Many Thanks for helping out. Ok, so DVDA burns a BluRay disc using the ISO image BUT, my Samsung player won't play it. Have I done something wrong or is it the player - it is only 3 years old. ie do other player, play ISO images ?

Thanks !

Set-top players are not typically built to play .iso images, especially Blu-ray .iso's. Playing an .iso is a task heavily driven by translating huge computer code, hence a .iso player will be more likely found in 'soft' systems such as media players and computer apps. Playing a Blu-ray .iso is limited by the big boy licensing - hence a legit way to do this will cost.

Thanks ! Ok .. now I'm more confused. If Players cant replay an ISO then why does DVDA generate an ISO when I hit the DVDA button "Create Disc" ?

An iso is an image, a skeleton, a blueprint, a master for burning and replicating optical discs. So you have created an iso? Now burn the iso to an optical disc with burning software. Want additional copies? This the .iso, is your master from which you may replicate more discs.

Ok, maybe I am not explaining myself well. I don't ask for an iso, DVDA just produces it and burns the BluRay disc when I hit "create disc" . I want a BluRay disc that plays in my Samsung player, and I have no understanding why DVDA should produce an ISO which can not be played in a BluRay player. The disc DVDA is unplayable and I don;t get why it should do this.

It does this only when I create a disc with "menu selection".

Sorry if I am not making sense.

Many thanks !

You do not play an ISO image in a BluRay player!

You need to burn a BluRay disc from the ISO to play in your BluRay player.
In order to do this, you need a BluRay burner.

What are we all missing?

How are you creating your Blu-ray disc?

You have the option of creating it directly with DVDA as for a DVD, except that a DVD creates a folder with the DVD files as a transparent intermediate step while a BD creates an ISO image file which in turn contains the BD files as a transparent intermediate step. At the end, you have a burnt optical disc ready to play in both cases.

If you are creating an ISO file first and then burning it to a BD as a separate process, how are you doing that? What software?

You can't simply put the ISO file on a BD data disc and expect it to play in a normal BD player, although it may play in some media players.

All I want is for DVDA to create a BlueRay disc which can be played and which allows me to to have my hd content with a "menu selection" but no main menu.

I have a BluRay bruner on my PC.

The ISO file is being automatically created by DVDA when I click "create Blu ray disc" .

The subsequent dialogue tells me the content will be saved as a iso.

DVDA then burns a disc which is unplayable. I can then see the iso file in the pc folders.

Sorry, I've never heard of having a chapter menu without having a main menu. These things are tiered. Why don't you just put your chapter links on the main menu?
Best of luck.

I have always done it this way when producing SD discs without any problem.

When creating the DVDA project you specify "single film", then create the "scene selection" menus. I don't see why you can not follow the same process. However, when you do, you get rewarded with the ISO image.

When you start the project with a "menu" rather than single film, then you get the opening scene as the a button icon.

But I don't want that. I want the scene markers generating my "menu selection". And of course I want it playable, which brings me full circle ...

Many Thanks !

Vince, i think we're missing a step here. Is DVDA doing the whole end-to-end prepare and burn for you and you end up with a disc that contains a .iso file? You haven't actually answered this yet. You've said that DVDA creates a .iso file on your PC, yes, but you haven't yet explained how the disc is burned.

If DVDA is burning the disc with just a .iso file in it's directory then DVDA is messing up very badly and this is a major problem that Sony needs to fix. It shouldn't even have the ability to do this.

If, however, you're ending up with DVDA's .iso file on your hard drive and then you're using some other program to burn the disc containing a .iso file then we can explain to you how to do it correctly so you get the right result.

Many Thanks for helping out !

Once I have rendered in studio 12, I use DVDA for the whole soup to nuts process from menu creation to disc prep and burn.

I had another look at the resulting disc with MS explorer, and all it would tell me was that the file size was the same as the ISO image on my pc and that the file format was UDF.

Many thanks !

Vince
The best thing to do is not let DVDAS burn your Blu-ray. Simply tell it to Prepare into a folder of your choice. An iso image will then be created in that folder. Use a proprietary disc burning package (like Nero) to burn it to your Blu-ray as an image. It will then play in your Blu-ray player.

If you look at your burnt disc with Windows Explorer, do you see an ISO file or do you see a set of folders including BDMV and CERTIFICATE? In BDMV you will see several folders including STREAM and in that folder you will see several files with .m2ts extention, one of which will be your main movie.

