Blu-ray options for Mac

[Rob Collins]

I need to deliver looping HD videos for kiosk-type thing. The first is around 3 minutes. If I get the Lacie or MCE Blu-ray drive bundled with Toast, will I be able to do this, provided the client has a compatible player? Or are there better options out there?

Thanks for any help.

[Robert Lane]

With exception to using Encore which comes with CS3 Premiere and has extremely limited "authoring", there are no BR authoring options for the Mac currently. Toast only burns tracks, not menus nor looping movies.

[Rob Collins]

Thanks. I've taken the Encore plunge and will report how it goes. I don't need any menus really--hoping just to have the BD pop in and start playing and looping. We shall see.

[Dana Salsbury]

Robert,

Can you fast forward to chapter markers? Tracks might be acceptable for now if it autoplays. At the same time, I don't want to buy something I'll have to replace. The user could navigate with their remote...

[Rob Collins]

Reporting my Blu-ray results, with an important note about player compatibility. I got a BD drive from Fastmac, Adobe Encore, and Toast. Encore is buggy--won't actually burn a BD, but will make a .iso image. I then burn that image in Toast 8 using Copy from image file.

Problem was, the discs were rejected by the Sharp HP20U player, which is rated to play BD-R / -RE. Of course, I spent way too much time thinking I was doing something wrong.

Turned out it was the player. I exchanged for the Samsung P1400 (after testing) and it works perfectly. I haven't done any advanced authoring in Encore yet--just auto-play looping. Quality is great though. I let Encore do the transcoding from a Pro-res QT file.

[Dan Wells]

Toast 9 is supposed to have limited Blu-ray authoring - I would imagine something on the level of iDVD, if not less... Has anyone tried this yet, as it might offer a way of bypassing Encore for those of us who use Final Cut Pro and don't want to buy a whole new NLE (Premiere) just to get Encore, especially on projects that don't need a lot of menus? WHEN will Apple get around to making DVD Studio Pro work with BluRay???

-Dan

[Rob Collins]

Toast 9! Damn the software release gods! $700 down the drain on Premiere / Encore. Somebody tell me how much better Encore is just to make me feel better please.

[Clayton Zook]

Originally Posted by Rob Collins

I got a BD drive from Fastmac, Adobe Encore, and Toast. Encore is buggy--won't actually burn a BD, but will make a .iso image. I then burn that image in Toast 8 using Copy from image file.

Question for Rob and anyone else that has had any success with this.

I've seen a couple random posts we're some have has success with Encore, but not a whole lot of other info. I recently acquired a Blu ray burner from Fastmac as well (it came with a drivers disk but none for MacPro strangely enough). I now have that drive, "ATAPI BD B DH4B1S" and Encore, all on my new MacPro.

So Rob, are you still only able to burn BD using Toast (I don't have Toast btw)? I've seen others say they have success with Encore on Mac. My experience this past 3-4 days of limited trial and "f-you" from the Adobe gods has been Encore crashing when I change the format from "DVD" to "Blu-ray" It starts thinking and never stops (note: I haven't even told it to burn yet, just change which format to eventually burn on). Actually today I haven't even had any success getting Encore to even open! It just takes a crap right on my desktop and I have to force quite while its stuck on the loading sequence (ironically saying "come for the blu-ray stay for the flash"). It begs the question for the millionth time on this board...why can we get a DVD Studio Pro with Blu-ray support?!?

That aside, any tips, tricks, or comments on burning Blu-ray using Encore and this burner that I got from Fastmac? Anything (helpful!) appreciated!

[Rob Collins]

And a bit better having read that Toast 9 isn't quite ready for prime time (not that Encore is, but at least it's sort of working).

But yes, Clayton, I am only able to burn a BD in Toast 8. Encore will do some of the things you describe so eloquently if I try to make it burn a BD. I eventually have to do a hard shut-down. At least one person has made it work though, see http://www.rcgrabbag.com/?p=565

Your issues sound worse than mine though. I assume you're on 3.0.2.007 (isn't that nice for a version number). When I first opened Encore I chose Blu-ray as my preferred format--maybe that has something to do with yours stalling when you switch format? Just a guess, but wouldn't hurt to trash preferences and even reinstall.

