Authoring Software

[MozartMan]

There is BluPrint by Sony, and Scenarist by Roxio, but those are in thousand dollars price range, and are out of rich for us, I guess.

I hope Sony will release new version of DVD Architecht that will enable Blu-ray BDMV authoring and burning.

[Don Blish]

As you can see from this post

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=6671

he used Roxio DVDit ProHD....
and the Cyberlink software that comes with the Sony BWU100a makes
only stripped down BDAV projects....that do not play on Sony's own player, even with the new 1.55 update

[SS Scott]

DVDit Pro HD is currently the only <$500 authoring solution for BDMV on BD-R. It allows the author to create 1080p, 1080i or 720p BD discs with HD MPEG-2 at up to 40mbs with HD menus, timelines and slideshows and has support for multiple audio and subtitle tracks. It will also let you create masters for replication.

For those with Roxio or Sonic programs on their computers, there is an upgrade/crossgrade available in the Roxio Upgrade Center for $199.

[MozartMan]

Originally Posted by SS Scott

DVDit Pro HD is currently the only <$500 authoring solution for BDMV on BD-R.

Scott,

What about BDMV on BD-RE?

[Don Blish]

I took the above to heart and purchased Roxio DVDit Pro HD this morning and by late afternoon had my oldest, 99 minute HDV project playing on my Sony BDP-S1 with version 1.55 firmware. No Roxio installation hitches, Great suggestion.

I chose to write to BD-RE media as temporary measure till inkjet printable BD-R is available. Both TDK/Primera and Verbatim, I believe, have promised them.

My workflow was as follows
Footage taken by my Sony HDR-HC1 is HDV so mpg2 at 1080x1440 60i
Heavily edited in PremierePro2.0 with the Cineform 4.1x plugin
Output via Cineform as if to put back into camera: .m2t file at HDV's native 25mbps CBR video with 384kbps audio.
These archived files were broken back to elementary .mpg streams with REmux_TS (free from a guy in Japan, just google for it)
At least for my first project it seemed to want to transcode that back to 24mbps...so it took 6 hours in total. I'll have to see if I can skip transcoding in the future.
I flattened a Photoshop file for the menu (1080x1920, square pixels) and brought it in as a menu background and used Roxios navigational arrows and linked them to chapter marks I made. I had 20 chapter marks but only 9 buttons on screen.
The project played and looked great on my 52" 1080p Sharp Aquos.
The project DID NOT PLAY on my editing station's Cyberlink PowerDVD6.6BD, but that application may only like BD-RE/BDAV projects. No big deal, I only edit on that machine.

Folks, Blu-Ray for mortals has arrived!

[phloyd]

Now we just need software updates for PS3 and perhaps the Samsung to get all the platforms running BD/BDRE with BDMV formatting..!

[Don Blish]

In my previous post I described using .m2t files as input to DVDit HD Pro. While the video looked great, "hard cuts", particularly to stills did not happen cleanly. The bottom third of the frame would not update for 6 to 8 frames. I traced the problem to the limitations of the ConstantBitRate (CBR) of the .m2t files themselves. I have redone the projects so DVDit encoded (Variable Bit Rate) directly from the Cineform .avi files which have no "temporal compression". For projects where I no longer have the .avi files, I'll convert .m2t files back to .avi and repair these spots. That will be easy if it is a still image. If it is the beginning of a video segment, I'll have to either recapture the segment or trim it out.

The moral of the story is to do as little compression as possible before authoring. I've purchased an eSATA+USB external 750gig disc arrangement to archive the huge files involved. My first was 86gigs for a 99 minute project!

[mmace]

Adobe Encore DVD CS3 now supports the ability to author and deliver professional titles on standard-definition DVD and high-definition Blu-ray Disc.

http://www.emedialive.com/Articles/R...rticleID=12539