How do I author discs using h.264 or VC1?

[JonRead]

Okay, I am fairly confident when it comes to DVD authoring but very new to blu-ray. I now have a blu-ray burner and can author discs fine as long as they are in either standard DVD format or HD mpeg. I have many MKV H264 files that are in high definintion format, most fit 3 hours on just a normal 4gb DVD in excellent hidef quality. Yet I can only get 2 hours of hidef material on a blu ray using mpeg. So I know blu-ray can use VC1 as most commerical DVDs are this, and compression is around the same as h.264. So how the heck do I author discs using h.264 or VC1 ? Movie Factory 6 doesn't seem to allow this format. Do I need to use Scenarist ?

Any advice very much appreciated as it is all very confusing at the moment, I want to fit as much hidef on a disc as possible. Can I use 720p or is it only 1080 for HD blu-ray ?

I apologise for any repeat questions, I checked the forum but was a bit overwealmed by a lot of the threads.

[Eric69]

Scenarist is your only option

[JonRead]

Seriously ? Is this due to payment rights for use of the VC-1 codec or something ? Will there be any cheap end software (Ulead, Roxio, Nero, TMPG) or any others likely to release the option ? Is there a decent guide or book on how to use Scenarist 4.2 BD anywhere ?

[Eric69]

The technology is too new. Before long you'll see consumer apps use the more advanced codecs. Until then, you'll need to pay to play :) It was the same way in the late nineties with DVD.

[eyekyu]

how do u get the h264 to work with Scenarist

[Sagittaire]

Now you can use all the codec with free encoder:
- VC1ProSDK for Bluray VC1 stream
- HCenc or libavcodec for MPEG2 stream
- x264 for H264 stream

Anyway these codec are not free patent.

[Southstorm]

Only Scenarist???
I thought DVDit PRO HD, and Encore also did Bluray...

[JonRead]

Only Scenarist???
I thought DVDit PRO HD, and Encore also did Bluray...

Can they do VC-1 or h264 though ?

[Southstorm]

Adobe Encore Manual says:

Supported file formats for import

Imported files may require transcoding. DVD or Blu-ray Disc-compliant assets typically do not require transcoding, while noncompliant assets do.

Supported video file formats
You can import any of the following types of video files:
AVI (Windows)

DV-AVI (Mac OS)

H.264

MPEG‑2 (including MPG, MPV, and M2V)

Apple QuickTime® (MOV; including Reference Movies)—requires QuickTime installed on Windows systems

WMV (Windows Media File)

[Eric69]

You can bring in a H264 file into Encore but it will be transcoded to MPEG2. H264 is just a codec, But BD requires a complaint stream.

Basically Encore only offers MPEG2 - for now anyway

[Southstorm]

Then what does this mean? (Taken from Encore CS3 Manual):

"Typically, a Blu-ray disc can hold 135 minutes of high-definition video using MPEG-2 plus 2 hours of standard-definition bonus material, or it can hold a total of 10 hours of standard-definition content. Encore also supports H.264 encoding for Blu-ray projects, which provides better quality at lower bit rates than MPEG-2 and therefore more video time. Desktop DVD burners use a recordable DVD‑5 disc (DVD+/‑R), which has a 4.7-GB capacity and can hold approximately 2 hours of high-quality, standard-definition video."

[Eric69]

Thats interesting...Thanks. Have you tried an AVC file?

[smok3]

encore cs3 should be avc ready, i couldn't import anything encoded with x.264 as valid stream thought (i you think you can provide - short - valid stream, i mean: stream that encore will think it is valid, i can play with that..).

[Southstorm]

I have successfully imported an AVC stream to Encore CS3 using some x264 setting found on the forum. It was a few weeks ago, just for my own testing, so I don't remember the settings. But if you search the forum for Bluray x264 encoding I'm sure you'll find what I did.

[Southstorm]

I found the settings I used:

Blu ray profile must have:
- 3 bframe max adaptative or not
- 4 ref and 3 b-ref (3 ref and 3 b-ref here)
- 30 000 Kbits for cpb (less is possible)
- 45 000 Mbps for max bitrate (30 000 here)
- max mvrange at 512 pixel (511 here)
- nal hrd flag for compatibility with HDDVD/BD profile
- level 4.1 for for 1080p compatibility with HDDVD/BD profile
- aud for compatibility with HDDVD/BD profile
- 0.606 sec for Iframe interval

[JonRead]

I have managed to create a blu-ray disc using H264 with Encore, thanks for pointing me towards this software, as I doubt I would ever get my head around Scenarist. Mind you I am unsure if it is 100 percent blu-ray compatible yet, but it works in PowerDVD Ultra.

[smok3]

I found the settings I used:

Blu ray profile must have:
- 3 bframe max adaptative or not
- 4 ref and 3 b-ref (3 ref and 3 b-ref here)
- 30 000 Kbits for cpb (less is possible)
- 45 000 Mbps for max bitrate (30 000 here)
- max mvrange at 512 pixel (511 here)
- nal hrd flag for compatibility with HDDVD/BD profile
- level 4.1 for for 1080p compatibility with HDDVD/BD profile
- aud for compatibility with HDDVD/BD profile
- 0.606 sec for Iframe interval

ok, ill recheck my x264 command line, thanks.