Workflow for AVCHD -- Blu-Ray

I have a Canon Vixia HFS100 that I've been using for personal video. The camera can shoot 1080/60i or 1080/30p. I've been shooting 30p. I'm looking for comments on my current work flow, which is:
1. Shoot video in 30p.
2. Log and transfer into FCP from AVCHD folder using ProRes 422.
3. Place in sequence set to 1920x1080, aspect ratio HDTV1080i, square pixel, no field dominance, 29.97 timing.
4. Edit then send to Compressor
5. Compressor settings are H.264 for Blu-Ray, stream usage Blu-Ray, frame rate 29.97, average rate about 17 MBps, 25 MBps max, frame controls off
6. Burn in Toast or Encore
The result looks very good, but I wonder if it could be better or if I'm forgetting something.
Also, the result is almost "too good", meaning there is almost too much detail on the screen for the eye to get, so sometimes the image is wearying to watch, unlike a Blu-Ray film which is detailed yet smooth. Is there a way to "smooth out" the video? Reduce frame rate to 24 or some such?

Rob Reuland wrote:
the result is almost "too good", meaning there is almost too much detail on the screen for the eye to get...
LOL. Isn't that the point of HD; Quality? If I wanted less detail I'd probably shoot at a lower definition or add a slight blur to the footage on your timeline...
If I wanted less quality, I'd just tie a cam to my head and shoot in SD.

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Best workflow for burning Blu-ray and DVD

Hi,
What's the best workflow for effciency sake for burning both a Blu-ray and a DVD of the same project?
Essientially I'd like to export and create a menu once, then be able to downrez to DVD. However, I'm not sure that is possible since blu-ray and DVD are differnt codecs.
Thank you

The only way that you can get acceptable re-scaling of menus is to go from BR to DVD, and do the editing in Photoshop. Simply re-scaling the menu here will not give acceptable results.
I usually copy the various button layers from the BR menu to a new DVD menu file created using the provided Photoshop preset. You will still have to do some manual re-scaling and alignment. The thing that has given me the most trouble over the years is round button highlights - a segment is often chopped off. Font sizes will probably need adjusting too.
Unless you are adept with handling layers and groups within Photoshop, it may be easier to start again.
Any attempt to convert within Encore is unlikely to produce acceptable menus in my experience.

Advice on CS4 system config for AVCHD/Blu-Ray

Hi,
I need some advice for a CS4 system config.
I am currently building this system for editing uncompressed SD/HD/AVCHD video and authoring Blu-Ray, Flash, SD DVD's.
This is being built a local comp store and parts are already coming in, so any changes would be extras, and I'm on a budget. I know I should have posted this before, but reading conflicting reports on config/drive issues raised some questions and concerns.
Here's the current specs.....
750W Corsair ATX Power supply w/140mm fan
GlacialTech SilentBlade II 120mm case fan
ASUS P6T motherboard w/Triple Channel mem support
Intel Core i7 920 2.66 Ghz processor
Kingston SSD(Now V-Series) 128gb, SATA 300 boot drive
Seagate ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200RPM HDD X 2 in RAID 0 Stripe (Internal)
2GB DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333MHz) Memory X 6=12GB RAM
nVidia Quadro FX1800 graphics card w/Elemental Accelerator
LG Blu-Ray SuperMulti Blue DVD Burner
2TB USB External HHD (attached via USB)
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4 Pin Molex to 2 x SATA power adapter
4 live squirrels with hi-power hot peanuts in hamster wheel
Windows 7x64bit
I'll be using CS4 Production Premium (upsell package) for Windows.
1. Is it possible to run CS4 on an SSD drive (as the OS boot and app's drive)? I've heard mixed reports that CS4 does not play well with SSD's.
2. When configuring CS4 for a project, which drive should each project element/asset go to maximize speed? After seeing so many conflicting articles, I'm completely lost on cache drive vs. media/project files vs. backup drives.
3. Should I use RAID 0 for my scratch discs (for performance) and just manually backup the project to an external HDD? (I hear horror stories of these drives freezing in RAID).
7. Should I wear boxers or briefs while editing?
Thanks in advance!

