VS crashes every time I try to render blu-ray image or disc

[Clark Griswalter]

I'm ready to pull my hair out. I've rendered all my scenes (1920x1080 mp4) and tried to create a blu-ray disc or image. VS has crashed every single time! I've tried disc only, image only and both at the same time. It doesn't always crash at the same point. Rebooted the computer and tried it again. Any thoughts would be GREATLY appreciated! I can try using the CyberLink software that came with my burner, but its menu creation capabilities seem severely limited compared to VS.

[Ken Berry]

While it's pleasing you have managed to produce mp4 videos which in your other thread you say are excellent quality, mp4 is not what you need for burning to Blu-Ray. What you need is AVCHD H.264 video. I know that some mp4 is produced by VS using the AVCHD/H.264 codec, but you should be choosing -- when you go to Share and choose one of the video file options -- AVCHD. This will (or should) give you clips with the .m2ts extension VS is looking for to burn to Blu-Ray.

The burning process itself should be capable of converting your mp4 to BD-compatible AVCHD or BD-compatible mpeg-2. But as we always warn people, sometimes something goes wrong in that complicated conversion/burn process. So as usual we recommend converting your project in the Edit module to BD-compatible AVCHD/mpeg-2, and then inserting that in the Burn module to produce your disc or disc image.

I suppose one thing you might want to try before doing the above, is to rename the extension of your .mp4 clips to .m2ts. But first you would have to be sure that your mp4 was produced using the H.264 codec rather than some other mp4 codec. Frankly, I don't know if this will work as I have never tried it since I always produce an AVCHD file in the Edit module as outline above. But since you are only aiming to burn a disc image, at least you would not be creating another coaster if it does not work.

[Clark Griswalter]

Is there a difference between .m2ts and .m2t? If so, how do I obtain the former?

[Ken Berry]

This all gets a bit confusing. To me an .m2t file is usually associated with the HDV format which I get from one of my camcorders which films in that format and records to a mini-DV tape. While having some similarities to AVCHD and BD-compatible mpeg-2, it is not in itself BD-compatible, though can be easily converted to either AVCHD .m2ts or BD-compatible mpeg-2 in VS. This is what I do pretty regularly.

.m2ts is the extension you get with BD-compatible video, both AVCHD and transport stream mpeg-2. So that adds another level of confusion. But either format is fully compatible with the international BD standard and can be burnt to Blu-Ray discs.

Just another layer of confusion: most (all?) AVCHD cameras film their video using the extension .mts. But on being imported into VS the extension is changed to .m2ts though the quality and other attributes of the video are not changed.

As I already indicated above, you get .m2ts AVCHD video in VS by going to Share and choosing, from the video options, AVC/H.264, and then one of the options available there with the properties you want. You don't choose MPEG-4 which sits to its right, even though some of the options there make it clear that the H.264 is also being used there. But you won't .m2ts video, which VS wants for this purpose, if you choose MPEG-4 at the output format. Clear as mud!

[Clark Griswalter]

Back to the drawing board. I really appreciate your help! I'll keep you posted.

[Clark Griswalter]

No dice. Tried rendering some projects as .m2t files. Still crashing.

[Ken Berry]

I assume your reference to .m2t file was a typo for .m2ts.

But OK: what are the properties of the successful mp4 file you created? (Right click on that clip in the VS library window or timeline and copy ALL its Properties here please.) And exactly which option did you choose in AVC/H.264? If it was the one with 50p (or 60p), VS would have rejected it for burning to a Blu-Ray since 50/60p is not part of the BD standard if the frame size is 1920 x 1080. You can only use them up to 1280 x 720.

[Clark Griswalter]

I think you may have nailed it. I believe I selected either 60p or 60i. I'm not in front of my laptop right now, so I can't say for sure which it was, but the properties are listed below:
MPEG Transport-Stream Files
24 bits, 1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps
Upper Field First
(HDMV-NTSC), 16:9
H.264 Video
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 18000 kbps)
Audio data rate: 384 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48 KHz, 2/0(L,R)

[lata]

Hi Clark

Those settings are bog standard for burning a Bluray disc
You should also set your project properties to those settings
Then render your project – Share – Avchd - AVC (1920 x 1080, 60i, 18Mbps) 60i being the same as 30 fps interlaced / upper field

As your project properties now match those settings you could choose Same as Project Settings, top left of panel, box is greyed out, place a tick.

View the Properties window should be:-

MPEG Transport-Stream Files
24 bits, 1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps
Upper Field First
(HDMV-NTSC), 16:9
H.264 Video
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 18000 kbps)
Audio data rate: 384 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48 KHz, 2/0(L,R)

Does your project render without crashes.
If it fails then I would suspect your project content.
View the timeline at the point the crash occurred

If you are successful and create the video file (m2t)
Start a new project to clear the timelines
Share – Disc – Bluray
Top left for Add Video Files, browse for your video


As for mts, m2t, m2ts files

My Panasonic camera records to MTS
Video Studio renders to m2t
The burner module converts those to m2ts to burn to disc.
As far as I know the video properties are exactly the same, just appears the files extension is changed

[Clark Griswalter]

I note that your suggested settings reflect 2-channel stereo audio as opposed to surround sound. Any issue with using the 5-channel surround option?

[lata]

Hi
As far as I know there is no problems using surround sound and Bluray
The default templates can only have 1 option and that is stereo.
We can of course modify / create templates retaining Bluray compliant settings.

Your original video appear to be mpeg4 and probably use stereo audio and progressive frame order, I would try to retain that in my Bluray.

You would have to use one of these template to render your project.

AVC (1920 x 1080, 24p, 24Mbps)
AVC (1280 x 720, 60p, 18Mbps)

I guess that contradicts my suggestions in my previous post.

[Clark Griswalter]

Update. I finally got an error message with some (hopefully) useful info last night. It essential said that a Visual C++ debug assertion failed. I searched this forum and found a user with a similar issue with an earlier version of VS back in 2014 that, as far as I can tell, was never resolved. I've found a possible way to resolve the problem. I'll keep you posted. (But, by all means, if you know the actual solution, please let me know!)

[Clark Griswalter]

...I think I need to start out by getting my Windows up to date!

[Clark Griswalter]

Okay. Here's an update. I worked with tech support and eventually ended up trying reinstalling VS. Even that didn't work. In the meantime, I downloaded a trial version of TMPGEnc. I'm thrilled with it. It not only burns Blu-ray Discs and images, it also resolved my issue with pixelation of resized photos on dvds! I requested a refund for the VS blu-ray authoring add-in.