How to create HD DVD/BluRay discs on Mac without spending + 500€?

[lapino]

I started this thread because it seems interesting to get opinions on this subject (coupled with my other thread about AVCHD editing on Mac). Anyway, I know FCE and even iMovie can be used pretty well for creating HD clips, but I would like to export these together with a DVD-like menu structure so I can choose which clips are displayed for example on my PS3.

So essentially, I want to create a DVD with HD content (playable on newer devices like Popcorn Hour, PS3, Xbox360 etc...). iDVD seems unable to create a HD DVD, but downsizes to SD. I do not necessarily want to burn BluRay (too expensive) but quite a bit of (other OS) software easily allows to create a HD menu and export this to BluRay DVD discs (BluRay content and structure, but only written on DVD's so less long/less content).

 

[bigbossbmb]

Toast, but you'll only get about 20mins of HD per disc afaik.

 

[lapino]

Guess maybe I should be thinking of just storing my files on a USB drive and connect that to my PCH/PS3 and steer away from disc-based storage all together. I know this would be better but it just is less easy for my wife for example to do this using an external device when she's used to dvd menus.

 

[TheStrudel]

Toast will do what you desire. You'll have to fork out however much it is for the latest version and the blu-ray plugin, but then you can burn a blu-ray file structure to a regular DVD and even have menus, and it will work seamlessly like a blu-ray on your PS3 (yes, I have tested this. It works).

 

[ibglowin]

40 min of HD on a dual layer which is not bad and certainly cheaper than a 25gb BD.

 

[treehorn]

Not to hijack or anything but...

...are you saying that one can burn 20 minutes of HD footage on a standard DVD if one uses Toast?

And this would be a viable way of getting 20 minutes of HD footage to, say, a TV station?

 

[TheStrudel]

You can, but how does the TV station want footage? If they just said, "On a DVD," ask for clarification - certainly they'll have detailed encoding instructions. MPEG-2 alone comes in many flavors.

 

[ChemiosMurphy]

Not to hijack or anything but...

...are you saying that one can burn 20 minutes of HD footage on a standard DVD if one uses Toast?

And this would be a viable way of getting 20 minutes of HD footage to, say, a TV station?

HDCAM SR or another high level tape based format..

 

[treehorn]

You can, but how does the TV station want footage? If they just said, "On a DVD," ask for clarification - certainly they'll have detailed encoding instructions. MPEG-2 alone comes in many flavors.

We've just started to have a station or two ask for HiDef so are looking into upgrading cameras. And I've been investigating how to get footage to them (of course you ask and get a generic "in HiDef" answer...because the people asking are never EVER the people needing...)

So was a bit excited over the concept that one could give footage on a DVD (one less thing to upgrade...)

 

[bigbossbmb]

well it entirely depends on the station's broadcast requirements...

if they will accept a Blu-ray disc, then yes you could do it to a standard DVD5 using Toast (for up to 20mins of footage). I don't know of any stations that will accept a BD though. For HD it is either a video file using the codec of their choice (ProRes, Uncompressed, DVCProHD, Animation, etc) or an HD tape format (DVCPro, HDCam, D5, etc).

 

[Nermal]

It does of course depend on the compression. DVD Studio Pro can squeeze a full-length 1080p movie onto an 8.5 GB DVD, but whether the quality is good enough depends on your tastes, etc.

 

[treehorn]

well it entirely depends on the station's broadcast requirements...

if they will accept a Blu-ray disc, then yes you could do it to a standard DVD5 using Toast (for up to 20mins of footage). I don't know of any stations that will accept a BD though. For HD it is either a video file using the codec of their choice (ProRes, Uncompressed, DVCProHD, Animation, etc) or an HD tape format (DVCPro, HDCam, D5, etc).

And of course, the joy for us is that we don't deal with the stations directly, we get told by publicists that "they want the footage in HD"

Kinda like the webmaster yesterday who said he wanted an mov file (ummmm...can you be more specific? 'cause that can mean a 1.2MB file or a 1.2GB file depending on compression or lack thereof)

But I digress...

Thanks for the tips on what to ask for and what formats are being used.

 

[WhoPhD]

This is quite interesting.

If I use x264 and do the encoding myself at insane-quality variable rates, and somehow get Toast to burn this as BluRay to a DVD5 disc, that's quite a lot of good-quality HD I could get onto the disc right there.

8.5GB could fit 1, 2 or 3 hours of 1080p24 or 720p60, depending a lot on the nature of the footage of course, how "stressful" it is.

Have a look at the good quality of some BluRay rips re-encoded in x264 floating around BitTorrent. Some of them now have 1920x800 24fps.

BluRay is supposed to be able to work with both MPEG-2 and H.264, right?

CK.

 

[lapino]

Is there a way to encode h.264 mkv's with FCE?