Burning Standard Def to Bluray

[yugoman1]

Can someone throw some light on a subject for me please........I have some projects that were captured from VHS tape as an mpeg file. There is approx 5.5hours which is too much to put on a dual layer disc but I have been told that I can put it on a Bluray disc ? The meter shows around 18gb when I select dual layer but if I choose Bluray, the meter shows about 80GB which is too much for my disc........Can this be done and could someone help me with the workflow please ?

[Ken Berry]

Is there some reason why it all has to go on a single disc? Wouldn't it make more sense to divide it up into logical parts and burn each to a DVD?

I am assuming here that the type of mpeg the VHS has been converted to is standard def (and DVD-compatible) mpeg-2. Converting it to Blu-Ray standard transport stream mpeg-2 or mpeg-4 (AVCHD) is not going to improve the quality of the original mpeg-2 -- and could conceivably make it worse since it is being rendered again.

But if you want to burn it all to one Blu-Ray, whether single or dual layer, then you are going to have to reduce the bitrate used -- just as you would if you wanted to squeeze a lot of standard def mpeg-2 onto a DVD. IIRC VS uses a standard Blu-Ray mpeg-2 bitrate of 35 Mbps. Reducing this to, say, 15 Mbps or even 12 Mbps should allow all of your mpeg-2 onto a single layer Blu-Ray but you might need to experiment a bit. Instead of creating a coaster, on the final burn page of the VS burning module, choose Create Blu-Ray Folder instead of burning an actual disc. That way you will still get a clear indication of how big the final BDMV folder which goes on the eventual disc, will be.

To fit it all on a dual layer Blu-Ray, you would need far less reduction in the Blu-Ray compression rate.

In all of this, I am again assuming that you are wanting to burn a Blu-Ray in video format -- rather than just transferring the original mpeg to a Blu-Ray disc as data files. For that, of course, you don't need Video Studio, just (My) Computer or Windows Explorer in Windows. Maybe you will have a Blu-Ray player which will recognise and play such files. With my PlayStation 3, for instance, if I put the mpegs into a folder labelled VIDEO on a Blu-Ray data disc, the PSP would be able to play such mpegs. (The PSP is of course an excellent Blu-Ray player, apart from its other games and computer talents...)

[yugoman1]

Hello Ken, The reason for wanting to put it all on a bluray disc is that I end up with just one disc (in DVD format) rather than 3 or 4, it was just an idea that I had for storing some video footage. I understand that the quality will not improve by putting in on to Bluray.I can normally fit about 2 hours of standard def mpeg 2 on to a dual layer 8.5gb at best quality, so just assumed that you may be able to get about 6 hours on a 25gb bluray, but obviously not as simple as that ?

[Ken Berry]

As far as I am aware, you cannot burn the DVD format to a Blu-Ray. First, you need a Blu-Ray burner. That can of course burn Blu-Ray discs in Blu-Ray format, and it can also burn DVDs ... but to DVD blanks, not Blu-Ray blanks. Most (all?) will also burn AVCHD hybrid discs i.e. a Blu-Ray BDMV to a standard def DVD blank. But to repeat, it won't do what you want. Either you reduce the Blu-Ray bitrate, as I suggested, or else treat the Blu-Ray as a data, as opposed to a video, disc.

[yugoman1]

Yes Ken, I have a bluray burner......but just for test purposes, how would I change the bitrate for burning this folder ?

[Ken Berry]

You can do it two ways. In the Editing module, choose Share > Create Video File > Custom, then choose MPEG Transport Stream as the output format. Give the new file a name, then click the Options button on the dialogue box. On the Compression tab you can choose between AVCHD and mpeg-2 (Blu-Ray) as the output format, and below that you enter a lower bitrate than the default shown for either option.

Or in the burning module, after you have chosen Blu-Ray as the disc option (Share > Create Disc), click on the cogwheel Options icon in the bottom left of the burning screen. If you untick the Do Not Convert box, then the properties used to burn the disc will be shown in the bigger window above. Again you can adjust these properties, including the bitrate.

[yugoman1]

Thanks Ken, I will have a look at this later and feedback the results !

[yugoman1]

As promised Ken, an update on the above.........I did what you said and reduced the bitrate to get the footage on to a BluRay
disc and it worked, but unfortunately the quality was noticably poor..............so thanks again but I will do the normal in future, and burn to dvd.

