[Eric Pautsch]

I’d would have thought providing the best product possible would be more important than what platform you would prefer to use but to each thier own 🙂

[Eric Pautsch]

Hawww….get a PC and do your BD work on that. I really dont want to do any work with a technology that has be proclaimed as a bag of hurt by the maker of my authoring computer….Thank you very much!!! 🙂

Besides there are better tools on PC. x264 matched quality and consistency on any $50K encoding setup. Its being used by Warner Bros and Criterion for thier releases….and its FREE.

Its really a waste to go out and buy Encore. Get a PC – there are free authoring tools to make 1 offs. If you need menus, simply buy Do Studio.

There are many reasons to own a PC for utility video work…this is one of them

[Eric Pautsch]

An Avg of 17 mb/s is fine. You can also set a peak setting as well in case your footage needs it. However, it also depends on the encoder you use and how well your source file is. Ive authored titles with a 14 mb/s avg and they look great…then again, I’ve never used Compressor for BD work. Do a test and see.

Lot of titles done with bitrates lower than that. Here’s a site which list some averages:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/blu-ray-movies-north-america/3338-blu-ray-movie-bitrates-here.html

[Eric Pautsch]

Well I guess my point is you’re much better off using a tool like Do Studio if you need to include menus. The list of benefits are long for under $3k. Buying CS5 just because it offers BD isnt much of a deal IMO.

[Eric Pautsch]

I agree with Walter except for the 60i thing. You now have a 720p 24..correct? You never want to interlace a progressive source. Export a 1920×1080 23.98 QT and compress an AVC stream 1920×1080 23.98 in Compressor. You really need to control the up conversions as much as you can since that will be up converted by the player anyway.

As always though, I say stay far away from Encore. Its a piece of junk. Personally (and this is just my opinion) I think you should hire an experience authoring house to do this work but thats just me. Example – if I were to shoot some nature footage, I’d hire an experience nature photographer.

[Eric Pautsch]

DVD is 720×480 – either 4×3 or 16×9 Anamorphic Whats the resolution of your stream?

[Eric Pautsch]

Verbatim….period! 🙂

[Eric Pautsch]

Haven’t used it on an i7 or xeon but Cinevision does make use of multi-threading. However, instead of buying a 15k encoder, have you thought of using x264? Its open source and free and does a much better job then Cinevision will ever do. No segment encoding though. In fact, with all factor equal, it will beat or match just about any AVC encoder around….encoders costing 70k! So I would do some more research before laying down that kind of cash.

Im using it on an upcoming surf BD title – very happy with the results

[Eric Pautsch]

1. You’ll be fine as long as you keep you overall bitrate below 10.8 for both video and audio (9.8 max for video). However there are several player which dont like high bitrates so its best to keep it under 8 mb/s in my opinion

2. Hard to say since tools like Encore and DVDSP are abstraction layer tools which hides the mundane code from the author need to author a disc. Some have said in the past that these tools cause certain players to balk but I dont think anymore has concrete evidence. Nor do I think its any issue anymore with the maturity of the DVD spec. Some older players dont read RWs.

3. Here are the official spec so that time line you have will need to be down converted forst then encoded:

PAL

Video:
Up to 9.8 Mbps* (9800 kbps*) MPEG2 video
Up to 1.856 Mbps (1856 kbps) MPEG1 video
720 x 576 pixels MPEG2 (Called Full-D1)
704 x 576 pixels MPEG2
352 x 576 pixels MPEG2 (Called Half-D1, same as the CVD Standard)
352 x 288 pixels MPEG2
352 x 288 pixels MPEG1 (Same as the VCD Standard)
25 fps*
16:9 Anamorphic (only supported by 720×576)

Audio:
48000 Hz
32 – 1536 kbps
Up to 8 audio tracks containing Dolby Digital, DTS, PCM(uncompressed audio), MPEG-1 Layer2. One audio track must have MPEG-1, DD or PCM Audio.

Extras:
Motion menus, still pictures, up to 32 selectable subtitles, seamless branching for multiple storylines, 9 camera angles. And also additional DVD-ROM / data files that only can be read by computer DVD drives.