1. Yes, you can use a SSD as a boot disk for OS & programs. No problem.
2 & 3. Make sure you do NOT get the 7200.11 Seagates. You MUST only use the 7200.12 version. I would NOT put them in a (R)aid0, especially not with Seagates. Instead of two 1.5 TB disks, you can consider to get one 1.5 TB for source/media and two smaller disks, one for projects/scratch and one for exports.
Not all P6T mobo's have FW800 on board. You may be limited to FW400. For external (backup) storage you are better off with eSATA.
7. Definitely boxers. It fits better with your climbing boots and real editors always wear climbing boots when sitting at their editing station, just in case a mountain suddenly appears on the monitor.
Also have a look here: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/525263?tstart=0

Export 1080 x 1440 to HD stream for later blu ray authour

This might be more of a compressor question really but whats the best way to export 1080 x 1440 to HD stream for later blu ray authour.
In compressor I have 2 settings, 1 is a 60 min h264 HD. Is this what I should use so I can make a Hi Def master when the time comes?
Daz

Have the same problem. My solution: If you don't need advanced authoring, simply buy Toast 9 with HD plugin, export your footage from FCP as Apple ProRes and drag to Toast - it will do all the encoding in h264 (no more MPEG2)... My problem with this workflow is, that Toast supports only 2 channels of audio, so I'm going to but DVDit HD, which supports LPCM 7.1. Then I export as ProRes from FCP, make h264 BD compactible stream in Toast and make the authorization in DVDit HD... This is the best solution I figured out (I need 7.1 surround)...

Is it possible to create DVD Templates with Motion for burning Blue Ray DVDs from Final Cut Pro X?

Is it possible to create DVD Templates with Motion for burning Blue Ray DVDs from Final Cut Pro X?

As far as I know, motion templates can only be used with DVD Studio Pro. FCP X only lets you add a background image to the DVD menu.

Can I use a WRT54GX2 as wireless bridge for my Blue Ray to an E1000 wireless router?

I recently replaced my WRT54GX2 router with an E1000 for networking in my home. I now have a Blu-Ray disk player, and thought I may be able to use the old WRT54GX2 to wirelessly bridge a network connection for the Blu-Ray. I am having trouble fignuring out how to configure it, if possible at all. Any help would be appreciated

A WRT and a E1000 are wireless routers, i.e. router with an integrated wireless access points. They accept client connections. They don't connect to other access points. They always require a wired connection to your main network.
Running a wire is the best solution anyway, in particular for video streaming and similar.

CS4 for burning Blu-rays?

I'm thinking about upgrading from CS3 to CS4 and was wondering if the Encore CS4 was more reliable for burning blu-rays than CS3. I have been receiving all sorts of errors that have been driving me nuts.
I'm using a Matrox Axio LE with windows XP.

Of course a single movie would be broken up to compress in smaller parts. It's called segmented processing. It's what Qmaster does when you set up a distributed processing network. But you need more than one computer to make it worth while, and they have to be networked on, minimum, a gigabit network, but preferably on a faster Fibre network.
The problem that comes with job segmenting is if you use a variable bit rate, because the bit rate information isn't shared between/amongst the nodes. If you use a CBR, you're all set, but like I said, it won't matter unless you have more than one computer, and you're limited by the slowest computer in the chain, as well as the network.
If you use less than a gigabit connection, the time it takes to transfer the information to and from the cluster controller, and then reconstitute the final video is more than the time it would take to just do it on a single computer.

H.264 MVC for 3d blu ray

h.264 MVC for 3d blu ray: there are some way for encoding the 3d stereo video with apple computers/software?
alessandro

You can make side-by-side 3D content for certain types of 3D TVs (that will play side-by-side), to play through Blu Ray Player (can use standard DVD though!). Need FCP 7. "Share" feature for Blu-Ray.

Best format to export to Encore for a Blu-Ray disc ?

To All
My question is I shoot with a Canon Vixia HFR21. I am putting together a family vacation we all just had at Disney World. My computer is capable of handling everything very well.I had it built 2 years ago by ADK.I need to know once I have everything set on timeline and all is ready to export, what exact setting in Media Encoder would be best considering I will be bringing it then into Encore to burn on Blu ray disc.
I have Adobe cs6 Premiere and Encore.
Also after I make the Blu ray I will put exact same time line on regular dvd..from what I read for that I think I should export to mpeg-2 ..I'm not sure .
Also for both blue ray and dvd, which is better ipcm or dolby digital audio ?
Thanks a lot,
Ray Perry

Hi Ray,
From Premiere, export via AME and choose the "H.264 Blu-ray" format, and then for preset, get what best matches your footage, for instance maybe 1080i 29.97
You will need to choose a bitrate in line with the length of the program so that you don't exceed the disc capacity. Just search the web for "bitrate calculator" and plug in your details. No need to be in the 30-40 range, something like 25 using H.264 will look fantastic. I believe at "20" you can fit well over 2 hours on a Blu-ray disc. Dolby audio is the default.
For DVD, again Export via AME but choose "MPEG-2 DVD" and proper preset like "NTSC Widescreen", and set bit rate. Don't exceed 7 or 8 on that, and you can use 560/minutes=rate as a rule of thumb and round down slightly. For instance 560/120=4.66 so I encode at 4.5, again using default Dolby Audio.
I'm not keen on sharing the same Encore project for the Blu-ray and DVD, but that's up to you. Note that you can add DVD chapter marks in your Premiere timeline and when you export, those go with. In Encore, use "Import As > Timeline" and grab the audio and video clip at the same time and the chapter marks come along for the ride!
Thanks
Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

Encore a good choice for authoring Blu-ray videos with complex menus?

