multiAVCHD - author Blu-ray/AVCHD (Blu-ray players, camcoders, Viera TV) + (HD) DVD

[deank]

It is both for AVC/H.264 (with x264) and MPEG-2 (with HCenc). Sometimes it is not possible to use the higher bitrate you set, just because it is not needed.

It depends on each source, but in a lot of cases these great encoders manage to encode your video to lower size (especially with VBR or 2-pass processing).

Was 7996MB predicted as overall size (using BITRATE ESTIMATION in [TRANSCODE])? What was the original audio? 1-pass VBR with HCenc got a fix today, did you use the build from yesterday? (because it was a 2-pass processing). Before you go to the transcode window and to bitrate estimations, always make sure to set the Non-HD audio... setting. It is used for the estimation. The ESA: lines in media tab are not correct when working with SD-DVD (showing 5-10% more).

You can use this bitrate calculator (http://www.videohelp.com/calc) for DVD bitrates.... Still multiAVCHD gets closer to its results. Most fancy calculators work with: 1 video + 1 audio tracks... multiAVCHD tries to work with 1 video + all subtitles + all audio tracks (both for Blu-ray/AVCHD and SD-DVD... and in fact with HD-DVD). Hard to score 100% but it is something. All of my tests got 90%-98% correct estimation and I'm fine with it, as long as I never had an oversize.

Important thing to mention is that getting smaller size doesn't mean that the encode is not good, but quite the opposite - it means that the encoder didn't need more bitrate to encode the source and applied as less compression as possible to use the bitrate set in full.

It is like trying to encode 30mins to fit 4GB DVD. No matter how high you set the bitrate you'll end up with 2.1GB file :) with great quality (that is if using CBR 9800kbps).

[deank]

Hi Dean.
If i have a blu-ray and i inset them in multiavchd. can I insert external subtitle like .srt ? If i want remove everything, less the audio english and movie, can I ? Do you can put in the option the possibility to gerate a .iso of this blu ? I brougth a wdtv live, and it can ready .iso of blu-ray.

multiAVCHD already supports ISO output if you have ImgBurn installed and select the proper option in SETTINGS.

You can add/remove audio/subtitle tracks, too, so don't worry. Give it a try once you get your hands on the WDTV and post the results.

[daberti]

It is both for AVC/H.264 (with x264) and MPEG-2 (with HCenc). Sometimes it is not possible to use the higher bitrate you set, just because it is not needed.

It depends on each source, but in a lot of cases these great encoders manage to encode your video to lower size (especially with VBR or 2-pass processing).

Was 7996MB predicted as overall size (using BITRATE ESTIMATION in [TRANSCODE])? What was the original audio? 1-pass VBR with HCenc got a fix today, did you use the build from yesterday? (because it was a 2-pass processing). Before you go to the transcode window and to bitrate estimations, always make sure to set the Non-HD audio... setting. It is used for the estimation. The ESA: lines in media tab are not correct when working with SD-DVD (showing 5-10% more).

You can use this bitrate calculator (http://www.videohelp.com/calc) for DVD bitrates.... Still multiAVCHD gets closer to its results. Most fancy calculators work with: 1 video + 1 audio tracks... multiAVCHD tries to work with 1 video + all subtitles + all audio tracks (both for Blu-ray/AVCHD and SD-DVD... and in fact with HD-DVD). Hard to score 100% but it is something. All of my tests got 90%-98% correct estimation and I'm fine with it, as long as I never had an oversize.

Important thing to mention is that getting smaller size doesn't mean that the encode is not good, but quite the opposite - it means that the encoder didn't need more bitrate to encode the source and applied as less compression as possible to use the bitrate set in full.

I used latest build available at 13:00GMT.

yes, audio settings are set per your guidelines.
Original (bluray) audio track was LPCM.
BTW: something i'd have liked to talk about since a long time.
The audio setting are into general settings. thus they're common to a whole compilation. But not necessarily all movies into a compilation would share the same audio asset: ie one movie could be encoded with HD audio, another one with the original HD audio converted to AC3 =< than 448 and so on.
If I'm not wrong this is not possible now. But if these audio settings could be moved to the transcode window, the game could be played. What is your thought about this?

Anyway you gave me the answer. I.e.: if I set a bitrate and the resulting mean bitrate is lower, it means that the video stuff can fit into a lower bitrate than the one I set.

