Many people have expressed the desire to encode their content in an encoder outside of DVDit Pro HD and to have that video simply pass through DVDit Pro HD without additional transcoding. The following are some of the settings that this community has generated in a variety of encoding tools. If you have used other tools or other settings and have successfully generated BD compliant video, please post your findings here:

Adobe Premiere Pro
File | Export | Adobe Media Encoder
Format: MPEG2
Preset: 1080 60i
Mbps: up to 40 (though 25 is probably all you need)

Export as separate video and audio files for best compatability.

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Procoder 2: http://sixgilldv.com/www/gallery/BluRay%20...%20settings.jpg

Procoder Express: http://sixgilldv.com/www/gallery/Procoder%...%20settings.jpg

MPEG 2 HD 1920x1080i

Generic ISO MPEG stream
MPEG-2 Elementary Stream
Width 1920
Height 1080
29.975 Frame Rate NTSC
Upper/Top Field First
16x9
High Quality Encoding
Use Closed GOP (checked)
CBR
1 pass
18300 bitrate (you can play around with this)
Prolile/Level MP@HL
Intra DC Precision 9
Use Strict GOP bitrate control (checked)
Use Audio if Exist
Audio Stream Type PCM/WAV
Sample rate 48.0
Channels 2 ch
Bits/Sample 16

for 720p, change video size to 1280x720 and choose "no-interlace"

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Sony Vegas 7.03 - use "Blu-print" export option

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Apple Compressor

File Extension: m2v
Video Encoder
Format: M2V
Width: 1920
Height: 1080
Pixel aspect ratio: square
Crop: None
Frame rate: 29.97
Frame Controls:
Retiming: Nearest Frame
Resize Filter: Linear Filter
Deinterlace Filter: Line Averaging
Adaptive Details: On
Antialias: 0
Detail Level: 0
Field Output: Same as Source
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Field dominance: Top first
Average data rate: 21.1 (Mbps)
1 Pass VBR enabled
Maximum data rate: 25 (Mbps)
High quality
Best motion estimation
Closed GOP Size: 15, Structure: IBBP

<<Note from TominIowa>>

For Final Cut and Compressor users, please make sure to,

In Final Cut changed the
"Sequence Setting",
"Starting TimeCode"

to 00:00:00;00 instead of the default value of 01:00:00;00.

If you don't, chapter markers may not work.

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TMPEG 4.0

Load the MPEG File Output Template and make the following settings:

Output Stream Type: Elementary stream (video only)

Video Menu:
Stream Format: MPEG-2 Video
Profile & Level: MP@HL
Size: 1920x1080
Aspect Ratio: 16x9
Framerate: 29.97 fps
Rate Control: VBR (Bitrate: 15000, Max:18500, Min:4000) Should be able to jiggle this or use CBR
VBV Buffer Size: 488
Video System: NTSC
DC Component...: 9 bit
Display Mode: Interlace
Field order: Top Field First
Motion Search...: Standard

GOP Menu:
I pictures: 1
P Pictures: 5
B pictures: 2
GOP frames: 18
check all three boxes

Quantization Menu:
Matrix Type: Default

Other Menu:
Check Optimize Half Pixel and Encode keyframe
For each Colorspace setting select ITU-R BT.709 (this is important!)

You can then save this as a custom template.

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Sorenson Squeeze 4.5

Use Blu-ray template(s)

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No.. this does not work in PAL.. has anyone managed to get this to work using 1080i footage.
Does anyone have any settings.? So far I have had no luck with either compressor in PAL with 1080i or Squeeze 4.5

Tony

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Sorenson Squeeze 4.5

Use Blu-ray template(s)

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[/quote]

I have used Squeeze 4.5 templates and they "do work for PAL"

I noticed Cleaner XL 1.5 is not on the list. Here are my settings:

Output Profile: MPEG-2 HD Film 1920x1080 (Elementary)
Preset: HD MPEG-2 1920x1080 (MPEG-2, NTSC, 1920x1080, 23.976 fps)
Stream Type: Elementary Video and Audio

