Brand new VideoStudio X4 book available

[Ken Berry]

My point is, though, that your laptop does not have to have hardware which is Blu-Ray or hybrid disc compatible. It only needs software -- like recent versions of WinDVD or PowerDVD or such -- which can recognise and play the BDMV structure. Mind you, I am not sure that such software could recognise a Blu-Ray or AVCHD disc as such if it is was in the laptop's DVD drive. But the software certainly could see the individual AVCHD files in the STREAM sub-folder and play them. And if, like me, you burn AVCHD discs using the maximum quality (for that format) bitrate of 18 Mbps, then you would normally probably limit your projects to 20 minutes which is just about the limit for the amount of AVCHD at that bitrate which can fit on a single layer DVD. Thus, you would likely only have one or two video clips on the disc that could be selected individually...

As a footnote, I might add here that originally, not all Blu-Ray players were even rated to play AVCHD hybrid discs. However, I believe many or most these days will do so -- though you need to check for an 'AVCHD' sticker along the top of the player's case...