"Count me as one of the many disappointed DVDA5 users who thought they would be able to create standard DVD discs with AVCHD content and menus that work"

DVDA5 can produce standard DVD discs with HD and menus in the AVCHD format which will play in most Sony Blueray players. Of course, at full HD capability, the standard discs will hold 20 to 30 minutes of video.

Many of us in this forum have been doing it for a long time once we figured out the kinks.

So, to answer you question, if what yo want is to make BD5 's in regular DVD's at full HD and menu's, we need to know what is stopping you so we can try to help. Please describe your setup, process and what the problem is.

"Are you just trying to create a BluRay disc file set but put it on a DVD disc?"

No - I want to make a disc, using a standard DVD, with AVCHD files just like Corel's DVD Movie Factory, Cyberlink's PowerDirector, and Pinnacle's Studio can do. Other posts in this forum confirm that this is not possible with DVDA5. While they state that you can put BluRay files on a standard DVD, they will play in only a few BD players.

"DVDA5 can produce standard DVD discs with HD and menus in the AVCHD format which will play in most Sony Blueray players. Of course, at full HD capability, the standard discs will hold 20 to 30 minutes of video."

This is EXACTLY what I would like to be able to do with the exception that they will only play in "most Sony Blueray players". I would want to be able to play the disks in the majority of BD players.

"Many of us in this forum have been doing it for a long time once we figured out the kinks."

Kinks? There are kinks to the process? I admit I've only looked at the options and documentation in DVDA5 and was lead to believe it may not be possible. Then, reading posts in this and other forums, it seemed quite evident that this is not possible unless you follow a rather complex set of procedures and even then could not expect a high degree of compatibility.

"I would want to be able to play the disks in the majority of BD players."

So would we all but, as far as I know today, this has not been possible for apparently two reasons:

1.- The index file created in BD5 does not seem to be read universally and needs to be massaged for "increased" compatibilty.
2.- Some blueray players do not even read the headers in BD5 but reject the discs outright, no matter what program or process was used.

There is no known solution to the second problem.

Preparation and burning of BD5 in DVDA5 is straightforward but you must comply with the requirements, which are also simple. Without massaging (editing the index file) these BD5 play superbly in most Sony players. I say most with caution because some users report problems with LAN and internet connected players.

I cannot comment on other programs because it would be theoretical.

"Preparation and burning of BD5 in DVDA5 is straightforward but you must comply with the requirements, which are also simple."

I, and apparently many others, have not found the burning of BD5 to be so straightforward. Every time I attempt to make a disk it is read by the PS3 as a data disk and only allows me to play individual files with no menu. Would someone be so kind as to share the simple process?

I think the process of burning BD5s is simple. The problem is that many Blu-ray players can't play them. On the other hand most Blu-ray players can play AVCHD DVDs - but DVDA can't burn them.

I have raised this with SCS as a feature request and it can only help if others do the same.

Mike

DanVM:

you can't do it. The PS3 player won't recognize a DVD disk with HD media on it as a video disk. It will only see it as a data disk. If you use DVDAS5 to create DVD quality output on a DVD disk the PS3 will see it as a video disk.

The only way to get HD quality output onto a disk the PS3 recognizes as a video disk is to get a Blu-Ray burner and used the Make Blu-Ray option from DVDAS5.

For all the excruciating and gory details on this see the post below I started with 50 replies.

Birk, thank you for your reply.

Note, though, that the following products CAN make DVD5 discs with .m2ts (AVCHD) files on them with menus that play just fine on the PS3 and many other BD players:
- Corel VideoStudio X3
- Cyberlink PowerDirector 8 Ultra
- Pinnacle Studio 14
- Sony Picture Motion Browser (since version 4)

It is incredibly frustrating to me that the best consumer NLE requires the use of other software to create an AVCHD DVD.

Yes it is. As I have said before, it is always a mistake for a company to let its narrow-minded, cretinous, greedy, and just plain stupid marketing people make technical decisions for product developers.

Another fine example of this is the Canon photo-quality printer people. They make the best consumer photo printers on the market (the printheads never clog) but their printer driver software limits the max print length to 13", Why? Because Canon does not sell photo paper in rolls, only cut sheets. And they don't want their users to be buying Epson roll paper (which works great in the Canon printers.)

