All -

At Value Electronics today covering the HD-DVD east coast launch.

This morning, using the new Ulead DVD Movie Factory 5, I was able to take some of my Sony HDR-HC1 High Def HDV footage and author an HD-DVD .iso file which I burned to a DVD+R disc using Nero and the new Toshiba HD-DVD Player recognized the disc format as HD-DVD and it played back in glorious 1080i format.

Inexpensive program -- and will allow us to Author HD-DVD discs until HD-DVD bruners and media are available and cheaper. A single layer DVD disc can hold 20 minutes of HDV footage and a Dual-Layer can hold 40 minutes.

Have fun all!
Aaron

That is great news and gives us the first reasonable option for HDV media (and relatively cheap too). Thanks for posting.

I was waiting to see how things shake out but this may push me over the edge.

Fantastic, was hoping that could be done.
Please give more details, Nero version? and is it just a data disc?
I use Pinnacle S10+ for editing, after they came up with a updated version it works reasonably well.
For me doing what you did would be the only reason to by a HD-DVD player at this time and price.

GREAT
Gene

Gene,

I used Ulead DVD Movie Factory 5 (just came out recently) as the authoring software. I started an HD-DVD Project (NOT DVD!), imported my clips from my Sony HDR-HC1 HDV Camcorder and used one of the default menus.

The software won't let you burn the project to a DVD (it expects to see a blank, burnable HD-DVD), so I saved the project to an ISO file. I then went into Nero Express 6.3.1 (preloaded on my Media Center PC) and burned the .iso disk image to a blank DVD+R (also a DVD+RW). Both discs played.

Good Luck!
Aaron


Fantastic, was hoping that could be done.
Please give more details, Nero version? and is it just a data disc?
I use Pinnacle S10+ for editing, after they came up with a updated version it works reasonably well.
For me doing what you did would be the only reason to by a HD-DVD player at this time and price.

GREAT
Gene

Can you take a .ts stream and convert it using this process? Just curious ;)

Can you take a .ts stream and convert it using this process? Just curious ;)
Since HDV is .ts, I'd think the answer is yes.

Ron

I used Ulead DVD Movie Factory 5 (just came out recently) as the authoring software. I started an HD-DVD Project (NOT DVD!), imported my clips from my Sony HDR-HC1 HDV Camcorder and used one of the default menus.

The software won't let you burn the project to a DVD (it expects to see a blank, burnable HD-DVD), so I saved the project to an ISO file. I then went into Nero Express 6.3.1 (preloaded on my Media Center PC) and burned the .iso disk image to a blank DVD+R (also a DVD+RW). Both discs played.Any idea as to what kinda bit-rates you're getting for final product?

you need to convert the .ts to an mpeg2 program stream (.mpg)

you can use VLC for this www.videolan.org

then use ulead's DVD movie Factory 5 to author the HD DVD

make sure you have 1920x1080 selected in the project settings (the default is 1440x1080)

you will loose the 5.1 audio since DVD MF 5 only supports DD 2.0 audio.


-Tyler

DVD Movie Factory 5 is not converting my Sony HC1 footage since it's already in a format (MPEG2) the Toshiba can play. The bitrate is the same as the raw files from the camcorder -- 25 Mbps....

Aaron


Any idea as to what kinda bit-rates you're getting for final product?

I'm trying to use ULead to author an HD-DVD ISO image from an MPEG2 file. But, when I get to the burn page, the option to create a disc image is grayed out. If I change from an HD-DVD to a regular DVD project, the option is available.

Any ideas on what might be causing this? Thanks much.

Click on the double arrow button (more output options - right side of window) and then you will see the options for creating folders and disc image....

Aaron


I'm trying to use ULead to author an HD-DVD ISO image from an MPEG2 file. But, when I get to the burn page, the option to create a disc image is grayed out. If I change from an HD-DVD to a regular DVD project, the option is available.

Any ideas on what might be causing this? Thanks much.

What HD authoring program supports 5.1 DD or is there a beta?

you need to convert the .ts to an mpeg2 program stream (.mpg)

you can use VLC for this www.videolan.org

then use ulead's DVD movie Factory 5 to author the HD DVD

make sure you have 1920x1080 selected in the project settings (the default is 1440x1080)

you will loose the 5.1 audio since DVD MF 5 only supports DD 2.0 audio.


-Tyler

aaron.s
Thanks for the input
I gather that I can use Pinnacle S10+ to edit the HC1 output and make a file in the same format and use Nero to burn it as a data file?
Not quite ready to get the Toshiba HD DVD player, will wait untill the price drops a bit. Saw posts that it is down to $430 mailorder already. $350-400 is my threshold.
I favor the HD-DVD format because it appears more robust and inherently less expensive to produce, both soft and hardware.

Ihave burned data DVD's in the past, using the HDV2 format and storing 20 min or so. works fine from the PC. And it is the original format, so no conversion loss.
Using S10+ have vonverted to WMV HD , but that takes about 25 Hrs for a 20 min video even with a dual core pentium.
Gene

Has anyone used Pinnacle S10+?. Works fairly well now with the HC1 and is much more versatile than Ulead, yet the price is about the same, after discounts.
Gene

Click on the double arrow button (more output options - right side of window) and then you will see the options for creating folders and disc image....

AaronThanks for the info. But I had already done that and this is what showed me all the options, including the grayed out ones. Speculation on the Ulead forum is that this may be a problem with activating the "Try Before You Buy" version of the software, rather than buying and installing the full suite. But, since I can't find a way to download the full suite, I'm kinda stuck. :(

Wi-FI, how is the videolan ts to mpeg conversion done?.
I use videolan for HD etc pb but have not found the conversion part.

I have D-VHS and have put some of those unprotected videos on my hard drive, I think they are all TS, play ok with VLC and Intervideo plat.
Thanks all.
Gene

Anyone know if there were some problems with audio while authoring Last Samarai and Phantom of the opera?
Over on the hd player threads many are reporting a signal down about 10 db from the coax and toslink and the player displaying DTS.
Serenity apparently does not have this problem.
People are trying to find out if this is a player problem or just the way the two titles were made.

Thanks for the info. But I had already done that and this is what showed me all the options, including the grayed out ones. Speculation on the Ulead forum is that this may be a problem with activating the "Try Before You Buy" version of the software, rather than buying and installing the full suite. But, since I can't find a way to download the full suite, I'm kinda stuck. :(

I just bought the full version (i.e. did not install the try-before you buy version) and I have the same problem you do! The save ISO is greyed out and can not be selected...

Aaron, did you do anything special to get this "save ISO" option for HD-DVD active? I would really like to see this work !!

/Lars

Something doesn't seem right here. Not saying he was lying, but there doesn't seem to be an option to do HDDVD iso files. I think I just wasted $50

Something doesn't seem right here. Not saying he was lying, but there doesn't seem to be an option to do HDDVD iso files. I think I just wasted $50

Me too... I am a little bit frustrated. I sure hope the $50 was not a waste and that there is a way to get this to work!!

Aaron, you mention that you used a DVD+R disk. Since the player specifications indicate it only support DVD-R I was a little bit surprised to see this... are you sure it was not a DVD-R disk you used?

Guys -

I have no idea why you can't select the option to write to an image file. I've installed DVDMF5 on 2 machines, my Dual-Core P4 and my Core Duo Mac Mini (dual-booted to WinXP) and both give me the option to save to an image file.

I've had DVDMF5 for at least a month now (v5.0.0000.0) - perhaps Ulead has changed something and the current version isn't allowing this? I know they talk about a "Burning Pack" on their website - but that is for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray burners when they come out. Are you sure you guys are importing the right kind of video clips - and are sure you're working with an HD-DVD project?

Has anyone posted this on the Ulead forums?

And I did burn my project(s) so far to DVD+R and DVD+RW and the Toshiba HD-DVD Player recognizes them without a problem - I don't have any -R and -RW discs around at the moment.

Aaron

Guys -

I have no idea why you can't select the option to write to an image file. I've installed DVDMF5 on 2 machines, my Dual-Core P4 and my Core Duo Mac Mini (dual-booted to WinXP) and both give me the option to save to an image file.

I've had DVDMF5 for at least a month now (v5.0.0000.0) - perhaps Ulead has changed something and the current version isn't allowing this? I know they talk about a "Burning Pack" on their website - but that is for HD-DVD and Blu-Ray burners when they come out. Are you sure you guys are importing the right kind of video clips - and are sure you're working with an HD-DVD project?

Has anyone posted this on the Ulead forums?

And I did burn my project(s) so far to DVD+R and DVD+RW and the Toshiba HD-DVD Player recognizes them without a problem - I don't have any -R and -RW discs around at the moment.

Aaron

Thanks for the update Aaron! I will have to investigate this further with the Ulead tech support to see if they can assist. The version I downloaded is 5.0.0189.0, so perhaps there is a bug in this version you don't have in the earlier version. I'll post back if I find a way to resolve this issue.

By the way - It's good to hear that we can use DVD+R discs on the Toshiba!

LARS -

By the way - on your recently purchased & Downloaded DVDMF5, are you getting more than the 1 "Basic" HD Menu Template? I can't seem to find any others on my copy.....

