Finally got Blu-ray to prepare- now ERROR message!

S35 wrote on 3/5/2015, 1:23 PM
Hi all,

After a lot of confusion over why my Blu-ray project in DVD Architect 5 had the "Finish" button grayed out in the prepare dialog, I discovered that Blu-ray projects must NOT have any overlapping menu links and inactive button colors must be set to NONE. Even though OPTICALLY, my links did NOT overlap and the inactive button colors were invisible, DVD Architect still rejected it, because the invisible "boundary" around the links touched. (According to the help menu, DVD projects can make these allowances but Blu-ray projects cannot.)

Anyway, after fixing all of that, I now can press the finish button, but just before the prepare finishes, I get this error message:

File name: STREAM/00005.m2ts
Status: TSWrapper.dll::CTSWrapper::ProcThreadMain::Video buffer underflows. -

Does anyone have any clue what's going on? I have 2 almost-duplicate scene selection menus (same explanation as below), 4 pages, 6 links per page, non-animated images with text.

I'm also using the blank subtitle track technique, same as my DVD project, to avoid the subtitles defaulting to on. I have 2 almost duplicate menu systems, where Menu 1 is structured so every button on the page activates the blank subtitle track, and pressing "Subtitle ON" button links to Menu 2 (a visual duplicate of Menu 1) except the "Subtitle ON" button is now green, and every button in Menu 2 activates English Subtitles, except the "Subtitle OFF" button, which sets the blank subtitle track and returns the user to Menu 1. Not sure if this affects the Blu-ray prepare... the DVD prepare (which was an identical menu structure worked perfectly fine).

Thanks so much for any insights!
~Adam

EDIT: Forgot to mention, my movie file is Mainconcept AVC with 25 Mbps average, 40 Mbps max.


Comments

rs170a wrote on 3/5/2015, 1:36 PM
From the Sony Knowledgebase:
Video Buffer Underflow error during prepare of Blu-ray Disc project


This error may appear when the sum of the bitrates of all streams (video angles, audio, and subtitles) in a title that belong to same clip (*.m2ts) exceeds the maximum overall bit rate value.
If this error appears, please try the steps below:

1. Go into the File menu in DVD Architect and select Optimize Disc.

2. Click on the File in the Optimize Disc window, that could be causing the error. It may be a multi angle file, a compliant file, or a file encoded with a variable bit rate.

3. You can view the bit rate of the individual video and audio streams by clicking on the separate video and audio buttons listed at the top right side of the Optimize Disc window.

4. If “Recompress” is set to “No” for a compliant file, changing the recompress setting to “Yes” may resolve this.

Setting the “Use Default Bit Rate” setting to “No” and adjusting the “Bit Rate” field just below that, may also resolve this.

A way to calculate the right bit rate for your project may be a trial and error method, where you start with the bit rate calculated for a single angle and then reduce the bit rate until the prepare process completes without error. This seems to currently be the best way to test the limit of bit rates. In practice, it may be challenging to encode video for multi-angle while maintaining acceptable encoding quality. This fact is especially true when the number of angles and streams is increased.

Mike
Arthur.S wrote on 3/5/2015, 1:37 PM
"Video buffer underflow" could be the HDD you're writing to can't cope. Are your source files on a different HDD to where you're creating the BD?
musicvid10 wrote on 3/5/2015, 1:56 PM
Arthur, that kind of hard disc underflow was patched years ago. This bluray error just looks similar.
S35 wrote on 3/5/2015, 5:46 PM
Thanks Mike and Arthur. The knowledge base article unfortunately doesn't really explain itself properly. It tells you to recompress a compliant file? That shouldn't be necessary! In fact, I had already dropped the variable bitrate of the AVC file down to 25 Mbps average, 40 max, and the Blu-ray's menus to encode via DVD Architect at 25 Mbps. There should be plenty of headroom. I can always try the menus at 18 Mbps, though.

@Arthur: Yes my project files and media are on 2 separate HDDs.

Thanks again for the help, guys.
Rob Franks wrote on 3/5/2015, 7:15 PM
You have your max set to 40.

If I'm not mistaken the Blu Ray max is 40. Throw in your audio and a bit of error here and there.... and you're over the maximum allowable.
john_dennis wrote on 3/5/2015, 8:38 PM
Here are some threads that may not directly solve your problem but might make interesting reading while you're waiting for a render to finish.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=897990

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=22&MessageID=699729

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=793199

Rob Frank's comment about 40 mbps maximum is likely important to consider since if the video elementary stream is close to the 40 mbps Blu-ray maximum for any length of time and you pile multiple audio tracks on top of that.

Download the Bitrate Viewer application to analyze the maximum bit rate of the files.

Interesting side note:

The Mainconcept MPEG-2 render template default for a 25 mbps Blu-ray is 20 mbps minimum, 25 mbps target, 30 mbps maximum.
S35 wrote on 3/6/2015, 8:12 AM
Thanks Rob and John for the help!

According to DVD Architect's manual:

*9.8 Mpbs is the maximum bit rate for DVD players.

*28 Mpbs is the maximum bit rate for Blu-ray Disc projects burned to DVD media.

*48 Mpbs is the maximum bit rate for Blu-ray Disc projects burned to Blu-ray Disc media.

In the optimize disc dialog, under the General Tab for my video file, it says:

27.311 Mbps for the bitrate, and 1.536 Mbps for Total Audio Bitrate.

Under the Video 1 tab, it says 25.255 Mbps for the bitrate. I even tried decimating the project down to nothing but that single Mainconcept AVC file and its accompanying PCM audio, with only the main menu plain screen and single button which launches the movie. (No subtitle tracks, no scene selection or other menus). It still won't finish the prepare. In the end, I wound up using Vegas to burn an instant-play Blu-ray disc with the Sony AVC codec at its max setting (which I think is just under 22 Mbps). I'm wondering if it's the Mainconcept AVC codec that DVD architect doesn't like? It sure takes an extremely long time to load the file when you add it to the project for the very first time.

Anyways, the instant-play disc solves my problem for the time being. However, I'll need to figure out a better way to burn Blu-ray discs with menus.

Thanks,
Adam