Render Setting for 24 Mbps AVCHD to DVDA Blu-Ray

rtbond wrote on 12/20/2011, 7:58 AM

I have AVCHD content from my Canon HF G10 recorded in the MXP mode:

24 Mbps max bit rate, 1920x1080, 60i, Profile= High, Level 4

The content is less than 60 minutes

Vegas Pro 11 does not a DVD Architect Blu-Ray render template that is an exact match for the above source material (maximum bit rate appears to be 16 Mpbs). The Sony AVC Blu-ray 1920x1080 video stream template appears not to go above 16 Mpbs (if I customized it to 24 Mpbs, but it resets to 16 Mbps)

I tried customizing one of the Main Concept AVC templates for 24 Mbps max bit rate, 1920x1080, 60i, Profile= High, Level 4 output, but this generates an unspecified error on rendering.

Any suggestions?

Comments

John_Cline wrote on 12/20/2011, 8:51 AM

Try changing the "Encode Mode" from within the Main Concept AVC template to "Render using CPU only."

rtbond wrote on 12/20/2011, 9:34 AM

John,

The "Encode Mode" option is not present (best I can tell) in the Main Concept AVC template (only in the Sony AVC template). I running Build 511.

--Rob

Lou van Wijhe wrote on 12/20/2011, 9:48 AM

Rob,

I doubt that there will be a visible difference between the source material at 24 Mbps and the end product downsampled to 16 Mbps (although I don't have any practical experience with AVCHD).

I render 25 Mbps HDV to 15 Mbps AVC and the end result is excellent. Considering that AVCHD compression is much more effective than MPEG-2, you are already shooting at a very high quality.

By the way, I also consider buying the Canon G10 (after having seen footage from it !) but I then intend to shoot at 17 Mbps. I may be wrong but I suppose that shooting at 24 Mbps takes up more space without adding much picture quality.

Lou

John_Cline wrote on 12/20/2011, 9:54 AM

Rob, the option is available to me in 511.

John_Cline wrote on 12/20/2011, 9:57 AM

Assuming you start with high quality video, I can easily see the difference between 16 mbps and 24 mbps AVCHD video,

rtbond wrote on 12/20/2011, 11:29 AM

>Rob, the option is available to me in 511.

John,

I just re-checked and it is indeed there. I am not sure what I was looking at; perhaps the wrong template. My bad.

In an case I took your advice and changed the "Encode Mode" to "Render using CPU only" rather than the default of "Automatic". The Main Concept AVC template customized to 24 Mbps maximum bit rate now renders and does not produce the unspecified error. Let's see what results ...

rtbond wrote on 12/23/2011, 4:12 PM

Just to close the loop; this did produce a 24 Mbps AVC render (after setting the average bit rate to 24 Mbps and peak to about double that)

Thanks to everyone for the help

Lou van Wijhe wrote on 1/10/2012, 8:47 AM

The SCS AVC encoder appears not to adhere to the standard (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Levels).

Sony's template defaults to Main Profile (MP). At level 4 this means that the bitrate is maxed to 20,000 kbps. However, Sony's AVC encoder only produces an error starting at 22,000 kbps (21,999 kbps does indeed work).

If the encoder is set to High Profile (HiP), the max bitrate allowed with level 4 should be 25,000 kbps. However, also in this case the encoder refuses service with an "unknown error" starting at 22,000 kbps.

Nevertheless, Vegas does accept input of HiP Level 4 footage at 24,000 kbps as reported by the OP. I intended to buy a Canon HF M41 (recording system identical with the G10) for AVC output on Blu-ray but apparently Vegas forces me to step back in PQ. It may not be really visible but it remains to be odd.

In the tests I ran I noticed that Sony's AVC encoder uses a variable bitrate, sometimes going well over 22 mbps. So it may not be that bad at all.

Lou