[Coz]

So, I have been reading the forums and working for the last couple of weeks on different methods to get my movie onto a DVD in Blu-Ray format so I could play it on my PS3. My Mac has been encoding different ways non-stop and I have gone through a TON of blank DVDs. I thought I would share what I have learned so that (hopefully) I can save someone else the pain I have been through. I want to say right away, that I can't say with any authority that this is the best way to do this, or if this yields the best possible quality. I am not an expert on video or any of these settings. I also know this is probably really basic step for most people that have been doing this for a while--but again I hit my head against the wall for many many hours waiting for this same sequence to render over and over and over again.

What I CAN say is that I was having horrible quality with some of the other methods posted in previous posts, and that this method works for me. I can now FINALLY play this short 7 minute video that I edited on my PS3 in HD by making a Blu-Ray Disk and burning it onto a blank DVD and not have to live with blurring or choppy video.

First issue was the PS3 didn't recognize that the disk was a movie disk, and displayed it as a data disk. This was easily fixed by upgrading Toast to 9.0.2 (http://forums.suppor...howtopic=36903)

Next I battled with getting a good quality video. The video was either too choppy, was very blurry and blurred whenever there was motion. I could fix the blurry motion by increasing the bit-rate; however at a certain point the blur was was gone, but then my ps3 couldn't decode fast enough and then would only display one frame per second. I tried DVD after DVD with different bitrates, and followed all the other's advice in this forum about encoding with compressor in mpeg2 first and then using that file without re-encoding. For me, this never worked with satisfactory results. I would either get a smooth video with lots of blur in the motion or the blur would disappear and the video would lag.

Finally today I got a perfect picture on a blank DVD for my 7 minute video of my friends and me hiking. I am sure the methods employed by others must work for some people but they didn't work for me. So I thought I would share how I got it to work. The good news is I did not end up needing compressor, so this saves a step. In fact in hind sight, the entire process is actually fairly straightforward, I just had to use Mpeg-4 AVC instead of the Mpeg-2 and separate audio file.

1) Export to a Quicktime movie from Final Cut 2. (File -> Export -> QuickTime Movie) I used "Current Settings'. If I look at my current video settings (Final Cut Pro -> Audo/Video Settings) my sequence preset is 1080i60. This creates a .mov file. This should be large. For me the file was 1.4 GB for a 7 minute movie.

2) Burn using Toast! Select the Video tab along the top of the screen. Then select "Blu-Ray Video" along the left hand side of the screen. Drag and drop the .mov file into the main window. Select an HD Meno from the Menu Style drop down box, then under encoding choose custom, and select "more". Under the more menu under Encoding I used the following values:

-Custom
-Mpeg-4 AVC
Average Bit Rate: 15
Maximum Bit Rate: 20
Motion Estimation: Best
Half-PEL: Checked
Reencoding: Automatic
Field Dominance: Automatic
Aspect Ration: 16:9
Audio Format: Dolby Digital
Data Rate: Automatic
Dynamic Range Compression: Unchecked

Then change the media type in the bottom right hand corner to "DVD". This is the type of media you are burning ONTO not the type of media you are making. I suppose if you have a very short clip, you could chose CD and use a blank CD.

3) Lastly, I thought my PS3 had been configured, but somewhere along the line it had reset itself and thought it was only capable of standard definition and therefore was down-converting my HD video to SD video!! Be sure that all the formats that your TV support are selected under the settings on the PS3. This can be done through a series of complicated menus under the video settings on the PS3. I won't get into that here.

[MAGMA]

This is helpful...thanks. But, one question:

When you exported your movie out of Final Cut Express, I know you sent it as a Quicktime file. However, which codec? Was it the AIC or H.264 codec. Let me know.

Thanks,

MAGMA

This post has been edited by MAGMA: 19 July 2008 - 08:54 PM

[dagnome]

This info is helpful - thanks and FWIW,
I have succefully used Toast 9.02 (with BD plugin) to write a BDMV title created using
Encore CS3 (Mac) to a DVD media disc to make a compatible (small) BD on DVD (BD5 or BD9)

This is a perfect, and inexpensive, way to create BD5/9 discs that can play on BD players;
(so far, I only have the SONY BDP-S350 to test it on, and it works file).

HTH - Bruce Nazarian, "the digital guy"

This post has been edited by dagnome: 23 July 2008 - 09:58 AM

[ivanatrox]

Hi Coz,

Thanks for providing the detailed information on your experience. Such information could really help Toast 9 users create BD on DVD to play on PS3. I will have this topic pinned for a while.

Thanks

Ivan

[njspencer79]

I finally figured out how to make it work.

I used QT Pro you can use Final Cut Express or Imovie QT conversion process. The original video came from FCE. I used H264 and AIC. I prefer the latter. PCM audio. Set resolution to 1440x1080 specify frame rate to 29.97 set to 1080i if using Apple Intermediate. Faster processing for me with AIC. I simply upconverted to this resolution using QT. I tested from 15Mb/20mb and 10Mb/16 the only difference I noticed was in high motion frankly it was too shaky anyway. Toast 9 should either deal w/ either format directly or convert or refuse. Much wasted time getting it to work. But I managed to get Mpeg4 avc going upto 1hr regular DVD. YMMV.

I am going to try Bluray as well.

Hope that helps.

This post has been edited by njspencer79: 31 July 2008 - 04:27 PM