My workflow is to leave the asset untranscoded until building the disc image. In Build tab, format is Blu-ray, output Blu-ray image. Choose destination and correct image type, and choose Build. Doesn't hurt to use Check Project too. Of course, if your machine freezes up trying to get here I don't know what to tell you.

Once the .iso file is finished, go into Toast (I know you don't have, but may need to get), Copy option, Image file, choose read from your .iso file, BD on small lower-right button above record, then go.

BTW, I hope you're working with a BD-RE disc and not wasting lots of expensive -R's.

As for DVDSP and Blu-ray, my charitable guess is that the format needs some work and they don't want to put out a buggy program like Encore. My less charitable guess is that there's not a huge demand (read: money) for it now. Also, I'm not aware of their offering a prominent software feature that requires a third party device.

[Clayton Zook]

Thanks for the response!

The blog you suggested is slightly entertaining! as well as informative on this matter.

I'm actually not sure of which version Encore I'm running, other than CS3...I still can't get it to open today, don't know if there is another way to check. (as as side note I have found some "issues with Mac" in a readme file and have reset a couple OS preference items, I've not done a computer restart or tried to reload, simply because I'm working on a project in FCP which has a higher priority ranking to me right now, only looking at this issue when I need an edit break/rendering. One thing that was interesting to me in the readme was that Encore will apparently only write to the main disk drive...I may try to disconnect the DVD drive to see if that helps any. I would hope that once I do a reboot and try the drive reconfig, that might clear things up a bit).

Don't fear, if I ever get as far as a laser cranking up I do have two BD-REs that I'm testing on!

For DVDSP...I suppose after this trauma, I'd much rather prefer them putting out something that actually works, granted that doesn't help right now...but when they do I might not ever even look at Adobe again! at least for video/dvd purposes....AE and Photoshop are still must haves.

[Jim OBrien]

Can DVDSP handle Blu-Ray yet?

[Clayton Zook]

Originally Posted by Jim OBrien

Can DVDSP handle Blu-Ray yet?

no.
The latest ?2? versions have HD-DVD support...an easier coding transition from regular DVD is my understanding. Interestingly enough if you mess around in the "build" menu there is option for SD and HD and an option for Red Laser and Blue Laser (in my version anyway)....as far as I've ever heard that doesn't designate Blu-ray support...I actually have never tried, not sure what it would do...maybe snack on your Blu-ray disk!

[Bart Walczak]

Sharp will not play BDMV discs authored by Encore recorded on BD-R/RE media.

[Mike Ward]

I made an interesting observation while working with blue ray.when i import from my cam(HDV) onto the timeline in sony vages,i notice that the average is about 3 to 4mbps,however when i import directly from my cam to blue ray disc via Cyberlink Software the average is ---guess ----25 yes 25mbps.therefore when you watch a mpg 2 file or AVI on VLC player Versus a Blue Ray Disc----NO CONTEST.you get a much sharper cleaner picture & also much smoother as well.the only drawback is you cannot edit the footage,but in termes of quality i will save my HDV footage to blu-ray from now on.

[Clayton Zook]

Just thought I'd mention now that I've actually done it (a test about a month ago and now a satisfied client!)...using Rob's work-flow works for me, sucks having to have Encore and Toast...but it works at least! And looks absolutely STUNNING!!!

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"My workflow is to leave the asset untranscoded until building the disc image. In Build tab, format is Blu-ray, output Blu-ray image. Choose destination and correct image type, and choose Build. Doesn't hurt to use Check Project too. Of course, if your machine freezes up trying to get here I don't know what to tell you.

Once the .iso file is finished, go into Toast (I know you don't have, but may need to get), Copy option, Image file, choose read from your .iso file, BD on small lower-right button above record, then go."