Aaron

I also have the same problem that I can not select the ISO option. I did though, find a neat way of working around it. If you render the project out to a folder, you can burn it using Nero, or something similar I suppose. I started a new DVD-Video disc in Nero and added the HVDVD_TS folder to the disc; ending up with an AUDIO_TS, VIDEO_TS, and HVDVD_TS folders. Here's where you have options. You can either throw some small unrelated file in the VIDEO_TS folder, Nero will not burn unless there is something in there. You will get a few errors while burning, but it works in the end. Or, you can create an SD version of your project and put it on the same disc. Obviously, file size becomes an issue here. Now I will admit, I did not try this on my player yet. My HD-XA1 won't be here until Wednesday. I did, however, throw it in my Mac and right away it came with a box stating that I had inserted a hybrid disc and to choose either the SD or HD version. I'm hoping that the Toshiba players will do something similar, or at least jump right to the HD version. If anyone tries this that has a player, report back. I'd like to know how it goes.

I Do not own a HD-DVD player, but since many of you seem to not be able to make an image, I tried it. It works fine for me. I just made a quick disc and the option is there.

http://agprojects.net/pictures/hdauthor.JPG

And if you need to convert ts to mpeg2, I used HDTVtoMPEG2. Worked wonderfully.

Edit:
And here is some filesize info.
I started out with a 625mb TS file that was 8:52. Converted to mpeg2, it was 635mb. The ISO file with no menu is 616mb.
The Disc has one folder, HVDVD_TS, and four files in that folder;
HV000I01.BUP
HV000I01.IFO
HV001I01.BUP
HV001I01.IFO
HV001T01.EVO

The .EVO file contains the video data.

I Do not own a HD-DVD player, but since many of you seem to not be able to make an image, I tried it. It works fine for me. I just made a quick disc and the option is there.

http://agprojects.net/pictures/hdauthor.JPG

And if you need to convert ts to mpeg2, I used HDTVtoMPEG2. Worked wonderfully.

Edit:
And here is some filesize info.
I started out with a 625mb TS file that was 8:52. Converted to mpeg2, it was 635mb. The ISO file with no menu is 616mb.
The Disc has one folder, HVDVD_TS, and four files in that folder;
HV000I01.BUP
HV000I01.IFO
HV001I01.BUP
HV001I01.IFO
HV001T01.EVO

The .EVO file contains the video data.

What version of MovieFactory do you have (I have 5.0.0189.0)?

Try this; use Movie Factory 5 trial, output to a folder (I used some WM9 trailers for the source), ensure that the mpeg options are set to 1920x1080 rather than 1440x1080. Once the output is in a folder add AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS, use IMGTOOLClassic to generate an ISO then burn the ISO created to a DVD. When the disc is put in the player it spins for a while and comes up indicating a HD DVD has been inserted. Works like a charm, now for some dual layer media and some more testing before I buy the full version. The conversion wasn't that smooth but I only used single pass for the conversion.

I tried a different version, 5.0.0001.0 and the ISO option is there. It is also a full version and not the trial so I am not sure which change actually fixed the problem.

Does anyone know if Pinnacle S10+ will do this? I looked through the menus and couldn't find anything obvious besides creating an MPEG-4 file. I would really like to be able to create HD-DVD's that the Toshiba will play.

No idea Chris, but the MPEG4 in S10+ produces poor results with HD, too many artifacts.
My ideal would be to be able to use the original HC1 data stream w/o conversion, my understanding is that Aron.s used it that way.
Gene

Well I just did an upconvert/re-author of part of the Kong 05 DVD to 1920x1080 (HD-DVD) format and it looks amazing . Don't ask me how or why but it does look better than just popping the retail dvd in and upconverting through the HD-A1 :confused: .

--- Used Ulead DVD Movie Factory 5 (2 Pass) @1920x1080 for the encode ;) .

---------- Jason

Well I just did an upconvert/re-author of part of the Kong 05 DVD to 1920x1080 (HD-DVD) format and it looks amazing Not surprising. That would be what we HTPC owners with TT and ffdshow up scaling to 2X DVD resolution and projecting with a 1080 FP have been enjoying for the last few years or so.

Vern

Just found this thread from a fellow AVS member. Very cool since I already have the Sony and HD-A1. I will be trying this out over the next few days.

Hey Jason,

What kind of video and audio are you using? I ask because I have Apple's DVD Studio Pro 4 and have been doing a bunch of tests with HD DVDs on DVD-R.

If I encode the video as MPEG-2, and use PCM audio, I can get a disc that plays back perfectly. If I try to encode the video as h.264, the player will recognize the disc and it will display the video, but only play back the I frames, which are about 2 frames per second. The display does show that the video is h.264.

Also, if I try to use standard Dolby Digital (stereo or 5.1) I get no audio at all, and the display on the player reports that the audio is DD+.

Anyway, if you have any additional information, please post it.

Thanks.

Not surprising. That would be what we HTPC owners with TT and ffdshow up scaling to 2X DVD resolution and projecting with a 1080 FP have been enjoying for the last few years or so.

Vern


--- I am an avid HTPC'er as well (have been for about 5 years) but I don't have a 1080p FP-PJ ( just 720p for me and it still looks great ;) ) . The HD-A1 does not exceed TT/ffdshow HTPC SD-DVD playback but it is the closest that I have seen from any other source ( I am talking about upconversion of SD-DVD through the HD-A1 , not comparing HTPC SD-DVD to HD-DVD ) .

-------------- Jason

Hey Jason,

What kind of video and audio are you using? I ask because I have Apple's DVD Studio Pro 4 and have been doing a bunch of tests with HD DVDs on DVD-R.

If I encode the video as MPEG-2, and use PCM audio, I can get a disc that plays back perfectly. If I try to encode the video as h.264, the player will recognize the disc and it will display the video, but only play back the I frames, which are about 2 frames per second. The display does show that the video is h.264.

Also, if I try to use standard Dolby Digital (stereo or 5.1) I get no audio at all, and the display on the player reports that the audio is DD+.

Anyway, if you have any additional information, please post it.

Thanks.

Casey ,

--- I have only been using standard .vob/mpeg2 files and have not done any h.264 files . I tried some .ts files but the ones that I have (HD trailers) would not convert properly with HDTV to MPEG2 (v 1.11) . I am considering trying some WMV9-HD video but that is probably going to be even more difficult . When I do the .vob files I can maintain DD 5.1 straight through to the HD-DVD and the HD-A1 plays it as DD 5.1 (via toslink) .


----------- Jason

Casey ,

--- I have only been using standard .vob/mpeg2 files and have not done any h.264 files . I tried some .ts files but the ones that I have (HD trailers) would not convert properly with HDTV to MPEG2 (v 1.11) . I am considering trying some WMV9-HD video but that is probably going to be even more difficult . When I do the .vob files I can maintain DD 5.1 straight through to the HD-DVD and the HD-A1 plays it as DD 5.1 (via toslink) .


----------- Jason


Thanks Jason. I will do some more tests and report back.

Also, if I try to use standard Dolby Digital (stereo or 5.1) I get no audio at all, and the display on the player reports that the audio is DD+.

(I don't yet have DVDSP, but) I'd suggest looking here to see what help fellow users can offer:

http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=952

Thanks for the update Aaron! I will have to investigate this further with the Ulead tech support to see if they can assist. The version I downloaded is 5.0.0189.0, so perhaps there is a bug in this version you don't have in the earlier version. I'll post back if I find a way to resolve this issue.

By the way - It's good to hear that we can use DVD+R discs on the Toshiba!


I have the same issue, any update or work around?

When I converted some .ts files with hdtv2mpeg DVDMS took them in, churned for a while during the conversion and then pronounced that it didn't accpet that flavour mpeg file. Tried feeding it wm9 avi worked fine until about 3% when the app developed a critical error. I'm still looking for a HD format that the app is comfortable taking...

I contacted ULead about the grayed out issue and they are working on it. They expect to get back to me in a day or so. BTW, anyone who has purchased the software has 30 days for a full refund.

I contacted ULead about the grayed out issue and they are working on it. They expect to get back to me in a day or so. BTW, anyone who has purchased the software has 30 days for a full refund.

Great, Kipp. let us know what Ulead says. looks like they might sell a couple of copies once they get it fixed... :)

Took a 4.7 DVD with some MPEG2 video, to see if it played ,to BB Magnolia. The player took the DVD and froze. That is the last I saw of it. BB promised to call me once they got it out of the player.
Gene

Took a 4.7 DVD with some MPEG2 video, to see if it played ,to BB Magnolia. The player took the DVD and froze. That is the last I saw of it. BB promised to call me once they got it out of the player.
GenePressing and holding the power button for 5 or so seconds reboots the machine allowing you to remove the disc.

Is there a way to create a HD video file directly rather than create the HD-DVD files? My Buffalo DVD player can play a HD video file from my PC via network but it can't play a HD-DVD. I'm testing out doing slideshows that way.

How many people here have so far duplicated Arron's success in burning HD video onto a regular 4.7G disc and got it to play on a HD-A1 at 1080i? is that a process that will work with most average Joe's setups here?

Yes I have. I took a few clips, MPEG2 and WMV, and created my own red laser HD-DVD. Ulead converts all files to MPEG2 it seems though. I'd say to get it to work, you'd have to have at least a moderate amount of knowledge in both PC skills and video formats to pull it off. On a side note, I'm also trying to get DVD Studio Pro to create something nice. But surprisingly, it's not going that smooth.

Nero 6.6 Ultra Edition has some kind of HD or HD_DVD option , it lists support for the high-efficiency H.264/AVC video compression and the multichannel AAC audio codec, and so I am told does Nero 7, anyone used it and for what, with any success? :cool:

I don't have the software in front of me but think HD-DVD or Bluray is actually lised on the menus somewhere, though for what functionality I am not sure.

It can capture and export directly to H.263 and H.264 MPEG-4, and it delivers improved slide show video quality. In addition to its new LAN capabilities, ShowTime adds the ability to play H.264 video content so it sounds interesting. I have it, time to play with those functions I guess.