Just for grins I decided to make a short test disk with Nero 10. I have always had success making AVCHD disks (at least that's what I called them) with Nero Vision. I selected Make AVCHD/DVD, added a short HDV capture and burned a disk with no menu just to examine the folder structure. Nero made a subset of the DVDAS5 folder structure - which should be no problem since many of the folders are not used anyway. But Nero created what I now know as the BD9 (or BD5) folder structure and used the Blu-ray convention for file names. Under BDMV it had only BACKUP, CLIPINF, PLAYLIST and STREAM. BTW, there is no CERTIFICATE folder. Just thought you might like to know.

"Would someone be so kind as to share the simple process?"

Apparently you are judging the effectiveness of preparing and burning full HD and full menu BD5's by playing them on a PS3. When I get hold of someone who has a PS3 I will try my BD5's and see what the PS3 peculiar requirements are.

By the same token, I can play m2ts files in full HD directly from my hard disc using Western Digital TV Live little box. It works great but will not read menus. It is a data reader. I suspect that PS3 works the same way.

For now, since my target has not been PS3's but normal, regular Blueray players, DVDA5 works perfectly and makes full HD, full menus playable in at least most Sony players. For non Sony players I edit the index file.

Maybe someone has the complete universal fix. I don't.

Melachrino,

I do not mean to sound obtuse but will you please share your workflow in detail? I also have non-PS3 BD players and have had no success using DVDA5 to produce AVCHD DVD's that work with any of them.

This has been shared here before. Use 'Make Blu-ray Disk' - Optimize - 'Project Properties...'
Click on 'Target media size(GB)' then click the down arrow and select 4.70 for a single-layer disk.
Click on 'Video format' then select AVC.
Click on 'Bitrate (Mbps)' then click the down arow and adjust the slider for ~15 Mbps.
Click OK twice to dismiss the dialog boxes.

It should be pointed out now that we are really not making AVCHD "disks". We are making Blu-ray disks and burning to conventional DVD media using the AVCHD "codec." BTW, don't burn at a bit rate greater than 18 Mbps (recommend 15Mbps). According to Wikipedia we can do this only because the industry adopted the so-called BD9 standard for commercially pressing high definition movies on conventional double-layer DVD media using the AVCHD codec. A year or two ago it looked like the industry wasn't even going to open up the home video market to Blu-ray burning. Burning HD on DVDs should be considered a bonus. If your Blu-ray player doesn't play these disks then ask for a firmware update - and keep on asking until they get one that actually works!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#BD9_and_BD5

Thank you, KenJ62, for taking the time to detail this so plainly. It really is appreciated!

"I do not mean to sound obtuse but will you please share your workflow in detail? I also have non-PS3 BD players and have had no success using DVDA5 to produce AVCHD DVD's that work with any of them."

Dan, you are not being obtuse, you are just being persistent which is the right thing in order to obtain answers. That is what forums like these are for.

Since you have an answer already, try it first and report your results.

If you still run into problems, it would be helpful to know exactly what program you are using to edit the HD files, which program you are using to author the DVD, I assume with menus, and what brand and model are your Blueray players.

Good luck.

Here is an interesting thread:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1229828#post1229828

It appears that BD9 may not be supported by the Blu-ray player manufacturers. Seems they don't want to encourage Blu-ray using red-laser, which is required for using conventional DVD media. I will certainly give a long Bronx cheer for that situation! Pffthtffth!

KenJ62,
Just to clear up the confusion Ken, are you using Blu Ray burner and burning the AVCHD on to DVD or are you using regular DVD burner and burning the AVCHD on to DVD?

I read on the other thread that you are burning blu ray disc so I am guessing you are burning AVCHD to DVD USING BLU RAY WRITER.

It seems that you can burn AVCHD to DVD and have it recognize as a playable disc by blu ray player using DVDAS 5.0 IF YOU ARE USING BLU RAY WRITER.

Using regular DVD writer and writing AVCHD to DVD and DVDAS 5.0, my finished disc are recognized by the PS3 as data disc. I am guessing that once I upgrade to blu ray writer and burn AVCHD to DVD, it will recognized it as a blu ray disc and not a data disk.

