Testing Scenarist Output (Mux)

[Scubasteve2365]

I'm looking for a little clarification.

I'm making my first disc with Scenarist, unfortunately I don't have unlimited access to the software, and am instead being allowed to use it a nearby facility by knowing someone that works there. When I do have access I don't want to bother those who have busy projects for them to "teach" me things.

To the best of my knowledge the version is at least 5.0, if not higher.

I've successfully created (muxed) both a large disc that is my project and a very small (300MB) test disc so that I don't have to wait for it to remux everytime I try a new setting.

At first I couldn't play the output at all. I choose to do disc folders, thinking Total Media Theater or Corel WinDVD would play it, and both (along with Nero9) reported back "unsupported Media" or "Invalid Media". I made sure my CPS settings were set to unencrypted. I also, made sure that project file (which wasn't XML leading me to believe this is at least version 5.0 software) had the copy permission flag set to 0.

After not being able to playback the resulting files, I decided to mux it again, but this time as a disc image, using the BD-RE setting. This created an image folder in the output directory as well as a Mux folder that contained a BD-RE directory holding the standard BDMV disc structure. Like before, I was unable to playback the output from the file structure, however when I mounted the disc image file, I was able to play the file back and it worked as it should have.

I'm presuming I can just burn that image file, using ImgBurn or other software and the disc will work fine in a PS3 and stand alone players, but I'm rather concerned as to why the disc folders themselves won't play. This makes me think I have a setting wrong somewhere.

In Total Media Theater I can playback Blu-ray Folders on a disc of a ripped commerical Blu-ray. Why is my scenarist output not the same?

[rik1138]

A couple of things stand out here... Not sure if they are the problem though:

At first I couldn't play the output at all. I choose to do disc folders, thinking Total Media Theater or Corel WinDVD would play it, and both (along with Nero9) reported back "unsupported Media" or "Invalid Media". I made sure my CPS settings were set to unencrypted. I also, made sure that project file (which wasn't XML leading me to believe this is at least version 5.0 software) had the copy permission flag set to 0.

The project file is still XML, always has been. Drop it in a text editor/XML editor, and it should look exactly like it did back in 4.5 and earlier versions. Nothing has changed except adding more fields...

Don't edit the project file for any reason, unless you really know what you are doing. The 'hack' of the Copy Permission Flag is no longer necessary. Just select 'Unencrypted' in the CPS settings, and you should see this value change to '0' there, that's all that needs to be done.

You should be able to play the layout back in Total Media with no problem... I'm not sure why that isn't working. You might try moving (or deleting) the AACS directory, just in case TM is seeing that and expecting an encrypted disc or something...

If the Disc Image plays back, try burning it to a BD-RE (if you have one) and see if it works in a player... That seems to be the next step for sure, but I still can't say why the image works and the folders don't.

Rik

[Scubasteve2365]

Thanks again Rik,

Apparently it had something to do with the machine I was using. When I tried playing back the disc folders in TMT on a different machine, it worked just fine.

[mp3dom]

You need to remove the AACS folder OR you could compile as BD-RE and keep CPS sector to encrypted (BDRE is always unencrypted). In this way you don't risk to leave it to unencrypted (for final master). Regardin reliability, TMT have some bugs so it's not fully reliable (for example has a bug with the 'random' function in HDMV, it start to randomize from 0 where the specs says that it must start from 1). Don't you have access to Scenarist QC? It should be inside the Scenarist license now.

[rik1138]

You need to remove the AACS folder OR you could compile as BD-RE and keep CPS sector to encrypted (BDRE is always unencrypted). In this way you don't risk to leave it to unencrypted (for final master).

The software actually warns you know if you attempt to make a master with unencrypted units. That's very helpful. :rolleyes:

Scenarist QC would be a good option as well, it works pretty good, although I tend to migrate back to PowerDVD and TMT for QC purposes...

If you work at (or are) an actual Blu-ray authoring house, you can contact TMT and get a special debug version of the player without all the consumer limitations (like the AACS folder, etc...). Cyberlink does this with PowerDVD too... They can save out debug files showing you were things might be causing crashes and such.

Rik