Peter

Many thanks. I am learning little by little ! I have now realised that it is not possible to create a Blu-ray DVD disc. What i was attempting to do is create a AVCHD disc which DVDA dosent support directly (This seems like an omission as Blue-ray recorders are still not common) leaving AVCHD as the only real option.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_high_definition_optical_disc_formats

I will follow this procedure and let you know how i get on

Thanks
Paul

I've done several BD-HD DVD's with Vegas 10 & DVDA 5.2.

You render out a BD template mpeg-2 file with a bitrate no higher then 18mbs (important!), then bring it in to DVDA in a BD project, set the media to DVD (the 4.5 or 9, whatever you're using), make your menu's, etc & then burn it.

You can only do mpeg-2 on DVD media & you can't go higher then 18mbs. Besides that, it's ~30 minute BD disc.

EDIT: of course double check your firmware version. It seems, for a while, every time I'd buy a newly released BD I'd need to update my firmware to play it.

"You can only do mpeg-2 on DVD media "

Not so. I have made a so-called BD5 disc with AVCHD files (MPEG4 AVC) on a regular 4.7GB DVD using DVDA. Its files are playable on my PC.

However to play the disc on my BD player, I need to use AVCHD Patcher.

If the video bit rate is 18 Mbps you can get about 40 minutes on a 4.7 GB DVD.

Then I'm still right: to make a BD DVD in DVDA 5.x you need to do it mpeg-2. AVCHD isn't an option. It requires a separate program. If you want it to just play on your computer use something else that's more suited.

No. Paul wants to make an AVCHD disc, so MPEG2 is not an option.

Also, you can't say "You can only do mpeg-2 on DVD media ", because you certainly can put MPEG4 AVC on DVD media, which will play on my PC, complete with menu, using Arcsoft Total Media Theatre. It may well play on some hardware players as well (Samsung?).

So as I see it, Paul has to either use AVCHD Patcher with DVDA or use another product completely, such as DVDMovieFactory, PowerDirector or MultiAVCHD if he wants to play AVCHD on his Panasonic player or PS3..

You're taking what I'm sayin out of context. He is interested in DVDA (some version). He can only do Mpeg-2 BD-DVD's in DVDA, no exceptions at this point. He's not interested in playing on a PC, Mac or Linux machine or interested in playing a non-video compliant disc on a DVD/BD player via WMV/AVC/etc. He wants DVDA to do a BD compatible DVD disc with AVCHD but never states that's his source, only he wants that as the finished product.

What I stated is the only way it can be done with the software he's trying, that hasn't changed. I said he would need to use something else to get that specific product, but his initial statement is that DVDA doesn't make BD compatible DVD's, which it does.

Well we aren't here to argue, sorry discuss, what the OP wants, just to help him. It's now up to him to ask for any further clarification or help.

PeterDuke and TheHappyFriar

First of all, many thanks to you both. I really do appreciate your efforts in trying to help somebody who is struggling to know what he is actually asking for ! Since the post I have discovered this which explains much (sorry I dont know how to create a URL)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_high_definition_optical_disc_formats

I am now sure I want to create a AVCHD DVD. I have downloaded AVCHD Patcher and created a disc which was recognised by the PS3 as such, but didn't play so i'm going to try again, must have missed a step somewhere.

The original source is .mts files from a Panasonic SD-60

I am sure an upcoming version of DVDA will include project templates for what seem to be the 3 most significant optical formats (Blu-ray, DVD and AVCHD) This wouldn't seem to be hugley difficult as one file compression typers supported by Blu-ray is the same as AVCHD i.e. H.264 AVC

