DVDA Pro 5.2: What a disappointment!--NOT!

[George Tyndall]

Oops!

In a previous post, I expressed my disappointment with the audio on a Blu-ray burned to a 4.70GB disk. I wrote that the HDD file used to burn the disk sounded ever so much better then the disk itself.

Here is what I forgot when making the comparison:

The sound card on my machine feeds 7.1 audio via optical out to my 7.1 Onky home theater.

The LG Blu-ray desktop players was feeding only 2 channels out.

Just now, I used the optical audio out on the LG Blu-ray player to feed the home theater.

The result is that the home theater transforms the AC-3 audio on the disk into 7.1 audio coming from the Onkyo--and the disk sounds as good as the audio from the HDD.

Problem: DVDA Pro 5.2 is not available as a standalone program; it must be purchased as part of Vegas Movie Pro 10, which lists for $600--and there is no educational discount, apparently, available.



Questions for the PP/Encore users:

1. Can Encore burn an ISO image from a HD timeline that has been output from PRE7 with AC-3 audio?

2. Will the PP file also have AC-3 audio?

3. What codec would be "native" for the video file--would it be the same as Architect, namely, MPEG H.264 1920 x 1080i 30?

4. Does Encore have as extensive capabilities as 5.2 in terms of customizing menus and buttons, etc?

[Chuck Engels]

4. Buttons and menus are primarily customized in Photoshop.

[Bob]

1. Can Encore burn an ISO image from a HD timeline that has been output from PRE7 with AC-3 audio?

2. Will the PP file also have AC-3 audio?

3. What codec would be "native" for the video file--would it be the same as Architect, namely, MPEG H.264 1920 x 1080i 30?

4. Does Encore have as extensive capabilities as 5.2 in terms of customizing menus and buttons, etc?

1&2&3) Encore CS5 supports DVD and Blu-ray compliant formats without transcoding. If PRE7 can output a video that complies with the DVD/Blu-ray specifications, you're good to go. Otherwise you will need to transcode. You can specifiy whether your transcode target is MPEG-2 or H.264 and Dolby Digital or PCM. You can burn DVDs and Blu-rays to disc, folder, or ISO image. You can even create a Blu-ray project and burn it and then change the project properties to DVD and burn the same project as a DVD.

4) Encore standard menus are layered Photoshop PSD files. You can select a menu from the library or make your own custom menus. You don't have to work exclusively in Photoshop to create a menu. You can select a blank menu from the library and drag and drop in backgrounds, buttons, shapes, text as desired. You have the option of further customizing that dynamically generated menu in Photoshop.

[George Tyndall]

You can even create a Blu-ray project and burn it and then change the project properties to DVD and burn the same project as a DVD.

That feature is very appealing as, with DVDA, one must make the choice (SD v. HD) before beginning the project--then start all over again to create the other.

Encore standard menus are layered Photoshop PSD files. You can select a menu from the library or make your own custom menus. You don't have to work exclusively in Photoshop to create a menu. You can select a blank menu from the library and drag and drop in backgrounds, buttons, shapes, text as desired. You have the option of further customizing that dynamically generated menu in Photoshop.

Three follow-up questions:

1. By Photoshop, I presume you mean CS5?

2. Will Encore CS5 burn Blu-ray quality to a 4.70GB disk the way DVDA does?

3. My video card is not adequate for PP CS5--and I am required to purchase this to get Encore CS5--but is my GPU adequate for Encore CS5 after I've produced the HD file with PRE7?

[Bob]

1. By Photoshop, I presume you mean CS5?

Yes. You can create and edit Encore menu psd files in other versions of Photoshop, but the Encore direct link to edit menu psds in Photoshop is to CS5. I don't see any place to specify other versions in Encore. FYI, I have the Production Premium CS5 suite, so everything is already integrated and supports dynamic link.

2. Will Encore CS5 burn Blu-ray quality to a 4.70GB disk the way DVDA does?

If you mean, "does Encore burn AVCHD discs" the answer is no. Encore does not support creation of AVCHD disks. FYI, AVCHD disks are part of the AVCHD specification, not the Blu-Ray specification.

3. My video card is not adequate for PP CS5--and I am required to purchase this to get Encore CS5--but is my GPU adequate for Encore CS5 after I've produced the HD file with PRE7?

If your video card is not one of the supported NVIDIA models, Premiere Pro and the Adobe Media Encoder will use software rendering instead of gpu accelerated rendering. Everything works, it's just slower than using gpu acceleration. Your signature says you have a 1.8GB NVIDIA GTX 260 video card. That's not one of the cuda supported cards, but there is a hack that would allow you to use that card with gpu acceleration if you wish. Paul LS is using a GTX 250 card that way. I have a supported card now and it works flawlessly. Before I got this card, I was using software rendering with no problems. If you are ok with software rendering (which is what you are doing with PrE7 anyway), you should be fine.

If Encore doesn't need to transcode, it should perform well on your current system.

[Paul LS]

Infact I have the GTX 260 card, I can never remember the numbers. I use the hack and get very fast rendering speeds, between 3 to 4x faster than software rendering. Just been building a new computer with i7 processor and have purchased a supported card, the GTX 470.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Infact I have the GTX 260 card.....I use the hack and get very fast rendering speeds.....

I too used the hack on my GTS250 1Gb card but had to disable it as PPro became extremely unstable.

[George Tyndall]

FYI, AVCHD disks are part of the AVCHD specification, not the Blu-Ray specification.

for yet another extremely informative post, Bob

So, when I click on the button in DVDA that says "Burn Blu-ray disk," I am not in fact burning a Blu-ray but rather an AVCHD disk?