I have Nero 6. Where is the HD-DVD option?

It's worked for me with a couple of DVD-R's so far. I'm currently burning a DVD+R DL to see how that fairs. Sources; trailers, captured HD shows, HD imported via firewire (although videoredo doesn't like those), avi's and a couple of mpg's. I'm using DVD Moviefactory 5 and other than it being somewhat particular about what files it will import it hasn't been a real problem. If the dual layer media would come down to a decent price (< $.75 ea) I would consider using them to archive my favorite HD shows instead of putting them on hdds.

What version of MF5 do you have? If you have the disk, would you consider selling it to me?

I'm on the third day of the try before you buy copy. I use Nero to burn the compilations buy just adding it to a DVD-Video template. Generating an iso isn't necessary.

I'm impressed that this works and it suddenly makes me think I should get a HD-DEV player. But I've a few questions...

Why does it have to be MPEG2? Is that just because of MF5, or is it because the HD-DVD player will only play VOB files from a SD DVD? Would it not be better to encode the video with something more efficient? For example, MP4 supposedly compresses 3 times better than MPeg 2 - thus fitting an hour on a single layer.

I'd like to replace my D-VHS deck with a HD-DVD player, but I have to be able to fit at least 2 hours on a disk before that will be possible. This would work well for timeshifting football games.

I found this link to a press release:
http://www.digitalproducer.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=39628
which seems to imply MF5 will support more than MPEG 2.

The Toshiba loaded the cheap and cheerful RiData DVD+R DL fine. The menu came up and I was able to select/play my HD content without a problem. As far as my limited exposure to MF5 goes all I have seen for allowed encoding options is MPEG @ 1920x1080 or 1440x1080 with various audio options. One problem I have run across is that MF5 seems to have issues with encoding multiple files at the same data rates. The first file was captured HD @ 1920x1080i and was displayed properly, the second was a 720x480 captured home movie that showed a sync rate of 48hz which my projector wasn't happy with. Switching to 1280x720 on the player fixed the problem with the display but I was able to cause the problem again by selecting 1080i. A previous disc I made with all SD content was upconverted without issue. I'd like to find a way to get my HD WM9 files to play without going back to mpeg. Hopefully that option will come as the format gains some maturity. Frankly I'm astonished that I can author anything in HD and play it less than a week after the player's release.

I've been playing around with the Ulead software for a few days now and once you figure out the right settings, the results can be a real treat. I wish there were more templates supplied though.

I've also been fooling around with DVD Studio Pro on my Mac and it's even better. I converted the King Kong 1080p trailer from H.264 to MPEG2 in Compressor. Awesome results. The picture is superb other than a few areas; primarily during the dark fog scenes. It plays back on the XA1 so nicely. The outdoor daytime CGI scenes almost look on par with stuff from Serenity. I can't wait for the real thing! The audio here is the lacking unfortunately because it's only stereo.

I got the DVD to play as a HD-DVD

Using Ulead, I selected Create HD DVD Folders.

I then went into Nero and created a DVD Video, this created two floders TS VIDEO and TS AUDIO. I added the HDDVD folder I just creted in ULead. Nero will not allow you to burn this yet because the VIDEO TS folder is empty.

I then created a blank text file and renamed it VIDEO_TS.VOB and dropped this into the VIDEO TS directory.

Now Nero will allow this to burn...it gave several errors of non-compliance but I ignored this and finish burning.

BAM...Toshiba sees the DVD as an HD-DVD

digitalfx,
Can you please provide a step by step instruction on your procedure?

your statement regarding the CGI scenes would imply that a variety of kids movies would look pretty good with mini-HDDVD discs. stuff like Shark Tales, Finding Nemo, Shrek etc etc., cgi from begining to end.

Final Fantasy, Keana cant rmember any others at the moment



I've been playing around with the Ulead software for a few days now and once you figure out the right settings, the results can be a real treat. I wish there were more templates supplied though.

I've also been fooling around with DVD Studio Pro on my Mac and it's even better. I converted the King Kong 1080p trailer from H.264 to MPEG2 in Compressor. Awesome results. The picture is superb other than a few areas; primarily during the dark fog scenes. It plays back on the XA1 so nicely. The outdoor daytime CGI scenes almost look on par with stuff from Serenity. I can't wait for the real thing! The audio here is the lacking unfortunately because it's only stereo.

digitalfx,
Can you please provide a step by step instruction on your procedure?

my original post IS a step-by-step.

I'm looking for a good program to convert .mov to mpeg2 as I want to convert my downloaded 1080p trailers from apple.com to play in the A1. Whenever I just drag the .mov files in Ulead, it gives an iso which I burn in Nero and in the player it just hangs at the green Preview screen. Any help would be appreciated.

I got the DVD to play as a HD-DVD

Using Ulead, I selected Create HD DVD Folders.

I then went into Nero and created a DVD Video, this created two floders TS VIDEO and TS AUDIO. I added the HDDVD folder I just creted in ULead. Nero will not allow you to burn this yet because the VIDEO TS folder is empty.

I then created a blank text file and renamed it VIDEO_TS.VOB and dropped this into the VIDEO TS directory.

Now Nero will allow this to burn...it gave several errors of non-compliance but I ignored this and finish burning.

BAM...Toshiba sees the DVD as an HD-DVD

ok, here is a detailed step-by-step:

STEP 1-
You need a HD Video (1080i and 720p both worked for me)

STEP 2-
Open Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5

STEP 3-
Select "NEW" project.

STEP 4-
Select "HD DVD"

STEP 5-
Select "Add Media" and find the HD Video from step 1

STEP 6-
Select "NEXT" and set-up your menu if desired

STEP 7-
Select "NEXT" then select "Create HD DVD Folders" check box. Make sure you know where the folder will be saved. When this is completed go to step 8

STEP 8-
Open up Nero 6.6 and select Nero Burning Rom. Select DVD-Video from left menu.
Next, click the "NEW" box.

STEP 9-
The left half of the next screen is your new DVD, the right half is you files. Find the HDDVD_TS folder you created in step 7 from the right side and drag it over to the left (Your new HD DVD). Notice that the option to burn the DVD is ghosted, preventing you from creating the new HD DVD...no problem, lets go to step 10.

STEP 10-
Go to your desktop and create a new text file. To do this right click on the desktop and select NEW. Then select TEXT DOCUMENT. Now right click this file and select "rename". Rename the file "VIDEO_TS.VOB" and drag it into to Nero screen. You need to drop it into the folder "VIDEO_TS" (it has the red folder icon).

Now notice what just happened....the "BURN THE CURRENT COMPILATION" icon has become un-ghosted. MIRACLE! WOW!

STEP 11-
Burn the damn DVD

STEP 12-
Put the DVD in the Toshiba HDA1 HD-DVD Player

STEP 13-
WOW...it works!

I got the DVD to play as a HD-DVD

Using Ulead, I selected Create HD DVD Folders.

I then went into Nero and created a DVD Video, this created two floders TS VIDEO and TS AUDIO. I added the HDDVD folder I just creted in ULead. Nero will not allow you to burn this yet because the VIDEO TS folder is empty.

I then created a blank text file and renamed it VIDEO_TS.VBO and dropped this into the VIDEO TS directory.

Now Nero will allow this to burn...it gave several errors of non-compliance but I ignored this and finish burning.

BAM...Toshiba sees the DVD as an HD-DVDThis process worked perfect for me! I downloaded the evaluation version of Ulead MF5, created the HD-DVD files and burned them to a DVD+RW using Nero 6. Thanks!

Note, there is a typo in your post. The blank text file is "VIDEO_TS.VOB" instead of "VBO".

ok, here is a detailed step-by-step:

STEP 1-
You need a HD Video (1080i and 720p both worked for me)

STEP 2-
Open Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5

STEP 3-
Select "NEW" project.

STEP 4-
Select "HD DVD"

STEP 5-
Select "Add Media" and find the HD Video from step 1

STEP 6-
Select "NEXT" and set-up your menu if desired

STEP 7-
Select "NEXT" then select "Create HD DVD Folders" check box. Make sure you know where the folder will be saved. When this is completed go to step 8

STEP 8-
Open up Nero 6.6 and select Nero Burning Rom. Select DVD-Video from left menu.
Next, click the "NEW" box.

STEP 9-
The left half of the next screen is your new DVD, the right half is you files. Find the HDDVD_TS folder you created in step 7 from the right side and drag it over to the left (Your new HD DVD). Notice that the option to burn the DVD is ghosted, preventing you from creating the new HD DVD...no problem, lets go to step 10.

STEP 10-
Go to your desktop and create a new text file. To do this right click on the desktop and select NEW. Then select TEXT DOCUMENT. Now right click this file and select "rename". Rename the file "VIDEO_TS.VOB" and drag it into to Nero screen. You need to drop it into the folder "VIDEO_TS" (it has the red folder icon).

Now notice what just happened....the "BURN THE CURRENT COMPILATION" icon has become un-ghosted. MIRACLE! WOW!

STEP 11-
Burn the damn DVD

STEP 12-
Put the DVD in the Toshiba HDA1 HD-DVD Player

STEP 13-
WOW...it works!


Thank you!!! I will give it a shot.

digitalfx -

Thanks for figuring this out! I was begining to get worried that people would be a little upset with me ever since I started this thread and recommended DVDMF5....

I've been having fun making discs of my Sony HDR-HC1 HD home movies and just thrilled I have a way to burn them on a disk and enjoy them in this great new player.

Good luck all!

