Avatar BD5

[JJB]

I backed up Avatar to BD25 using the Automatic settings (I only do movie only for backups). I then backed up the original to BD5 using Automatic settings. Avatar is about 38GB so I expected some quality loss at such a low bit rate on the 5.

I decided to watch the BD5 first and then switch to the BD25 after about 15 min to compare the 2. I never swapped the 5 for the 25. I forgot all about the swap as it looked fantastic and finished the movie!! Me thinks my buying BD25 days are over and will all be TY DVD5 from now own.

Samsung 50" with a Panasonic BD-55 for viewing.

Outstanding to jdobbs and Dark S. and et al, for this beautiful package.

[setarip_old]

@JJB

It seems that movies that are mostly CGI (such as "Avatar" and "King Kong") are capable of yielding excellent results while being more highly compressed than would be prudent for "live action" video...

[JJB]

@JJB

It seems that movies that are mostly CGI (such as "Avatar" and "King Kong") are capable of yielding excellent results while being more highly compressed than would be prudent for "live action" video...

I realize that but after doing "A Few Good Men" @36GB and is all "Live" and the 40% of Avatar that was "Live", I felt that the video quality was greater than my expectations for normal viewing and buying BD25 was not cost effective. It far exceeded any DVD or Up-Convert DVD that I have watched and I have a OPPO for up-converting but the Panasonic is no slouch on up-converting. JMHO and YMMV!!....but I am happy!!

[jdobbs]

It's all in the magic of X264. It can output a movie-only encode to BD-5 that (to my eyes) is just as good as the original. You can kinda' ignore the original size in determining whether it is "shrinkable" to BD-5. It's more the framecount that really distinguishes how challenging the encode will be. The commercial authors typically use very high bitrates that exaggerate the output size. It could be because they are using a hardware based real-time encoder or an inferior encoder and they compensate with higher bitrates. On the other hand, they may be purposely making the source greater than 25GB just to make backups harder. Either way -- X264 with High Quality 2-pass can do miracles with 4.7GB.

[chompy]

Just one question, when backing up long films (longer than 2 hours) to BD5, what do you think would give me better quality… Convert it to 720p or leave it at 1080p? That is, what's better lower resolution with "more detail" or more resolution with "less detail"?

Greetings

[thegame]

I also did a BD5 of Avatar and I was amazed at how well it looked on my 65 inch Mits HDTV, I also made a BD5 of Biohazard Apocalypse Extended(RE2)from my imported Trilogy set from Japan and this looked Fantastic as well, I am so glad these BD5's look as well as they do.

So I thank you to jdobbs for an EXCELLENT piece of software.

[jdobbs]

Just one question, when backing up long films (longer than 2 hours) to BD5, what do you think would give me better quality… Convert it to 720p or leave it at 1080p? That is, what's better lower resolution with "more detail" or more resolution with "less detail"?

Greetings Well, you'd get the same bitrate either way. But you'd get a better picture at 720p at a given bitrate. The question is whether you would notice the difference in resolution when you play it back. My guess is "probably not".

The issues with resizing to 720p right now are:

1. Sometimes TSMUXER fails in the resizing of certain PGS (subtitle) files.

2. Forced subs don't seem to stay "forced" when they are resized to 720p by TSMUXER.

[k-c-ksum]

alot also depends on viewing distance and what your eyes can/cant see when viewed. On my 46" sony i cant distinguish 720p from 1080p at 12 feet. The cost between dvd9 and bd-r is so marginal though its worth the extra few cents/pennys to go blu and do a full back-up. Especially if you want HD audio

[jdobbs]

alot also depends on viewing distance and what your eyes can/cant see when viewed. On my 46" sony i cant distinguish 720p from 1080p at 12 feet. The cost between dvd9 and bd-r is so marginal though its worth the extra few cents/pennys to go blu and do a full back-up. Especially if you want HD audio It's getting more-and-more so. I see that Ridata hub-printable 4X BD-25 discs are under $2 now at Meritline.

[drmih]

Also, although it is a long film, the disc has nothing on it but the film - keeping the extras back to exploit people later!

[unrox]

I backed up Avatar to BD25 using the Automatic settings (I only do movie only for backups). I then backed up the original to BD5 using Automatic settings. Avatar is about 38GB so I expected some quality loss at such a low bit rate on the 5.

I decided to watch the BD5 first and then switch to the BD25 after about 15 min to compare the 2. I never swapped the 5 for the 25. I forgot all about the swap as it looked fantastic and finished the movie!! Me thinks my buying BD25 days are over and will all be TY DVD5 from now own.

Samsung 50" with a Panasonic BD-55 for viewing.

Outstanding to jdobbs and Dark S. and et al, for this beautiful package.

By using "Movie only" are subtitles eliminated, I'm a little hard of hearing and on some movies I need the subs.

[jdobbs]

By using "Movie only" are subtitles eliminated, I'm a little hard of hearing and on some movies I need the subs. No. All the subtitles you have selected are kept in movie-only.

[setarip_old]

@jdobbs

Hi! Either way -- X264 with High Quality 2-pass can do miracles with 4.7GBIs this an "official" change from your earlier suggestion of using DVD5s for up to two hours of video and DVD9s for greater than two hours of video?

[jdobbs]

@jdobbs

Hi! Is this an "official" change from your earlier suggestion of using DVD5s for up to two hours of video and DVD9s for greater than two hours of video? No, not really. There are exceptions, but I think you're probably better off going to BD-9 when it gets over 2 hours -- especially now that BD-9's are down around 70 cents each.

[setarip_old]

@jdobbs I think you're probably better off going to BD-9 when it gets over 2 hoursI agree -and have done so ever since a few of my grandkids (a tough crowd to please) got on my case for what they called, "mushy backgrounds" in a DVD5 backup of one of the "Night at the Museum" BluRays ;>}