Presets for DVDA 5.0 BluRay?

BrianStanding wrote on 8/5/2008, 6:39 AM

I'm looking over DVDA 5.0, and I notice some of the settings for BluRay authoring are different than the Vegas 8.0 BluRay export settings. For example, DVDA seems to expect a video bitrate of 18 bps, instead of 25 in the Vegas preset.

Has Sony or anyone else released presets that provide the same kind of functionality (markers, chapter points, mpg vs. m2v streams, etc.) that the standard "DVD Architect NTSC Video Stream" settings provided in Vegas do?

If I were going to create these myself, is it safe to assume that I should set the video bitrate to 18 bps (to match the DVDA settings), and then set the "System" tab to match the "DVD Architect NTSC Video Stream" settings (i.e., uncheck "Save as separate elementary streams;" sector size 2048, etc.)?

It certainly would be more convenient if Sony provided a free update to Vegas 8.0 that includes appropriate presets to interface with DVDA 5.0.

Comments

JohnnyRoy wrote on 8/5/2008, 7:20 AM

I would set the bitrate in DVD Architect to match your footage. So if you are shooting 25MB HDV, I would render in Vegas using the Blu-ray template (which is 25MB by default) and then change my DVD Architect project from 18MB to 25MB to match so that nothing get re-rendered and everything stays at the quality that I acquired at. The DVD Architect project templates are just a starting point. You can change them to anything that is acceptable to the Blu-ray spec and the spec limitations are documented in the DVD Architect 5 User's Guide.

~jr

Wolfgang S. wrote on 8/5/2008, 7:23 AM

I agree with Johnny - use the bitrate that is used for recording - or generally spoken, for HDV footage the 25 mbps, or for 1920x1080 mpeg2 the 35 mbps.

And yes, you can create your own templates - simply by adjusting the data rate.

BrianStanding wrote on 8/5/2008, 7:40 AM

Great, that's helpful. Thanks, Johnny.

What about all those other niceties, like preserving my markers as chapter points in DVDA? Should I mess with the "System" tab, or leave that one be?

john-beale wrote on 8/5/2008, 7:54 AM

Your markers should show up as chapter points in DVDA, but ONLY IF you export them from Vegas. You have to click on the box saying "Save project markers in media file" in the "Render As..." dialog box. Although despite that name, it doesn't really save them in the rendered file, it generates a separate file with a .sfl suffix. If you forgot to check that box in your original render, you can regenerate it (assuming you still have the Vegas project) using a 3rd party script called (I think) wil_mksfl_vegas.js written by Wil Liu which can create the SFL file after the fact. It's a download from VASST here:

http://www.vasst.com/resource.aspx?id=ec69bfca-3e4b-410f-8cb9-3ba67e306985

CClub wrote on 8/5/2008, 8:03 AM

If I can tag this question onto this post...

I haven't yet had need for a Blu-Ray burner, and I'm waiting for price drops/hardware improvements. I just completed a few projects that I know I'll want for Blu-Ray down the road. I want to render the files in HDV prepped for DVDA BR burning but just keep them on my hard drive. Would I just use the same DVDA template in Vegas mentioned above... The 25 Mbps HDV template and just keep the rendered files on my hard drive until I get a burner?

JohnnyRoy wrote on 8/5/2008, 8:35 AM

> I haven't yet had need for a Blu-Ray burner, and I'm waiting for price drops/hardware improvements.

The Pioneer burner that I paid $600 for in January is now only $399. What are you waiting for? ;-)

> Would I just use the same DVDA template in Vegas mentioned above... The 25 Mbps HDV template and just keep the rendered files on my hard drive until I get a burner?

Yes, that should do it. Use the Blu-ray template that best matches your footage. Also render your audio as AC3.

~jr