[Sounddude]

For some reason the option to do an SD-DVD is greyed out. I have the latest version. Where should Quenc and HCenc be located?

[deank]

You need the full download. The button is grayed-out because you're missing one of the tools for SD-DVD processing (dgpulldown/muxman)

[deank]

If I'm not wrong this is not possible now. But if these audio settings could be moved to the transcode window, the game could be played. What is your thought about this?

This is one of the left-overs since the initial release of multiAVCHD when there was no way to alter anything per title, there was no title-properties or anything. All settings for all titles.

I'll try to find some time to do it better + some GUI optimization + the language translation.

[daberti]

This is one of the left-overs since the initial release of multiAVCHD when there was no way to alter anything per title, there was no title-properties or anything. All settings for all titles.

I'll try to find some time to do it better + some GUI optimization + the language translation.

Maybe some work could be avoid keeping the things as they are, but inserting a flag into transcode window like "Override general audio settings" and allowing proper decisions to be made. Just an idea though.

[claymic]

Very thanks Dean
I will try. My only concern is how i will do the sync of the subtitle .srt. I thought of temporarily place the movie file to mkv using mkvmerge and so I could synchronize the .srt , what i want to insert. Is this possible? I can insert the some audio extract for dvd too. I can do that ? mux in mkv file without a problem ?
Realy thanks Dean. I will try evering thing this. The WDTV arrive in next week.
Clayton

[Adub]

@claymic
All you need to sync a subtitle is an audio track. I have played around with Aegisub on a number of occasions, and it's versatility and power is great for any sub syncing issues.

If you are going about syncing a sub to a source, I suggest that you extract the audio that you want to sub from your source, load it into something like Aegisub or VisualSubSync and synchronize. Then save, and load into multiAVCHD for muxing/encoding.

@deank, I know that you have hardsubbing options in the title's Transcode window, but does it only support external subs? Or has internal sub support been added?

[AJ500]

I'm using multiAVCHD with a Sony camcorder. Is it possible to edit the Sony playlist to create multiple titles?

I may shoot 10 m2ts scenes on one event and 20 m2ts scenes on another event all on the same memory stick. When I open the AVCHD folder on the memory stick with multiAVCHD, the playlist contains all 30 scenes. I'd like to put the 10 scenes on one title and the 20 scenes in another title all on the same Blu-ray. Is this possible?

I know I can open the individual m2ts files and create the Blu-ray image I want that way. Just wondering if it can be done using the Sony playlist.

[deank]

@deank, I know that you have hardsubbing options in the title's Transcode window, but does it only support external subs? Or has internal sub support been added?

No, the support is only for the 1st external subtitle track. It allows you to hard burn for example [forced subtitles] and still have all other (internal+external) as soft subtitles.

I'm using multiAVCHD with a Sony camcorder. Is it possible to edit the Sony playlist to create multiple titles?

No, you can't do this kind of split with multiAVCHD. Although it is possible, it will complicate additionally everything in multiAVCHD related to playlist imports.

It is easy to program such function - it will require creating new playlist (MPL) for each split, without modifying the original MPL files and without touching the original MTS files.

[drelin]

Hello Deank.

Just a few report with latest build (743)

With AVCHD/BDMV compilation output, the "resume" function not works actually.
After return to MAIN MENU with Pop-Up Menu selection and access to AUDIO Menu to change audio and subtitle tracks, the "PLAY" function button restart allways on the 1st chapter point.

[deank]

It works perfectly at my end. I didn't change anything about menu creating since the start of this SD-DVD implementation.

I just created a small 5min compilation, played to chapter 8, used the pop-up to return to title menu, setup -> changed audio and then clicked PLAY and it continued (resumed playback) from chapter 8.

Resume always starts at a chapter mark (not where previously left the video).

If you had chapter 1: 00:00:00.000, chapter 2: 00:10:11.123 and you used the popup/resume while being at position 00:05:00.000 then the resume will start from the start.

[deank]

Although it is not directly related to multiAVCHD or the authoring process, here is important information for those of you (like me) who use Other OS functionality in their Playstation 3 consoles:

Today's update (version 3.21) of the system firmware DISABLES OtherOS function in PS3. It means:

* You'll loose your Linux installation (:devil:)
* You'll loose the HDD partition (:mad:)
* You'll loose the ability to copy/rip your Blu-ray discs to ISO to be used by makemkv/anyhddvd/etc... (this was important to me, since I don't have a computer with Blu-ray ROM drive)

And, sadly, no - this is not a joke :(

I'm currently staying with version 3.15.