[Ken Berry]

Just remember that you don't need to waste a Blu-Ray disc. You can test the final quality without burning to an actual disc. On the final page of the burning module, select 'Create Blu-Ray Folders' instead of 'Create Disc'. That will create an exact copy of what would be on the actual disc, and you can use a software blu-ray player to play it and see how the quality is.

[Kenneth Evans]

Just remember that you don't need to waste a Blu-Ray disc. You can test the final quality without burning to an actual disc. On the final page of the burning module, select 'Create Blu-Ray Folders' instead of 'Create Disc'. That will create an exact copy of what would be on the actual disc, and you can use a software blu-ray player to play it and see how the quality is.

I haven't had success finding a software player that will play the Blu-Ray folders.

• Windows Media Player plays the video but doesn't do the menus.
  Cyberlink Power DVD 8 doesn't allow me open the BD folders (BDMV, CERTIFICATE, or the containing folder). (It plays commercial Blu-Rays OK.)
  VLC has audio but no video.
  Nero Blu-ray Player sort of shows the menus but without text. They jump to the chapter points but the video stays fixed at the first frame while the audio plays.

None of these is satisfactory. All of them work OK (and with menus) for DVD folders.

Given that others are making coasters, I would like to get this working before trying to burn to real discs.

I also have the following question: I get different presets for Blu-Ray menus compared to DVD and there aren't as many. Is there a way to get more or use the DVD ones. I'm using VS Pro 5.

BTW the link for ImgBurn describing how to burn Blu-rays is:
http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/3138 ... th-ImgBurn

[lata]

Hi Kenneth

How many menu templates do you see in the Bluray gallery
Have you installed the menu packs from the Do More section.?

[Ken Berry]

I haven't had success finding a software player that will play the Blu-Ray folders.
Windows Media Player plays the video but doesn't do the menus.
Cyberlink Power DVD 8 doesn't allow me open the BD folders (BDMV, CERTIFICATE, or the containing folder). (It plays commercial Blu-Rays OK.)
VLC has audio but no video.
Nero Blu-ray Player sort of shows the menus but without text. They jump to the chapter points but the video stays fixed at the first frame while the audio plays.

I was interested by this list and tried it out on the media players I have. I couldn't get any of them to play the menus of the three different Blu-Ray folders I tried. That being said:
PowerDVD 12 had no trouble playing either the video or audio.
VLC 2.0.6 (the latest version) -- ditto (you might want to check your version)
Nero Blu-Ray Player -- ditto, and with one folder (Planet Earth -- which has 3 episodes), allowed me to choose which episode I wanted to watch, though using a Nero menu and not the embedded disc menu.

I also tried ArcSoft Total Media Theatre, but it simply rebooted the computer... No blue screen -- just an immediate reboot!

[Kenneth Evans]

I couldn't get any of them to play the menus of the three different Blu-Ray folders I tried.

That seems to be a serious problem. I also tried on someone elses computer. None of those players would play the folders either.

I have tried creating a short BR movie on a DVD disc. My TV Blu-ray player says the disc is not supported. The PC players don't reject it but play it the same as they play the folders (e.g not well at all). I realize this isn't the same as writing to a BR disc, but the file structure written should be the same and the PC shouldn't care if is a DVD or BR disc.

So am I going to be able to play any BR discs made from VS?

I need to buy a blu-ray writer to make discs. If not, I might as well save the money to say nothing of time and frustration.

[Ken Berry]

All I can say is that I have made many hybrid discs (i.e AVCHD on a standard DVD blank but burned as a Blu-Ray BDMV folder), and all of them worked just fine in my Blu-Ray player, including the HD menu made by VS X4 and X5...

[Kenneth Evans]

All I can say is that I have made many hybrid discs (i.e AVCHD on a standard DVD blank but burned as a Blu-Ray BDMV folder), and all of them worked just fine in my Blu-Ray player, including the HD menu made by VS X4 and X5...

That's good to know. It depends on the player. Apparently mine doesn't. Can you play the discs (as opposed to the folders) on your computer. Say by right-clicking BDROM.

How do you do AVCHD into a BMDV folder? I only see an option for Blu-Ray on Create Disc. I have had no trouble cteating various kind of HD files and playing them. The problem is with menus. In my experience it takes a few tries to get them right and the preview is too small. Also you would like to test the final result, not the preview.