Audio
Format: PCM Audio
Channels: Stereo
Sample Rate: 48 KHz

Video
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Frame Format: Progressive
GOP Pattern: IBBPBBP...
GOP Size: 6
Chroma: 4:2:0
Bit Rate Control: 2-pass VBR
Average: 30000 Kbps
Minimum: 20000 Kbps
Maximum: 40000 Kbps
Motion Estimation: Maximum
Best Quality: Checked

Some notes on the above settings... Chroma of 4:2:2 will not work. Aspect Ratio can also be set to Square Pixel (VGA). Bit Rate can be changed, but the maximum cannot exceed 40000 Kbps. Frame Rate is an important one. Always encode to the same Frame Rate as the original source, to avoid unnecessary interpolation. HD film is shot at 24 fps (progressive), so keep it as close to this as possible. I'm not quite sure why most of the presets posted for other programs are using 29.97 fps.

Hope this helps.

--
Dima

will 24p not work?

anyone?
scott?

maff, I am not an expert at the encoders out there. I can tell you that 720p 24 is legal, 1080p 24 is legal...but I do not know how to get that legal video out of premiere. I think Sorenson Squeeze has a 24p preset that works...

Any PAL settings for Procoder 3

From what i can see on the Apple Compressor coding, you only get video. Do you have to extract the audio seperaely and then mate them back up in DVDit?

the ProCoder settings don't work for me with 1080i or 1080p, DVDit transcodes every time

I am using Sorenson Squeeze 4.5 Can someone tell me what setting I should be using? My original file is an mpg and when I apply the Blu-Ray 1080i setting it doesn't allow for audio.

Thanks

Hi there,

At the request of SS Scott, I am posting some information about how to modify certain types of streams so that they are compatible with DVDit Pro HD and can be authored to Blu-ray images with no encoding.

The sources:

Broadcasts over the air or on cable typically use MPEG2 Transport Streams. Blu-ray discs use... Transport Streams! Seems like a match made in heaven! Close, but often no cigar.

While Blu-ray uses MPEG2 video and AC3 audio, some of the broadcast sources have issues that result in the need for recoding as seen by DVDit Pro HD.

The two main causes that I will discuss here are encoded data rate and long GOP.

For encoded data rate, Blu-ray disc is capable of up to 40 bps bitrate for the video. Sadly some broadcast streams, while usually well below this rate, have a header that specifies the originating bitrate which can be as high as 65 Mbps.

The long GOP is an even bigger concern - a number of broadcast sources have a GOP that is well over the Blu-ray specified maximum (which varies depending on the format of the source, frame rate, progressive, etc.). For example, my local NBC affiliate broadcasts transport streams with long GOPs.

There is a utility though that allows us to fix these problems at the same time as demuxing the video and audio into mpv and ac3 files.

The program is called VideoRedo and can be evaluated before purchase at videoredo.com.

As a bonus you can use the frame accurate editing features and stream fix features to manipulate the video.

But I will focus on how to fix the formatting to help certain sources work with DVDit Pro HD.

When you start the program you will be prompted by the big button to open the video file. Select the TS file that you want to fix.

You can use the Ctrl-L keys to see the statistics on the file. If the reported bitrate is above 40, that is one thing that you will need to fix.

Do any edits that you want and then go to the Save As... button to create the new files.

If you have not made any changes it will ask if you want to remux the entire file - the answer of course is yes.

Before setting it going, we need to change some things.

For the Save As Type, change that to "Elementary Streams (*.mpv)".

Then on the bottom right, select the options.

For Bitrate, if you need to change it you can select something suitable. It needs to be higher than the real max in the stream. Typically for Over the Air broadcast, the real bitrate cannot be more than 20 so that is fine. 30 is a pretty safe bet also for other sources.

In the Max GOP length, a safe number to use is 17. This will ensure that there are no GOPs longer than 17 frames. This should not do anything if this is already the case - if needed the program will encode new I frames from P or B frames and create shorter GOPs this way. This takes a while and you can tell by the dialogue box if it is doing this.

