Home › Forums › BluStreak Premaster

BluStreak and Encore CS4

Wed, 05/20/2009 - 4:10am — mrsmile

Hi,

I understand that BluStreak allows to send BD projects authored with Encore CS4.
But, do you know if the H264 or Mpeg2HD files encoded with Encore (Adobe Media Encoder) will pass the replicators verifiying tests ?

Thanks.
Cheers.
Alex.-

0
Your rating: None
BluStreak Premaster 1.1 Beta ›
Fri, 10/09/2009 - 7:17am — Visitor

We just bought BluStreak and we have a AACS License number.....

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

Fri, 10/09/2009 - 9:16am — larryapple

Encryption happens at the replicator

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.

Sat, 08/01/2009 - 9:01am — Visitor

x264 and Encore

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.

Sun, 08/02/2009 - 11:03am — larryapple

Seems unlikely

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

Sun, 08/02/2009 - 10:31pm — Visitor

I don't put too much stock in

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

Sun, 08/02/2009 - 10:44pm — Visitor

No need

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

Thu, 05/21/2009 - 7:19am — Visitor

BDCMF DLT output

Hi,

I'm unclear if BluStreak Premaster outputs to DLT for BD25 replication. I know it formats it for replication but what is the output process? Didn't see that option in the software demo.

Thanks
Adam

Thu, 05/21/2009 - 9:20am — larryapple

DLT is not used

Hi Adam,

DLT is not used for BD replication.

Regards,

Larry

Wed, 05/20/2009 - 1:55pm — danny

Encore Media Encoder

Hi Alex,
the Encore Media Encoder use Mainconcept technologie. As I had some trouble with the first release of Reference Mac ( version 1.5) and with their help I know that they are also using Sonic Stream verifier to check their output.

But I guess it would be the best to wait and see what larrys test will bring. I guess they will pass.

cheers

danny

Wed, 05/20/2009 - 1:17pm — larryapple

Our tests are pending

Hi Alex,

It is reported that they pass, but we are preparing our own projects for submission to the Sony stream verifier. We'll post here when we have a result.

Regards,

Larry

Thu, 05/21/2009 - 4:47pm — mrsmile

Can't wait…

Hi Larry,

This sounds promising ! I can't wait to see your results. I must admit my purchase strongly depends on that tests, as Encore and BS do look like a great afordable duo for freelance authors.

Cheers.
Alex.-

Fri, 05/29/2009 - 3:21am — Visitor

Hi Larry, we're a media

Hi Larry,

we're a media replication broker and tried our first BD25 with SonyDADC. Our customer uses Encore CS4 and we recommended your BS Tool. Today I got the following message from Sony mastering:

BDCMF Version not supported, Input is CMF Version 1.03
Support are 0.9 or between 0.99 and 1.01 and 1.02
Please provide a correct input.

:-(( Can you tell me which type of BDCMF you've implemented?

You can reach me at peter.brickwede[at]software-partner.de

Thanks
Peter

Fri, 05/29/2009 - 9:51am — larryapple

Premaster is now updated for older revision number

Hi Peter,

As I stated in my email to you:

Sorry, this was my mistake, since I had the 1.03 spec and nothing significant had changed I "presumed" that declaring the output as version 1.03 would not be a problem.

I have sent the new build to you, and the previous build has now also been replaced in the product download page. Please let us know if you have any further issues.

Thanks for posting here, this way everyone can be informed of our progress.

Regards,

Larry

Tue, 07/28/2009 - 8:47am — Visitor

WHICH older revision number?

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.

Tue, 07/28/2009 - 11:53am — larryapple

Revision Number

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

Tue, 06/09/2009 - 2:27am — Visitor

Verification tests

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

Thu, 06/11/2009 - 12:28pm — TheDigitalGuy

Awaiting final results of Encore project testing

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"

Thu, 06/11/2009 - 7:13pm — larryapple

Preliminary Encore testing results

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.

Thu, 06/18/2009 - 8:40am — Visitor

Do the AVC files pass?

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

Thu, 06/18/2009 - 3:16pm — larryapple

Yes, the AVC files pass the Sony Stream Verifier

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.

Thu, 06/18/2009 - 8:24pm — Visitor

Mainconcept AVC Pass Verification

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

Wed, 06/17/2009 - 11:18am — larryapple

MPEG2 and LPCM replicate successfully

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.