Thanks Again
Paul

Recently I tested out several approaches to putting short (less than 30 minutes) HD projects onto a DVD with blu-ray structure to be played back in HD on a blu-ray player (eventually I’ll spring for a blu-ray burner). I wanted to determine if I could use Vegas 10 to create the project and DVDA5.2 to burn it without the use of other software referred to in the many postings on this forum and also on the Vegas Pro forum on the subject. Also I wanted to see which settings worked best. There has been a lot of discussion about BD5 versus an AVCHD disc (they have a slightly different file structure) but the bottom line for me is whether or not the disc players properly in friends’ blu-ray players with all menus intact. The original poster mentioned the studio version but hopefully this will be applicable.
Here are the specs:
-original camera (Sony) footage shot in HD: 1080-60i (1920 x 1080, 29.97fps) 16Mbps
-projects done in Vegas 10. Original Footage with added transitions, video effects, etc. Properties matched footage. Rendered Sony AVC using AVCHD 1920 x 1080-60i 5.1, 16Mbps drop down box option to an .m2ts file.
-After preparing three separate projects for my BD5, I prepared and burned with DVDA. There was a menu with choices and audio. Properties were specified as Blu-Ray, 4.7, 18000 Mbps, 5.1, 16:9, video format AVC (options from drop down boxes).My object throughout was to maintain the same type of properties from the original footage in Vegas to DVDA burning as much as possible. I was tempted to adjust 18000 Mbps to 16000 but left it. After preparing the blu-ray project (ISO) with the DVDA Make a Blu-Ray Disc ‘prepare’ function, I burned with it DVDA using all default options except I burned it at 6x. I used no other burning software including the internet downloads mentioned.
-the resultant BD5 played perfectly with all menus working properly on three separate models of BD players (two Sony and Panasonic). With a PS3, the disc was only recognized as a data disc and played just the separate files.
-I also attempted various combinations of rendering the projects in MPEG in Vegas with and without separate audio rendering, and using the DVDA MPEG settings to burn BD5s with various options. One of the projects didn’t prepare in DVDA MPEG format and the Mbps had to be under 19000Mbps for the others to prevent choppy playback. Overall, the AVC setting worked best and I had no issues with Vegas 10.0c rendering in AVC. If I was doing a blu-ray project to be burned to blu-ray, then I’d test out other approaches using the Blu-ray default drop down options. The product manuals with both Vegas and DVDA didn’t really give enough detail on preparing BD5/AVCHD discs.
Paulie, let us know how it works out!

As I said at the beginning of the post, i'm evaluating DVDA and VMS against Powerdirector and thanks to your help, i'm coming to the end of that process.

If I was going to be putting a lot of creativity into the making videos then VMS is way ahead. By comparison Powerdirector has a similar feature set but its implementation seems crude and clunky.

In comparison to DVDAS though Powerdirector has a fantastic set of rendering/burning options that work really well without fuss. I have rendered AVCHD to DVD and even to an SD card which both played first time on my BD player.

I have about 25 days left to get through the homework you have set me to see if I can get comfortable enough with DVDAS + workarounds. Firstly creating an AVCHD DVD and secondly getting a AVCHD image on to an SD card.

Paulie

I successfully created a "Blu-ray DVD from AVCHD files today thanks to the adie given by Peter. Once I got the hang of it, it is very easy. I think it is a BD5/9 disk

I think I now understand and agree why Sony dont offer this (AVCHD) as a disc authoring format. I am now comfortable that

AVCHD is the a standard HD image capture format and is also supported in terms of playing back media taken out of an AVCHD recorder

Bluray and DVD are the current industry standards for authoring/playback

BD5/BD9 is an unsupported format and should be treated as such. There are no futureproofing issues though as the format is unencrypted and the raw video footage can accessed directly.

Thanks
Paulie

BD5 and BD9 discs, while part of the BluRay standard are implemented in various BluRay players in hit or miss fashion. I have an LG BD player that will play those disc formats with no problem. I have used MP4-AVC up to 16Mb/s on both discs with full menus and outstanding video/sound quality.

So to answer your original question it is not that DVDA is making non-compliant discs but rather which players have implemented that format for playback.

am I missing someting here ???
I have tried almost everything, but cannot get a 30min avchd file into blueray format on a DVD .. (makine a smaler version less that the 4Gb possible for a USB, I can play the AVCHD file directly on my PC/player, but I need a 7.4GB file to be placed on a DVD in best format)
When tried to use DVD format the output a re extremly bad :-(

Where do I speficy the max bitrate for rendering ?
I can only select 8mbps or 25 mbps or in Custom I cannot see where to specify the max bitrate ??
When tried a small file in Blueray format with 8mbps on a DVD, my player (sony) claim that the format is unsupported and shows it as a AVCHD file ??
Please help

The AVCHD files created by my camera are 16 Mbps for the video and a bit under 18 Mbps including audio. At 18 Mbps, a 4.7 GB DVD will hold 34.8 minutes (which I have verified, approximately). So if you set the bit rate to 18 Mbps total, you should have no problems fitting 30 mins onto a DVD with good quality.

What bit rate is your source AVCHD file? (Use Mediainfo if you don't know). You should set the bit rate in Vegas or other editor if you need to change it.

Playing such a DVD is another problem. Not all sofware and hardware players will play it. My Panasonic Blu-ray recorder requires patching with AVCHD patcher as mentioned in my first post in this thread.

"When tried to use DVD format the output a re extremly bad :-("

There are a few simple rules you should follow when converting AVCHD to SD MPEG2 for a DVD, but that is another story.