With the bitrate and GOP length set, you can hit OK and then Save and it should demux the TS into the two files which can then be imported into DVDit Pro HD as media assets.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

compressor settings on mac.
does anyone have the exact settings in a file?
from the folder: user/xxxx/library/application support/compressor/?????.settings

I was wondering, the Canopus settings suggest a 1080i and not the prefered 1080p. Is there a reason to it, cause I was about to make a 1080p project for the best quality output and not transcoding the film twice.
Also is VBR forbidden? does it have to be for example 25 mbit CBR?

In Procoder 3 If I use the Preset under Application Specific / MediaEdgeHDMA-4000 and then select
MPEG2 - MediaEdge/HDMA-4000 - HD - 1920x1080i - 25fps
I get a beautifully compliant stream on import, except when played or viewed in DVDit Pro HD, it is upside down. !!

Any suggestions?

Cheers

Tony

that is invariably a codec issue, but I couldn't begin to tell you what needs to come off or or go onto the computer to solve it.

Ok, so why is it that NONE of the settings above work in PAL. Does anyone have any settings for either Pro Coder 3 / Compressor 3, Squeeze 4.5 for 1080i/25 HD footage that will work as pass through.

I'd be happy to use the internal encoder if it wasn't restircted to only encoding or importing files that are on a local drive.
We capture all our footage to a Raid5 on a mac and it seems rather stupid and workflow restictive to me that I can't import and work with footage over a network.

Cheers

Tony

A word to anyone trying to use third party compression: I turned on the “Do not import non-compliant files” option in the preferences panel of DVDit Pro HD, thinking it would be a good way to check the legality of my third party M2v when importing (the idea being that it would block any non-compliant M2v)

Well, it caused a lot of confusion when I received a "non-compliant" message. This however was a warning that my file was DVD non-compliant, not Blu-Ray non-compliant. So leave the "import all" option on and just watch the progress windows during your BD burn for a sign of transcoding. In my case the file was put through without recompression and burned fine.

Okay. I did it again. Could not wait, so I got the Pioneer BDR202B and am trying to make my first Blue-ray disc on a BD-RE disk (don't wish to waste a lot of money on mistakes made on BD-R disks!). I have recorded an HD video on my Sony HDR-HC5, captured it in Pinnacle Studio 10 Plus, created an mpeg-2 file in the 1080i mode, and used DVDit Pro HD to create the Blue-ray disk. Have not yet been able to create one successfully. Something is burning on the disk because each time I try a new one I have to overwrite whatever is on there. Perhaps 1080i is too much to expect for my Gateway GT5040 Media machine (currently 3.5 Gb of internal memory). So, I am trying to now burn at 720p. But, regardless, I keep getting an error on DVDit Pro HD that indicates that the imported file from Pinnacle Studio 10 Plus might contain non-compatible elements. Anyone else in this situation? Or, anyone out there have any suggestions that can cut down on my trial and error time?

what player are you trying to play back your video on?

Well, I think that is the crux of it. My GT5040 does not even have the horsepower to play back Blue-ray. Looks like I will need a new processor (dual core or equivalent) which probably means a new computer. Not sure, but I am sure learning a lot (the hard way).

LT

Hallo, I'm new in this forum. I am an italian user of dvdit pro hd and edius broadcast (with procoder express). When I try to import a mpeg-2 (1980x1020 - 25 fps) the message is always the same: it's not blu-ray compliant.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
I apologyse for my bad English.
Massimo

Hi Massimo

A lot of information on this in the forum, just use the search feature.

Cheers

For Final Cut and Compressor users, please make sure to,

In Final Cut changed the
"Sequence Setting",
"Starting TimeCode"

to 00:00:00;00 instead of the default value of 01:00:00;00.

If you don't, chapter markers may not work.

Dear Scott,

Judging from your information, I simply guess DVDit Pro HD won't accept H.264 stream as an asset. I have Final Cut Studio 2 and HD DVD creation was supported and am looking for proper tool for BD creation.