Aaron

When I attempt to move the video_ts.vob file into Video_TS file, it will not let me. Any ideas?

I think I know what the problem is, the file I created is showing as video_ts.vob.txt. How do I get rid of the .txt and change it to a .vob file type?

read Chris' reply, the file is .VBO, not VOB.

Kipp -

Just right-click on the file, select "rename" and delete the ".txt" off the end....

Aaron

I think I know what the problem is, the file I created is showing as video_ts.vob.txt. How do I get rid of the .txt and change it to a .vob file type?
The other way to do this is to make sure you use quotes when renaming the file. If you use quotes, the file name will be exactly what you put in quotes. Windows always attaches a three letter file extension when you save a file, unless you use quotes around the file name or you change the "Save as Type" drop down box to "All Files".

One other thing to note; by default windows xp does not show known file extensions, so you will not see the "txt" extension if you are looking at the file on the desktop, but you can change the folder view settings to show all extensions.

-Mark

read Chris' reply, the file is .VBO, not VOB. Actually it's the other way around. :)

This process worked perfect for me! I downloaded the evaluation version of Ulead MF5, created the HD-DVD files and burned them to a DVD+RW using Nero 6. Thanks!

Note, there is a typo in your post. The blank text file is "VIDEO_TS.VOB" instead of "VBO".

Thanks, I fixed the original post.

Kipp -

Just right-click on the file, select "rename" and delete the ".txt" off the end....

Aaron

Aaron,
when I go to rename, the .txt is not there for me to delete for some reason???

The other way to do this is to make sure you use quotes when renaming the file. If you use quotes, the file name will be exactly what you put in quotes. Windows always attaches a three letter file extension when you save a file, unless you use quotes around the file name or you change the "Save as Type" drop down box to "All Files".

One other thing to note; by default windows xp does not show known file extensions, so you will not see the "txt" extension if you are looking at the file on the desktop, but you can change the folder view settings to show all extensions.

-Mark

Thanks, I will try that.

Boy...I am so close it is making me nutso!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Aaron,
when I go to rename, the .txt is not there for me to delete for some reason???

you need to tell windows to show all extensions.

Thank you guys for these posts, do not have a HD-DVD player yet, waiting for the price to drop, but will use all this in the future.
Gene

Kipp -

Open your "My Computer" icon, then go into the "Tools" menu. Select "Folder Options" then click on the "View" tab and uncheck "Hide Extensions for known file types".

Aaron

All -

Ulead has now released Video Studio 10 Plus -- a much more capable video editor with much more control over transitions, editing and authoring.

People on the Ulead board are saying the .iso options is also greyed out when authoring an HD-DVD disc -- but using this newly discovered technique, we should be able to still burn HD-DVD compatible discs.

I will probably buy Video Studio 10 Plus -- since I am a longtime Video Studio user and am currently using Version 9 with the HDV plug-in pack, this is a natural upgrade for me.

Hope to play with it this weekend and report on my progress....

Aaron

Thanks for the tips guys. I will report back later. :-)

Dang! This thread has been useful as hell. Thanks for the info guys.

I got the DVD to play as a HD-DVD

Using Ulead, I selected Create HD DVD Folders.

I then went into Nero and created a DVD Video, this created two floders TS VIDEO and TS AUDIO. I added the HDDVD folder I just creted in ULead. Nero will not allow you to burn this yet because the VIDEO TS folder is empty.

I then created a blank text file and renamed it VIDEO_TS.VOB and dropped this into the VIDEO TS directory.

Now Nero will allow this to burn...it gave several errors of non-compliance but I ignored this and finish burning.

BAM...Toshiba sees the DVD as an HD-DVD

If I understand you, you followed the following steps:
Create folders HD-DVD from the desired clip in a directory on your hard drive. Call this directory E:\HDDVD
Use Nero to create a DVD from a short clip in another directory. Call this directory E:\SDDVD.
Move the folders from E:\HDDVD into E:\SDDVD
Add an empty file called VIDEO_TS.VOB into E:\SDDVD\VIDEO TS.
Burn & ignore non-compliance warnings

Actually it seems to me that there is no need to use Nero to create the initial SDDVD folders. Just create them by hand once and then all you need to do is just copy them into the HDDVD folder whenever you need them.

What was your source clip? Was it a 1080i MPEG? Can you have Ulead put an MP4 in the HDDVD folder and still burn it? Can you put a 480P MPEG file in the HDDVD folder – thus creating an Enhanced Definition quality DVD?

Edit: I see you posted all the steps you took while I was creating my list

I have it working. Unbelieveable!!! Who would of though we would have HD-DVD-R this early in the game for this price??? Thanks Aaron!!! Thanks guys for walking me through this.

I would rather have a chance to download version 5.0.0000.0, and dump my current version 5.0.0189.0...and have MF5 do what it is supposed to do.

If I have to use FX's method, I would rather use it with VideoStudio 10 Plus, instead of MF5...given that it works with VS10...

jock

For those folks trying to author my HD MPEG-2 test patterns, you'll have troubles with Ulead MF5. After you change the extension from .ts to .mpg, MF5 will load the file, but you'll get an error "cannot find video" or something like that. The problem is that there's some stuffing at the beginning of my files and MF5 doesn't scan far enough to find the 1st video packet.

The easiest workaround is to demux the .ts files to elementary streams and just use the video file (since the audio on the test patterns is silence anyway). You can use my demuxer at:

http://www.w6rz.net/xport.zip

MF5 can import Transport Streams and does have a converter to Program Streams built-in, but it seems pretty buggy to me.

Ron

Jeff,

Can you say where you found the earlier verison of MovieFactory 5? Like others, I have the 5.0.0189.0 version and the Create Disc Image option is greyed out. Thanks.

Aaron/Digitalfx,

Great you guys get MPEG2 HD material to work, since the bitrate is something like 25 mbps, a DVD+-R/RW can only hold about 25 minutes vide. Have you tried to convert mpeg2 to either WMA or H.264 first and see if it works ? This way perhaps one can put one-hour video to a SL DVD R/RW ? Thanks.

I've seem to have a problem adding large Mpeg2 files that I've created from .TS files.

I convert the .ts file to mpeg2 using HDTVtiMpeg2, and whenever I click on add file after selecting HD0DVD as a project, the program just sits there and the hard drive churns for 15 minutes and nothing seems to happen. If I do the same thing with the exact same .TS source, but only convert a minute or two , it works fine. I've tried adding a large mpeg2 file sourced from a DVD vob, and it adds the file immediatly, but the .ts HD files just seem to churn forever. Any clue as to what's happening???

Marc.

Would it be alright to request for someone to make available an ISO image of the HD pluge patterns, say from dr1394's site, that'll work in the Toshiba HD-DVD players?

I've seem to have a problem adding large Mpeg2 files that I've created from .TS files.

I convert the .ts file to mpeg2 using HDTVtiMpeg2, and whenever I click on add file after selecting HD0DVD as a project, the program just sits there and the hard drive churns for 15 minutes and nothing seems to happen. If I do the same thing with the exact same .TS source, but only convert a minute or two , it works fine. I've tried adding a large mpeg2 file sourced from a DVD vob, and it adds the file immediatly, but the .ts HD files just seem to churn forever. Any clue as to what's happening???

Marc.
The program is slow with large files. Give it a lot of time - hours may be necessary. Also, it doesn't seem to be taking advantage of my dual core CPU. This is a real limitation.

Aaron/Digitalfx,

Great you guys get MPEG2 HD material to work, since the bitrate is something like 25 mbps, a DVD+-R/RW can only hold about 25 minutes vide. Have you tried to convert mpeg2 to either WMA or H.264 first and see if it works ? This way perhaps one can put one-hour video to a SL DVD R/RW ? Thanks.

I'm going to try to figure it out using H.264. I'm going to try to use Open Source tools which are a little hard to figure out. It will probably take a week or more for me, but I'll let you know if it works when I'm done.

I ran the 8.2 gig .TS file through Womble Mpeg-VCR to convert it to a mpeg2 file and now MovieFactory loads it up instantly. It just didn't like the format that HDTV2MPEG was outputing I guess. I added the TS file and rendered the HD-DVD image without re-compressing the audio or video and the whole ISO took about 30 minutes to create! Now I just need to wait until the 28th for Best Buy or Future Shop to recieve the players here in Canada. I'm gonna bring my homemade dual-layered HD-DVD to the store and pop it in the player. If it works, I'm sold.

MArc.

digitalfx -

Thanks for figuring this out! I was begining to get worried that people would be a little upset with me ever since I started this thread and recommended DVDMF5....

I've been having fun making discs of my Sony HDR-HC1 HD home movies and just thrilled I have a way to burn them on a disk and enjoy them in this great new player.

Good luck all!

Aaron

Aaron, great to see you again on the forums and you always start and participate so helpfully in the most interesting threads.

Did you p/u any commercial HD DVDs yet?

-Robert

I've been so vocal to everyone about being determined to wait out the HD DVD/Blu-ray format war that I hate to admit this, but this thread has made me consider buying an HD DVD player.

I have the Sony HDR-HC1 camcorder, too, and being able to burn my edited pieces to HD DVD for quick and easy playback is pretty tempting. Of course, I can do that with the MyHD card and regular DVD media on the computer (which is connected to my home theater projector), so I'll probably keep my vow, but this is a really interesting thread.

Thanks, Aaron, and all the other contributors. This is thought provoking. It has the feel of that time when creating DVDs first looked to be something mere mortals could hope to do (that is, someone with less than a quarter million dollars to spend on DVD authoring hardware and software). But this is HD, and that makes it even more exciting.

