Vid Stdio 11+ on HP-Vista no longer dwnlds HDV frm CanonHV20

[Bemused]

Problem solved. I was not changing the HV20's Playback Setup2 setting, since it greyed-out when I connected the 1394, and I assumed it stayed in DV like Setup1 did when it greyed-out. (I know; dumb assumption.) Locking Setup2 to HD worked!

Now I'm back where I was a year ago, and can solve the problem I started out to solve: How can I burn a Blu-ray (or equivalent HD) disc that will play HD on my PS3? Last year, I just clicked on the Blu-ray choices in Ulead 11+, and got .dvsd files on a Blu-ray RW disc, they don't play anywhere (except with VLC media Player).

TIA,

Bemused.

[Ken Berry]

The file extension for HDV is .m2t

FWIW, I had a not dissimilar problem recently. Something I added, or a Windows Update, totally wrecked my VS 10+, 11.5+ and X2's ability to export edited video back to camera. I had to do a total reinstall to get it working again. With VS10+, even the button for the export had disappeared!

[Bemused]

Thanks Ken.


How can I burn a Blu-ray (or equivalent HD) disc that will play HD on my PS3? Last year, I just clicked on the Blu-ray choices in Ulead 11+, and got .dvsd files on a Blu-ray RW disc, they don't play anywhere (except with VLC media Player).

TIA,

Bemused.

[Ken Berry]

Sorry -- our last two messages seemed to have crossed.

I don't have a Blu-Ray burner so use the AVCHD 'hybrid' disc method as a very viable alternative. That burns a structure very similar to a Blu-Ray BDMV folder onto a standard DVD blank. Such discs cannot be read in a normal DVD drive, neither in a computer nor in a standard DVD player. They will only play in a rated Blu-Ray player, including the PS3 (which I also have). Indeed, not all Blu-Ray players necessarily are rated to play these hybrid discs, but most apparently do.

I edit my HDV projects, then -- ignoring my usual advice in standard definition DVD cases -- I jump straight to Share > Create Disc >AVCHD and choose the higher quality of the two settings. The burning module opens and the project file appears in its timeline... If you want to make any tweaks to the final properties of your disc, go to the middle of the three icons in the bottom left of the burning screen and adjust the settings in the top box. Then make your menu and burn. You are not given any options to make either an ISO file or 'AVCHD/Blu-Ray' folder analogous to the standard DVD Video_TS folder. But after a (considerable) time -- even on my Quad -- the HDV project is converted to usually excellent quality AVCHD, and the disc happily plays in my PS3 with great results.

Note that I maintain the highest quality settings possible for the AVCHD output -- though I would note here that though HDV goes to 25 Mbps, I use only a max. VBR for the AVCHD conversion of 18 Mbps since that is the maxumum of what it appears X2 is capable of. (The new international maximum, agreed since X2 was first issued, is now 24 Mbps...)

Note further that with this setting, I can usually fit no more than about 20 minutes of video onto a standard single layer DVD. You can, of course, fit more on, but this involves lowering the bitrate, with the consequent lowering of end-quality -- and it seems to my eyes at least, that the drop off in quality is more pronounced in AVCHD than in standard definition.

For the sake of completeness, I should add that the actual encoded video on the hybrid disc will be found in the STREAM sub-folder of your BDMV main folder on the disc.

I am also a little surprised that you could not simply choose 'Blu-Ray' as your output if in fact you have a Blu-Ray burner (as opposed to just a Blu-Ray player...) I have only ever used Blu-Ray output to produce a Blu-Ray folder analogous to the Video_TS folder with standard def DVDs. With such a folder you get an exact and 'pure' BDMV folder with some differences from the one you get with a hybrid disc. But the encoded video is still in the STREAM folder in Blu-Ray format...

...Which brings me to another point. In point of fact, I have largely given up using hybrid discs with my PS3. However, this has nothing to do with the end quality or ease of production of them. It is more to do with the fact that the PS3 (and an increasing number of stand-alone Blu-Ray players) is a very versatile animal.

I have mine networked to my computer, and use either Nero Media Home, a freeware package called PS3 Server, or even Windows Media Player as the server. And I can then play my edited, completed HDV (or AVCHD) projects back (plus all my other multimedia) via the network setting through the PS3 and its HDMI cable direct on my 46 inch HDTV. It's fantastic! You don't get the fancy menus you can create on a hybrid or actual Blu-Ray disc. You only get a list of the files in your designated folders (though PS3 is wonderful as it looks automatically at all drives and folders on your computer for all your media). But to me the important bit is the actual video files I want to play, and not a fancy menu.

And if you can't or don't want to network your PS3 to your computer, then of course you can simply transfer your edited HDV to a USB external drive (including suitably large capacity USB stick drives), and plug that into one of the PS3's two USB ports. The video in such cases has to be in an upper case VIDEO folder on the drive, but the PS3 will detect the folder and list what is in it for you to choose what you want to play.

And for that matter, again if you can do without a menu, you can simply burn an edited HDV file onto a DVD as a *data* file in a VIDEO folder on the disc, put that into the PS3 and again it will detect the folder and allow you to play the video in original quality.

As you may have guessed, I am one happy camper when it comes to the PS3 and HDV (or AVCHD)!! These days, when I give a party, I even use my PS3 to stream continuous background music direct from my computer to play over my good quality Altec Lansing sound system connected to it, rather than play music over my much more expensive Bang & Olufsen stereo!

[mitchell65]

Not forgetting that you can go to Share, Create disc, Choose Blu-Ray then uncheck the Create disc and check the Create Folders. YThis will create a Folder BDMV and then use a third party burn software like the freebie "Burn Aware" and select "Create a DVD data disc" and then burn the BDMV folder to the DVD as data and that disc will play true Blu-Ray in a PS 3 or Blu-Ray player. Bear in mind that you will only get 30 mins at best on a standard DVD due to the higher bit rate.