I have done a quick test of some software AVCHD disc players which may be of interest.
I use the term "AVCHD disc" in this post as a collective term to describe MPEG4 AVC video on standard DVD, although some may be so-called BD5 discs.
The discs were made using:
Nero Vision, MultiAVCHD, Photo Movie Theatre, Sony Picture Motion Browser (PMB), Corel DVDMovieFactory, Cyberlink Power Director and Sony DVD Architect Pro.
Some discs had slideshows while others had AVCHD video or both. All had menus.
The players were Splash Pro, Total Media Theatre, Corel WinDVD and Cyberlink PowerDVD, as well as my standalone hardware Panasonc Blu-ray recorder. There are other players that I know of that will play AVCHD files, but not AVCHD discs with menus.
Splash Pro would not play the Photo Movie Theatre or the DVDA output, whether patched with AVCHD Patcher or not. Slideshows made with both Nero Vision and DVDMovieFactory raced through. Otherwise no problems.
Total Media Theatre played everything but not smoothly. A faster computer or updated drivers may help but not tried.
WinDVD would not play DVDA output, whether patched with AVCHD Patcher or not. On other discs, the video looked faded, perhaps converting computer RGB to system RGB. There are some tool settings but I couldn't change them (perhaps because I was running a trial version).
PowerDVD seemed the most compatible, but when viewing a disc made with DVDMovieFactory, the first 25 secs of the 30 secs looping menu page was black. After looping, however, the menu was still visible. The menu music played OK throughout. With a disc made using DVDA, whether patched with AVCHD Patcher or not, the sound towards the end of a track tended to be prematurely cut.
My Panasonic BD Recorder played all the discs except those from Photo Movie Theatre and DVDA that had not been patched
So there are incompatibilities between various AVCHD discs and software players as well as hardware players.
I use the term "AVCHD disc" in this post as a collective term to describe MPEG4 AVC video on standard DVD, although some may be so-called BD5 discs.
The discs were made using:
Nero Vision, MultiAVCHD, Photo Movie Theatre, Sony Picture Motion Browser (PMB), Corel DVDMovieFactory, Cyberlink Power Director and Sony DVD Architect Pro.
Some discs had slideshows while others had AVCHD video or both. All had menus.
The players were Splash Pro, Total Media Theatre, Corel WinDVD and Cyberlink PowerDVD, as well as my standalone hardware Panasonc Blu-ray recorder. There are other players that I know of that will play AVCHD files, but not AVCHD discs with menus.
Splash Pro would not play the Photo Movie Theatre or the DVDA output, whether patched with AVCHD Patcher or not. Slideshows made with both Nero Vision and DVDMovieFactory raced through. Otherwise no problems.
Total Media Theatre played everything but not smoothly. A faster computer or updated drivers may help but not tried.
WinDVD would not play DVDA output, whether patched with AVCHD Patcher or not. On other discs, the video looked faded, perhaps converting computer RGB to system RGB. There are some tool settings but I couldn't change them (perhaps because I was running a trial version).
PowerDVD seemed the most compatible, but when viewing a disc made with DVDMovieFactory, the first 25 secs of the 30 secs looping menu page was black. After looping, however, the menu was still visible. The menu music played OK throughout. With a disc made using DVDA, whether patched with AVCHD Patcher or not, the sound towards the end of a track tended to be prematurely cut.
My Panasonic BD Recorder played all the discs except those from Photo Movie Theatre and DVDA that had not been patched
So there are incompatibilities between various AVCHD discs and software players as well as hardware players.