How to create Bluray disc in PRE10

[Ron Hunter]

I want to create a Bluray disc using PRE10 and m2t files, but I can't make it work and I need some help.

I placed a blank Memorex BD-R into the Bluray burner drive. I created a PRE10 project and inserted an hour's worth of HDV (m2t) videos on the timeline. I selected a HD disc menu, then selected Share>Disc>Bluray. The PRE10 status bar slowly worked across the screen, and after a couple of hours an error message appeared on screen. The BR disc did not appear to have been burnt at all.

Would someone kindly explain for me the workflow necessary to create a Bluray disc using PRE10?

Thanks!

[Chuck Engels]

and after a couple of hours an error message appeared on screen. The BR disc did not appear to have been burnt at all.

Hi Ron,
There can be many reasons why this happens in projects, not just blu ray related as it happens when burning DVDs also.
It would be really helpful if we knew what the error message was

[Ron Hunter]

Thanks Chuck. Yeah, I know the error message would help but I forgot to capture what it said. D'oh! Guess I'll have to let the machine run overnight and capture the message in the morning. Watch this space...

[Chuck Engels]

Before you run it again be sure to check the timeline for any gaps, even just a couple of frames.
Make sure there are no gaps between clips on the timeline, that is a big cause of videos not burning to disc.

[Ron Hunter]

Thanks Chuck, that is helpful info and I'll remember it moving forward.

I successfully burned a BD-R disc last night! I expected to see an error message this morning, but instead the disc drive door was open and the freshly burned disc was ready and waiting. I watched it in my Panasonic BR player on our hi-def TV, and the picture quality was as good as I hoped for.

If I ever see that error message again I'll post it here, but for the moment I'm taken care of. Thanks a bunch!

[Chuck Engels]

Really glad to hear that everything worked Ron

[ckelly33]

Rather than start a new thread, I am having the same issue. I have the same issue everytime I do a blu-ray with Premiere Elements (7,8 and now 10).

It is always the same, I have no issue importing my media, creating and editing the video or creating the menus. I click on share, and I watch as it creates the menus, encodes the media and (sometimes) starts burning the disc. Before I (by chance) get a successful burn, I will get a non-descript ERROR at the bottom of the progress bar. I restart and I start all over. Eventually it works, but not before I pull my hair out.

1. When editing, I will select "delete and close gap" everytime, so I don't think I have empty frames....but how would I tell if I did?
2. I read Steve's suggestion to output from PRE10 and burn with Sony's DVD Architect Studio - but my menus are ready and the way I want them....will it take menus and all by this method ?

I would LOVE a permanent solution to this issue!!!! I also have Premiere, seems like I output to it once successfully but I cannot remember....will it accept a fully complete PRE file and burn it more successfully than PRE10?

My computer is an HP Win7 i7 Hex Core with 18GB RAM and plenty of HDD space (if it helps)

[Steve Grisetti]

When you're troubleshooting DVD burns, it's best to break things down into steps and see where things are going wrong. I don't have all of the details on your original project, so I'll give you broadstrokes.

Try this: Use Share/Computer/AVI to output your finished video as a DV-AVI.

If that works, start a new project. Make sure it's set up for DV (or DV widescreen, if appropriate). Import your finished AVI file into the project and put it on your timeline. Then author your DVD -- add scene markers and a menu. Then Share/Disc/DVD ... but select the option to burn to a folder on your hard drive.

If that works, then you know the software is operating perfectly. So just burn your finished video to a disc. To do that, download the wonderful free utility ImgBurn and then burn the folder VIDEO_TS (which contains your video files) to a disc. Voila. You're done.

But if something doesn't work, please be very specific what you're doing and what is or is not happening.

[ckelly33]

Just to clarify - your instructions repeatedly say DVD but I am attempting a Blu ray project. Are these instructions still accrate?

Second, when I open my Blu ray project and click Share, I have the following choices: webDVD, Disc, Online, Computer, Mobile Phones and players and Tape.