My questions are:

1) if DVDit Pro HD can read H.264 ES prepared with third party encoder such as Apple Compressor and MainConcept.

in case it reads H.264...

2) does it use original H.264 stream and just multiplex in building BD data/disc?


Your kind assistance will be appreciated.

Regards,
Shin

H264 is NOT supported.

HD-DVD is not supported (full solution) on any MAC, unless you have made one and can tell us how you managed that?

Has anyone done any successful encodes using Telestream Episode Pro?

has anyone done 720P 60fps?

someone mentioned 24p support works, but technically ALL
720P is 60fps.

so has anyone tried it?

Hi, I've just purchased the DVDit Pro HD for Blu-ray authoring purposes.
My MPEG-2 HD files are created in TMPEGEnc Xpress 4 using the settings available from this forum (except perhaps for the bitrate, which is adjusted for 40Mbps CBR). For short content they do seem to work, but I guess with longer duration files, DVDit Pro insists on reencoding the whole file.

This might be some overhead bitrate present in these MPEG-2 files generated from TMPEGEnc Xpress, but since I preset the encoding for CBR 40Mbps, I don't see why such thing would happen. Some fast motion or complex scenes perhaps...
Note that I don't have a software that can show me a bitrate graph, so this are all assumptions.

The way of "ingest" MPEG ES files in DVDit Pro HD for Blu-ray authoring is sort of awkward. I see the window that tells me that all MPEG files are due to reencode, but sometimes they do reencode, and sometimes they just are multiplexed...

Is there a real way of knowing exactly what is wrong (if) with ingested MPEG-2 files created by third party applications?

A warning box could have some informations such as these:
- Warning: Bitrate exceeds Blu-ray specs. (41Mbps)
- Warning: GOP exceeds Blu-ray specs. (GOP: 60)
- Warning: wrong color primaries: (Rec.709)

and so on...

Since the software seems to parse the MPEG-2 file in order to analyze it anyway, a tip in order to discover what is really wrong wouldn't hurt.

The problem is most likely that the encoder isn't perfect and just a few bits over 40Mb/s will put it over. I dont think it's good practice to use the max bitrate ever. Try using 35Mb/s maximun and rest easy.

Yes, I might do that. This is one small issue, but the fact that we don't really know what is going on is the real problem.

And the idea of a warning box is neat, isn't it?

I do like the idea of the warning box...something to check into. FYI on the bit rate. For 1080i MPEG-2 content, you probably don't get any discernable benefit from a bit rate beyond 25,000kbs.

Well, that depends.

I did see the diference going from 25Mbps to 40Mbps in scenes with a lot of in-motion content.
Has anyone seen Carnaval? Wonderfull brazilian celebration, but try to compress it...
Same with football matches...

And to make it all worse: both contents with 30 frames per second, plus interlaced...

Sometimes I do get a sense that one has to be masoquist in order to work with video these days...

For film content with progressive frame rate, I think I might not see improvements over 25mbps, since it's the bitrate most titles sold in Blu-ray are using right now. But then again, it all depends on the source material.

Anyway, I apreciate the fact that you considered the warning box. Hope to see it in the future.

Hallo,
for all the PAL-User:

Using Compressor is possible with DVDitHD and 1080i50-material to create BDs.


After a couple of tests to find out, how this works, I found the cloue why it was not working at the beginning. I got stuck with an error (error creating DB).

All you have to do, is to UNCHECK the checkbox "add DVD Studio Pro meta-datas" in the EXTRA-Tab, that is checked by default. After this you can choose any BD-setting that can be created with compressor ( within the specs).

after this, you got through it all and you could create BDMV-folder and the image, too.


I found out that using an HFS+volumen as target-drive für the image could cause problems, but haven´t checked this especially. It seems to me, that it´s better to mux the disk to a win-formated harddrive.

take care of the start-TC 00:00:00:00 as well, instead of 10:xx or 01:xx, otherwise you lose chapter-marker while muxing.



danny