Limited Success: HDV to playable Blu-Ray

[Harpdude]

I have been able to burn BD-RE (haven't tried BD-R yet as I"m still testing) using Canopus Pro Corder Express (which comes with Edius 4.) I used Pro Corder Express to make a HD MPEG 2 file, which cuts a lot of transcoding time from DVDit Pro.

Pro Corder Express Settings are:

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 MP@HL
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

This worked flawlessly and DVDit Pro HD encoded the show in rapid fashion.

I had all the files (including menu photos) on my I drive (the application is on the C drive) at the root level; i.e. it was I: New Zealand MPEG, not I: My videos/vacation/New Zealand MPEG. I got no error messages at all, and DVDit Pro finally didn't give me the 4GB file size limit!


And a BIG THANKS to everybody who answered my requests for help!!!

David Ice

[pixel]

Originally Posted by Harpdude

I have been able to burn BD-RE (haven't tried BD-R yet as I"m still testing) using Canopus Pro Corder Express (which comes with Edius 4.) I used Pro Corder Express to make a HD MPEG 2 file, which cuts a lot of transcoding time from DVDit Pro.

Pro Corder Express Settings are:

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 MP@HL
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

This worked flawlessly and DVDit Pro HD encoded the show in rapid fashion.

I had all the files (including menu photos) on my I drive (the application is on the C drive) at the root level; i.e. it was I: New Zealand MPEG, not I: My videos/vacation/New Zealand MPEG. I got no error messages at all, and DVDit Pro finally didn't give me the 4GB file size limit!


And a BIG THANKS to everybody who answered my requests for help!!!

David Ice

You can also use 1440x1080i. Its also working with DVDit Pro HD...

[Harpdude]

Originally Posted by pixel

You can also use 1440x1080i. Its also working with DVDit Pro HD...

Pro Corder Express doesn't give that option...only 1920x1080. But no problem.

I've also discoverd that DVDit Pro HD will also transcode a program stream audio to AC-3 (Dolby Digital) without using an elemental stream, allowing Pro Corder Express to do a 2 pass variable bit rate Highest Quality encode. But be aware it's VERY slow, even on a fast machine. I'm averaging about .7 realtime. 30 minutes takes about 6 hours.

David Ice

[phloyd]

I have been experimenting with a number of broadcast streams and have found a couple of 'barriers' to compatibility with DVDit.

Bitrate: If the bitrate header is too high, DVDit will transcode the video, even if it is not the real peak bitrate. This can be fixed using Restream. An example is that HDNet Movies sets the bitrate header to 65 but that is not the real bitrate.

GOP Length: I gather that the GOP length should be no more than 24 frames for progressive and 30 frames for interlaced data on a BD. It is not clear where DVDit Pro HD draws the line but it is apparent that my ABC and NBC local broadcasts (28 frames in a GOP) and Showtime, Starz and Universal HD (29 frames in a GOP) are not acceptable to DVDit and it will transcode these streams. It is not clear to me how to get around this since I don't think it can be done without some additional I frames so some level of recoding is needed.

[phloyd]

As a followup, I found that the VideoRedo tool has a function to reduce the GOP length on writing.

For PS and Elemental output, this can be accessed in the Options on the Save dialogue box.

I found that for Showtime HD data, the GOP of 29 frames could be fixed by setting a maximum of 17 frames. This resulted in one extra I frame being added per GOP. So it takes some time to recode that frame for every GOP - but I think it is worth it since it is not a complete transcoding.

[KevinShaw]

Originally Posted by Harpdude

Pro Corder Express doesn't give that option...only 1920x1080. But no problem.

Procoder Express has various encoding options depending on how you navigate the dialog boxes: you should be able to do MPEG2-HD at 1440x1080 with full control over other settings if you get to the right place. I'm looking into this now and will be testing output compatibility with Adobe CS3.