Recent comments

  • Blu-ray Authoring Classes   19 weeks 12 hours ago

    Please click on "Classes" at the top right of the page to see the most recent class information.

  • Blu-ray Authoring Classes   19 weeks 1 day ago

    I am slammed with projects and really wanted to make this, forgot all about it, well, not forgot, just thought I could make it and now I am too late.

    Argh.

    peace.

    thanks for the free presentation thought for us anyway. Hope it was a big crowd.

    • gerry
  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   24 weeks 5 days ago

    Hi Julio,

    The encryption is applied at the replicator, not by you or by BluStreak Premaster. Have you decided on a replicator, and where are you located?

    For a description of the replication process and how the encryption is applied, check out the NetBlender Wikipaper.

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   24 weeks 5 days ago

    Our question is where does the AACS encryption happen?
    We dont see anywhere in BluStreak where we can type in our License number to encrypt our streams....
    Can you explain in lamens terms when and how this happens please.............
    Thanks ahead of time for your time.
    -Julio

  • a little lost with BluStreak - Two Questions   28 weeks 1 day ago

    At Rivergate we have three burners, a Matshita 5582 internal IDE, a Matshita 5583 SATA external, and a Pioneer BDR203 SATA external. They all work perfectly, and each one doubled the speed of the previous one. The Matshitas were sold under another name, can't remember what it was.

    Have you tried your LG external on another computer?

  • a little lost with BluStreak - Two Questions   28 weeks 1 day ago

    Thanks. I don't have a single file 12,200 in size. I was only worried about arranging them in a non legal way.

    I'll look into changing the drive shell as well.

    Just in case, what brand of drive do you use?

  • a little lost with BluStreak - Two Questions   28 weeks 2 days ago

    I have no information on LG burners. But most of the burner problems I have heard of had to do with the connection method, not the BD drive.

    I always buy my external enclosures from Other World Computing, and pay a bit more for their quad interface Mercury Pro enclosures.

    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MRSFW8U2/

    There are lots of crappy enclosures out there, and they don't necessarily all work for Blu-ray.

    I also like Mercury's bus-powered USB enclosures for laptop hard drives, and just stick with Mercury enclosures for everything.

    Regards,

    Larry

  • a little lost with BluStreak - Two Questions   28 weeks 2 days ago

    In Blu-ray, the files may be placed in any (with some restrictions) physical sequence on the disc. This allows you to rearrange the files in order to achieve a legal layer break, where layer 0 must be larger than layer 1 and cannot be larger than just under 25 decimal GB. (approx. 12,200 sectors).

    However there is a problem if there is a single stream file larger than 12,200 sectors, since it won't fit on either layer. If this isn't your problem, just drag files around until the error message disappears. Start by putting the largest stream files at the beginning, that is usually the easiest approach.

    If you have a larger file, it is possible in the spec to designate an offset in that file for the layer break. But this is not supported in BluStreak Premaster 1.0. The problem is that the layer break must occur on a 96-sector boundary, and this makes it hard to pick a good break unless it is known beforehand to the multiplexer, so it can pad out the space between the layer break and the next 96-sector boundary with null packets. But Premaster does not multiplex, it is the authoring app that does that.

    The work-around is to figure out where you want the split, and then just make separate timelines so that two clips will be produced. BluStreak Premaster will adjust or pad the file locations to make a legal break.

    Hope this helps, please report here on your results.

    Regards,

    Larry

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   34 weeks 3 days ago

    Never mind, it appears that x264 is not currently compatible... Sorry to bother you about it. :)

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   34 weeks 3 days ago

    I don't put too much stock in VLC. mplayer, on which VLC was originally based (but forked years ago), has been able to read mt2s files directly for about a year now. I know the x264 people work really closely with the mplayer guys, and with slight modifications the encodes from x264 have been used successfully in BD projects with Adobe Encore. But, of course, that doesn't mean any of them have checked (or have the means to check) whether those will work with replication. There are all sorts of reasons I can think of that x264 would be important, not least of which is that you could use avisynth to scale and process video and feed it right into the encoder without needing to have an intermediate file.

    Unsolicited, long-winded musing aside, thanks so much for your offer, Larry. I'll throw a short encode into an Encore project and get it to you this week.

    -Justin Sevakis

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   34 weeks 3 days ago

    So far I haven't been able to get VLC to play Blu-ray encoded streams vs. vanilla streams. So it seems unlikely that X264 produces anything legal. But if you want to send me a test BDMV folder by snail mail or upload, I'll check it out.

