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Blu-Ray Anyone?
Hello to all,
I have a question that might of been asked before, but I didn’t see it in the archives. So here we go….
I am about two years into my Event Videography business and yesterday I meet with a couple to go over my packages. The groom, was very interested in having his wedding shot in HD and having 1 Blu Ray copy. He said that he currently does not have a PS3, but is planning on buying one in 2009 and said that he would hate to not have the opportunity to watch his wedding in HD. I also currently have a couple that I’m shooting next month that is doing this same thing. Shooting the entire event in HD, getting their SD DVDs, and when they get their PS3 call me up and I make them a BluRay.
Now, before my question I’m need to give some info about what I’m working with. Shooting on the Panasonic HVX200s (I know, not the best for weddings but still amazing cameras) and editing on FCP6. I currently do not have Encore or a Blu-Ray burner. So getting CS4 and the burner are the things that I would need to make the BR discs. I shoot and edit in HD, good to go.
So my question would be….
1. Is anyone even doing Blu-Ray?
2. If so, what are your rates for producing a Blu-Ray disc? Cost per Disc? Cost for authoring/production? etc
3. Is anyone having couples request to do this. Pay to shoot in HD, then a few months later request to purchase the Blu-Ray? If so, how much would you charge to open an old/finished project and author the BR Disc?
I think that’s all I got. Hopefully this is a question that more than just I am having and we can find out. Thanks in advance for you help.
Best,
Beau Brotherton
Macbook Pro 2.4GHz, Intel Core 2Duo, 4GB
FCP6
HVX200 -
6 Replies
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Hello Beau,
In our blogs section there are a lot of posts regarding Blu-ray and the ins and outs — along with the perils and caveats — of creating them.
I have done a basic search that is found here:
https://blogs.creativecow.net/tag/bluray
On the page, you will scroll down and find many posts about creating Blu-ray. Check it out.
Some of the blogs go into a lot of detail.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.
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Thanks Ron for you advise.
Although, this really hasn’t helped me. The only thing I found was Walter Biscardi suggesting licensing a software for $250 a month. Oh yea, you also have to purchase a new fully loaded HP computer to run it ($1700).
I was hoping to find someone, anyone who is doing Blu-Ray in Event videos. Are you producing Blu-Ray yourself?
Beau Brotherton
Macbook Pro 2.4GHz, Intel Core 2Duo, 4GB
FCP6
HVX200 -
Hi Beau,
First off, you do not need a $1700 computer to burn Blu-Rays. We have been burning Blu-Rays for about 6 months on a $550 refurbished Dell Optiplex 755.
We use an LG Blu-Ray burner, which at the time ran around $269. It’s probably cheaper now. We shoot and edit all of our wedding films in HD. If the client chooses not to have Blu-Ray delivery, I back up the project on HDV tape and a hard drive.
If the client chooses Blu-Ray delivery when we deliver the SD DVDs, it is $400 which includes 3 Blu-Ray discs. We edit in Edius and use Encore for both SD DVDs and Blu-Ray. Our wedding films on Blu-Ray look incredible.
Mark Von Lanken
Picture This Productions, Inc
http://www.VonWeddingFilms.com -
[Beau Brotherton] “1. Is anyone even doing Blu-Ray?”
Absolutely… at least they are here in Southern California. In fact, at the Production company that I use to do authoring for, in the last 6 months about half of their clients have requested blu-ray copies of their video, and actually decided to go with them over a competitor because they offered blu-ray.
I know there has been a lot of talk about Blu-ray being skipped over by online delivery, but in my experience, clients still like to receive a tangible product, that doesn’t depend on a fast internet connection to watch. Online delivery of content will not be the preferred method for many many years to come. Blu-ray will be around for a while, and is quickly becoming more popular as the prices for the players go down, and more people get HDTV’s.
[Beau Brotherton] “2. If so, what are your rates for producing a Blu-Ray disc? Cost per Disc? Cost for authoring/production? etc”
Most editing systems are capable of burning Blu-ray discs, provided that you have the burner. We decided to go with the Lacie External D2 Blu-ray Burner so that we could move it back and forth between our PC and Mac workstations. It supports dual layer Blu-ray discs, and is external, so it’s more expensive at close to $400.
The discs are cheaper when purchased in bulk. You can buy a stack of 25 printable BD-R discs for $226 at tapeandmedia.com. Because of the expensive price for each disc, you don’t want to make any mistakes. I highly recommend purchasing a rewritable BD-RE disc to make test burns on. They can be reused over 1000 times. Those are just $15 each.
You will also want to invest in the new blu-ray cases for a much more professional presentation, those are pretty cheap (45 cents each when you purchase 25 of them)
Thats pretty much it for cost of authoring if you will be doing it yourself. You will need Adobe CS3 or CS4. If you want some impressive 3D motion menus instead of the boring ones that come with Encore, I offer those on my website. High Definition is fully supported.
It’s really up to you as to what you want to charge your clients for a Blu-ray disc. I know many companies that don’t charge extra at all. They might offer 3 standard dvd’s OR 1 Blu-ray disc. Then you could have rates for additional copies (maybe $25 – $50?).
[Beau Brotherton] “3. Is anyone having couples request to do this. Pay to shoot in HD, then a few months later request to purchase the Blu-Ray? If so, how much would you charge to open an old/finished project and author the BR Disc?”
Yes, we did have this happen, and it depends on a few factors. What is your time worth? It usually takes a very long time to transcode the video into h264, so that could tie up your system for a day or 2 (a good task to do over the weekend). Also, you can’t charge an excessive amount. Maybe $50 or $100 for the first disc, and then a reduced amount for copies.
What we do is make an HD backup of the project, using an avi file with a good codec (we use the matrox hardware), and store that on a removable drive. This file can then be easily retrieved later, converted into the blu-ray h254 file, and dropped into our menu template. The easier the process is for you to do, the less you can charge, and the happier your clients will be.
Jon Geddes
Motion Graphics Designer
http://www.precomposed.com -
This is so AWESOME!!! I totally forgot that I posted this a while back. lol But so glad that you helped me out with my questions. Thank Jon, you ROCK!
Would you be able to let me in on who your vendors are? For the BR Discs and Cases? Thanks.
Thanks again for your expert advise and I’ll be sure to check out your site for the 3D Graphics.
All the Best,
Beau Brotherton
Macbook Pro 2.4GHz, Intel Core 2Duo, 4GB
FCP6
HVX200 -
At the time I bought the Blu-ray drive, B&H (bhphotovideo.com) was the only reputable vendor selling it. I often get my Amaray DVD cases (for standard dvd’s) at sleeve city (sleevetown.com), but I purchased the Blu-ray cases and blu-ray discs at Tape & Media (tapeandmedia.com).
It’s possible you might find a better deal from a different vendor, but the prices at the ones I listed above are very competitive, and I’ve been very pleased with the quality of service / shipping time.
Jon Geddes
Motion Graphics Designer
http://www.precomposed.com
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