OK, lots of experimenting going on over here. So far, H.264 and WMV9 are a no go. Ulead converts them to MPEG2, so they aren't native. On the Mac side, DVD Studio Pro doesn't except WMV files and Compressor limits H.264 to 720p. Even at 720p, my XA1 recognizes the file as MPEG4AVC but only plays for a second or two and then errors. I also tried converting files with Main Concepts H.264 encoder, which will do 1080p. Ulead tells me that it contains no video file and DVD Studio Pro says it's an incompatible format. So far right now, it looks like MPEG2 is the only real way to go. I could be wrong, but has anyone else had better luck?

Robert -

I bought Serenity on Tuesday the 18th at Best Buy (stopped by the store first but you didn't have them) - and it looks GREAT on mt 60" Sony at home.

I did drop off a DVD of the HD Footage I shot at the store on Saturday the 15th -- did you have a chance to look at it???

I've finally burned my first dual-layer 40 minute disk of HD footage from my trip to Arizona last November at it looks stunning!

Will stop by the store this week and see if you're there!

Aaron


Aaron, great to see you again on the forums and you always start and participate so helpfully in the most interesting threads.

Did you p/u any commercial HD DVDs yet?

-Robert

I also burned a 40 minute DL of my HDR-HC1. Movement cause a lot of jitter in the pq. Non-moving shots look great. Any ideas on how to fix the jitter? It is not present when I was video directly from the HDR-HC1.

OK, lots of experimenting going on over here. So far, H.264 and WMV9 are a no go. Ulead converts them to MPEG2, so they aren't native. On the Mac side, DVD Studio Pro doesn't except WMV files and Compressor limits H.264 to 720p. Even at 720p, my XA1 recognizes the file as MPEG4AVC but only plays for a second or two and then errors. I also tried converting files with Main Concepts H.264 encoder, which will do 1080p. Ulead tells me that it contains no video file and DVD Studio Pro says it's an incompatible format. So far right now, it looks like MPEG2 is the only real way to go. I could be wrong, but has anyone else had better luck?

Hi what exactly you mean with "then errors" ? does it display a message or just freezes the frame or does it show strange colors and blocks ?

When trying H.264, I get a black screen but it displays the seconds going by on the front of the unit. I was able to hit the display button on the remote to see that it was reading MPEG4AVC. I then looked back at the unit and the display said ERROR. All that only took a few seconds. I did notice while I was at Best Buy that the demo disc they are running is encoded as MPEG4AVC so it will decode it. Maybe all that is needed is to find the right configuration of settings before it works.

What is the best software for authoring HD DVD's? Would it be DVD Studio Pro, Adobe Encore, or something else...

When I read that the H.264 doesn't seem to work, I decided to try a different approach. Using VideoReDo, I'm converting a .TP file to MPEG and lowering the bitrate and trying to fit an hour onto a single layer. I can get 40 minutes into a 3912753 KB file, which will fit onto a single layer. This is with a bit rate of 13 MBps. I'm having a problem forcing VideoReDo to use a lower bit rate.

Is there anyway to get around the amazingly slow performance of Ulead 5? It creates a file called HV001T01.EVO. Is this just a renamed MPEG file?

What is the best software for authoring HD DVD's? Would it be DVD Studio Pro, Adobe Encore, or something else...
I'm looking at the trial version of Sony's DVD authoring software. The trial version has so many limitations that it may not work. I certainly want to know that it will work before I buy it.

Sony trial software link:
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/download/step1.asp?catid=1

Maybe I missed it in this thread but I'm having a problem with Ulead MF5.

I capture the video from my HC-3 into MF5. When I have more than one video to place in the timeline, the program crashes when I try to create the HD-DVD. Anyone else see this?

When I have just one video in the timeline, the HD-DVD directory is created without a problem and the resulting DVD comes out great and plays fine.

Any ideas?

...
Using VideoReDo, I'm converting a .TP file to MPEG and lowering the bitrate and trying to fit an hour onto a single layer.
...


I cannot fit an hour onto a single layer(yet) , but I was able to get 47 minutes onto a single layer DVD-R disk.

I'm going to take this disk to my local Tweeter during the week and see if it will play.

If this actually plays on an HD DVD player it will be amazing. The process is rather simple, so I can easily see using this to timeshift TV shows once I figure out how to fit 60 minutes on a layer. The only PITA portion of the process is that it takes so long for Ulead to load the file.

Because of the lower bitrate, this is obviously not a solution for creating pristine copies of your movies. But it is a way to create 'good enough' copies of stuff that you don't care that much about.

VideoReDo will read .tp, .ts, and other formats. There is a 15 day trial period for it. You can get it at www.videoredo.com

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/1749/p42300638ho.th.jpg (http://img55.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p42300638ho.jpg)

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/6325/p42300608ca.th.jpg (http://img55.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p42300608ca.jpg)

Custom HD DVD of The Incredibles that I recorded off of Starz HD.

I hope to find better software for this. Ulead software is bloatware full with bugs like always.
Yes, it is buggy. But it works. It is pretty amazing that there is any software package that actually allows us to do this. Who really would have though that we'd be able to burn our own HD-DVD disks so soon?

Yes, it is buggy. But it works. It is pretty amazing that there is any software package that actually allows us to do this. Who really would have though that we'd be able to burn our own HD-DVD disks so soon?

Amen, and this probably means that other software for HD DVD authoring will follow soon. It's a really good sign of how much faster the tools to edit and author HD are likely to appear than they did for DVD.

GREAT thread!

So to confirm, we can convert our .TS files to dual-layered DVDs and the Toshiba will then play them back fine? WOW

Hopefully this will reduce the amount of PMs I have been getting :)

My HD .ts to HD DVD conversion workflow:

Start with a HD .ts file (must be 1920x1080i)

Open it with Womble's MPEG-VCR (http://womble.com/products/VCR.html)

in the window that shows the movie (in Mpeg-vcr) , press the save button.

then select Mpeg2 Program stream as the save format.

Open the program stream with Ulead's (http://www.ulead.com/runme.htm)

DVD Movie Factory 5 or Videostudio 10 (REQ if you want 5.1 audio)

then create your HD DVD (use 1920x1080 , upper field first, DD 2.0 or 5.1)

DO NOT USE NERO TO BURN THE ISO!

I Use IMGburn/DVD Decrypter to burn the ISO's


:)

Thanks guys!

I am going to try it right now.

My method is pretty much what was described earlier in the thread.

1) Use HDTVtoMPEG2 to convert the .TS to an Mpeg-2 file.

2) Use Ulead MF5 to create the HD-DVD files - I burn them to a folder, as opposed to making an ISO.

3) Use Nero (yes, Nero) to create a new DVD-Video project.

4) Put your HD-DVD folder in the root of the DVD and put a blank video_ts.vob file into the video_ts folder.

5) Burn, ignoring all the warnings that pop up.

So far, this was worked really well for me. Some findings so far are that you can get around 35 to 40 minutes of 1080i video on a single layer DVD. I'm hoping that I can get an entire 720p movie onto on a dual layer, but time will tell.

A couple of questions.

When I open VideoStudio 10, how do I tell it I want to make an HD DVD? It looks like it is trying to go to standard DVD resolution....I am using the trial version if that matters...which I think it probably does...right?

(I bought VideoStudio 8 a while back so am hesitant to buy 10 already).

Thanks.

A couple of questions.

When I open VideoStudio 10, how do I tell it I want to make an HD DVD? It looks like it is trying to go to standard DVD resolution....I am using the trial version if that matters...which I think it probably does...right?

(I bought VideoStudio 8 a while back so am hesitant to buy 10 already).

Thanks.

Click on the "share" tab

then select "create disc"

then when the disc creation window opens, change the project from DVD to HD DVD

its getting late, so I wont be able to post any screen shots til tomorrow :(

THanks Wifi!!!

I just made a small test disc and it worked!

What is strange is no audio over optical but fine over the analog outputs.

It's late and I will try a real disc tomorrow....will post pics too and hopefully figure out the audio issue.

On another note, has anyone even heard when the first true HD-DVD burners and media will be available? just wondering

Well,

I just tried a larger .TS file.

It works but I am seeing some jitter/jerkiness, especially when someone walks or moves fast. No pixelation, just jitter. Audio still only works via analog and not optical (normal HD-DVD discs work with both).

I used Nero to burn so will try another program later today, after work.

DO NOT USE NERO TO BURN THE ISO!

I Use IMGburn/DVD Decrypter to burn the ISO's


:)

I am just curious on the reasoning for not using Nero??? :confused: :confused: :confused:

Well,

I just tried a larger .TS file.

It works but I am seeing some jitter/jerkiness, especially when someone walks or moves fast. No pixelation, just jitter. Audio still only works via analog and not optical (normal HD-DVD discs work with both).

I used Nero to burn so will try another program later today, after work.

I have the same jitter issue. Anyone know if this is just related to Nero or the conversion process?

If the jitter happens on motion and pans, then it probably is a field dominance issue. Look for an option to switch it. I don't have the software you are using, but if there is an option, it would be either upper or lower. Just use the oposite of what you've been using.

If the jitter happens on motion and pans, then it probably is a field dominance issue. Look for an option to switch it. I don't have the software you are using, but if there is an option, it would be either upper or lower. Just use the oposite of what you've been using.


Thanks, I will try lower after work.

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/1749/p42300638ho.th.jpg (http://img55.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p42300638ho.jpg)

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/6325/p42300608ca.th.jpg (http://img55.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p42300608ca.jpg)

Custom HD DVD of The Incredibles that I recorded off of Starz HD.


