Current Blu Ray workflow at DVinfo.net

Chad Dyle · January 25th, 2009, 12:48 PM

We are in the middle of switching from Sony Vegas to FCP. Our weddings that are edited in Vegas are simply exported to DVD Architect and burned to Blu Ray discs. Weddings that are edited in FC are a little different. I have been exporting them from FC as reference movies into Compressor. I use the Quicktime H.264 template and turn Quality up to "Best" and leave it as "multi-pass". I then turn on Frame Controls and turn everything to "Better". This leaves me with an 80 GB file. I then move the file over to my PC, pull it into Vegas and have it converted to Blu Ray. I know that I am losing a little bit of quality with the 2nd render in Vegas, but since I turned everything up a bit in Compressor, it usually looks really good.
I was thinking about another option for the Mac. Export the video the same way as I am currently doing, but them pull it into Roxio Toast 10 and have it burn it for me. I'm not sure if Toast will need to recompress it or how well it will recompress.
I don't feel like buying Adobe Encore at this point, but possibly in the future. How does my current workflow sound? Any suggestions/tips?

Aric Mannion · January 26th, 2009, 03:58 PM

I really would not compress a video to h264, unless it is the final step in the process. It's better to only compress the video once.
I make Blu-Rays (burned onto a DVD though) by exporting Quicktime (not quicktime conversion) of my HDV Final Cut Project as "Pro Res" -and then burning in Toast, which compresses it for me. I don't compress it myself just because it sounds like a hassle to get toast to accept it.

Chad Dyle · January 26th, 2009, 08:54 PM

So you are saying that Toast will read a Quicktime reference file?

Aric Mannion · January 27th, 2009, 10:14 AM

I assume it can take "reference files" from FCP. It's pointless in my case because I am exporting HDV as Pro res so the "reference file" would have no render files/capture scratch to reference, and would create a large file anyway, so I just use "self contained".
I have read that the menus don't work at all, and Toast will re-encode your video no matter what you give it, but I am only researching "blu-rays" on DVDs, maybe it would work properly on a Blu-Ray disk?
I also read the menus don't work at all.

Aric Mannion · January 27th, 2009, 10:35 AM

I also read that the menus don't work at all.

Aric Mannion · January 29th, 2009, 10:37 AM

-My reply is repetitive because I kept getting errors trying to edit my text.

January 25th, 2009, 12:48 PM	#1
Chad Dyle Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: New Orleans, LA Posts: 410	Current Blu Ray workflow We are in the middle of switching from Sony Vegas to FCP. Our weddings that are edited in Vegas are simply exported to DVD Architect and burned to Blu Ray discs. Weddings that are edited in FC are a little different. I have been exporting them from FC as reference movies into Compressor. I use the Quicktime H.264 template and turn Quality up to "Best" and leave it as "multi-pass". I then turn on Frame Controls and turn everything to "Better". This leaves me with an 80 GB file. I then move the file over to my PC, pull it into Vegas and have it converted to Blu Ray. I know that I am losing a little bit of quality with the 2nd render in Vegas, but since I turned everything up a bit in Compressor, it usually looks really good. I was thinking about another option for the Mac. Export the video the same way as I am currently doing, but them pull it into Roxio Toast 10 and have it burn it for me. I'm not sure if Toast will need to recompress it or how well it will recompress. I don't feel like buying Adobe Encore at this point, but possibly in the future. How does my current workflow sound? Any suggestions/tips? __________________ www.chaddyle.com www.chaddyleproductions.com

January 26th, 2009, 08:54 PM	#3
Chad Dyle Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: New Orleans, LA Posts: 410	So you are saying that Toast will read a Quicktime reference file? __________________ www.chaddyle.com www.chaddyleproductions.com

January 26th, 2009, 03:58 PM	#2
Aric Mannion Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 616	I really would not compress a video to h264, unless it is the final step in the process. It's better to only compress the video once. I make Blu-Rays (burned onto a DVD though) by exporting Quicktime (not quicktime conversion) of my HDV Final Cut Project as "Pro Res" -and then burning in Toast, which compresses it for me. I don't compress it myself just because it sounds like a hassle to get toast to accept it.

January 27th, 2009, 10:14 AM	#4
Aric Mannion Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 616	I assume it can take "reference files" from FCP. It's pointless in my case because I am exporting HDV as Pro res so the "reference file" would have no render files/capture scratch to reference, and would create a large file anyway, so I just use "self contained". I have read that the menus don't work at all, and Toast will re-encode your video no matter what you give it, but I am only researching "blu-rays" on DVDs, maybe it would work properly on a Blu-Ray disk? I also read the menus don't work at all.

January 27th, 2009, 10:35 AM	#5
Aric Mannion Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 616	I also read that the menus don't work at all.

January 29th, 2009, 10:37 AM	#6
Aric Mannion Major Player Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Boston, Massachusetts Posts: 616	-My reply is repetitive because I kept getting errors trying to edit my text.