Of course NOT updating means:

* No access to PSN
* No way to play games, which require 3.21+
* No way to play Blu-ray discs, which require 3.21+

You can read more about the "FEATURES" of 3.21 at the official Sony website:

http://uk.playstation.com/ps3/support/system-software/detail/item272598/Update-features-(ver-3-21)/

Main features in system software update version 3.21

Settings:

The [Install Other OS] and [Default System] features have been deleted.

Other

• A security patch was added to address security vulnerabilities that may occur when playing MP4 format video files.

Dean

[Capsbackup]

deank, I am experimenting with a movie only Blu-Ray backup from BD-RB, where I use multiAVCHD to import the movie and then add the original motion menu, shortening it to 32 seconds of course, so as to have the movie and menu only. I use the title button only, so I have the main menu and the motion title button, placed where I choose.
I have been able to move the button activate square, via apply button position settings, to where the title thumbnail is, but do I have to have this "blue square" visible at all?
I would like to be able to just select play/enter to start the movie, with the motion title thumbnail as the button. Is this an option?
Also: is there a way to have the motion menu play as the original, without the fade in/out every 4-5 seconds?

[deank]

There is a slider for IGS opacity (next to Main menu IG color). If you don't want to have the nav square, move the slider to the far left for 0% opacity (full transparency).

//edit yes: by using the options:

[x] Do not apply trailer cuts to BG video (use as is)
[-] Apply in/out fade for menu loop when using BG as is

Dean

[Capsbackup]

Thank you, I figured I was missing something simple!:o
I will try out these new settings.
I am having fun learning/testing All (most :p )of the many features you have put into multiAVCHD!

OK! I just discovered "Real-time preview of menu page (avisynth)". Wonderful!
This old dog is learning some new tricks! :cool:

[deank]

Nice :)

You may also want to enable:

[x] Do not apply background tweaks

Otherwise the motion background will be a bit blurred, less saturated and with lowered contrast. :)

[Capsbackup]

Nice :)

You may also want to enable:

[x] Do not apply background tweaks

Otherwise the motion background will be a bit blurred, less saturated and with lowered contrast. :)

Yes I have found that one and had it selected.
Now if I can just find more time to play and learn! :)

[Fastbke170]

Hi Dean,
You can get a very inexpensive External Blu-ray Drive http://cgi.ebay.com/Pioneer-4x-Blu-ray-Combo-BDC-TD01-USB-external-Drive_W0QQitemZ260574799811QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCC_Drives_Storage_Internal?hash=item3cab77e7c3
I have one running on old P4 XP Work System. I had to tweak the system a bit , But it Works Well

FB

[deank]

Thanks... I'll look in to it, but I don't really need blu-ray disc drive for my PC... I only have 2 Blu-ray titles (as a gift bundle when I was buying a PS3 BD RC for a present) :) and for playback I can use my PS3... for backup I use the PS3 + USB HDD, too. It will probably help me with the development of multiAVCHD, but since I did mostly all of the things without having a real blu-ray disc I guess I'll manage. :)

Otherwise I'll have to buy Panasonic BDP to test the SDHC support and another viera tv with SDHC AVCHD support. :)

[Fastbke170]

Nah , Get a Samsung :p, BTW, Is it possible that Samsung players just dont have AVCHD compatibility ??? Models such as BD-1590/1600 (cheapo) dont mention this compliancy.

[deank]

Yes and a samsung, too :)

I remember that 1600 works with AVCHD (or at least there were users reporting it is working)... Now ver 4.0 of multiAVCHD gives these players hard time and I don't know why.

It doesn't change the fact that Sony tries to cripple Playstation3 with this sh*tty 3.21 update. I guess I'll buy one of those PS3 lite consoles and keep my 1st gen full-featured PS3 for the real things. :)

[Capsbackup]

deank, just curious if there is a way to change the start/play position of the motion title thumbnail preview on the main menu? It appears to start at the beginning of each movie, which is fine, but can it play from a user defined position in the clip?

[deank]

At the moment it starts at 15 seconds offset from the start (to avoid the black and long-intro scenes) - a bit better than what PS3 does... Also atm it is not possible to change the start offset. I'll add an option soon - that's an easy one.

[Capsbackup]

At the moment it starts at 15 seconds offset from the start (to avoid the black and long-intro scenes) - a bit better than what PS3 does... Also atm it is not possible to change the start offset. I'll add an option soon - that's an easy one.