Are you seeing any jitter or jerkiness during playback of this disc??

Marc.

If the jitter happens on motion and pans, then it probably is a field dominance issue. Look for an option to switch it. I don't have the software you are using, but if there is an option, it would be either upper or lower. Just use the oposite of what you've been using.



Would that be on the conversion software or burning software? The video plays back perfect from the Sony HD cam so I know it is not the source material.

Would that be on the conversion software or burning software? The video plays back perfect from the Sony HD cam so I know it is not the source material.

Try playing the MPEG file on your computer in a full screen - you'll have to look closely for jitter on a smaller screen, but you should be able to see it. If the MPEG file jitters, then it is introduced by the conversion process before you feed it into MF 5.

You should have the 'do not convert compatible files option' turned on in MF 5. This should mean that little is being done to the file when it is being written to the HD-DVD folder. I looked for 'field dominance' in the MF5 options and didn't see it.

The reason I'm looking at using Sony's Vegas software to create my MPEG files for the HD-DVDs is that it can do a great job on keeping action smooth. I used it to create a DVD from a .TS recording of superbowl XXIX and it was most impressive. I tried Nero and MF 3 and it was not at all smooth. I assume Adobe's software would do a good job as well. Unfortunately, Vegas costs $600.

PAVIKO has written an excellent utility called HVD Split (http://strony.aster.pl/paviko/hdvsplit.htm) you can use for capturing the HDV Stream from your camcorder (Sony HC1 in my case), with scene splitting by timestamp.

Once I used this terrific program, I the changed the scene extensions from "m2t" to "mpg", and fired up Ulead's Movie Factory 5 and imported the scenes. Because the files technically still retain their "m2t' characteristics, MF5 takes from a few seconds, to a minute or so to "index" the file. Once I added the scenes I wanted to include, I chose NOT to do any editing, or add a menu, trying to eliminate rerendering, and keep processing time to a minimum. Whlie I am using the most recent download of MF5 which will NO LONGER allow you to save an ISO, it WILL allow you to write your video to a HDDVD_TS file. From there you can use"FX's" workflow, using NERO if you happen to have it, or you can also try using BURNATONCE or IMG BURN to write your dummy VIDEO_TS, AUDIO_TS, and your HDDVD_TS folders to an ISO file.
--------------------------------------------
jock

All & Wi-Fi Spy -

I took a .ts file of Starship Troopers 1920 x 1080i HDTV copy of the movie and used Womble Video Wizard to take a 30 minute segment of the movie, converted it to MPEG2, imported it into DVD MovieFactory 5 and created an .iso file which I them burned with NERO and it played perfectly WITH Dolby Digital 5.1 sound (DVDMF5 didn't need to convert the file) on my Toshiba HD-DVD Player....

Just an FYI.....

Aaron


Hopefully this will reduce the amount of PMs I have been getting :)

My HD .ts to HD DVD conversion workflow:

Start with a HD .ts file (must be 1920x1080i)

Open it with Womble's MPEG-VCR (http://womble.com/products/VCR.html)

in the window that shows the movie (in Mpeg-vcr) , press the save button.

then select Mpeg2 Program stream as the save format.

Open the program stream with Ulead's (http://www.ulead.com/runme.htm)

DVD Movie Factory 5 or Videostudio 10 (REQ if you want 5.1 audio)

then create your HD DVD (use 1920x1080 , upper field first, DD 2.0 or 5.1)

DO NOT USE NERO TO BURN THE ISO!

I Use IMGburn/DVD Decrypter to burn the ISO's


:)

You should have the 'do not convert compatible files option' turned on in MF 5. This should mean that little is being done to the file when it is being written to the HD-DVD folder. I looked for 'field dominance' in the MF5 options and didn't see it.

That fixed the jitter!!! The pq now is simply unbelieveable. To top it off, it is all digital to the projector too instead of component playback from the HDR-HC1.

Just to think, I am a Blu-Ray guy and picked up the A1 just to tinker with until my Blu-Ray comes in...I think I may keep both. ;) ;) ;)

That fixed the jitter!!! The pq now is simply unbelieveable. To top it off, it is all digital to the projector too instead of component playback from the HDR-HC1.

Just to think, I am a Blu-Ray guy and picked up the A1 just to tinker with until my Blu-Ray comes in...I think I may keep both. ;) ;) ;)

I vowed not to buy either format until the dust settled. This thread has me tempted. I might have to eat crow if I continue reading here. Thanks a lot, Aaron! :eek:

This works like a dream. I can't believe its been what, two weeks and their is a work around for this. Thank the lord for Ulead.
One question. IF BD is using a different media (disk thickness) do you think we will have the same success using this process in a BD format?
This application has limitless possibilities.

This works like a dream.
One question. IF BD is using a different media (disk thickness) do you think we will have the same success using this process in a BD format?


It seems unlikely, but who knows?

This application has limitless possibilities.

Imagine what the commercial implications are. They could fit one or two episodes of '24' on a double layer disk! Yes, it would take 12 disks for an entire season, but the media & production costs would be so low that we may even see the studios doing this.

This works like a dream. I can't believe its been what, two weeks and their is a work around for this. Thank the lord for Ulead.
One question. IF BD is using a different media (disk thickness) do you think we will have the same success using this process in a BD format?
This application has limitless possibilities.

The authoring process is software, which is going to be different with Blu-ray. Even if the Blu-ray player could read the DVD-/+ R/RW media, it wouldn't be able to make sense of the HD DVD content.

so when making our HD-DVD in ulead videostudio10 are we recompressing in mpeg2 ?? maybe I am confused

recompression would not interest me, if we can get 1920x1080i .TS recording's onto HD-DVD9's with no recompression, then that would interest me alot :)

I am trying this out right now with some 1920x1080i .ts files from Showtime

using the newest videostudio10 from ulead, the iso option is greyed out for me :(

-Gary

I got it to work more or less too.

No more jitter!

My only problem is the Toshiba will only play DD 2.0 via the optical SPDIF if I go into the setup and choose PCM. If I choose bitstream, I hear nothing from it.

Anyone else have this issue?

I authored it in Ulead Video 10 and chose DD 5.1 /384.

Analog seems to play 5.1 but is missing deep bass (of course).

nope no recompression, now this rocks :eek:

-Gary

Has anybody tried creating a hd-dvd with other material besides mpeg2 encoded stuff? I thought there was support for other codecs in the spec as well? It should be no problem fitting an entire movie on a dl-dvd if it is x264 enoded ..

All -

I read somewhere (recently) that BOTH HD-DVD & BLU-RAY allow playback of HD content using their (identical) codecs from the "red laser" side of the street -- meaning playback of HD content from standard DVD type discs.

With this understanding, I believe Blu-Ray will also allow us to do this same thing -- but DVD discs authored in the Blu-Ray format. Ulead had the Blu-Ray features built-in to DVDMF5 but was asked to take it out by the Blu-Ray forum until it has been certified. The version I have (5.0.0000.0) has the Blu-Ray features still in it.

I am definately more on the Blu-Ray side of the fence. I like the format better than HD-DVD and plan on buying the first Blu-Ray PC recorder as soon as it comes out (soon - and a while before HD-DVD burners are available) and will be authoring my Sony HC1 HD Camcorder footage to Blu-Ray......

Aaron


This works like a dream. I can't believe its been what, two weeks and their is a work around for this. Thank the lord for Ulead.
One question. IF BD is using a different media (disk thickness) do you think we will have the same success using this process in a BD format?
This application has limitless possibilities.

I got it to work more or less too.
My only problem is the Toshiba will only play DD 2.0 via the optical SPDIF if I go into the setup and choose PCM. If I choose bitstream, I hear nothing from it.

I authored it in Ulead Video 10 and chose DD 5.1 /384.

Analog seems to play 5.1 but is missing deep bass (of course).

This is just a suggestion but if you try ULEAD's different audio output options, perhaps one of them will create a bitstream for you.

Has anybody tried creating a hd-dvd with other material besides mpeg2 encoded stuff? I thought there was support for other codecs in the spec as well? It should be no problem fitting an entire movie on a dl-dvd if it is x264 enoded ..

There is a previous post where someone tried it and just got a black screen. We probably need better tools to be able to do this.

All -

I read somewhere (recently) that BOTH HD-DVD & BLU-RAY allow playback of HD content using their (identical) codecs from the "red laser" side of the street -- meaning playback of HD content from standard DVD type discs.

With this understanding, I believe Blu-Ray will also allow us to do this same thing -- but DVD discs authored in the Blu-Ray format. Ulead had the Blu-Ray features built-in to DVDMF5 but was asked to take it out by the Blu-Ray forum until it has been certified. The version I have (5.0.0000.0) has the Blu-Ray features still in it.

I am definately more on the Blu-Ray side of the fence. I like the format better than HD-DVD and plan on buying the first Blu-Ray PC recorder as soon as it comes out (soon - and a while before HD-DVD burners are available) and will be authoring my Sony HC1 HD Camcorder footage to Blu-Ray......

Aaron

Aaron,
Is there anywhere to obtain the 5.0 version of MF5? I have searched and come up empty. What are you seeing with"Blu-Ray" other than selecting the type of disk to generate?

This is just a suggestion but if you try ULEAD's different audio output options, perhaps one of them will create a bitstream for you.

Thanks, I will look "deeper" tonight. I don't think I saw it though.

Anyone here know if you can create bitstream from Ulead VideoStudio 10?

Thanks. I am getting close and will hopefully have my HD Demo DVD ready next week.

I'm being a little lazy here, and I don't want to go back and reread the whole thread. Are you saying now that only a particular version of MF5 will allow you to author to HD DVD and that it's not available anymore?