    Regards,

    Larry Applegate
    PO Box 1038
    Lotus CA 95651

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   34 weeks 4 days ago

    I've long been a fan of the open-source x264 command line h.264 encoder. The enthusiast community, with some tinkering, have found a way to get it to output what appear to be files that work in Encore.

    http://forum.doom9.org/archive/index.php/t-137569.html

    However, whether this will pass replication is another story entirely. Do you suppose you could look into this? I think authoring could really benefit from having an open source encoding solution.

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   35 weeks 1 day ago

    Hi David,

    I have asked Eclipse, and they will accept any legal BDCMF revision number up to and including 1.03. If you are using a Sony DADC replicator, you should ask them. I would also be very interested in their response.

    Regards,

    Larry

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   35 weeks 1 day ago

    I have just learned about BluStreak Premaster and am considering it as part of the Encore work flow described elsewhere in this forum.

    My Blu-ray replicator is currently using version 1.01 of the specification. Will I be able to give this replicator a master generated with the most recent Blustreak Premaster or will a patched version be necessary?

    Thank you,
    David.

  • Blu-ray Authoring and Pre-mastering   35 weeks 6 days ago

    We have noticed that Encore does not handle stream selection and resume for Blu-ray, it is completely bollixed up. We are working on BluStreak Premaster 1.1 beta and we are already working on a new function "Quickfix Encore Menus". I would explain more, but it is more important that we get back to programming first.

    Regards,

    Larry

  • Blu-ray Authoring and Pre-mastering   36 weeks 8 hours ago

    Encore CS4 Win Vista Ultimate
    Linking Subtitles tracks.

    Blu-Ray Project

    • 1 Main Movie Timeline H264 1920x 1080
    • 1 Main Menu.
    • 1 Pop Up Menu
    • 1 Set Up s/Menu.
    • 1 Audio s/Menu.
    • 1 Commentary s/Menu.
    • 1 Subtitles s/Menu with 3 languages buttons
    • 4 Scenes Selection s/Menus

    After linking each subtitle language button to itself and specified the track language number .. during playback I accessed the subtitle menu through the Pop Up menu and there selected the button to switch to another track; and I can see that it has been activated since the highlight changes to Yellow ,then I scrolled down in the same menu to the "Resume" button and select it - when activated, the "Resume" button loses its assigned function apparently and the disc exits as if I pressed the STOP button on my remote control.As a matter of fact I had to add a resume button and try that possibility since with no Resume button nothing happens after a specified subtitle language button is selected.

    I was really puzzled towards this behaviour so I started the disc again;played back the movie and through the Pop Up menu accessed the same subtitle menu and - This time -I did not touch the Subs.tracks buttons (1-2-3),but instead,scrolled directly to the "Resume" Button and activated it... Playback resumed from where I left.This means that the moment you activate any other button prior to the Resume button "Resume Button" loses its functionality !

    Now when I link the subs.tracks to the movie timeline intead of the subtitle menu,the moment I access the subs menu through the Pop Up menu and activate any of the desired language subs buttons tracks, playback of the movie Resumes at once( no need for the resume button) but... from the very beginning and with the new assigned language track.

    Like you are witnessing this is very Odd.

    Now I was told that the subtitles linking do work on DVD's..So I was curious and I authored the same project but as DVD (NTSC 720x480) and linked each button to itself in the subtitle menu (same way as I did for the Blu-ray) project) while specifying the right language track. I burnt the project to a DVD and watched it also on my Ps3 but as DVD - During playback I accessed the Main menu from the remote Control "Menu Button" and there I again from setup went to the subtitle menu and switched from the "english" sub track to the "german" or"french" track and scrolled down to the "Resume" button in the same Subtitle menu and selected it - Preview resumed from where I left and track changed to "german" subtitle . Now really I am at a loss:)

    Now here are my observations comparing Blu-Ray build to DVD build as far as subtitles issues, in general, are concerned.

    1- Although ,as you well know, each project has a default subtitle and audio track that initially is active the moment you insert your Media (blu-ray or DVD). On a normal DVD when you hit the "Play Movie" button in the Main menu, movie starts and the default subtitle is active . On a blu-ray Disc the default subtitle track is not active - and playback has no subtitle at all unless you select subtitle Button on your remote and select a language track - since accessing the subtitle menu does not function.

    2- On a DVD each subtitle track displays its language property on the screen when you use the "subtitle " remote control button; i.e. "English","French" or whatever etc... are dispayed on the screen. On a Blu-ray Disc all languages become English !

    3- Adobe useful Help recommends and insists on a Gap of 2 frames between each subtitle for Blu-Ray projects. Well not even 6 frames are enough you need a minimum of 8 frames gap between each subtitle which makes that subtitle lines duration are very short - the moment they appear they disappear very fast.