It will be interesting to see if that turns out to be so, although I very much doubt it.

Mike

I was finally able to create AVCHD DVD using regular DVD burner. For once, the PS 3 recognized it as AVCHD ROM and not data disk.

I render using Sony AVC(.m2ts), ran the rendered file thru tsMuxeR to correct the audio sync problem, create AVCHD folder using tsMuxeR on the corrected file, and then burn the folder using Imgburn. This seems easier than multiAVCHD and the .m2ts files on the AVCHD also played fine on the PC.

"are you using Blu Ray burner and burning the AVCHD on to DVD or are you using regular DVD burner and burning the AVCHD on to DVD?"

I am using a regular DVD (red laser) burner to make BD5 discs.

DVDA5 makes the Blueray disc structure described here but the content of the index folder seems to be peculiar to Sony. When just this index file is changed to what it should be, then the disc plays in most other branded Blueray players.

As for playing the DVDA5 made discs in PS3, other threads say that one must navigate into the video file via the PS3 menus and it will play in full HD the same way it does from its hard disc. Also, by changing the index file, PS3 can be tricked into playing the disc without the workaround. I do not have a PS3 so I cannot confirm what the other threads say. But I do know how to play HD data files m2ts from hard disc.

I am using a regular DVD (red laser) burner to make BD5 discs. DVDA5 makes the Blueray disc structure described here but the content of the index folder seems to be peculiar to Sony. When just this index file is changed to what it should be, then the disc plays in most other branded Blueray players. As for playing the DVDA5 made discs in PS3, other threads say that one must navigate into the video file via the PS3 menus and it will play in full HD the same way it does from its hard disc. Also, by changing the index file, PS3 can be tricked into playing the disc without the workaround. I do not have a PS3 so I cannot confirm what the other threads say. But I do know how to play HD data files m2ts from hard disc.

I had to look up what BD5 is since I thought it was a single layer 25GB blu ray disc. It turns out it is just a format that put Blueray disc structure on a regular 4.7GB single layer DVD.

I am curious to see what KenJ62 use to make his AVCHD disc. Reading his posts, it is clear that he use DVDA5 and if I and othere did what he did, we get a data disk according to the PS3(and I know the PS3 supports AVCHD ROM since I just create one using tsMuxeR). I thought the difference might be because he used a combo blu ray burner. But that shouldn't matter if you use red laser to burn the regular DVD.

When using DVDA5 to make the Blueray disc structure and then burning it onto a regular DVD, it creates the BDMV and Certificate folder. But it does so in a way that is different than AVCHD disc. The PS3 reads it as a data disk. This is not really a big deal since you can navigate to the STREAM folder and select the .m2ts file.

I was able to make a disc that the PS3 recognized as AVCHD DVD-ROM by using the rendered .m2ts file and tsMuxeR. Now as far as the PS3 is concerned, it really doesn't matter. I could drag and drop a file to blank DVD disc and the PS3 will play it. The only reason why I want to create AVCHD disc is that I was hoping it will play in most blu ray player(I don't know if it will, but I know that the disc with the blu ray structure that DVDA5 create will not play).

The reason is of course simple. Lots of time, family videos I created are under 40 minutes and it would be great if I can keep it in hi-def since it was shot in hi-def. They have blu ray player and if I can burn the material to regular DVD then it would be awesome. This will all be moot once the price of blu ray medias drop.

" The only reason why I want to create AVCHD disc is that I was hoping it will play in most blu ray player ".

AVCHD discs created by DVDA5 with menus and HD video will play in most Sony Blueray players. However, they will not play in most other brands. From my personal tests, these BD5's will play in most Sony and Denon players.

To improve compatibility, the current suggestion is to PREPARE (not Burn) the AVCHD disc in DVDA5 which will place an image in a folder. This folder can be processed by a free program MultiAVCHD which will change the index file. Once this is done, the corrected image can be burned with ImgBurn or other iso burner.

Also from my personal tests, the "corrected" BD5's will play in most Sony, Panasonic and Denon players. They will not play in Insignia, Funai and Samsung players.

Check Doom9 forum where this issue is discussed forever and there is a comprehensive table of what players work and which do not for now.

Again, I pass on the PS3. The table is unclear on it.