OK thanks, the features just keep on increasing.:)

[deank]

That's not really good :) unless I find a way to implement setarip_old's suggestion for redesigning the GUI and I have no good idea how to do it. :rolleyes:

[Capsbackup]

Well I'm quite pleased with the GUI, it works for me and is fairly straight forward. I'm not into HD DVD, but to each his own. :rolleyes:
Just having some fun, learning some neat things, all is good! :)

[deank]

Let's add it then in the next update!

http://multiAVCHD.deanBG.com/multiAVCHD_menu_advanced.jpg

[Capsbackup]

Excellent, and very fast too! :)
I am really enjoying the menu features! I find myself watching the menu loop more than getting to the movie. :cool: ( Planet Earth especially )
Well, don't take this wrong, since I do really appreciate all you have done, but I believe you have mentioned to possibly be able to increase the menu loop to beyond 32 seconds.
Is that true?

[deank]

My first experiments were with excerpts of PE HDDVD so I enjoy the menu loop, too :)

***

Yes, I'll add a similar filed to the one I just added to set "custom" video-background duration to more than 777 frames.

I was occupied with getting the (SD) DVD part done so I can continue with other more "Blue" features. :)

[Capsbackup]

Thank you again! :thanks:
I have been following this SD DVD from HD, but not tried yet. :(
Maybe soon.

Side note/feedback:
A recent test to create a BD-25 from Planet Earth's 11 episodes, turned out great considering the encoding of each episode was only 4450kbps. Still looks awesome to me.:)
And my I7 920 at 2.67GHz:


Compilation summary:
Format: Blu-ray player (BD-R/BD-RE disc)
Name : multiAVCHD
===============================================================================
1. From Pole To Pole [00:51:10]
2. Mountains [00:49:56]
3. Fresh Water [00:51:20]
4. Caves [00:50:50]
5. Deserts [00:50:52]
6. Ice Worlds [00:51:10]
7. Great Plains [00:51:00]
8. Jungles [00:51:06]
9. Shallow Seas [00:51:13]
10. Seasonal Forests [00:51:12]
11. Ocean Deep [00:51:08]
===============================================================================
Overall duration : 09:21:01
Output size : 21313 MiB (20.813 GiB)

[10:04:27] D:\Planet Earth MTIAVCHD\AVCHD folder created (AVCHD/Blu-ray output)!
[10:04:27] Burn its CONTENTS to BD-R/RE UDF 2.50/2.60 disc!
[10:04:30] You may now remove temp folder (C:\multiAVCHD_TMP\multiTEMP-20100401\).
[10:04:30] Your compilation contains 9hrs 21min 1sec of video material.

[10:04:30] multiAVCHD finished in 2114.719 seconds (00:35:14.719)!

Not bad for a motion menu with motion title thumbnails!

[deank]

Did you transcode all with multiAVCHD or used external source (like BD-RB). The final output is ~1GB smaller which is a very very good achievement.

[Capsbackup]

Did you transcode all with multiAVCHD or used external source (like BD-RB). The final output is ~1GB smaller which is a very very good achievement.

I used MeGui, since that was the first program I started with for BD backups, and I have become quite comfortable using it and it's bitrate calc for sizing. I just did each episode individually, and kept all subtitles and chapter points, which I inserted into multiAVCHD for authoring.
I know I may have left some room on the disc, but I prefer it that way. I am not one who thinks it will look better if I use the whole disc, but better to be safe and not go over BD-25 size. :)
( Learned that from jdobbs back with DVD-RB and now BD-RB )

[deank]

Yep, that's the way for me, too! (not the meGUI part... that was the reason to start mkv2avi project and later multiAVCHD - meGUI wouldn't work with my Vista Ultimate laptop for some reason)

You can now update multiAVCHD if prompted (or use multiUPDATE). The option to select motion-title-thumbnail-start-playback-offset (there is probably a word in GERMAN for that) is now available in MENU/Advanced tab :)

I wanted to do that since all the episodes of the Planet Earth started with the same thing... Just never took the time to go for it :)

Dean

[deank]

Much better with 45 seconds offset :cool:

http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_trpv_1.jpg http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_trpv_3.jpg
http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_trpv_4.jpg http://multiavchd.deanbg.com/multiAVCHD_trpv_2.jpg

[Adub]

You know, I'm going to have to get some Blu-ray compatible media software, like Arcsoft's software so that I can start playing around with some of the more powerful features of multiAVCHD and it's HD output.

