Blu Ray Menus

[John Rofrano]

Unfortunately, DVD Architect Studio 4.5 does not support Blu-ray. You would need to upgrade to Vegas Pro to get DVD Architect 5 or you’ll need to find another package to burn Blu-ray discs. Luckily there are several consumer packages out there that do this. One that comes to mind is DVD MovieFactory 6 Plus. It has a trial that you can download and it doesn’t cost too much to buy. This is what I used before Sony added Blu-ray support to DVD Architect.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Joe Willis]

Thanks for the info. Man, software companies are just so…….sneaky.
I mean this happens all the time. “Hey buy this and you can do all of this and that” only to find, “But if you want to do this…You MUST upgrade”. The box tells you it works with HD so of course I am to assume the whole package does. It does tell you that Vegas works seamlessly with DVD Architect Studio. This doesnt feel to be seamless to me. I will check out what you suggested. I am looking for a somewhat professional feel with the software. Is DVD Movie Factory of a good quality or does it have that cheesy “Lets make an easy home movie that fits everybody kind of feel?

Thanks again for the quick reply, I could have been trying to blindly figure out what I was doing wrong for days. Now I know I have been kinda suckered. I used a previous Vegas and loved it but didnt have HD camera then. So I saw that Platinum 9 does it and went with it. Live and learn. Can I get 5.0 without PRO? Tell me I can….come on say yes….If not its the old bait and hook.
I have sooo many Sony products its disgusting. Cameras alone I have 5. But my last two cameras I switched to Cannon. The G10 for my stills and the HF20 for video. Gotta say they are fantastic.

I think I know everything….at least thats what everybody tells me.

[John Rofrano]

> I am looking for a somewhat professional feel with the software. Is DVD Movie Factory of a good quality or does it have that cheesy “Lets make an easy home movie that fits everybody kind of feel?

Oh, it’s definitely cheesy home movie stuff. I assumed because you were using the consumer Movie Studio version that you were just making home movies. If you want professional feeling Blu-ray then Vegas Pro 9.0 is more what you need.

> Can I get 5.0 without PRO?

Unfortunately, no you can’t.

> If not its the old bait and hook.

Actually, at the time Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9 came out, Blu-ray burners were $600. I don’t think many consumers who buy $89 software are going to buy $600 burners. Now that Blu-ray burner prices have come down I can see Sony adding it, but you can burn Blu-ray from the timeline with VMSP9 so it does support Blu-ray. Just not as much as you would like.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Joe Willis]

Thanks for the reply again. Dont get me wrong, i am no professional in the least. I dont do this for a living and i certainly dont make any money at it.
The price of pro is just too much for somebody that doesnt do this for a living I think. In itself its not too much money its just that i spend a lot on the hardware side. I have many expensive hobbies. It is really hard to keep up with them all monetarily. I just appreciate quality in anything i venture into.
I have never seen the Pro version so I am not familiar with how much more it will offer than the Platinum Pro version I have. I dont consider the version i have to be a slouch in the least. Actually , to me, it is quite impressive for the money. But then again what do I know never seeing the Pro version. I have made some quite interesting videos being a novice. I would like to learn the version i have now in depth and then maybe move up. Its just that when I bought this boxed set it said it was HD capable. Of course one would expect it all would all work with HD. I am pretty sure it was intentional by Sony to lure you in and after using the software find it is not complete. So your left with one choice, not a fifty or a hundred dollar upgrade, more like six hundred dollars. A bit extreme just to be able to make the complete package truly HD capable. At least allow us to make menus in Blu Ray. As I said I had the previous version and liked it. But then within a two months I switched to Vista…..now it was useless. They didnt update it to work with Vista. So I had to buy it again.
Thanks again, I will keep looking.

[John Rofrano]

I would download the trial of Ulead DVD MovieFactory Plus and see what you think. It may be fine for what you want. I would not upgrade to Vegas Pro just to get DVD Architect 5 if this is just a hobby. I would wait and see what the next version of Movie Studio Platinum brings.

Don’t forget… when Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9 was released, the Pro version was Vegas Pro 8.0 and it didn’t have Blu-ray support in DVD Architect either. That’s why I bought Ulead DVD MovieFactory Plus! It was better than nothing and it worked pretty well. So DVD Architect 5 came out AFTER Movie Studio 9. Perhaps Movie Studio 10 will have it? Hang in there.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Joe Willis]

Ok I was desperate. I downloaded and bought The Ulead DVD Movie Maker 6 Plus. You failed to mention that to make it work with my HD Mt2s or whatever files that I needed the Plugin for that! 🙂 🙂 Another 20 bucks. 🙂 They all gitcha one way or another. I am playing with it as I type this. Burning one now. A Disk that is.