The file system of the BD should be UDF 2.5

What version of Windows are you using? XP does not natively support UDF 2.5

Does your Samsung player play commercial Blu-rays OK?

Yup my player is fine with commercial BluRay DVD's

I use win 7. When I look at the disc with explorer, all I see is that it 100% full, is 21.3 GB large, and that the file type is UDF

Let me remind everyone that this situation ONLY occurs when I do not include a main menu ie when I select "disc only" and then later add the "scene selection".

If I do start the project with a "Menu Disc" then I will get all the supporting folders and it does burn and run correctly.

The essence of my problem is that I do not want a Main Menu disc. I want a single movie with scence selection.

Many Many Thanks to all those who are helping !

vincei - your comments - main menu select disc only - then add scene selection - just makes no sense to any of us. I would hope you would be more thorough in explaining what software you are using and what steps detailed you are taking to do this.
Again the comment you have made several times is just NOT something any of us have ever heard of.

To Everyone ELSE - While the OP has not said - I think he is using some version of Movie Studio Platinum, likely foreign issue - so those of us working in the professional product line need not apply -I see the op's need as to understanding the consumer interface - and I didn't think it created Blu-ray because I do not work with that software... someone chime in, please.

Thank you all for helping out ! :o) I understand that this must be frustrating.

Ok - I am in Canada, I use the USA version of DVDA 5.0 build 128.

Let me clarify my terminology. When I create a new project I select "Single Movie"

- Then I import my movie.
- Then I add "Insert scene selection menu" derived from the markers within the rendered video.
- I "select start disc" to the first of the menus.
- Then I select "create BluRay Disc"
- Select "Burn"
- Select "current project"

and Voila DVDA wants to save the "prepare/burn" as an ISO which turn out to be unplayable.

I hope this makes sense. I have always used this work flow when in SD and it was perfect.

Many Thanks !!

Despite your detail I don't think that is what is really happening on your screen - so be careful here.
You state - "Start with the wizard automation tools - I select Single Movie - NO you should not do that! Start with wizard automation tools - you should select Menu-Based as your wizard. The reason for that is to allow you to have a menu at all - which you would have to do if you are going to use Chapter markers.....NOW for the moment lets skip to the Create Blu-ray disc....

Unlike creating a DVD - this is a two (2) step process - in Blu-ray you first select PREPARE which is going to finalize the authoring process and create the necessary disk image you need from which you can burn 1 or more disks. When the prepare finishes an .iso image is written to your harddrive. NOW without doing anything else in between - insert your media in to your burner, and select "BURN disc from previously prepared .iso image. This will be your run at burn 1 disc at a time.

NOW that SAID - your issues with scene selection menu can get real complicated and should not spill over to any submenus. In other words try for example to keep your chapter selection to less than 6 (six) chapters and allow that to be only on your one single main menu.

"
The essence of my problem is that I do not want a Main Menu disc. I want a single movie with scence selection.

"

This is confusing to me. If you have scene selection, then you must have a menu, and the top (or only) menu is the main menu.

Do you mean that you don't want a main menu plus a scene menu that is selected from the main menu, but to be able to select scenes directly from the main (and only) menu?

I presume that you are using the Studio version of DVDA. The latest version is build 178. Have you tried that? Many of us use the Pro version of DVDA, and the action may be somewhat different, adding to the confusion.

If I just want a single menu with scene selection, here is what I do:

I create a new project with menu. I drag the video file to that menu. I then insert a scene menu, which creates the buttons and links to the scenes. I then copy those buttons to the main menu and delete the scene menu. Finally I tidy things up. (You should delete or not copy the scene button to the first scene because it will be redundant - you already have a button to the start of the movie.)

As an aside, there is a bug in DVDA (Pro version at least) such that if you create a BD with main and scene menus, the skip buttons (next/previous scene) do not work once you leave the top menu, with some BD players, Panasonic in particular. A crude workaround is to have a single page main menu with all the scene buttons on it.

"When I look at the disc with explorer, all I see is that it 100% full, is 21.3 GB large, and that the file type is UDF"

Something seems very fishy there. This seems like all you're looking at is the properties of the disc, as in right-mouse-button click on the drive letter and select "properties" from the popup menu. You should be able to double-click on the drive to open up the disc in Explorer and see the contents as well.