Hybrid AVCHD disc trubble

zoobie · Post by **zoobie** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:28 pm

I've had success with multiAVCHD & tsMuxeR in making hybrid AVCHD discs. Now it's time to see how well VS does.

However, right away, my computer is shutting down after a mere 5% completion never coming close to actually burning. I'm only using one small file for testing.

I've made a template per this forums suggestion (18000kbps is the highest it goes), am using DVD+R's, and have started with m2t capped and edited in VS (these are program streams). I've also tried inserting transport stream m2t.

I've started sharing from the timeline and by inserting the m2t by clicking the make a disc option. The same thing happens. My computer shuts down after 10 minutes trying to convert.

Any hints out there how to at least get a test burn?

Thankyou

Post by **Ken Berry** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:55 pm

I, by contrast, have only ever used VS X2 to make AVCHD hyrbid discs, and have not had a failure to date. I originally did it by editing, then producing an AVCHD file of the project (Share > Create Video File > AVCHD -- and using the 1920 x 1080 template -- it had the right properties for me). And then I would use that enew video file to burn the disc. I made sure 'Do not convert compliant mpeg files' was ticked in the middle of the three icons in the bottom left of the burning screen. That way, the original quality of the video was preserved in the final burn. The result was OK to good.

But then I decided I was getting (slightly) better (and a little faster) results by editing then saving the project file, then jumping straight to the burning module (Share > Create Disc > AVCHD). But then you have to vary the burn properties in the middle icon to what you are after, since the 'do not convert' button does not work when you have a VSP file in the burn module.

As you will find, VS12 is one of the few software packages that allows you to build a proper menu for the AVCHD hybrid disc. It's a nice touch.

One thing, though, is that if you are, as you say you are, using a bitrate of 18 Mbps, then you will only fit a maximum of around 20 minutes of HD video on a single layer DVD. If you have any longer video than this, then you will have to lower the bitrate, or VS will not work. This could be your problem.

I have used TDK +RW 4X discs to burn these hybrid discs (just as a test in each case) but have burned to Ritek 8x -R DVDs as finals. All of them have worked just fine when played in my Sony PlayStation 3 (which is of course rated to play hybrid discs). With the TDKs, I used a burning speed of 2x and not the 4x rated speed of the discs. And with the Riteks, I always use 4x. Keeping the burning speed at around half or lower of the rated speed is usually helpful -- though I have to add, that it is helpful to the later playability of the disc on a variety of players, rather than to its actual burnability.

zoobie · Post by **zoobie** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:09 am

Interesting...

Well, this is VS11.5 and I believe more of a onboard configuration problem. I've onboard sound (Realtek) and video (using ATI's CCC)... both which are probably interfering.

I've tried importing files, tried to make flies, tried to burn discs with all sorts of filetypes and settings. In short, I've tried one of everything. I've never gotten an error message ever - rather the computer shuts down - supporting my theory of computer misconfiguration.

But thank you very much. I've read VS doesn't make very good hybrids like you've mentioned..."OK to good" doesn't scream important to me enough to spend any serious time on it. People spend months on this stuff and still can't get it to work.

Like I mentioned, I've made hybrids with multiAVCHD (including menus) and tsMuxeR (without) and now only have Sony Vegas Pro left to test.

Thanks again...

Post by **Ken Berry** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:34 am

You misread my post. I said 'OK to good' only in relation to hybrid discs produced by first rendering a new AVCHD file and burning that to disc. The OK results occurred when I didn't know enough to set high quality bitrates. I was using a default VS bitrate of VBR max. 15 Mbps which averaged out at about 12 Mbps. I could fit over 50 minutes at that quality on a single layer DVD. But while the quality was clearly better than a standard definition DVD, I was not satisfied with that. When I upped the bitrate to 18 Mbps, I got the 'good' results (but only 20 minutes per DVD).

But you seem to be down-translating my use of the word 'good'. I meant good as good -- though you might need the word 'very' added to 'good' to understand what I meant. I could hardly tell the difference between my original HD footage and the edited/converted version. But when I then used the workflow of editing and jumping straight to the burning module, I got 'slightly' better results. And by that, I suppose you can bump up 'very good' to 'excellent'. I could not tell the difference between the original video and the final version on the DVD as played on my PS3 to my 46 inch true high def (1920 x 1080p) HDTV.

I guess I should get out of my British tendency to understatement...!

I should also make clear that my first few AVCHD discs were produced with VS11.5, and I had no more difficulty with that than I do with X2...

If you have a recent version of Vegas Pro (8 or the recently released 9), I think you should like the result. VS and a number of other amateur level editing programs have a number of bugs and blips when editing AVCHD, quite apart from the need for a pretty powerful computer (at least a decent Core 2 Duo) to edit it smoothly. See, for example, http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?p=178901#178901 Vegas -- and even its cut down version of Movie Studio (must be the Platinum version) -- apparently uses a (Cineform) codec/plug-in which avoids these blips.

So good luck! And in any case, you are lucky in that you have alternative programs which work successfully in producing what you are after...

zoobie · Post by **zoobie** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 3:33 am

I see...OK
Well, if I have more time down the road, I'll return to VS and see what the problem is.
Thx

zoobie · Post by **zoobie** » Wed Jul 08, 2009 5:55 am

Actually, my box just shut off using a completey different application. Since this is usually a sign of overheating, I discovered the CPU heatsink was, indeed, gunked up.

Now I can try VS again....

zoobie · Post by **zoobie** » Thu Jul 09, 2009 2:34 am

OK...Using VS 11.5, I made a hybrid AVCHD on DVD+R disc and it played fine and looked very good on a Sony Blu-ray AVCHD player.
However, I noticed when I pushed the button on the remote to advance to the next clip, it didn't respond. How does one remedy that?
Thanks