    It is a real Pitty because Encore Cs4 is a wonderful application .Unlike other complains that I randomly witness in the forum I did not encounter any difficulties with DTS audio or AC3 or H264 or MPEG or any other error like build error or audio error and all the streams I use are High Def 1920 x1080 always show on the project panel a: dont transcode (for blu-ray settings) . everything is great but this tiny small issue that I could not so far master !

    Hope I could find any help. Thanks.

    Regards

  • BluStreak Premaster and DoStudio   37 weeks 3 days ago

    "I'm also pleased that DoStudio is out there, and can offer a significant step up from Encore at a reasonable price."

    ??? $ 2995,- ??? And not for Apple........ Only windows

  • BluStreak Premaster and DoStudio   40 weeks 5 days ago

    You can create a disc for BD-R testing, but BD CMF output is disabled until the full package is properly licensed.

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   40 weeks 6 days ago

    Hi,
    the report about Mainconcept AVC-streams on the dostudio-website is quite a bit older. as it was written there WAS a problem with it, but they allready solved the problem!

    As for Mainconcept Reference:
    you still have to be very carefull to use any Reference-Encoder-Settings besides its Presets, because you have to set a lot values by hand, they wont be changed automaticly.

    example: if you want to encode 1080p23,98 you need to change the preset from 1080i50 (PAL) to 1080p23,98 (NTSC) and have to change the GOP-length by hand. another problem is the VBV-buffer that needs to be changes EVERY time afterwards you have changed the video-bitrate when you want to encode HD-AVC.

    Mainconcept knows these issues and they are working on it, but as I know this progress is/will be very slow.

    as for stream-verification:
    I have created AVC-streams with it and used it within sonic scenarist without any problem. even sonic using MC-technologie for encoding and MC do verification on their streams with sonic stream verifier (as I posted before). the main issue at the moment is the Bitstream-Error that appear when using its AC-3-Encoder.

    I have done a few tests on this with scenarist BD, too. you could not import AC-3-files created by adobe media encoder or MC Reference. you will get an error-message because of its bitstream ID-error. it´s because they are both working with the same underlying engine! same thing happening if you try using toast-encoding - same result - same engine.

    so I decided to create the AC-3-files with apples compressor which I know pass verification of one dostudio-authored production a few month ago. but they have been using a different verifier at replication. so we all have to be sure first, that these streams will pass sony verfier as well.

    indeed it might not be a very good workflow to use different softwares for encoding, but it might be a temporary workarround to be sure that stream-verification would pass as long as adobe/mainconcept will solve this issue.

    regards

    danny

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   40 weeks 6 days ago

    If you read NetBlender's white paper carefully, they say that they have encountered playability problems. The streams we tested from Encore passed with no errors. But we do not yet have a complete replication, with discs on the shelves.

    It might also be noted that Adobe and DoStudio use different multiplexers.

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   40 weeks 6 days ago

    Over at the Netblender/Do Studio site they are saying that the AVC encodes don't pass Sony Verification...

    If they did then maybe Encore would offer a cheap encoding solution if nothing else - it certainly isn't ready for "prime time" as far as I can see - my impression is the software itself can be buggy and it's implementation of pop-up menus (an essential if you ask me for Blu ray's) is not as you'd expect...

    At least it looks as if progress is being made on getting things to actual replication stage - I look forward to the next bit of news. But unfortunately as we are now being asked to actively quote on Blu Ray projects (though I suspect once they see the prices and lead times involved they will balk) - we are having to seriously look at DoStudio as a viable solution...

    What news on a fully featured Mac Blu Ray authoring tool? (we can't wait around for the folks at Apple coz that ain't gonna happen :-)

    Steve

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   41 weeks 12 hours ago

    We now have a successful replication with MPEG-2 and LPCM. Please see the news articles, we will continue our reports there when we have more information.

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   41 weeks 6 days ago

    The short answer is that Encore CS4 produces MPEG-2 and AVC files that pass Sony Stream Verification. However there was a problem with AC3 that we are researching. We will provide more information as soon as it is available.

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   41 weeks 6 days ago

    So far, we've definitively verified that BluStreak Premaster will convert a properly-prepared BDMV folder into a BDCMF folder that successfully passes Eclipse Premastering Verification. But that's only HALF of the story.

    A properly prepared BDMV folder means that the encoded A/V streams are replication compliant, which is a whole other can of worms.

    We're currently awaiting the final results of Encore CS-encoded AVC and MPEG-2 Blu-ray streams. The truth will be known when these test results are made known.

    best - Bruce Nazarian "the Digital Guy"

  • BluStreak and Encore CS4   42 weeks 1 day ago

    So any new on the verification tests of encodes created in Encore?

    If they do work and it could be combined with BluStreak this would give a great entry level tool.

    If not does Encore accept third party encodes from encoders that are known to verify properly?

    Steve