Encoding for blu-ray playback.

[PuzZLeR]

First post, so please be gentle! Just reading from this forum has interested me in buying a blu-ray burner/player soon.

I’ve been encoding a lot of video to H.264/AVC to compress a lot of my MPEG-2 (for the same reasons someone would use DivX or Xvid). They’re mostly small clips and no HD (yet). I chose H.264 for its higher quality per file size and because it’s a standard for the next-gen players. I can only assume much more support in a couple of years.

Encoding at about 1Mbps, I get about 9 hours of SD-quality video on a DVD-R (as data). On a 50GB blu-ray disc, I should get about 100 hours (as data).

My (long-term) objective:
To one day actually play these files on BD, with menus, etc. NOT as data. No, I’m not expecting HD quality (obviously), just good playback on a regular video disc.

First, my details:

I encode in Main Profile (with some Baseline Profile backups for iPod).
I use encoding engines such as x264, Nero Digital and sometimes ffmpeg.
Average bitrate: ~1mbps per clip, VERY small compared to what’s in BD movies.
Resolution is 640x480.
Audio is AAC (LC) at 128kbps, 48000Hz, Stereo.

Now my questions:

1. Would I be able to load this video into a software package as is, and it would do minor transcoding for some adjustments (screen size, etc), or is it a serious re-encoding process?

2. Is there a conversion scheme that would be the least lossy from Main Profile to High Profile?

3. I probably shouldn’t expect 100 hours on a 50 GB BD video disc, but what would be realistic (ex: bitrates, etc.)?

4. Is there any software available today, that inputs H.264 (not MPEG-2) and can author to a disc? At least I can try out a disc image, just to be ready for “prime time” later. (Assuming it doesn't cost thousands.)

5. Since much of my source today is SD MPEG-2 it doesn’t make sense encoding in HD yet. But is there anything I CAN do today that will better prepare this video for the future?

Thanks so much for reading. If anybody has any input, I would appreciate it immensely. I'm still learning.

Geordie.

[PuzZLeR]

Ok, maybe the question(s) showed I’m way off base. I may be assuming that DVD is very similar to BD. But if I can ask the question in a simplified form:

Let’s say DVDs and DVD players had more properties such as BDs and BD players:
-25GB per layer (instead of just “4.7GB”)
-could support H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 (instead of just MPEG-2)
-could support resolutions widths of 1280, 1440 and 19920 (instead of just 720 max)

Would DVD be much different from BD then, not only for playback, but for authoring and encoding to it as well?

Thanks in advance.

[Don Blish]

You certainly can put Standard Definition on a Blu-Ray disc, and lots will fit. The only sub $10,000 authoring applications available now are Ulead Movie Factory of some version and Roxio's DVDit HD Pro. I cannot speak for Ulead, but at this early stage, I believe DVDit only supports .mpeg for encoding. Furthermore, there are a very narrow set of specs that Blu-Ray players will play and unless you nail them perfectly, DVDit will transcode to get "compliant" footage. Blu-Ray players are supposed to play AVCHD, but there is virtually nothing that will edit it yet (despite lots of cameres selling), and certainly nothing will author it in native AVC.

So the odds you being able to encode it once now and not have to transcode it later are slim. Furthermore, most of the early users of this gear are HDV enthusiasts to whom quality preservation is most important, and lossey compression of lots of standard def stuff is not important.

[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

[PuzZLeR]

Mmace:
Actually I just finished watching the posted web cast (at work LOL). It looks like we still have some time before this technology becomes more mainstream, but we’re getting there. For the sake of others that didn't see it, after much talk about photo/web apps coming out in 6 months, and even a serious computer crash during the presentation , Adobe did finally mention an H.264 encoder that they are implementing for cell phones, but they were very hazy about it for blu-ray. You can pretty much substitute their talk about blu-ray editing/encoding with that we've been hearing for regular DVD the last few years. Thanks for the link.

Don Blish:
Yes, Roxio DVDit and Ulead MF, are still both very young in the technology - very basic features, and only MPEG-2. Anything more powerful is still Hollywood domain (as per the $10,000+ price tag you mentioned).

But I understand now. Like you say, blu-ray today is really only catering to the niche market of HD video enthusiasts who want the ultimate FULL featured experience, not the mass market (yet), which will eventually include enthusiasts of compressed (but lossy) video. Topics such as this thread are still very much pre-mature for the market.

As data, I know that my video will be fine for decades and I can pack it up, and back it up, in just a handful of BD-R/E discs. I also can bet that future BD players will have DivX, Xvid and Nero Digital logos that play these data discs (and their video files) some day soon, even in SD.

I still would love to play these files as video someday on blu-ray, but setting up all that today seems like it’s going to be a major headache, even ridiculous, since I may end up doing it many times till I get it right in the meantime. Heck, they’re probably still establishing final specs for the format even as we speak!

Don, I sadly agree with you that, chances are, I would have to do at least one more re-encoding/transcoding, (muxing, resizing, etc.) to migrate from one generational format to the next, such as to blu-ray playback (as video) sometime in the future.

At least, support, hardware and software will drastically improve to provide the least lossiness and fastest times when that re-encoding/transcoding day does one day arrive (I'm confident.)

Staying put is the best option for now and continue as is. In the meantime, I will in fact keep some of the more important source material in the back of my closet, just in case.

Thanks for the help. Hopefully others benefitted from this topic. Great forum!

[digiteye]

Originally Posted by mmace

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

Is Encore available already? It appears to me at adobe.com that it can only be pre-ordered...