What settings for render for HD Blu Ray?

Mad Pierre wrote on 7/2/2010, 12:29 AM
I posted this originally in the DVD Architect Studio but I'm re-posting here as I believe the problem is with the VMS render? Apologies for double post.

Recently got myself a Blu Ray burner and some media.

Raw footage was recorded in a mixture of 1080i, 1080p, 960p.

I have edited my footage in VMS 10 and done "Make movie > Burn it to a DVD or Blu Ray". I then waited for 4 and a half hours for the render (hour long movie). The resultant file is a 1920x1080 m2v file (+ audio file obviously).

Sent the files to DVDA 5.

Sorted out some menus etc at 1920x1080.

Prepared my disc and burnt it to a Blu Ray.

On playing my player says it is 576p (menus and movie)

I checked the DVDA5 project properties and they were by default set to MPEG-2 1920x1080. I changed this to AVC, upped the bit rate to max and re-prepared and burned another disc. This time the menus were 1080i but the movie is still 576p.

What am I doing wrong? Can anyone talk me through the correct settings/process to create a 1080i (or p) Blu Ray disc with menus from my original HD footage??

I've wasted 3 discs so far and they ain't cheap!

I suspect my problem is with the original render in VMS10 (as it is an m2ts which is mpeg-2) but am not sure?

Comments

Markk655 wrote on 7/2/2010, 6:05 AM
One easy check is to use MediaInfo (free download) and check the .m2ts file sitting in the stream folder that is in the BluRay folder structure. That will tell you whether the file that was burned is really 1920x1080.
Mad Pierre wrote on 7/3/2010, 10:26 AM
I can tell it isn't by looking but that app might save me discs..

So no one making HD Blu Rays then?
KenJ62 wrote on 7/3/2010, 11:02 AM
I have a new Blu-ray burner and intend to use it for my granddaughter's wedding video when I get through in a week or so. But experimenting with media that costs nearly 3 dollars a piece is probably something not many people want to do. Maybe when it gets cheaper. Meanwhile, you might try experimenting with burning high definition video to AVCHD on conventional media. You will only get 20 to 40 minutes on a disk but 30 cents each is pretty cheap. Try a short, five minute clip first, just to work out all the bugs - experiment. If you can successfully burn AVCHD disks you can probably burn a Blu-ray too. Look for the 'HD to DVD" topic on the DVD Architect forum, entry 12.

-=Ken=-
Mad Pierre wrote on 7/4/2010, 7:34 AM
Thing is Ken to do that I'm introducing a whole load of other variables into the mix and getting a HD DVD doesn't mean I'd get a Blu Ray.

I can't understand why I'm not burning a 1080 Blu Ray? The film is 1080, the menus are 1080, the project settings are 1080 but I'm effectively burning a DVD????

Surely the default settings for a Blu Ray should give me a HD disc?

Markk655 wrote on 7/4/2010, 10:56 AM
Mad Pierre,

You still haven't done a lot of trouble shooting, which I think you still need to do. For example, why don't you try saving a copy of the BR file structure on a HDD? Does it play as 1080i or 1080p as per your settings on your computer? Do that before burning the BR. Make sure you don't have a setting wrong in DVDA or VMS before trying to burn a disc. So, render first, check it out. Only burn if that is successful.

Mad Pierre wrote on 7/5/2010, 2:35 AM
Once I create the iso file using DVDA how do I "burn" it to the HDD instead of a disc?

My investigations have revealed the following:

If I select MPG in DVDA then everything definitely plays as 576 on my player.

If I select AVC in DVDA then the menus are 1080 but the film isn't.

Looking at the files on the disc with MediaInfo it says the video file is 1920 x 1080
david_f_knight wrote on 7/5/2010, 10:48 AM
If by "how do I 'burn' it [Blu-ray disc iso file] to the HDD instead of a disc?" you mean, how do you look at and use, to test, video files, etc., within an iso image, you need a virtual disc drive installed in your computer. A virtual disc drive is a program that appears to your computer as though it is a physical disc drive. You mount an iso image to the virtual disc drive to access the contents just as if you inserted a disc into a physical disc drive. DAEMON Tools Lite is a free virtual disc drive. You can Google it to find free places to download it from.
Markk655 wrote on 7/5/2010, 11:26 AM
There are two steps in the process...