When I choose Computer, I get the following: MPEG, AVCHD and AVI. inside the drop down menu in AVI has no DV-AVI. There is Microsoft AVI and DV NTSC Standard and DV NTSC Widescreen - but no DV-AVI. I think I should choose DV NTSC Widescreen...but I wanted to clarify.

Also, before I do this, do I need to remove the file markers and menus that I already have in place or will it just ignore them?

Thanks Steve

[ckelly33]

I chose NTSC widescreen and it worked. When I play the file via WIndows Media Player, audio is fine but video motion is very choppy. Why would that be? The colors are also muted compared to the original file.

I am using a Canon HF-S21 camera and the output files are AVCHD video (.mts) at Full HD (1920x1080). When I started my project I chose the project settings to be "NTSC-AVC-Full HD 1080i 30".

[Steve Grisetti]

We're chasing a couple of issues here, c. That's why I kind of wish you'd have started your own topic instead of tagging onto Ron's thread. Meantime, can you add your computer specs and operating system to your signature, as I've done? It would be a very helpful reference. You can do this by going up to the User Control Panel by following the link at the top of this forum and then, under the Profile tab, list your specs as your signature.

For BluRay, here's the process. It's basically the same as for a DVD.

Use Share/Computer/AVCHD with the preset for 1920x1080 M2T.

If that works, open a new project using the project settings for Full AVCHD 1920x1080.

Import the M2T and place it on your timeline, add your scene markers and menu and then go to Share/Disc/BluRay (with a BluRay disc in your BluRay burner, of course).

[ckelly33]

Signature added.

Sorry for any confusion added from piggybacking onto another thread....some forums want to keep the clutter down, others prefer separation. After reading through several, this one matched my issue best.

I really appreciate your help. I'm hoping that this will forever end my issues with this process.

Anyway, I am currently converting the file as you suggested. at 6%....I will redo the project chapters/menus then follow up with (hopefully) a successful burn!

[ckelly33]

Sorry it took so long, I had to work last night. Anyway, I did everything that you suggested, created the video file, opened a new project and created chapters/menus and tried a burn but got the very same result: a non-descript "Error" at 99%.

I tried again and watched it this time. It compiled the media fine (the progress bar made it to 100%) then the progress bar restarted (changing from "Compiling Media" to "Burning Disc 1 of 1"). I heard the BR drive spin up and then I got the same 'Error' again. I swapped blank media to a different disc and brand and tried a third time - same result.

It's not even writing at all - the 'writing' process lasts maybe 5 seconds and the discs are coming back out blank.

[Steve Grisetti]

So we've isolated the problem to the burn itself. Premiere Elements is doing its job, properly transcoding the files.

At this point, you've got a couple of options.

The best and easiest is to go ahead and buy DVD Architect Studio, a steal at $39 as download from Sony. I know you like the menus and everything that you've created in Premiere Elements, but at least with this program you can be sure that your BluRay will burn.

The other options are not so neat:

You can chase your problem with your BluRay burner. It might be an outdated driver. It might be your antivirus program interrupting the burn. (Personally, I recommend that you use Microsoft Security Essentials. It's a terrific antivirus program -- absolutely free and self-maintaining -- and it never interferes with other programs.) It might the presence of Nero or other disc burning software on our system. Or it might be fragmentation or the presence of other junk files on your system. Unfortunately, we can't help you here. You're pretty much on your own chasing this bug.

The other option is to download software that lets you burn your BluRay files to your hard drive (since Premiere Elements does not). One example is Phantom Burner, which is free to try and $29 to purchase:
http://download.cnet.com/Phantom-Burner ... 37154.html

With this software, you select the option to burn a BluRay to a disc (though you're actually burning to Phantom -- which stores the disc files on your computer's hard drive). Once you check the files and make sure they work, you can use a program like the free download ImgBurn to burn the files to your BluRay.

Those are the options I see. Sorry it's not a smoother ride for you.

[ckelly33]

OK. Thanks so much for all of your help. I may end up with the Sony solution but because I would like to keep uniformity in my menus from previous projects, I am going to start with your other solutions first. I have a question about Phantom Burner - is what you are describing similar to burning a Video_TS file then using ImgBurn to make it into a proper BR? Will it maintain the menus that I have created using PRE10?