I am definately more on the Blu-Ray side of the fence. I like the format better than HD-DVD and plan on buying the first Blu-Ray PC recorder as soon as it comes out (soon - and a while before HD-DVD burners are available) and will be authoring my Sony HC1 HD Camcorder footage to Blu-Ray......
Aaron

Until recordable media drops to a couple of bucks a disk, it seems to me to make more sense to stay with the cheapest player you can buy. You've started something with the use of good ol' DVD-Rs and I bet it will not be too long before we can get 2 hours of video on this sort of disk (much like T2).

I'd buy Blu-Ray rather than HD-DVD if the players, the recorders, the media, and the movies all cost the same, but I'm not going t ojump into it until it makes sense. I'm on the side of the fence that gives me the best results for the least amount of money.

I'm being a little lazy here, and I don't want to go back and reread the whole thread. Are you saying now that only a particular version of MF5 will allow you to author to HD DVD and that it's not available anymore?
Joe -
The first release makes it easier, but any release will work. Go look for a long post telling you how to do it...I think it is on page 2 of this thread.

Joe -
The first release makes it easier, but any release will work. Go look for a long post telling you how to do it...I think it is on page 2 of this thread.

Thanks. Couldn't remember. I've always used Adobe Premiere, but I've known a lot of loyal Ulead users.

I've tried to take the following and author it in Ulead Video Studio 10:

Format: WMV HD
Resolution: 1440 x 816
Frames per Second: 24
Sound: 5.1 audio

In Ulead I selected 1920 x 1080 HD-DVD and selected 3/2 channel Dolby Digital bitstream. It made the ISO fine, but the video is very jerky and there is no bitstream. I presume that Ulead is not doing the 3:2 pulldown correctly, and hence the jerkiness. The picture looks fantastic otherwise. Anyone else try to convert an WMV HD file? Any luck on getting the sound in bitstream format? Any other thoughts?

Thanks,

I've tried to take the following and author it in Ulead Video Studio 10:

Format: WMV HD
Resolution: 1440 x 816
Frames per Second: 24
Sound: 5.1 audio

In Ulead I selected 1920 x 1080 HD-DVD and selected 3/2 channel Dolby Digital bitstream. It made the ISO fine, but the video is very jerky and there is no bitstream. I presume that Ulead is not doing the 3:2 pulldown correctly, and hence the jerkiness. The picture looks fantastic otherwise. Anyone else try to convert an WMV HD file? Any luck on getting the sound in bitstream format? Any other thoughts?

Thanks,


I have not tried a WMV file but have converted some .TS files fine. Playback is perfect, no jerkiness at all.

However, I cannot figure out how to get bitstream audio....anyone?

Kipp -

There is no way to get version 5.0.0000.0 from Ulead anymore - they have already updated it and taken out the Blu-Ray functionality out of it as per the request from the Blu-Ray group.

Once they get it certified, I am sure Ulead will issue an update or a "Burn Pack" that will add back the Blu-Ray functionality. I also suspect that an earlier update will be issues (soon I hope) that adds the ISO functionality back into the HD-DVD project.

Aaron


Aaron,
Is there anywhere to obtain the 5.0 version of MF5? I have searched and come up empty. What are you seeing with"Blu-Ray" other than selecting the type of disk to generate?

Thanks. Couldn't remember. I've always used Adobe Premiere, but I've known a lot of loyal Ulead users.
Does Adobe Premiere do any of this? Do they plan on doing it?

Does Adobe Premiere do any of this? Do they plan on doing it?

DVD authoring is well integrated into the Adobe video suite (Premiere, Encore, After Effects), but I don't believe any of what this thread is about (HD DVD authoring) is yet possible with Premiere or Encore. That will be the defining day for me, but I'm not at all sure when it might happen.

One thing that I love about Premiere Pro is its tight integration with the third party plug-in called Aspect HD from a company called Cineform. It allows seamless real time editing of HDV content within the Premiere Pro timeline. You can play back 3 or 4 1080i HDV streams in real time, without any additional hardware acceleration. (Aspect is not cheap, though - $500.) That is the main reason I was so attracted to this thread. To be able to take an HD project from acquisition to distribution format so easily is a real treat. Of course, HD DVD doesn't give you much of an audience yet, but the ability to edit, burn and view my own projects in HD DVD so easily is great. I just have to weigh whether it's worth it right now, versus waiting a while and using my current viewing method - MyHD through the computer to my Optoma H79 projector.

As I said, though, it's tempting enough to make me question whether I should jump into this HD DVD/Blu-ray format mess right now. I wouldn't have said that a few days ago.

anyone successfully using DVD-RW with the A1/XA1 for HD content, or just -/+ discs?

fyi...

from what I've been reading elsewhere on the Internet about conventions of the 1.0 HD DVD spec, the name of the folder where the HD DVD files reside is "HVDVD_TS" and not "HDDVD_TS"

I just tried HD video from a JVC GR-HD1 played back on the Sony HDV-HC1 to capture using MF5 and nothing came through on MF5. Any ideas?

I have a Mac. Can you guys accomplish this same procedure using Mac programs? Does Ulead have a Mac version of their program?

I've been testing with a DVD+RW and it seems to be ok for me.

thanks - I've had no luck with DVD-RW discs at all, so will pick up a +RW tomorrow and give it a try...

I just tried HD video from a JVC GR-HD1 played back on the Sony HDV-HC1 to capture using MF5 and nothing came through on MF5. Any ideas?
The 720p@29.97 format used by the JVC GR-HD1 is not allowed in the HD-DVD specification.

Ron

thanks - I've had no luck with DVD-RW discs at all, so will pick up a +RW tomorrow and give it a try...

I tested Sony DVD-RW with HD DVD content and they played just fine on my HD-A1 !

Fr123

I had success with my first full single layered HD DVD +. The downside is it only holds around 25 minutes of HD video.

I am working on a dual-layered next.

Man I really wish true HD DVD burners were out.

There is no option in VideoStudio 10 to create a bitstream.

The 720p@29.97 format used by the JVC GR-HD1 is not allowed in the HD-DVD specification.

Ron

Thanks Ron, what about the Blu-Ray spec?

I switched to a brand new DVD-RW and it did work fine...

I noticed this on an other thread.::

FYI to anyone interested...

I couldnt get my Memorex and Ritek DVD+R DL discs to work. Well, I figured it out. My plextor DVD burner had a default setting to change all DL booktypes to DVD-ROM.

That caused the issue. When I unchecked that box in my plextor burner tools, I burned one and it worked fine.

Im a much happier camper now since this was one of the major issues that I had with the player (now if they can just speed up those load times with a firmware update ).

__________________
"Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called 'walking'." - GWB 9/2/2004

I noticed this on an other thread.::

FYI to anyone interested...

I couldnt get my Memorex and Ritek DVD+R DL discs to work. Well, I figured it out. My plextor DVD burner had a default setting to change all DL booktypes to DVD-ROM.

That caused the issue. When I unchecked that box in my plextor burner tools, I burned one and it worked fine.

Im a much happier camper now since this was one of the major issues that I had with the player (now if they can just speed up those load times with a firmware update ).

__________________
"Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called 'walking'." - GWB 9/2/2004



So are you saying that when the DL DVD is booktyped as DVD-ROM it didnt work? Usually the reverse is true with most DVD players. Has anyone played a DVD-DL booktyped as DVD-ROM with success?


Kevin

I've tried to take the following and author it in Ulead Video Studio 10:

Format: WMV HD
Resolution: 1440 x 816
Frames per Second: 24
Sound: 5.1 audio

In Ulead I selected 1920 x 1080 HD-DVD and selected 3/2 channel Dolby Digital bitstream. It made the ISO fine, but the video is very jerky and there is no bitstream. I presume that Ulead is not doing the 3:2 pulldown correctly, and hence the jerkiness. The picture looks fantastic otherwise. Anyone else try to convert an WMV HD file? Any luck on getting the sound in bitstream format? Any other thoughts?

Thanks,
Chauncey-
The jerky video problem may be the step where MF 5 converts (transcodes) the WMV video from 1440x816 to 1920 x 1080, and doesn't do a very good job of it. You may want to try to create a 1920x1080 WMV file first. I've yet to see a cheap tool that does a good job transcoding video. Therefore, I'm going to try better tools like either Sony Vegas 6 or Adobe Premiere.

So are you saying that when the DL DVD is booktyped as DVD-ROM it didnt work? Usually the reverse is true with most DVD players. Has anyone played a DVD-DL booktyped as DVD-ROM with success?


Kevin


no wonder Nero wouldnt work for me.... it sets the book type on all +Rs

JEDIOD, this came from the Toshiba AD1 thread, I just copied from page 92+- since it was related.
Eugene

Some more copied on that subject, from page 92 Toshiba thread.


Quote:
Originally Posted by RockStrongo
FYI to anyone interested...

I couldnt get my Memorex and Ritek DVD+R DL discs to work. Well, I figured it out. My plextor DVD burner had a default setting to change all DL booktypes to DVD-ROM.

That caused the issue. When I unchecked that box in my plextor burner tools, I burned one and it worked fine.

Im a much happier camper now since this was one of the major issues that I had with the player (now if they can just speed up those load times with a firmware update ).


My Memorex and Verbatim SL and DL discs are all set to change the booktype to DVD-Rom. They work in my A1 no problem.
+R DL and SL and +RW discs all work fine in my A1. I don't have any problems with the several discs I've tried.

__________________
My 1080P DLP and sample pics(calibration by ELIAB!)

Thanks Ron, what about the Blu-Ray spec?
Sorry, 720p@29.97 is not allowed in Blu-Ray either.

