Advice Requested on Output Format

[bbrener]

My video is AVC 1920x1080-60i. When I import into MS 12 and match the media, that is what it shows. When I render, the '=' mark is at 1920x1080-60i 25Mbps Video Stream.
I do not actually want to burn a Blu-Ray. I do not have a Blu-Ray burner (I do have a Sony Blu-Ray player) and the movie is lengthy so I want to put it on a DVD-DL. (it is a dump of a lot of video taken on a vacation for archiving purposes).
So the question is whether I should modify the MS 12 output to be to a Program Stream NTSC Video Widescreen or DVD Architect NTSC widescreen, and then add menus and burn it with DVDA, or should I output in the Blu-Ray M2T format and let DVDA do the burning at the lower resolution?

I read in Steve's book that Blu-Ray can be burned to a regular DVD if it is short, but this is not the case here. Also I might want to burn copies of shorter movies for family who do not have Blu-Ray players so having Blu-Ray quality on HDD and allowing DVDA to handle the quality conversion gives most flexibility in burning Blu-Ray and non Blu-Ray from the same output if it can work that way.
Thanks
Brian

[Steve Grisetti]

Hi, Brian. Welcome to Muvipix!

If you're going to output a DVD of your finished movie from DVD Architect, it would make sense to output a standard definition MPEG2 from your Vegas/Movie Studio project to port the file over to DVD Arch.

Although this is assuming you're trying to create a playable DVD. Which you may not be.

If you're just trying to archive your AVCHD video for use in another project in the future, you may want to output it as an AVC file (Sony AVC/BluRay 1920x1080 60i 10 Mbps). You'll only be able to save about 40 minutes of video on a dual layer DVD, but it will be archived at pretty much the same quality that's coming from your camcorder.

All depends on what you're wanting to accomplish.

[bbrener]

Thank you. Yes playable DVD. I actually want to do both. Archive it for future use on HDD, and also output a standard definition playable DVD for now.
I preferably do not want to take the time to render it twice.
Is it possible to output the AVCHD file to my HDD, input it into DVDA and create some basic menus and tell DVDA to burn it as standard definition so that I can get more on a DVD-DL?

[bbrener]

So now I have an issue.
I did a 'render as' and chose Blue-Ray 1920x1080-60i 25Mbps Video Stream. It created an M2V file. I then rendered the audio as Sony W64. I imported the M2V file into DVDA, and created the DVD with no issue at 720x480 NTSC. It played fine.

Then I tried to import the M2V file back into MS12 and it would not import. So it will create an M2V file when it renders Blu-Ray but then will not import it back? I guess my error might have been to not specify Sony AVC as you mentioned below. (I saw the 1920x1080-60i and missed the Sony AVC part I guess).
Am I hosed?

[Steve Grisetti]

Right. M2V is a video only format and is generally considered to be a delivery format (a final output format). Though I'm surprised it won't edit in Vegas/Movie Studio.

That said, if you are going to reuse the video file in a Vegas/Movie Studio hi-def project, I recommend you use the Sony AVC/BluRay template I recommended above. It will also work as source footage for a DVD Architect project.

[bbrener]

Thanks again. I think I finally understand. I rerendered as MT2S which avoided the double video/audio rerender. I also tried M2T with Sony W64 as separate renders. Both work fine and I can't tell the difference. Both import back into MS12 for reuse. If I render as a .AVC file itself, then it wont play in WMP or VLC so I wont use that.
My copy of your book on DVD Architect arrived last night from Amazon and I saw how to burn with the various options - BluRay or DVD. I did not know you can burn a small mount of BluRay to a regular DVD. i will try that.
Much obliged. Happy holidays

[Steve Grisetti]

Likewise, bb! Glad to have you aboard!

[vkmast]

My copy of your book on DVD Architect arrived last night from Amazon and I saw how to burn with the various options - BluRay or DVD. I did not know you can burn a small mount of BluRay to a regular DVD. i will try that.

