Taking Forever To Encode

[unknown user]

I just brought a external blu ray burner for my macbook pro and would like to make copies of my movies onto a blu ray disc (which are already are blu ray) I have toast 11 with BD plug in. Most of my videos are in MKV formats. When trying to burn, toast automatically starts to encode the video (which is 8Gb or higher, depending on the video) and it just takes FOREVER. Can't I just burn the MKV file to the blu ray disc without it going thru the encoding process or does it have to convert it to a different video format? I don't have a pc I only use Mac. What are my options? The movies are 1080P and already h.246 and I don't want too lose any quality. Someone pleaseee give me advice.

 

Thank You VERY much.

[tsantee]

I've seen the very long encoding times, too. I haven't done any testing to see if there is a quicker way. You can do some testing by starting with a 1-minute (or so) video and choosing Save as Disc Image. That way you won't waste any discs but can compare encoding times. Then try the different quality presets and also go to the Custom Encoder Settings window and try both the MPEG 2 and MPEG 4 settings. Be sure to empty the Roxio Converted Items folder after each test so Toast doesn't just reuse the files it already encoded.

 

Another thing to try is to burn a data disc in DVD-Rom (UDF) format using your video files. Some Blu-ray players can read from data discs if the video is in a format that the player accepts. If that works there isn't any encoding but you don't have a Blu-ray video disc menu and it may not play on other players. My Blu-ray player supports streaming video from my Mac so I don't burn discs at all. There are devices such as the WD TV Live that play streaming video from a Mac or connected hard drive to a TV.

 

Roxio is nearing completion of an update to Toast 11. Maybe it will improve Blu-ray encoding speeds.

[mike457]

In my experience, any re-encoding of an MKV file through Toast is impossibly slow. I usually make standard DVDs for friends, and I either use Handbrake to convert the file to an M4V or use VisualHub to convert it to DV. With either of those formats, Toast's encoding speed improves dramatically.

[Peace Freak]

I am in a similar situation with a MacBook Pro (13 inch, mid 2009 with 4 gigs of RAM). I have a 9 gig blu-ray project; a 2 hour home video and two slide shows.

 

In my case I thought I would do the smart thing and save it as a Disk Image before burning. In doing so it took a full 12.5 hours to go through the encoding process and complete! I then opened it believing that I would be able to burn it to disk without re-encoding, only to find that it started the encoding process again! I am watching it now and it looks like it is going to be another 12 hours!

 

The reason I thought it would not reencode is I chose "Reencoding Never", following the instructions on this page:

 

 

which walks you through the process of burning a Blu-ray disc with a custom menu.

 

In my mind, repeat encoding defeats the purpose of making a disk image. Perhaps my work flow is incorrect or I missed a setting.

 

Any advice would be apreciated so that future projects do not take so long...

[tsantee]

I am in a similar situation with a MacBook Pro (13 inch, mid 2009 with 4 gigs of RAM). I have a 9 gig blu-ray project; a 2 hour home video and two slide shows.

 

In my case I thought I would do the smart thing and save it as a Disk Image before burning. In doing so it took a full 12.5 hours to go through the encoding process and complete! I then opened it believing that I would be able to burn it to disk without re-encoding, only to find that it started the encoding process again! I am watching it now and it looks like it is going to be another 12 hours!

 

The reason I thought it would not reencode is I chose "Reencoding Never", following the instructions on this page:

 

 

which walks you through the process of burning a Blu-ray disc with a custom menu.

 

In my mind, repeat encoding defeats the purpose of making a disk image. Perhaps my work flow is incorrect or I missed a setting.

 

Any advice would be apreciated so that future projects do not take so long...

Burn the disc image using the Image File setting in the Toast Copy window. Don't put it back in the Video window because it's already done.