Re: Blu ray developments

I recently authored a commercial sold-in-stores replicated Blu-ray. Here's my Mac Blu-ray story:

Used Encore CS6. Only ever dabbled with it but never dug deep. Never had an actual project I as working on, just fooling around. When the original author of said Blu-ray couldn't get the job done to satisfaction using his Windows tools, I stepped in. With the help of an online friend and a couple of Youtube videos I learned how to properly use Encore. I had the Blu-ray authored and ready to go in 2 days. This Blu-ray has 25+ menus, 57 individual videos, an interactive video where you choose how the story progresses, commentary on very video, pop-up menus and hidden bonus videos for the user to find if he or she is tenacious enough. All video was .264 encoded by Compressor. Unfortunately all audio was .ac3 but it was good enough for the project. The menus are all motion menus and have 5.1 surround sound. I would have liked to use DTS HDMA but that was out of my reach. Also not sure if Encore can handle that. I didn't let Encore re-encode or render anything. The Blu-ray looks friggin' GREAT! All 1080p 30. The replication plant we sent it to has the tools to make a glass master so that the disc can be replicated and not just duplicated (it won't be a BDMV). We're gonna make a lot of money with this Blu-ray. Blu-rays are still in demand and they sell quite well. It's too bad the Blu-ray license is so much, though. That's really stupid and was never an issue with DVD.

I cannot recommend Encore enough. It's too bad Adobe discontinued it.

Hi Guys,

We can make very basic DVDs and Blu-rays inside FCP X, but they are so pedestrian.

Well, I have a dream. In the next update, Apple starts to expand the abilities of the FCP X disk authoring system. We don't need a lot, just add to the existing abilities each time you update FCP X.

This would work for me.

--ken

I would like to see (in FCPX) the ability to author a menu-less disc that just auto-plays the program and has the ability to loop endlessly. Clients love that. Works great for trade shows. Last week I did a Blu-ray for a client trade show and I had to go into Encore.

Ken, Joe,

I've done extensive menuing on DVDs with DVDSP4 but only basic stuff in Blu-ray like the Front Menu and Play Movie button that comes with FCP X SHARE. Since Encore is dead, can that kind of Blu-ray authoring you did in Encore be done with Toast 12 or Toast 12 Pro?

Thanks,
Phil

Well Encore is still perfectly useable, like FCP studio. Don't know about Toast 12 but I deliberately kept a mac pro limited to 10.6.8 so I could continue to run FCP Studio, Motion, DVDSP, Compressor etc. Where are you going to find a combination of software so acutely designed for video/dvd authoring. Nothing could convince me to throw all that away and bodge around with FCPX. I'm glad I retained my 'legacy' setup, now I have added Encore to it and I have a perfectly tuned workflow for all current disc projects.

Sounds great but I don't have Encore and Adobe doesn't sell it anymore. :-(

Adobe made Encore available as a download with CS6 or 5 not sure what version. I don't know if it's free but people have been downloading it since it was discontinued.

Well this thread blew up. A few answers:

-No Encore did not transcode my files. Everything was set to "Don't Transcode" and nothing did.

-I used .264 files but it would give me errors when getting ready to burn (or write the ISO which is what I did). This is because the audio files are longer than the video file. You need to go into each timeline and shorten the audio to exactly the length of the video or 1 frame less. Then it will work fine. MPEG 2 is not an option mainly because MPEG 2 is ass.

-I did one burn with Encore and the other one I wrote to an ISO and burned with Toast 12. Toast 12 did a much better job. The playback was much smoother. With Encore handling the burn process I encountered a few spots which would freeze or stutter on the Sony Blu-ray player I have. The same disc played without issues in the Playstation 3 (which is seriously the best Blu-ray player on the planet). The Toast burn didn't stutter or freeze in ANY player. I burned it at the only speed it would let me which was slightly slower than what Encore did, I assume. I used Verbatim dual layer blank media burned on a LG BE14NU40 USB 3 burner.

When will the Mac play Blu Ray?

Cheers
Alexander

Alexander,

I can play Blu-rays on my iMac through the VLC software. It doesn't play the menus only the video and audio files.

Joe, great project, very impressive. By any chance did Encore transcode your compressor files in the background while you were authoring, it's designed to do that unless you specifically turn that option off. Also I found that if I used .264 file I got 'error codes' and a failed burn. It would BUILD OK from 264 files but would not burn successfully. Archived advice also recomended avoiding 264 and opting for mpeg 2.

Peter,

It looks pretty good and you can't beat the price. Plus, they offer a free trial.
I'll check it out. Thanks for posting.

-Phil

Hi Phil,

If you can, please report back after you have worked with it.

Thanks,

--ken

Will do, Ken, in a couple of days.

Just robbed my son's PS3 and tried the Encore disc in it. On my HD 36in tv it is fabulous. All my Motion work, special effects etc, FX Carousel slideshows with multiple reflections, fades, soft focus and desaturation effects flawlessly reproduced, Text titles, button texts etc all crisp with clean edges, No artifacts, pixellation, grainyness, makes my decent DVDs look like crap. I really did not know how good my wee camera was until now. Blurays don't just look better than DVDs, they play better as well.

With regard to FCP7 I'm with Peter all the way. I do have FCPX but haven't touched it in about a year, it just doesn't sit well with me. However, I do have an eye to the future and where things are going since Adobe went the subscription route and Avid recently following suit even for perpetual license holders. I won't go for that.

The other issue is optical media. Those with another agenda, the corporations, would have us believe that CD, DVD and Blu-Ray are things of the past, but everyone other than the broadcasters want delivery on optical media. I suspect that the real reason is that the software companies don't want us to own our software. Music and movies on disk are completely against the business model of the distributers. In truth I don't think they really want us to do what we do at all.

Most of the venues, such as film festivals and library presentations, that I've been dealing with lately want DVDs and especially Blu-rays. These are the deliverables that I am still asked for.

Exactly my point Phil, but I think there is a bit of light on the horizon. 4K is the elephant in the room right now. Everyone is pushing 4K cameras, TV's, etc, etc, but with little prospect of the consumer ever seeing it. The broadcasters can't transmit it with current technology, the best we can expect is 1080, not without them investing billions, which they would struggle to see a return on. I hear that the UHD disk specification has recently been finalized and will be available to developers later in the year, doubtless subject to insane licensing fees. However, it will be the only way for the end user to view 4K in his living room, so perhaps optical media is not dead yet.