can I burn one of my hdv projects with a bluray burner to a bd-r disk and throw it in any old (and future) bluray players and watch in 1080 hd?

thinking of getting the new lg multi burner (6x bluray) to go with my new denon 3800. just want to know if this is the way it works.

Yes, that's the idea, and that's what I do. Although there is a small number of BR players that have trouble with burnt BR disks, but I wouldn't worry too much about that. Encore CS3 does a great job.

Encore CS3 does a great job.

Thats a first for encore.

I have successfully made bluray bd-r & bd-re including menus with Encore CS3. They play fine with my computer but I haven't had a chance to play them in a set top player. From what I understand, not too many will.

Jon and Colin... Your conjecture is conflicting. Do either of you have evidence, either statistical or anecdotal, that will support your position? Any sort of hard data is what will be of value to those of us waiting in the BD wings.

Yes, I went to Circuit City today and played my Encore CS3 Bluray DVD with menus on the following players:

Sony BDP-S500
Panasonic DMP-BD30
Playstation 3

I tried it on the Sony BDP-S300 but it didn't play. I am hoping that it's player fimware related. I am going to buy one from Best Buy tonight, update the firmware and try again. Many of my clients have the S300 so I would really like to see it work.

If you don't build your bluray dvd correctly with encore it's not going to work. It took many attempts to get it figured out. I can do it everytime now. I am using the LG GGW-H20L burner and Sony BD-RE or TDK BD-RE Media.

This is like the early days of DVD+R and DVD-R. Some players wouldn't read a particular flavor. Before buying, gotta read up.

The Sony BDP-S300 does not list BD-R as a format that it reads (I think I recall that it may read AVCHD, though), and many reports online verify that it doesn't read the BD-R's. The BDP-S500 does by spec and by report.

There aren't actually all that many BluRay player models readily available yet, so it isn't that difficult to look up whether a player you might be interested in supports BD-Rs. So no problem if you're choosing the player.

In time, I'm sure virtually all players will support home-written discs just as happened with DVD players. But if you're planning on selling BD-R's, could be a problem in the short term. Just by way of example, the BDP-S300 is one of the most readily available players on local store shelves, so must have a significant market share at present. If you sell BD-R's without asking the customer to name their player, there'll be some unhappiness.

This is like the early days of DVD+R and DVD-R. Some players wouldn't read a particular flavor. Before buying, gotta read up.

The Sony BDP-S300 does not list BD-R as a format that it reads (I think I recall that it may read AVCHD, though), and many reports online verify that it doesn't read the BD-R's. The BDP-S500 does by spec and by report.

There aren't actually all that many BluRay player models readily available yet, so it isn't that difficult to look up whether a player you might be interested in supports BD-Rs. So no problem if you're choosing the player.

In time, I'm sure virtually all players will support home-written discs just as happened with DVD players. But if you're planning on selling BD-R's, could be a problem in the short term. Just by way of example, the BDP-S300 is one of the most readily available players on local store shelves, so must have a significant market share at present.


The Sony BDP-300 does play bd-r and bd-re BDMV with a firmware update starting with 3.2, currenlty on 3.8.

straight from sonys website
This utility updates the BDP-S300 firmware to version 3.80, and provides the following benefits:

Improvements over firmware version 3.70:

Improves BD-Java compatibility to enhance interactivity with some BD-ROMs.
Compatibility with BD-R/RE discs burned by the Click to Disc™ and Click to Disc™ Editor software included with some VAIO® computers
Additional improvements over original firmware:

Compatibility with the newly released BD-R/RE format (BDMV).
Improves BD-Java compatibility to enhance interactivity with some BD-ROMs

Do either of you have evidence, either statistical or anecdotal, that will support your position? Any sort of hard data is what will be of value to those of us waiting in the BD wings.
I make BD-R and BD-RE discs on Encore CS3. I play them without any problem on my Sony PS3.

Blank discs I have used are Sony and TDK BD-RE and Mitsubishi inkjet printable BD-R. I burn them in my Dell laptop (with BR burner inbuilt).

I have been told by a Sony shop that BD-R and BD-RE will play on most Sony Blu-Ray players, except the model BDP-300 needs a firmware update.

The Sony BDP-300 does play bd-r and bd-re BDMV with a firmware update starting with 3.2, currenlty on 3.8.
Wow, great news, Jon. Thanks! Maybe the BluRay train is moving a lot faster toward compatibility than previous technologies.

I'd imagine that most or all other early players would be similarly firmware upgradeable, so as long as you inform a customer about the firmware issue it won't be a problem after all...maybe even a benefit that they'll see that you know your stuff!

Now, the bad thing about it is my wife just recently bought a BluRay player for our home theater...I don't really have time to be experimenting with burning BD-R's these days, but I know I'll be too tempted to resist!

I purchased a Sony BDP-S300 tonight, upgraded the firmware to 3.8 and I am watching weddings as I am typing this.

$330 for a BR Burner, $399 for a player, $18 for a blank BD-RE, watching my own HD on my tv, Priceless....

Blank discs I have used are Sony and TDK BD-RE and Mitsubishi inkjet printable BD-R.

Colin, where did you get your inkjet BD-R and how much were they? I cannot find them on the internet. Thanks.

I purchased a Sony BDP-S300 tonight, upgraded the firmware to 3.8 and I am watching weddings as I am typing this.

$330 for a BR Burner, $399 for a player, $18 for a blank BD-RE, watching my own HD on my tv, Priceless....

What is the burn time currently for your set up? Is it at about real time? That is-- 2 hours to burn 2 hours of HD?

Just curious, seems the prices are pretty reasonable and affordable for a burner.

All I need is a good decent authoring solution for the Mac.

Though I heard Toast 9 is offering some sort of support.

I am using a Core Dou 3.2ghz with 3 gigs of ram, raid 0 for OS, Raid 0 for apps and Raid 0 for storage. All raids are on their own controller. I take the timeline in Premiere CS3 and export to Encore. This process takes about 1.25 to 1.5 hours for every hour of footage.(note: absolutely no effects on the timeline, it's already been rendered)

I point Encores build process to image, not to bluray disc. I then make the image. Just under 2 hours of footage takes about 1 to 2 Hours to build an image(depends on if you animate buttons). It takes just over 1 hour to burn on BD-RE disc from image. I am duplicating 3 right now and it says 3 hours at 35 minutes to copy all three in Encore.

Sony is releasing 4x media as I type this and will be available shortly. That will really speed things up.

The time doesn't really effect me considering I have multiple PC's and a Mac so when it's busy I can do something else.

The only printable blu-rays I have found are bd-r's which in my opinion are just no worth it. Considering, costers at $15 will get expensive fast. I have been buying Sony BD-RE's for $15.

Colin, where did you get your inkjet BD-R and how much were they? I cannot find them on the internet. Thanks.
You'll find them on eBay - particularly in the Japan World Store:
http://stores.ebay.com/Japan-World-Store
Go into Electronics, then Blu-Ray. Look for products that have a code with W or Y near the end. These are usually the inkjet printable. Those with an N near the end are generally Non-printable.

Naturally they will only be BD-R. BD-RE is re-writable, so there's no point in printing on them.

(1hr:56min video)23gb blu-ray image to 2x BD-RE media was 1hr and 20min

Colin, thanks for your info! The shipping is expensive from Japan!!

As I am new to Blu-ray. May I ask what range of bit-rate you use?? How much video can you fit in a single layer reasonably? Thanks.