AVCHD / Blu Ray

[girly]

Please could you tell me if AVCHD and blu ray are the same. I have an HD camcorder which supports AVCHD. Is this the same as blu ray or just Hd. If I chose the AVCHD option to burn a disc will this be blu ray and can I use a standard DVD to burn it and will I need a blu ray player to watch it.

Hope I've made myself clear

Thanks

[BrianCee]

If you choose AVCHD you will not make a Blu-ray disc - but it will be HD, it does not require a Blu-ray burner, you can use a standard burner to burn to a standard DVD. It will need a Blu-ray player to view it.

The whole Blu-ray thing is somewhat different

[girly]

Yes I thought so. The thing is I have an HDTV but if the disc is HD it won't be shown in HD will it. In that case do I need blu rays discs/player and can I make blu ray with VSX5. Thanks

[BrianCee]

You do not need a blu-ray burner or blu-ray discs to view your footage as HD if you select AVCHD - you will need a blu-ray player - you also need to connect the player to the TV with an HDMI connection. Yes you can create Blu-ray discs with VSX5 if you select that option in the Create disc module in which case you will need a blu-ray burner and blu-ray discs

[girly]

Thanks. Just couple more question. Can I play the HD disc on my DVD player even though it will not look like HD or do I still need a blu ray player and can a blu ray player play standard discs too.

[BrianCee]

No you cannot play an AVCHD disk on a standard player - when I try that my player says - "Unsupported Format"

Yes you can play 'ordinary' disks on a Blu-ray player

[skier-hughes]

Your tv may have a usb port, where you can plug in a memory stick or external hard drive and play avchd files from there.
You may have a blu ray player if you own a late playstation model.

[canuck]

Graham,

I have tried connecting an external hard drive to the USB port on two different makes of TV and it did not work. These were "portable" drives and as such they require power via the USB ports and most likely the USB ports do not supply enough power to the drive. I have not tried an external drive with its own power supply.
USB sticks work fine though

I hardly burn any DVDs since I connected a hardware media player (to the TV via HDMI) to which I can attach the portable external hard drive. This works fine and I can play almost every video format.

[girly]

thanks for all the help

[skier-hughes]

I use my ext hdd with a power supply, and my tv will record direct to it as a sort of pvr!! But then, my tv is only a couple of months old.

[Ken Berry]

Just to slightly confuse the issue, AVCHD is not only HD, but is also one of the three acceptable Blu-Ray formats under the international Blu-Ray standard. The others are transport stream HD mpeg-2 and Microsoft's V1 format. AVCHD is of course mpeg-4 using the H.264 codec.

You can, as described above, burn AVCHD to a standard DVD, but it burns the Blu-Ray BDMV folder to the disc. Standard DVD players cannot recognise that format/folder. (The video is in a sub-folder labelled STREAM.) As already noted, but for the sake of completeness, you burn such a disc -- called either an AVCHD or hybrid disc -- by choosing Share > Create Disc > AVCHD. It can only be played on a Blu-Ray player rated to play AVCHD discs, though I think most Blu-Ray players these days can do so. They will have a label on the top, among all the other things they can play, which reads 'AVCHD'.

But you can also burn AVCHD to a Blu-Ray disc in its original format: Share > Create Disc > Blu-Ray. When the burning module opens, you add your AVCHD files, build a menu and burn. Just be sure to check in the Options cogwheel option in the bottom left of screen and see that the box beside 'Do not convert compliant MPEG files' is ticked. AVCHD is Blu-Ray compliant, so this will ensure that the AVCHD is not converted to transport stream mpeg-2 as part of the burning process.

[Natal]

AVCHD isn't a file format, it is a directory structure specification that uses H.264 encoded video. A file might be labeled "AVCHD", but what that means is the file is compatible with the AVCHD spec.

AVCHD was created so that playable HD files could be burned on DVD discs instead of the more expensive Blu-Ray discs, it was intended primarily for the consumer market. Essentially it is a scaled down analog of Blu-Ray.

It is very similar to Blu-Ray, BUT, Blu-Ray has a wider H.264 spec, and also includes two other codecs (mpeg2 and another one I forget). In general a file that is AVCHD compatible will also be Blu-Ray compatible, but the reverse is not necessarily true.

Not all Blu-Ray players will play a AVCHD-DVD however, it has to be compatible, which is not always the case with older models. Modern models should be able to play them though (to make sure, look for the AVCHD symbol in the documentation or the box).

There are other types of HD formats, but your TV wont care as long as you have a player capable out outputting your file to the TV.

[girly]

Just so I'm sure, if I want to create HD video file or create HD disc I choose AVCHD and this will only play on a blu ray player.

Thanks

[BrianCee]

Yes that is correct

you can burn a DVD with a standard burner and standard DVD's

[girly]

Thanks. I have seen a blu ray player which I think I will get which supports AVCHD. It's Panasonic BD75