However, I am also a bit of a gadget wallah and so yesterday went out and bought a PlayStation 3. To the disappointment of the sales clerk, I wanted it not for its gaming potential, but because it is widely regarded as an excellent Blu-Ray player. Moreover, it will automatically recognise a hybrid X-Disc consisting of high def AVCHD files burned in that format to a standard DVD. It even allows for menus to be burned and recognised. So I thought this was a nice halfway house until such time as Blu-Ray burners and discs become more accessible financially.
But the problem I immediately struck related to my editing computer -- see my System button for details. Essentially it is a Core 2 Quad with excellent graphics and RAM running Vista Ultimate 32 bit fully updated but without SP1 (SP1 shorted out a couple of my other essential programs so I uninstalled it).
I first converted my HDV projects to AVCHD using the VS11.5+ Share > Create Disc > AVCHD template (1440 x 1080i) as that matched the frame format of the original HDV. No problems. It takes some time even for a Quad to do this conversion to AVCHD. But finally it was done, and I inserted the files in the burning module after selecting Share > Create Disc > AVCHD and set it for 4.7 GB AVCHD. I also made sure both 'Do not convert compliant mpeg files' and 'Support X-Disc' were ticked in the second icon in the bottom left of screen.
Then I built a menu, and moved to the final page, only to find everything was greyed out. VS told me there were no burners (there are 2 -- a SATA Pioneer and and IDE LG). It also would not allow the option of "burning" an AVCHD folder.
Anyway, it is very curious that it could not "see" the burners for this purpose as it certainly can for standard definition projects. In fact, I have one of those burning on VS as I write this. I tried using project files instead of rendered AVCHD files -- no difference. I tried without a menu -- no difference. I tried both burners -- no difference. Also no trouble with the blank DVDs -- I use the same brand all the time on all my burners with no problems (Ritek 8x).
Now the very curious thing is that I transferred the rendered files to my Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz 2GB RAM laptop running Vista Home Premium, also fully updated but without SP1. I installed VS11.5+ there (temporarily, pending results on this thread!
) And it had no trouble at all burning the X-Disc on its Matshita burner using exactly the same settings as on my Quad. Moreover, the X-Disc was recognised instantly by the PS3 as an AVCHD disc, and played back on my high def 1920x1080p TV perfectly. But I wonder if anyone else has had a similar problem and found a solution.