Total:
Total bitrate including video, audio and subs can be max 10.08 Mbps (10080 kbps)

* Mbps = million bits per second
* kbps = thousand bits per second
* fps = frames per second

For more technical DVD-Video details read the DVDDemystified DVD FAQ section 3.4

NTSC (NTSC Film)

Video:
Up to 9.8 Mbps* (9800 kbps*) MPEG2 video
Up to 1.856 Mbps (1856 kbps) MPEG1 video
720 x 480 pixels MPEG2 (Called Full-D1)
704 x 480 pixels MPEG2
352 x 480 pixels MPEG2 (Called Half-D1, same as the CVD Standard)
352 x 240 pixels MPEG2
352 x 240 pixels MPEG1 (Same as the VCD Standard)
29,97 fps*
23,976 fps with 3:2 pulldown = 29,97 playback fps (NTSC Film, this is only supported by MPEG2 video)
16:9 Anamorphic (only supported by 720×480)

Audio:
48000 Hz
32 – 1536 kbps
Up to 8 audio tracks containing DD (Dolby Digital/AC3), DTS, PCM(uncompressed audio), MPEG-1 Layer2. One audio track must have DD or PCM Audio.

Extras:
Motion menus, still pictures, up to 32 selectable subtitles, seamless branching for multiple storylines, 9 camera angles. And also additional DVD-ROM / data files that only can be read by computer DVD drives.

Total:
Total bitrate including video, audio and subs can be max 10.08 Mbps (10080 kbps)

* Mbps = million bits per second
* kbps = thousand bits per second
* fps = frames per second

4a – Yes, better compression at lower bitrates with more advanced codecs like AVC

4b – as long its within spec your fine:

Video codecs MPEG2 – MP@HL and MP@ML
AVC/H264 – MPEG-4 AVC: HP@4.1/4.0 and MP@4.1/4.0/3.2/3.1/3.0
VC-1 – AP@L3 and AP@L2
Video frame size

High Definition Video
1920x1080x59.94i, 50i (16:9)
1920x1080x24p, 23.976p (16:9)
1440x1080x59.94i, 50i (16:9) AVC / VC-1 only
1440x1080x24p, 23.976p (16:9) AVC / VC-1 only
1280x720x59.94p, 50p (16:9)
1280x720x24p, 23.976p (16:9)
Standard Definition Video
720x480x59.94i (4:3/16:9)
720x576x50i (4:3/16:9)
Max video bitrate 40 MBps
Audio codecs Dolby Digital up to 5.1 channels (Max 640kbps)
Dolby Digital Plus up to 7.1 channels (Max 4.736Mbps)
Dolby Lossless up to 9 channels (Max 18.64Mbps)
DTS up to 5.1 channels (Max 1.524Mbps)
DTS HD up to 9 channels (Max 24.5Mbps)
Linear PCM up to 9 channels (Max 27.648Mbps)
Subtitles Image bitmap subtitles
Text subtitles – select different font styles, sizes and colors for the subtitles, or location on screen, depending on the disc’s offerings. Subtitles can be animated, scrolled or faded in and out.
Other Features HDMV mode
Offers all features of DVD-Video and more. The authoring process is in line with DVD-Video creation.
BD-J mode
Offers unparalleled flexibility and features, because it is based on the Java runtime environment. It allows for extensive interactive applications, and offers Internet connectivity.
Maximum total bitrate 48 Mbits
Maximum data transfer rate 54 Mbits

4c – none as long as your bitrates are correct

5. –

https://www.dvddemystified.com/

https://www.dvd-replica.com/DVD/

https://www.amazon.com/DVD-Authoring-Production-Ralph-LaBarge/dp/1578200822/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289797186&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/Blu-ray-Disc-Demystified-Jim-Taylor/dp/0071590927/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289797253&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/High-Definition-DVD-Handbook-Producing-Blu-Ray/dp/0071485856/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289797278&sr=1-4

[Eric Pautsch]

If you need a good post facility to do a BD, Id go with this guy in Santa Monica. Will do it in faster than real time on the rig he’s working on. It’ll beat the pants off of anything done with crap like Toast or Encore….and Im not shilling for this guy either. 🙂

https://www.hdpostconsulting.com/welcome.html