Could you please answer another question for me? When I make my movie in Vegas, how should I render it to work with the DVD Movie Factory? Remember I want to keep the video top notch. 1920×1080.

I think I will save all of my renders on my hard drives so later when I get a real DVD Makin program I can do them more the way I want. For now I will fart around with this one.
Im not to sure I like it too much so far. It is very limited from what I see so far. I want more creative control.

Well it is still crawlin through this burn. It is a very short video (for test purposes).

Hold on I think it is done. It is only a 4 min 14 second video.
It took 16 Minutes. I have a very fast PC with dual widescreens.

Fail!! It said it was succesful but I only hear the music I put in for the menu. There is no menu only a black screen with a button on the bottom right. I hit the button and the video plays and looks good. But the menu isnt working. I used a dvd disk and the program did see it as that. For the menu I put in one of my pictures and used one of their stock templates. Can I create my own templates? Any ideas on why the menu wouldnt show up?
Thanks

If I am becoming a pain just let me know and I will research for myself. Any help is appreciated though. Hours of searching for answers really sucks sometimes so if somebody has the time and patience to help it is a plus. 🙂

I think I know everything….at least thats what everybody tells me.

[Russ Hurley]

whatever leaves Vegas should be compliant with what you are going to burn the project to, unless you are going to a digital agency or are going to attempt some mastering tweaks yourself.

If you are going to DVD, there is no way you are going to get 1920×1080 unless you are only going to play it from a PS3, A PC/mac, or selected DVD players.

You will need to render at 720*576 (pal) or NTSC format for DVD.

If it is for non-dvd use, you may get higher res if using the AVCDHD codec.

PS: you don’t need an extra plug-in for Mt2s files, unless you need to burn your projects without going to Vegas.

Sony Vegas 9 Pro 🙂

[Joe Willis]

Yes that is exactly what I play them on. My PS3 and my PC. They play beautifully. I bought the DVD Moviefactory for the sole purpose of getting the menus with my high def DVDs and Blu Ray disks.

Maybe I am misunderstanding something here. With Ulead DVD Movie Factory 6 Plus I could not open an Mts File. So I looked online and found to be able to use MTS Files I had to get the HD pack plugin to do this. Pretty much the same idea the Sony does Except Sony wants you to buy the Pro version. Once I installed it I was able to have the program see these files so I could use them to make a dvd (with menus). I was able to set it to 1920×1080. This file was directly transfered from my Cannon camera to my storage drive and then to Movie studio. It worked for the most part. Everything except the menu picture and the template I used. As I said it was a black screen with a button and the music I used. Once I clicked the button the video would play.

Now I need to know how to render my video after editing it in Vegas so I can create a hi def DVD or Blu Ray. And possibly why Movie factory failed to show my menu properly.

PS. I was just pokin fun when I said “you failed to mention…)

I think I know everything….at least thats what everybody tells me.

[John Rofrano]

> Ok I was desperate. I downloaded and bought The Ulead DVD Movie Maker 6 Plus. You failed to mention that to make it work with my HD Mt2s or whatever files that I needed the Plugin for that! 🙂

I didn’t tell you to buy it. I specifically told you to download the trial. I don’t buy any software without trying it first. If there is no trial, there is no purchase from me. (been burned too many times)

> Could you please answer another question for me? When I make my movie in Vegas, how should I render it to work with the DVD Movie Factory? Remember I want to keep the video top notch. 1920×1080.

Use one of the Blu-ray templates for MPEG-2 or AVCHD (under Sony AVC). If Movie Studio doesn’t have Blu-ray templates then maybe you can make a custom one if the custom button is available. If not, use HDV MPEG2 M2T.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Joe Willis]

Ok thanks. I know you didnt tell me to buy it. Im not complaining. You have helped a lot. I did try the software for a very breif time but of course i couldnt use it for what i wanted it for without the hd pack. You cant use the hd pack with the trial version. Funny huh? This is the kind of thing I speak of with these software companies. They are a bunch of sneaky sheisters.
Dont think in the least that i have any problem with your advise. I am well aware of the risks. Hell i may very well have you beat on getting screwed!
This Movie theatre will do what I want as soon as I find why my menu didnt show up entirely. Once again i only tried it once.
Thanks again for your help.

I think I know everything….at least thats what everybody tells me.