1 - rendering (from VMS). You have already stated that teh files are 1920x1080 - good!
2. burning (from DVDA). Can you pepare to burn using DVDA to burn to a HDD folder that i not an ISO? I don't use DVDA that much. I am essentially looking to see what file format is being stored BEFORE you burn.
Mad Pierre wrote on 7/6/2010, 12:24 AM
DVDA only creates iso files. There is no other option. Already got Daemon installed so I can use virtual drives as long as it supports Blu Ray (not checked yet)?

On the discs I have burned the video file is 1920x1080. Last night I installed PowerDVD on my computer and tried playing the discs there instead. Looking at the info in PowerDVD it says the video raw format is 1920x1080 and lets me know if it is mpg or avc encoded.

Maybe the problem is with my Blu Ray player? It plays commercial discs at 1080 though? I need to try on someone elses.....
Markk655 wrote on 7/6/2010, 9:22 AM
You can take the BR disc to a store and test it in their BR players. Another option is to have a look at the settings of your BR player. Maybe check the manual to see what options exist? Also may want to check for firmware updates while you are at it.
Mad Pierre wrote on 7/7/2010, 1:35 AM
Got a mate to try it in his Playstation and he says it is a full HD movie.

Thought about firmware update but that's a pain in the ass because I'll have to extract the player from the hi-fi stack and take it upstairs to plug into the router and find a portable telly to use with while I do it too!! Grrrr why isn't it wireless!
Markk655 wrote on 7/7/2010, 5:52 AM
Mad Pierre,

Good trouble shooting. Now you know it is the BR player. May be worth checking the settings. I have seen in a few of NLE forums issues pertaining to movie playback all solved by fiddling with DVD/BR settings.
Mad Pierre wrote on 7/14/2010, 1:23 AM
I finally had time to check my Blu Ray player settings last night. It was connected to the TV via component cables. The component out put was set to 1080i. Still had tthe problem.

I tried HDMI (borrowed the lead from my Sky HD box) and everything played at 1080i. Result!

So I have swapped the leads round Sky is now connected via component (and works at 1080i) and Blu Ray via HDMI also at 1080i.

Must be something dodgy with the Blu Ray player that it doesn't play the movie at 1080 to component but does play the menus????????????????
musicvid10 wrote on 7/14/2010, 8:03 AM
Component is analog delivery. It won't carry HD.
GaryDZ wrote on 7/17/2010, 3:45 PM
I might be wrong but component video is capable of 1080i. I have an older Pioneer Elite HD TV with no HDMI connection. I'ts connected by component cables to my DirecTV DVR and it is 1080i.

However, . . . BlueRay makers downgraded the component output to plug the "analog loophole" to appease Hollywood.
KenJ62 wrote on 7/20/2010, 12:47 AM
Although I use HDMI, my Sony BDP-BX2 Blu-ray player has component Y, Pb, Pr video output connectors and the manual says it supports 1080i.

I just finished a wedding video with 24 scenes spread across 4 menus and, in addition to some SD DVDs, I made 6 Blu-ray disks . The project was 105 minutes and used 21 GB on a BD disk. I used 4X Riteks and they all played flawlessly. If I can stumble through it, it can be done!
Markk655 wrote on 7/20/2010, 5:56 AM
Yes, I believe that component does support 1080i. On the otherhand, composite does not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Component_video
Mad Pierre wrote on 7/27/2010, 6:00 AM
Component definitely supports 1080.

As I said my Player allows the setting of it to 1080 and also it played the menus at 1080 (my TV tells me what the signal it is receiving is). It was just the movie that didn't play at 1080.
KenJ62 wrote on 7/27/2010, 7:13 AM
Mad Pierre, it is difficult to tell what the problem is since your description of the process seems right. If you want to try again here is my suggestion. Use 'Render As' instead of 'Make Movie... Since you are using PAL select under 'Save as type:' 'Mainconcept MPEG-2'. Under 'Template:' select 'Blu-ray 1920x1440-50i, 25 Mbps video stream'. If you want better quality and can put up with longer render times click on the Custom button, Video tab and move the 'Video quality:' slider to the right. Type in your desired filename which should now indicate .m2v for filetype. When you are done you will have go back to 'Render as...' and select an audio format. Sony .w64 is a good choice. Save it with the same filename and DVDAS will load it at the same time you select the video file. HTH.

In addition to the .w64 audio file, in the wedding video I mentioned earlier in this thread I rendered an .mpg as well as the .m2v. All my scene markers were in VMS. I created 6 Blu-ray disks in DVDAS5 and then I deleted the .m2v, added the .mpg in its place and burned 11 DVD+R DL disks. I used Ritek media and I had no coasters. Good luck to you!