AVCHD disc won't play back - VSx7

[Mark Swanson]

I've been trying to simply use VSx7 to burn an AVCHD disc, I loaded in a simple file and burned the disc, and after it is rendered it won't play in anything, my DVD player or any computer I have tried including the one I burned it on. If I load the disc in VS7, and select "import from disc" it does show me the video on that disc and when I open it, there are files there, but nothing will play it. What's up?

[Ken Berry]

An AVCHD disc, also called a hybrid disc, has a BDMV Blu-Ray folder on it. As such, it can only be played by a Blu-Ray player or a Blu-Ray drive in your computer. A DVD player or ordinary DVD drive in a computer simply can't play it. It can burn the disc, but cannot play it. Import from disc will show since it will show the BDMV > STREAMsub folder which contains the video. But to repeat, you need a Blu-Ray player or drive to play the actual disc. (If you have a PlayStation 3 or 4, that is also a Blu-Ray player...)

[Mark Swanson]

Ken, thanks a lot- as you can probably tell I am still a novice to this stuff but I am learning fast. Indeed I did see the folder on the disc, and I was noticing also that my computer recognizes the disc with an icon that includes "BD" in it. That didn't make sense to me! I have been learning much of what I know about VS from a book I have by Marc Bech, "Making creative movies with Videostudio Pro X4"....I bought it back when and have since up-graded to VS7. I still reference it once in a while- and I blame that book then for some of my confusion, at least it seems to be at odds with what you have said here! The book tells me, "One of the great features of AVCHD in the HD realm is that AVCHD videos can be burned to regular blank DVDs and played back on regular DVD players. You will of course need an HDTV or a PC with HD viewing to notice the increased playback quality." So, now I am really confused, and don't know where to go. I'd like to be able to burn HD dvds, and don't exactly know how to proceed- can you point me to any tutorials, or how-tos that will steer me where I need to go?

[canuck]

The book is wrong - you will need a BluRay player either as stand-alone or as part of your system if you want to create AVCHD videos on a DVD.

[Mark Swanson]

Ha! Thanks, that isn't the first time I was steered off course by a book. So, then what is the best way to get the best quality video from a non-Blu-Ray player? I take it I should just use VS DVD function to burn them, at the highest possible setting? And can someone please fill me in on why VS has a separate Blu-Ray function, when AVCHD is Blu-Ray too? Sorry for the newbie questions. I think I know, from Ken's post above, AVCHD being a "hybrid" format and while it is better than standard DVD it isn't quite as fancy as Blu-Ray. But for me at this point, I guess I am stuck with Standard DVD for now.

[Ken Berry]

AVCHD being a "hybrid" format

It is NOT a hybrid format. It is a full and very efficient format. The "hybrid" in "hybrid disc" refers to the fact that you are burning a Blu-Ray high definition format onto a standard definition disc. And once again, such discs can ONLY be played on a Blu-Ray drive or stand-alone Blu-Ray player. Moreover, to maintain the high quality, you use a high bitrate. If using 18 Mbps, then you will only be able to fit around 25 minutes of video onto a single layer DVD, or less if you have a complicated menu.

I take it I should just use VS DVD function to burn them, at the highest possible setting?

Yes, with the highest possible setting being mainly the bitrate. Just remember, though, that most stand-alone DVD players don't like DVDs which have a video bitrate of much more than 8000 kbps. (A DVD can have a total video + audio bitrate of 10,000 kbps.) Also, when down-converting from AVCHD, which is high def mpeg-4 created using the h.264 codec, to make a standard def DVD you are having to convert to DVD-compatible mpeg-2. As you know, a high bitrate means higher quality. So going from a high bitrate AVCHD -- which will usually have a bitrate of anything between two and three times that of a standard def DVD -- down to 8000 kbps or less will mean that the quality of your DVD will not look at all as good as the original.

And can someone please fill me in on why VS has a separate Blu-Ray function, when AVCHD is Blu-Ray too?

Yes, Blu-Ray can use both transport stream mpeg-2 and AVCHD mpeg-4. But if burning a Blu-Ray disc, there is an international standard which governs what can be burned to such a disc. In other words, the AVCHD has to be Blu-Ray compatible, and not all AVCHD necessarily meets the international standard. In fact, some AVCHD is *better* than that standard. For example, these days most recent AVCHD camcorders can film using what is called AVCHD 2.0, which has a maximum bitrate of 27 or 28 Mbps and can film fully progressive video in a frame size of 1920 x 1080. Fully progressive video can have a frame rate of up to 50 full frame per second for PAL video or 59.94 (say 60) full frames per second for NTSC. However, under the international Blu-Ray standard as it currently stands, the only progressive AVCHD with those frame rates which can be burned to Blu-Ray discs is 1280 x 720 sized video.

These days, though, there are various ways of still playing the higher quality, fully progressive AVCHD with 50/60 fps frame rates on your HDTV. Many modern TVs can play such video direct from a USB stick drive or external hard drive. Most Blu-Ray players, moreover, have USB ports, so if your TV won't play the video direct, then you simply stick the USB stick drive or external hard disc into that slot on the Blu-Ray player and play it that way. In fact, though I have a Blu-Ray burner, these days I rarely burn an actual disc. Instead, all my high def video -- which includes HDV, Blu-Ray compatible mpeg-2, AVCHD and high def mp4 from my GoPro Hero 3 -- after editing, is stored on my PlayStation 3's hard drive or on external hard drives which can be plugged into the PS3 (since my HDTV is an old model which won't play the video direct). The PS3 is an excellent Blu-Ray player, though I am not sure about the PS4...

[Ken Veal]

There may be something in this post http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=53189 that might be of interest even though it refers to Vs X5,

[Mark Swanson]

Wow, there is a lot to chew on there, thanks for taking the time Ken. I'll have to save that information! Thanks to all for the help.