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I'm not sure if strobing is the proper term but after making a AVCHD on DVD disc, the video seemed to slightly flash in and out of focus at regular one second intervals when played on the Blu-ray player. Since it was at a Best Buy store, I asked the salesman what it may be. He really didn't know but suggested it may be the TV itself doing it. My HDV project file used 1440x1080i. I'm wondering if changing it to 1940 x 1080 or somesuch would help. Has anyone else experienced this kind of "strobing"?

No, I certainly haven't. And I have produced AVCHD hybrid discs on DVDs using HDV original video, both at the original HDV frame format size of 1440 x 1080 and the larger AVCHD frame size of 1920 x 1080. I would say that the former gives marginally better quality, but the 1920 x 1080 is excellent as well.

If it were not for the fact that you said the strobing effect was regularly cyclic, I would have said it was the pretty awful rippling effect when you have horizontally panned your HDV (or AVCHD) too fast. That has to be kept verrrry slow and not covering much of an angle, or it becomes virtually unwatchable. Vertical pans seem OK, strangely enough, though...

The other thing I have found is that editing my HDV, and then jumping straight into the burning module (Share > Create Disc > AVCHD) produces the best results. In the second of the three icons in the bottom left of the burning screen, you can ensure that the burning properties used have a high bitrate -- I use 18 Mbps but leave the audio at the HDV original of mpeg layer 2).

I have found that the alternative of editing, then converting my HDV project to a HDV file produces lower quality output. It seems that the default templates use a VBR bitrate setting which is too low on average to produce a decent high definition product -- at least for me!

I'm using your same settings and methodology. Although I pan and tilt, the one second in-and-out of focus strobing also happens on static shots. The only thing left is my +R discs and the TV.

I use either +RW discs or else -R ones for final burns.

Re the TV, I assume your Blu-Ray player is connected via HDMI... and that the TV is full HDTV -- not that I would have thought having something less than full HDTV would make a difference.

And have you actually tried it with 1920 x 1080... You would also need to confirm you are using Upper Field First and not lower, since sometimes the latter creeps into VS unless you are watching out for it...

I'm not positive that the TV is hooked up via HDMI...it probably is in the retail stores I'm testing in

I haven't tried with 1920 x 1080 yet...

built with m2t files imported into AVCHD disc maker

Here are my settings...perhaps you can see something that's off...

Perhaps the setting in the preferences got off a tad...

General:
VCD compliant - ticked
Resume all confirmation dialog boxes - unticked
TV system - NTSC
Max 30mb menu for set-top DVD+VR recorders - ticked

Advanced:
Create index file for MPEG seeking performance - unticked
NTSC/PAL safe color - unticked
TV safe area: 10%

Project settings:
MPEG files
24 bits, 1440 x 1080, 29.97 fps
Upper Field First
(HDMV-NTSC), 16:9
H.264 Video
Video data rate: 18000 kbps
Audio data rate: 160 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48 KHz, 2/0(L,R)

Field type: Upper field first
Do not convert compliant MPEG files - ticked
Support X-Disc - unticked
Two-pass conversion - greyed out

The green line says = (4.05) (4.35) GB/31 Min 26 sec and is about 3/4th of an inch left of the dotted red line 4.38 (4.70) GB

...but I remember when burning, it told me it may not fit for some reason...I reduced the audio to 160kbps (down from 190 or somesuch)...but still received the same warning which I then ignored and burned the disc

Create disc - ticked
Normalize audio - ticked
Show highlight button - ticked
Burnt at 8x speed on a +R Verbatim DVD disc

I'm wondering about the NTSC/PAL safe color - unticked
and the
Support X-Disc - unticked

Thanks for looking...maybe it's just the TV set trying to do something, too.

First, part of your problem may be the length of the project. Using a bitrate of 18 Mbps and mpeg layer 2 audio (similar size to Dolby 2 channel), I can fit no more than 20 minutes on a single layer DVD. So that could be part of your problem -- though I would have thought it might reduce the bitrate to fit, which would reduce your quality, but not introduce a strobing artifact...

Doubt very much whether the PAL/NTSC safe colour of X-Disc would have any effect. Neither of mine are ever checked either. And it doesn't really matter either whether or not the 'do not convert' box is ticked, since you don't have mpegs in the burning timline which are compliant with either a standard or hybrid DVD. Conversion will take place regardless, using the properties in the bigger window above that box. I assume the project properties you included are from that window?

I would also imagine that if you are only looking at the video in a shop that, yes, they would likely be connected up via HDMI. However, there is just the possibility that they are using a HDTV which is not full HD i.e. 1920 x 1080p. If it has a lesser size format which is 'upped' to emulate full HD, or is doing something strange with the interleaving, that could account for your problem too. However, that would still be strange, and I would imagine a lot of other users who are producing AVCHD hybrid discs would not necessarily be playing them back on full HD HDTVs. Yet no one else that I am aware of on this Forum at least has reported your particular problem.

HI,
I do not know what camera you're using, but in the project properties you have NTSC. Is the camera also NTSC? I had a kind of 'strobing' effect when in the project properties I had PAL and the camera was NTSC.

yep...I'm in the States...NTSC land

Most TV's here are fake HD's...720 and not 1080...perhaps this is part of the problem...I'll have to check

I don't think 20 minutes is written in stone anywhere...Perhaps leaving your audio at the default 384kbps is wasting lots of room on the disc

correct me if I'm wrong but I got over 31 minutes on the SL disc and it plays all the way through...and says I have room for more...although I don't remember the numbers changing when I lowered the audio kbps down to 160...

No, it's certainly not written in stone. In fact, I got nearly an hour onto a single layer DVD once, but I hated the quality. So now I stick to properties which I know work. And given that the price of DVDs here are nearly one hundredth that of a single Blu-Ray discs, I don't mind getting only 20 minutes of top quality high definition onto one DVD...

And yes, I do use the 384 kbps audio bitrate. But when you compare that to the 18,000 kbps video bitrate, the audio still doesn't amount to all that much by comparison.