Blu-Ray File Size

[Olympia TT]

I have successfully created a number of blu-ray discs using Toast 11 but I am still confused with the drastic change in file size from the original file to the file created on the disc. For example I have a 93 minute 81.45GB video I burned to a blu-ray. The original file, a Quick Time movie created from Final Cut Express - AIC 1920x1080 29.97fps .mov file, only takes up 5.43 on a 25GB disc. I have not changed any of the settings and I am wondering if this is the answer. The Blu-ray is output is MPEG-4 AVC 8.0 Mbps max. While the quality is generally pretty good it feels like it could be better and I am doing something wrong. Especially when I am able to put 6 hours of video onto a disc? I have used all the default settings and I have not changed the encoding. Thanks for any input.

[tsantee]

AIC is far less compressed than MPEG-4. So that's a big part of the difference. However, only 5.43 GB for a 93-minute full HD movie seems less than it should be to me. You say the setting is 8.0 Mbps maximum whereas Toast's default is 8.0 Mbps average with a maximum of 16 Mbps. You can go much greater than that as long as final size isn't too big to fit on the disc. I suggest doing some experimenting at different settings with one- or two-minute clips of scenes that have a lot of contrast or action. You can choose Save as Disc Image and then mount the resulting .toast file by control-clicking on it in the Finder and choosing Mount It from the contextual menu and then view it with Roxio Video Player from the Toast Extras menu.

[Olympia TT]

Thanks tsantee for the reply. I put down a bit of the wrong info in my first post. I meant to say the the setting I had used was 8.0 Mbps average with a maximum of 16 Mbps, just like you said the default is. I tried your suggestion of changing these settings quite drastically and ended up with video looking jittery or almost as if there was a drop frame effect. That was with 16Mbps average and 24Mbps max. I will try some lower settings and see what it does.

Using Final Cut Express I have always read that exporting using Quick Time was the best option for HD video. I can also try using Quick Time Conversion and maybe change some of the settings on the original export? Just not sure what I would adjust? Thanks again for your time and input.

[tsantee]

You might check keystone.net to see if there are suggestions there about maximizing video quality for Blu-ray. Their focus is Final Cut Pro but it should be similar for FCE. One thing I've found is to be certain you're exporting as progressive and not interlaced.