You need to know this
viewtopic.php?f=92&t=11372

[bbrener]

Update: I misunderstood originally, but after some research I realized that the you are suggesting extracting the BDMV files by using Virtual clone Drive and then patching the file after extraction. So ignore the underlined question below.
I find this cumbersome. WinRar will unzip the ISO file and show the all files in the file structure with much less effort.
I'll let you know how it goes.



Thanks. Note the tutorial is not removed and I confirm that the option to set 8.5 and 4.7Gb DVD size is gone.
I can see how you write an ISO file, but why to a virtual drive, and what is a virtual drive in your definition?
I found this article that explains it in detail with a link to the specifics.
I will try it, but with ISO on a HDD.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/blu-ray-aut ... u-can.html

Thanks

[Steve Grisetti]

I still don't know why Sony removed this very valuable feature.

However, you can still output BluRay file to a DVD if you keep it below 20 minutes (or 40 minutes on a dual layer DVD).

The disc will not play on a DVD player, of course. It will only play on a BluRay player. But, if you are making short movies, it saves you spending the extra $ on BluRay discs.

[bbrener]

However, you can still output BluRay file to a DVD if you keep it below 20 minutes (or 40 minutes on a dual layer DVD).

Steve, you cannot 'fool' it. It insists on having a writable BluRay disk even with a 5 minute video.

[vkmast]

This was the reason given by SCS Support to a Vegas user.
"Per SCS:
Unfortunately, that feature was taken out due to legality issues with the Blu-ray format trademark, and had to be taken out in a newer build of the software."
As stated, you can of course still burn AVCHD content to DVD. You just cannot do it with DVDA Studio 5.0 builds later than build 128.
This was one of the reasons I did not update, though for burning the prepared iso to DVD I use the free ImgBurn anyway.
You probably should use TreeTopsRanch's method to get "a strict AVCHD format", but the BD players I've been using don't seem to mind and play nice. YMMV of course.
The OP should try "Render image only", make a note of the file path to find the .iso to burn it with ImgBurn.

[Steve Grisetti]

But can you create an ISO/Prepared File of your BluRay and, if it's small enough to fit, use a program like ImgBurn to burn this as a BluRay file to a DVD disc?

Thanks for the background regardless, vk! That's interesting.

[bbrener]

I had the urge to experiment. It's a long story .. it took me over 2 hours to experiment with 14 minutes of video. In short, I made it work.

1. I had some 1920x1080- 60i video. I rendered it from MS12 as an M2TS file. I then prepared it as ISO file with DVDA set to Blu-Ray.

2. Then following the instructions I found in the link above, I used WinRaR to open the ISO (easier than CloneDrive) and copied the files to my HDD. I used AVCHD-Patcher 1.06 to patch the file and burned it UDF 2.5 with IMGBurn. It would not play in my Sony BD Player but it did recognize it as a DVD AVC.

3. Frustrated, I tried again and instead of using AVCHD_Patcher, I used a hex editor to edit the 0200 to 0100. Again, would not work. It was not recognized as an AVC this time.

4. Third try was to burn the files from WinRar with no patching at all. Again, would not work.

5. Then I read Steve's last post. I simply used IMGBurn to burn the ISO file directly. Voila. It played perfectly. The disk looks identical to 4, so no idea why that did not work.

Anyway, simply put: Create an ISO from DVDA using BluRay function and burn it with IMGBurn. Worked for me. The DVD Player shows it playing 1920x1080-60i and running at between 15-18 MBps. 14 minutes of Video used 2GB on the DVD. I am guessing it would get close to 30 minutes and maybe 60 on a DL. I had no menus, no markers no effects. Just raw video.

Thanks for all the advice.

[vkmast]

Great that the OP worked it out.
As mentioned in posts above, you can use DVDAS (or MSP Make movie / Render image only) to prepare the .iso. The main thing is to forget trying to burn AVCHD discs with the current builds of DVDA.
Your account of experimenting is good info for other Vegas users. My experiences are similar, also regarding how much you can fit on a DVD.
The OP mentions "DVD Player", I guess it's a BD player though?