I don't own a PS3 yet, so I can't really experience the awesomeness of Blu-ray and it's menu structure. But one of these days!

[crl2007]

You can't play a Blu-Ray menu from the hard disk of a PS3. You have to burn it to a BD-R disc. The menu produced with multiAVCHD you'll be able to see and use.

[Capsbackup]

What can I say, but awesome!!
Well it looks like I will be redoing Planet Earth, since I must try out this new feature.
Maybe I will watch an episode too... after my long preview of the motion menu! :p

[Adub]

@crl2007
I actually meant "High Definition" when I said HD. Sorry for the confusion.

[Capsbackup]

deank, should the Real-time preview of menu page (avisynth) show the new motion-title-thumbnail-start-playback-offset ?
Mine seems to be showing the same start time before the latest update. I set it to 45 seconds, but it is not previewing at that start time. :confused:

[deank]

You know, I'm going to have to get some Blu-ray compatible media software, like Arcsoft...

I don't own a PS3 yet, so I can't really experience the awesomeness of Blu-ray and it's menu structure. But one of these days!

You don't need a PS3. multiAVCHD output should work with most standalone players (SAPs) and most software players like TMT and Nero.

What can I say, but awesome!!
Well it looks like I will be redoing Planet Earth, since I must try out this new feature.
Maybe I will watch an episode too... after my long preview of the motion menu! :p

Well... That's what I was doing for the last year and a half. I have this PE compilation re-processed since build 666 of multiAVCHD and now I'm rEdoing it again :) This time it looks much better (just like with any other update). And thank you again!

[deank]

deank, should the Real-time preview of menu page (avisynth) show the new motion-title-thumbnail-start-playback-offset ?
Mine seems to be showing the same start time before the latest update. I set it to 45 seconds, but it is not previewing at that start time. :confused:

Are you sure about that? I tried the XMB preview and it was showing the proper preview. (and of course the final output was with the proper offset).

[Adub]

You don't need a PS3. multiAVCHD output should work with most standalone players (SAPs) and most software players like TMT and Nero.


That's exactly my point. I don't have a standalone, PS3, or decent software player (yet).

I'm looking into getting a decent software player so that I can actually begin to test with High Definition output, and their corresponding menu structure.

[Capsbackup]

Are you sure about that? I tried the XMB preview and it was showing the proper preview. (and of course the final output was with the proper offset).

Yes, just checked again, and the XMB preview is as it was before.
However, I am running a BD-RB movie only backup currently, if that has any effect, and since updating via multiUPDATE, I have not rebooted either.
I will run the project after this encode finishes, and will then have a more accurate answer.

[deank]

I just tested the preview and the real-time-preview for all three XMB, Slide and Carousel - all show the proper motion title thumbnail offset-start. In fact I used 240 seconds for my latest compilation :)

[Capsbackup]

I just tested the preview and the real-time-preview for all three XMB, Slide and Carousel - all show the proper motion title thumbnail offset-start. In fact I used 240 seconds for my latest compilation :)

Good to know, I'm sure you are correct. I will confirm my results later as well.

[deank]

The SETUP page of the last (11th) title doesn't work here for no apparent reason. Would you please let me know how yours came up?

[Capsbackup]

I can now confirm that the real-time-preview for XMB works for the main motion menu, but the preview of the 11 title buttons only displays what appears to be from the start of each episode, not the 45 second start time I selected.
However, you are correct that after authoring, it works perfectly, starting from the 45 seconds I chose. :)
All eleven episodes button previews work for me, as do each episode, with selectable subtitles and chapters.
All my original source files are 1920x1080 .ts files, created from tsMuxeR, so maybe the title button preview via avisynth and mplayer are at fault for not displaying properly?
Oh well, the outcome is what counts, and everything came out as you predicted. :)
Excellent job!
The testing, so far, has been with TMT3 and PowerDVD 7.3. But I will burn to BD-RE for testing on my S360 later and report those results too.

[Adub]

I can confirm Capsbackup's behavior where the menu preview of the title buttons appears to be from the beginning of the episode, with no offset.

I tested this using a clean rip of The Dark Knight Blu-ray, using AnyDVD HD. I haven't looked at the authored output yet (I assume its fine) but the preview doesn't appear to respect the offset.