used to make a BDMV disc, you can use it for BDAV, which is aplay only disc. If you want to make menus for the Blu-ray disc then you need BDMV and so HDV can't be used.

What is the standard encoding format then for BDMV discs? I would have thought HDV was acceptable, but apparently it's not that simple...?

[shueardm]

Needs to be either Mpeg2HD, AVCHD (H264) or VC1. Looking forward to seeing ProCoder 3 with the last two options one day.

[kwshaw1]

Needs to be either Mpeg2HD, AVCHD (H264) or VC1. Looking forward to seeing ProCoder 3 with the last two options one day.

But HDV is MPEG2-HD, so is this just a matter of getting some particular encoding settings right? Also, VC1 is just a specific variant of WMV, so one would think Procoder could be modified to make compliant streams for that.

[shueardm]

HDV will not work, it's transport stream. I dont think you can fiddle the HDV target to get it to work.
VC1 is WMV10 but noone knows what the variants are, you would have to pay for a white paper, then understand the nonesense and know how to apply it if indeed ProCoder could make it. Also, neither DVDit or Encore support VC1 anyway.

[Khoi Pham]

There is nothing wrong with MPEG2 HD, the best PQ HD movie imho is "Crank" on blu-ray and it is just so georgeous and sharp it is unreal. And since MPEG2 HD is less compressed than the other, it should encode faster for us, I will stick with MPEG2 for awhile.

[kwshaw1]

HDV will not work, it's transport stream. I dont think you can fiddle the HDV target to get it to work.

So if you want to make a BDMV disc you have to use the generic MPEG2 output option of PCE with HD resolution and program stream settings? I found these suggested settings for PCE on the Roxio Blu-ray forums at the following link:

http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=21049

MPEG 2 HD 1920x1080i

Generic ISO MPEG stream
MPEG-2 Elementary Stream
Width 1920
Height 1080
29.975 Frame Rate NTSC
Upper/Top Field First
16x9
High Quality Encoding
Use Closed GOP (checked)
CBR
1 pass
18300 bitrate (you can play around with this)
Prolile/Level [email protected]
Intra DC Precision 9
Use Strict GOP bitrate control (checked)
Use Audio if Exist
Audio Stream Type PCM/WAV
Sample rate 48.0
Channels 2 ch
Bits/Sample 16

for 720p, change video size to 1280x720 and choose "no-interlace"

[shueardm]

I've never tried PCE, but it apparently works too. You can also use 1440x1080 frame size and it doesn't have to be program stream.

[Frederick Joswick]

Thanks Kevin good research.

Aloha,
Frederick

[svdiesen]

So if you want to make a BDMV disc you have to use the generic MPEG2 output option of PCE with HD resolution and program stream settings? I found these suggested settings for PCE on the Roxio Blu-ray forums at the following link:

http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=21049

MPEG 2 HD 1920x1080i

Generic ISO MPEG stream
MPEG-2 Elementary Stream
Width 1920
Height 1080
29.975 Frame Rate NTSC
Upper/Top Field First
16x9
High Quality Encoding
Use Closed GOP (checked)
CBR
1 pass
18300 bitrate (you can play around with this)
Prolile/Level [email protected]
Intra DC Precision 9
Use Strict GOP bitrate control (checked)
Use Audio if Exist
Audio Stream Type PCM/WAV
Sample rate 48.0
Channels 2 ch
Bits/Sample 16

for 720p, change video size to 1280x720 and choose "no-interlace"

If you do not want Encode CS3 to transcode again, uncheck "Use Strict GOP bitrate contol". The rest of the seetings work, be sure to first set [email protected], otherwise you cannot change the width/height.

Saskia