Burning a Wedding Video Containing Video and Slideshows

[rozel]

Hi

I am starting to author a Wedding Video as I have done before using DVD Workshop and MovieFactory (not sure what versions) and need some help in knowing from the start what I can achieve.

I will be using MovieFactory 7 and as the subject says, I would like this to include appx 2 Hours 36 Mins of SD Widescreen DV footage, Menus with motion videos, and several Slideshows with HD photos.

Please can I ask the following questions?

1. Will this be possible using MF7?

2. My footage currently is contained in a single edited DV.AVI file - about 35Gb's in size it originally contained 3 Clips, captured from 3 DV Tapes and which has been extensively editied, before being exported to this file. I want to retain as much of the original quality as possible, as whilst it was shot using an SD Camcorder, it is a 3 CCD camera and produces top-notch SD Footage in 720x576 PAL Widescreen. I am curious as to whether I could make use of the additional size of disc afforded by BD-RE 25Gb & BD-25 discs to burn my ultimate authored project to?

3. I have read about burning HD footage to AVCHD, but MF7 seems to limit AVCHD creation to standard DVD sizes. Would it be possible to burn any output greater than 8.5Gb (ie; DVD-9 size) to folder(s) on my PC rather than to a disc, so I could then burn to one of the bluray discs in 2. above?

4. I guess if I keep my video exactly the same length then it's output doubtless will be over 8.5Gb's 'in any case and this won't allow for any Slideshows with DD 5.1 surround or menus/motion graphics etc etc. So what is the best way to go about creating my project to end up with a great quality Disc, given my requirements?

Many thanks in anticipation of some expert help

roz

[Ron P.]

To fit 2-1/2 hrs of SD video onto a DVD (SD), the bitrate would need to be set around 36000kbps, which is about the equivalent to VHS tapes. Not very good since the original was shot from a very high-quality camcorder.

DVD MF7 Pro does have the ability to create and burn Blu-Ray standard which is HDMV, 1920 x 1080, or using AVCHD MPEG. These however are not DVDs, they're HD dics. In the final step (burn) you do have the option of Create AVCHD folders. You could try that route, however be advised you can not burn this to a SD DVD disc. DVD is DVD, Standard Definition.

To burn actual High-def you need to start with Blu-Ray as the type of disc you want to burn, not DVD. Then you will get the rest of the high-def choices.

I guess the main question would be, do the intended recipients have blu-ray players? Do they maybe have a PS3?

[skier-hughes]

1. Yes, but not without sacrificinf quality

2. You can't use a bd disc, the burning laser is different, the format is different. Think - you cannot burn a cda (normal audio cd disc) to a dvd, putting on a thousand songs and play it in your cd player.

3. This is to get HD fottage onto a dvd, not the other way round.

4. Burn a 3 disc set, 2 with the video, one with slideshows. OR Convert your final product to HD and burn to a BD disc. As you are starting with SD material using a low bitrate to fit it all on one disc might work, but I haven't tried. Of course, any viewer would need a blu ray player.

5. Edit it right down, 2 hours 36 is going to be a bore, even if it is your wedding, by the time you've watched it a couple of times.

[rozel]

Hi Ron and Hi Graham (again - you found me )

I am confused - first please understand I want to ditch DVD's if I can ok? I really do not want to create a multi-disc set. All my recipients have Bluray players and I have personal experience with AVCHD playback in either Panasonic/Sony standalone players and PS3's. I believe a lot of standalone Bluray players can now play AVCHD BD discs.

I want to use the greater capacity offered by the BD discs already mentioned somehow. Please confirm that I can burn my SD footage to BD media along with all the other stuff created in MF7, If not can I output to PC folders instead which then allow me to burn to BD media using a third-party burning software, eg ImageBurn. I realise that you are suggesting that HD to DVD is possible and that maybe SD to Bluray may not be, unless to a "data disc" - I am fully aware as to what you are saying here but I suggest it can be but need to know if this is possible via some form of output from MF7

Surely MF7 will interpret my SD footage somehow - it can be previwed perfectly well, thanks to Grahams superb help recently, and then allow it to be exported as above?

All my daughters have not wanted anything edited from the captured footage - Chapter Points and Menus at appropriate Chapter Points allows the best navigation of this length of footage - the speeches last nearly an hour with all the present giving etc and my audience doesn't want to miss a bit. I realise that 35Gb + extras, say another 5Gb, totalling 40Gb, reducing to 25 Gb is a big "recudtion" but 40Gb's to 8.5Gb's is going to cause some degration of my footage's quality together with inferior quality stills and probably not lossless sound?

Players - CD to DVD, yes you can as long as you play in a DVD player I suppose using this scenario, I want DVD to Bluray/AVCHD

As always, I want the best reproduction possible. Yes of course I posses a Bluray burner

Ok hope I have explained any confusion creeping in here and hopefully you can tell me how I can maximise my output's quality with the type of Project I have described.

Cheers

roz

[skier-hughes]

Take your dv.avi into MF7 and work through your project to make a blu ray disc. MF7 will upconvert the video to the required format and author the disc. You won't burn your sd footage as it is, it needs to be converted to an HD format.

My point about cd-a discs, is that a cd is 700mb, you burn your tracks to it and you listen to it in a cd player.
If you burn a dvd-a disc, you can store more music of a better quality on it, but you have to use a dvd player that supports it to play them back. If you lower the quality you can store many more times the number of audio tracks.

You want a dvd, but have too much info to go on it, so burn a blu ray disc. You can get more info on by lowering the std blu ray bitrate, but it'll only play in a blu ray player.

[rozel]

Lol! - just tried to post this, but your post came in

"Because I have gotten used to playback of AVCHD's from HDD's I did not think there was a limit to their size. I am regularly playing back copies of my precious Blurays from an external HDD plugged into my PS3. As such I frequently have folders exceeding 45Gb's or so. What I didn't realise is that AVCHD's can hold bluray stuff but burnt solely to DVD.

If I import my DV-AVI file into MF7, after choosing BDMV (Bluray) as my type of format, add my menus, slideshows etc etc, and then burn either to a BD-25/BD-RE 25, or maybe even to a dual layer BD disc say a BD-50? how will MF7 handle this please?

So I have come to realise with your help that AVCHD format isn't going to help, unless it can be output from MF7 to my PC folders, for burning subsequently to say a BluRay, but that might be defeating the object. Yes I will burn to BluRay media - How will MF7 handle all this - any idea how my footage will look? Using my quality NLE, when I tried to export it to Bluray format, it looked awful, was blocky and stuttered.

?

roz

[skier-hughes]

MF7 will just handle it.
Try no to make any unknown changes to what it is prepared to do though