Is that an important difference?

Specifically: Since my primary goal is to create HD disks that will play well, in terms of both the video and the audio, on the standard desktop Blu-ray players that customers are likely to own, does it matter which of those standards are used to produce the disks?

If your answer is that using the Blu-ray standard is preferable, are you aware of any manufacturer that is producing blank Blu-ray disks which will accept LightScribe labeling?

[RJ Johnston]

I can tell you from actual experience that in DVDA you have two options for Blu-ray, to burn to a standard DVD or to burn a Blu-ray disc. Isn't that what you have in DVDAS? I don't remember now.

When you select Blu-ray and then select DVD from the dropdown list, you don't get AVCHD. In fact, in won't play in my Sony Blu-ray disc player anymore unless I use a utility to hack the index file that turns a non-standard "blu-ray movie on DVD" into an AVCHD. However when I first bought the player, the Blu-ray on DVD was identified as an AVCHD. Later, after a firmware update, Sony removed the ability to play that DVD since it was not a compliant AVCHD.

Of course when you select to burn to a Blu-ray disc, you get a compliant Blu-ray disc.

[Bob]

RJ posted while I was writing this, but he is correct. DVD Architect burns a valid Blu-Ray disc on Blu-Ray media. The media template is unlocked and you can choose to burn your Blu-Ray on DVD media. Burning Blu-Ray to DVD doesn't produce a true AVCHD disc. It produces Blu-Ray on DVD which is even less compatible than AVCHD discs -- it won't play on all Blu-Ray players including some that support true AVCHD discs. Samsung has also done a similar thing with removing support via firmware changes.

Bottom line, if you are producing this for clients, use Blue-Ray media for best compatibility.

As for lightscribe on Blu-Ray media, I've never seen any. There may possibly be technical issues with the way lightscribe and Blu-ray use the hub area. Lightscribe support in Blu-Ray burners is probably there to support lightscribe on DVD.

[George Tyndall]

Bottom line, if you are producing this for clients, use Blue-Ray media for best compatibility.

As for lightscribe on Blu-Ray media, I've never seen any. There may possibly be technical issues with the way lightscribe and Blu-ray use the hub area. Lightscribe support in Blu-Ray burners is probably there to support lightscribe on DVD.

for that reply, Bob.

Rats!

The reasons I was so excited about DVDA's ability to burn Blu-ray to DVD are:

1) my slide shows are rarely over 30 minutes, so they don't require the more-expensive Blu-ray media

2) I like LightScribe labeling, which is not available for Blu-ray media.

"There's always something"--Gilda Radner, Saturday Night Live

Compromise: It appears I will need to continue with ink-jet labeling of my Blu-ray disks--which means I will probably decide to go back to ink-jet for the SDs as well, as I like to give my clients a matched set of SD and HD disks.

[George Tyndall]

If PRE7 can output a video that complies with the DVD/Blu-ray specifications, you're good to go. Otherwise you will need to transcode.

PRE7 can output, to Personal Computer (to HDD), files with a variety of presents, including the following:
1. MPEG H.264 1920x1080i 30
2. MPEG-2 1920x1080i 30
3. NTSC DVD Widescreen

Doesn't that mean that no transcoding will be necessary for Encore CS5 to produce both SD and Blu-ray discs--in other words, that I am "good to go"?

[George Tyndall]

1. By Photoshop, I presume you mean CS5?

Yes. You can create and edit Encore menu psd files in other versions of Photoshop, but the Encore direct link to edit menu psds in Photoshop is to CS5. I don't see any place to specify other versions in Encore. FYI, I have the Production Premium CS5 suite, so everything is already integrated and supports dynamic link. .... If Encore doesn't need to transcode, it should perform well on your current system.

I already have PS CS5 installed. If I decide to install Production Premium CS5 suite, do I need to first uninstall my existing PS CS5 to avail of the "dynamic link" that you mention?

If your video card is not one of the supported NVIDIA models, Premiere Pro and the Adobe Media Encoder will use software rendering instead of gpu accelerated rendering. Everything works, it's just slower than using gpu acceleration. Your signature says you have a 1.8GB NVIDIA GTX 260 video card. That's not one of the cuda supported cards, but there is a hack that would allow you to use that card with gpu acceleration if you wish.

Is there any downside to using the hack? Will it void the warranty on my machine? If I am planning to use PRE7 rather than PPCS5 with Encore CS5, isn't the hack unnecessary?

[George Tyndall]

I can tell you from actual experience that in DVDA you have two options for Blu-ray, to burn to a standard DVD or to burn a Blu-ray disc. Isn't that what you have in DVDAS?

Correct!

When you select Blu-ray and then select DVD from the dropdown list, you don't get AVCHD. In fact, in won't play in my Sony Blu-ray disc player anymore unless I use a utility to hack the index file that turns a non-standard "blu-ray movie on DVD" into an AVCHD. However when I first bought the player, the Blu-ray on DVD was identified as an AVCHD. Later, after a firmware update, Sony removed the ability to play that DVD since it was not a compliant AVCHD.

That is interesting because the "blu-ray movie on DVD" disks that I have created with DVD AS5 and DVDA Pro 5.2 play well on both my desktop LG and the internal LG player on my machine, despite the fact that the former has never had a firmware update but the latter has--and recently at that!

How to explain it?

[RJ Johnston]

You don't have a Sony player. You have an LG player. That's how you explain it.