How to encode H.264 for HD-DVD and Blu Ray ?

[p6889k]

Hi,

I would like to convert a large collection of DV AVI files to H.264. I do not have Blu Ray or HD DVD burner yet, but would like to encode my files so that I can play them on PC and later on when I get Blu Ray or HD-DVD, I can transfer them without the need to re-encode. I'm very familiar with editing and encoding, I'm just having hard time figuring out what are the requirements for an H.264 file to be playable on HD-DVD and Blu Ray player.

I currently own Nero Recode 2 which allows encoding in AVC with various settings. I also have Nero Vision which allows creation of AVCHD files. I also have TMPGENC 4.0 Express that can create AVC files and I also have QuickTime Pro. All of these tools give me so many options for H.264/AVC and I just don't know what to choose to make sure I can one day just take the h.264 file and burn it on Blu Ray or HD-DVD for playback without the need to re-encode to another form of H.264.

From all the tools I have, I prefer to work with Nero Recode, which also has Adobe Premiere Plugin for direct export from Premiere timeline. Which AVC settings do I need to choose to make sure the output file is HD-DVD or Blu Ray compatible. I'm going to be encoding about 150 hours of videos and the encoding will take a lot of time, so I want to make sure I only do it once.

Thank you.

[bond]

the specs are not yet publically known

[PuzZLeR]

Hey p6889k,

You may be interested in a similar thread I started a couple of months ago:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=124835

Yes, info is hard to find or not available, but the closest I've found, although not that detailed but better than nothing, is right here:

http://www.videohelp.com/hd

Since I have the same situation as you, I realize that there are really two options today.

1- Painfully keep the big source files till the future brings us software for it. Then again, DVD-DL/External HDDs have never been cheaper. Just chuck/delete them when you migrate later. Also newer apps for this are already here. It won't be long before they also will encode with H.264/VC-1 as well.

2- If you must encode now, your best bet is to encode with specs very similar to those in the standards described in the link and hope for the best. Using the same assumptions as MPEG-2 and DvD, if you encode to MPEG-2 video at DvD specs, then the transcoding is very minimal when going to disc.

Now don't quote me on this. It's just an assumption. BD and HD-DvD could be very different animals altogether.

Then again, even if you have the right specs in place and prepared in advance, you will still have to go through an extensive authoring/transcoding/burning process nevetheless. I've already accepted the fact that much of my material may have to be re-encoded/transcoded at least one more time towards this transition.

[p6889k]

I think I figured out what I'm going to do. I've read at the following link
http://blogs.adobe.com/davtechtable/2007/05/working_with_encore_cs3_and_bl.html
, that Premiere Pro CS3 has native support for H.264 BluRay encoding. I think I'll go ahead and purchase an upgrade from Premiere Pro 2.0 to Pro CS3 and give it a try. There's no support for HD-DVD, but I guess BluRay is better than nothing. I was planning on upgrading to Premiere CS3 anyway.