I currently use FCP X for editing videos of live band performances. I have been dissapointed in Toast Titanium for aurthoring the resulting Blu-ray videos because of the limited menu options.......I will often have 30 separate videos on a Blu-ray disk (one per song).
I am considering buying Premiere Pro CS6 to obtain Encore because I have been told it provides more complex menu options.
(1) Are you happy with Encore for aurthoring Blu-ray videos?
(2) Would I also need to buy After Effects?
I ask the 2nd question because I have watched an excellent "Authoring with Adobe Encore" tutorial here:
http://www.precomposed.com/tutorials/products/pro_motion_menu_kits/Encore_Authoring/
These folks offer some nice looking Menu Kits
http://www.precomposed.com/products/pro_motion_menu_kits/
but they use After Effects as well as Encore.
Thanks for the help.

For your #1 question, you might want to go to that forum http://forums.adobe.com/community/encore

CS3 "Come for the blue-ray stay for the flash" crashing (MY SOLUTION)

Hello everybody,
I had some serious trouble starting up Encore CS3 in WinXP. Seeing the "Come for the blue-ray stay for the flash" -message and then Encore CS3 closing up. As for someone else in the forums, starting Adobe Version Cue before trying to start Encore solved the problem.
Now a year later, I faced the same problem with Vista 64bit and with totally different hardware. For many people unplugging certain USB-drives or devices has solved the problem, but for me it didn´t help, neither in XP nor Vista. I remembered the solution from XP and started up Adobe Bridge CS3, then chose "Version Cue" -> "Start server". This action opens up a browser and asks for server information. I inserted nothing, tried to start Encore CS3 and it worked!
Hope my experiences will help some of you who are struggling with the same problem.

OMG, thanks so much for this solution... I have searched high and low for a solution, and I have also tried reinstalling countless times. My only question is do you have to start that server every time you start up encore? Also do you know what is causing this to happen that you need to start the server?

CS4: maximum buttons for a blu-ray project

Hi,
I've a project with 6 languages (about 180 Buttons each language).
I burned it as a normal SD-DVD. No problems there.
But when I tried to burn it as a BD I get a error message.
The Original message is german and could look more or less like this in english:
Blu-ray-Object: "<Button>Menu/1", Error: "Counter overflow", Code: "2", Message: "maximum 999 titles per project (Spec Annex B)"
Does that mean that you can use a maximum of just 999 Buttons for a blu-ray project? Or what else could that mean?
If I can just use 999 Buttons how should I realize a project with more Buttons? I mean, 1k Buttons are not unusual for a Service-DVD.
Greetings from Germany
Christoph

This Encore FAQ Entry lists the supported BD formats in Encore.
Good luck,
Hunt

AVCHD - Blu-ray: what settings for best quality?

Hi Folks,
I've got a BD-burner and I want to export my edited HD avchd footage to BD with minimal quality loss.
Can you please advice me on the right settings?
* should I go for the 'Match Sequence Settings' option in the export menu?
* or probably select 'MPEG 2 Blu-ray' option for best quality?
* what is better in terms of quality of the outcome: 'MPEG 2 Blu-ray' vs. 'H.264 Blu-ray'?
Finally, I have a question related to Adobe Encore: the same footage exported through Adobe Media Encoder in 'MPEG2 Blu-ray' (takes 13 GB), Adobe Encore reports will take only 8GB?!? I'm puzzled here. How come the same footage got exported into files with different length? Is there a way to set the Encore to export in the maximum possible quality? Where can I locate this menu setting?
Thank you very much!

Forgot to mention, I'm using CS5 and I shoot in avchd, 30fps,
1980i

What is the best workflow for AVCHD with iMovie/iDVD 09?

I am recording AVCHD video with a Sony HDR-SR11. I don't have a blu-ray burner yet, so I want to create the highest quality DVD's I can from this source video using my MacBook and the software I have (iMovie 09 and iDVD 09).
Currently I am importing the video clips into iMovie 09 at the 1920x1200 setting. After creating a 16:9 movie I choose "Share to Media Browser" and export at the highest setting I see (I think 1280x720, I'm not on the MacBook at the moment).
After a long while this completes and I launch iDVD 09. I drag the movie I exported above into the theme and burn at Professional Quality. After another long wait I have my DVD but I'm quite disappointed with the video quality.
Even taking into account that DVD is not a hi-def disc format it seems like the video quality should be better. Is there a better workflow I should be using with this combination of software? Maybe some way to avoid scaling/compressing the video twice? Or is this as good as it gets with iMovie 09 and iDVD 09? I may have access to iMovie 06, if that would help.
Thanks,
Gerald

3) Share to Media Browser with Best Quality
For folks like me that wonder exactly how did you do this:
(I don't know what Media Browser is yet.)
I did this: (I got some warnings - did you?)
In iMovie:
Selected my 1280x720 "HD" video in the Project panel,
Share->Media Browser...
- if HD is greyed out, you already shared this size to Media Browser, go to next step,
or select "Remove from Media Browser, check HD, click Remove"
- if HD is not greyed, but is not check marked,
select Computer icon, then uncheck Mobile, Med, and Lrg, leaving only HD checked
With HD checked, Click Publish - watch "Creating the HD movie.."
Bring up iDVD, Select Create a new project, browse for location and enter project name
If Themes at bottom right is not selected (Dark), click it
Double click a theme - for example under Revolution, choose Chapters.
At bottom right, select Media, At top right, select Movies
Under iMovie should be your iMovie project - mine says "My First Project" (I didn't name iMovie proj)
Select your iMovie Project,
you should see a thumb of your video with dimension, size listed
(movie duration is down at bottom right.)
Drag the thumbnail onto the iDVD preview window (I don't what that window is officially called)
drop it under the theme title "Revolution Chapters" for this example
You should see a running preview of your video with the project name below it.
Important step: Project->Project Info, Under Encoding: select Best or Professional Quality
Ok re-encoding warning, close Proj Info window.
File->Burn DVD... Popup says "Warnings in Project", select Continue Burning
Insert DVD (Apple designed sharp edges on the SuperDrive on purpose?)
I used Staples 4x DVD-RW first.
Watch process proceed till DVD is ejected...Don't believe "Time remaining: about one minute"
My DVD-R120 player-recorder would not load the disk. It played fine on iMac, a WindowsXP laptop, and a Windows XP desktop. This DVD machine only likes old 1X RW media for some reason. I wish someone made a standalone Blu-Ray recorder/player. I burned a second copy to some gold Sony 1X/2X DVD-RW media, and this disk played fine.
Picture quality is soft compared to HD material, but the moire patterns on some edges is only somewhat reduced over the Share to iDVD version. This Share to Media Browser version is acceptable for folks that won't go to Vimeo or YouTube to see my videos in HD.

AVCHD Blu-ray passthrough clarification

Hi,
I think some clarification about the AVCHD to Blu-ray passthrough needs to come from someone at Adobe who can give us the final word on this.
From what I gather from a number of posts that have touched on this subject, the ONLY way to go from AVCHD directly to Blu-ray in Encore without transcoding, is to import a raw (unedited, untrimmed) AVCHD file into Encore as a Timeline.
All along I believed that I could use Dynamic Link to import a P Pro AVCHD sequence that would not need to be transcoded. But I have not been able to do that. Even if it is cuts-only with no effects or any other kind of files.
I have been able to import the files I used in that sequence into Encore, and then I do get the message that the "Blu-ray Transcode Status" is "Don't Transcode." But I haven't been able to get that message using any other workflow. And clearly that is not a workable solution for most situations.
Has anyone been able to dynamically link a P Pro sequence and do a passthrough to Blu-ray without transcoding? If so, would you give us some insight into how you did it?
Thanks,
Jeff Sengstack

See this thread:
http://forums.adobe.com/message/3045149#3045149
Note two inmportant things:
a) The promotional information that the original postger refers to no longer says anything about AVCHD in the Encore section (the discussion was in the CS5 days). But my post suggests that it was there and it only claimed that Encore could take AVCHD from camera (if it was legal BD) and not transcode it in an Encore project. Premiere still does not provide smart rendering, so once the materials comes into PR and gets exported, it is not the same as was you are looking for.
b) The "solution" in that thread I believe involved the edited material in Premiere being transcoded. If that is happening, it really doesn't seem to me to matter that it is something other than AVCHD.
See Encore help regarding AVCHD passthrough:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/encore/cs/using/WSbaf9cd7d26a2eabfe807401038582db29-7ebfa.html #WSc1b83f70210cd101-82aadf112511d10d96-8000
Note the first comment at the bottom, that explains that the additional qualifier is that the AVCHD is BD legal, and that at least one camera's output was not legal.

Workflow for AVCHD -- Blu-Ray

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