Ron

Do I have conversion options to eventually get the content on Disc in HD?

Do I have conversion options to eventually get the content on Disc in HD?

Others may be aware of cheap or free options to convert, but Adobe Premiere Pro should allow you to pull in the HDV footage from the JVC and then output it as a more friendly form for use with HD DVD. I'm not speaking from experience, because I've never used the JVC, but Premiere's output options are flexible.

What kind of menu options are available for HD DVDs?

What I've decided to do is download the trial version of VideoStudio 10 and create a 16 minute HD DVD of a program I shot with the HC1. I'll ask to try it out at a local Best Buy that has two demo locations for the Toshiba, but no demo disk. That way, I can get a feel for the time involved in the creaton process.

Actually, I decided to use MF5, since I've never used Video Studio. It's chugging away and I'm going to bed. The file I used is a little less than 11 minutes long, shot in the Missouri Botanical Garden here in St. Louis and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro, with a Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack. The DD soundtrack is a Premiere conversion option and different than the native MPEG audio recorded on the Sony HDR-HC1 camcorder.

Tomorrow, I'll burn the disk and take it to Best Buy to see if it will play. They've been without a demo disk since they started selling the Toshiba, so, hopefully, the A1 will lose its HD DVD virginity.

This is fun.

Quick update. The project finished fast enough that I stayed up to complete it. It's burning now and I'll report tomorrow if it worked at the Best Buy.

I got less than perfect results from my HDV based project. I experienced video jitter (not interlace combing, but what looks like field based jitter). I'll check the thread to see if maybe a field dominance issue crept in. I also had audio stuttering throughout that never cleared up (a rat-a-tat-tat that sounded like the video looked). The MPEG file that I used to create the HD DVD content plays back without incident in MyHD - both audio and video are perfect. I clicked the option not to recompress in MF5, so that shouldn't have been a problem. I'm rereading the thread to see if some of this has been experienced before.

Two side notes. The player froze and I had to unplug it to get my disk out before I left. Also, hitting play at the main menu didn't work. The "cursor" had to be moved to the play button and then the select button pressed for the video to play.

Is there a DVD-like menu somewhere in the A1 that allows a user to set up basic player parameters as we have with most DVD players?

Some more copied on that subject, from page 92 Toshiba thread.


Quote:
Originally Posted by RockStrongo
FYI to anyone interested...

I couldnt get my Memorex and Ritek DVD+R DL discs to work. Well, I figured it out. My plextor DVD burner had a default setting to change all DL booktypes to DVD-ROM.

That caused the issue. When I unchecked that box in my plextor burner tools, I burned one and it worked fine.

Im a much happier camper now since this was one of the major issues that I had with the player (now if they can just speed up those load times with a firmware update ).


My Memorex and Verbatim SL and DL discs are all set to change the booktype to DVD-Rom. They work in my A1 no problem.
+R DL and SL and +RW discs all work fine in my A1. I don't have any problems with the several discs I've tried.

__________________
My 1080P DLP and sample pics(calibration by ELIAB!)



I have played some Verbatim DVD+R DL booktyped as DVD-ROM with no problems on The A1. I will try some Riteks and Memorexs too and let you guys know.


Kevin

Update: I just played a Memorex DVD+R DL booktyped as DVD-ROM in the A1...No problems!

I got less than perfect results from my HDV based project. I

How long did it take MF5 to create the HDDVD files? It takes about 8 minutes for me with a 37 minute clip, because there is no transcoding going on. If it is taking you very long to create the clip, then MF5 is doing something...and you don't want that.

How long did it take MF5 to create the HDDVD files? It takes about 8 minutes for me with a 37 minute clip, because there is no transcoding going on. If it is taking you very long to create the clip, then MF5 is doing something...and you don't want that.

I wasn't expecting it to happen as fast as it did, and I wasn't noting the time. It was very fast, though, for my 11 minutes, just a few minutes. I've been very busy and haven't had a chance to recheck the settings yet.

I tried encoding an mpeg file at 1080/30p and Video Studio wouldn't accept it. It said it was an invalid format. Will 1080/24p work? I know 1080/29.97i worked.

Thanks,

I had problems too. My source was 1280x1088 though. It had it transcode to 1440x1080, to keep the size down. I wish you could use non-compliant files and just burn. The transcoding sucks and takes forever. Didn't playback very well on the A1. Will try 1920x1080 next time. One good thing, though, under the transcoding options I was able to select Dolby Digital as the audio type.

Dual layer verbatims burnt by my NEC and Pioneer burners all play fine, but they are set to book type dvd-rom by Nero 6 automatically, and it also generates high compatible borders. I am told that helps.

I tried a Rick Steves Europe program recorded from HDNet (1920x1080i). The video was perfect, but the audio stuttered as it did yesterday with the program from my HC1 that I output from Premiere with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. The Rick Steves, I think, is 5.1 Dolby Digital.

Has anyone here authored an HD DVD in VideoStudio 10 and, if so, can you provide a step by step for setting up a project with 5.1 audio?

I tried a straight .m2t file of my HDV based project from Premiere. It played perfectly (audio and video), but the program begins at about 3:00 minutes in from the beginning of the file. The receiver displays that audio as PCM.

Another strange thing - some files (like the Rick Steves program) load into MF5 very quickly (a few seconds). Others (also recorded the same way and at the same resolution - R5000 modded Dish 211 to my computer) take forever to load into MF5, and the computer becomes unresponsive and MF5 crashes.

Any thoughts?

Another strange thing - some files (like the Rick Steves program) load into MF5 very quickly (a few seconds). Others (also recorded the same way and at the same resolution - R5000 modded Dish 211 to my computer) take forever to load into MF5, and the computer becomes unresponsive and MF5 crashes.

Any thoughts?

Running the file through Womble Mpeg-VCR fixed this exact problem for me.

Marc.

Running the file through Womble Mpeg-VCR fixed this exact problem for me.

Marc.

Is this a free program or pay? I am going to try VideoRedo tonight. So far, the files I've tried were edited with HDTVtoMPEG2.

Is this a free program or pay? I am going to try VideoRedo tonight. So far, the files I've tried were edited with HDTVtoMPEG2.
The files I create with VideoReDo take forever to load into MF5.

Ditto :(

output as a program stream

I managed to put together what I think is a pretty slick HD DVD of my HC1 project, with full menu and chapter stops (and animated menus). Tomorrow is the test. Back to Best Buy. I think the chances are pretty good that this will work. Rendering all this, however, took a long, long time. Native 1920x1080 files seem to fly through the process, but HDV files must have to be re-rendered from their native 1440x1080 to 1920x1080. Add the animated menus to the process and it's a serious wait.

To clarify the audio question about Dolby Digital - does MF5 support DD 5.1 if it is native to the file from the beginning? I know you need Video Studio 10 to create and manipulate 5.1 audio for projects you're working on, but if the 5.1 audio is native to the file will it be retained?

I did another Rick Steves episode tonight and I doubt I can expect anything but stuttering audio from it, too. What kinds of results are you guys getting with 5.1 audio?

but HDV files must have to be re-rendered from their native 1440x1080 to 1920x1080.
Why? The HD-DVD specification supports 1440x1080.

Ron

All my Sony HC1 Projects compile very quickly -- only the menus take a little while to render (Pentium D Dual Core 3ghz) -- are you sure you have the "Do Not Convert Compliant MPEG Files" option checked?

And YES - DVDMF5 does support Dolby Digital 5.1 if it is part of the original MPEG file. When I did a test clip from my HDTV saved Starship Troopers 1080i movie and burned a 30 minute clip to DVD via MF5 and played it back on my Toshiba, it played the DD 5.1 exactly as it should.

Aaron


but HDV files must have to be re-rendered from their native 1440x1080 to 1920x1080. Add the animated menus to the process and it's a serious wait.

I have been rendering my HD-DVD's in 1440x1080 with no problems.

Why? The HD-DVD specification supports 1440x1080.

Ron

I've been looking (Googling) for the HD_DVD spec, but cannot find it. What other resolutions does it support?

All my Sony HC1 Projects compile very quickly -- only the menus take a little while to render (Pentium D Dual Core 3ghz) -- are you sure you have the "Do Not Convert Compliant MPEG Files" option checked?

And YES - DVDMF5 does support Dolby Digital 5.1 if it is part of the original MPEG file. When I did a test clip from my HDTV saved Starship Troopers 1080i movie and burned a 30 minute clip to DVD via MF5 and played it back on my Toshiba, it played the DD 5.1 exactly as it should.

Aaron

Thank you, gentlemen. I tried MPEG-VCR last night for the first time and it allowed me to convert some files that MF5 choked on (files edited with HDTVtoMPEG2 and VideoRedo). It's back to test 3 disks today at Best Buy.

Now that I think about it, with gas hovering around $3 a gallon, my trips to Best Buy are adding up - enough to justify buying an A1? With the AVS power buy at $439? Crow pie, anybody?

My HDV compile times may have something to do with the way the Aspect HD codec creates .m2t files from Premiere Pro. I rechecked and the movie output option in Premiere describes the output file as Cineform .m2t. Perhaps there's a re-render involved, or maybe I just missed a setting in MF5.

My HDV compile times may have something to do with the way the Aspect HD codec creates .m2t files from Premiere Pro. I rechecked and the movie output option in Premiere describes the output file as Cineform .m2t. Perhaps there's a re-render involved, or maybe I just missed a setting in MF5.
Cineform is a wavelet codec, so it has to recompress when making .m2t.

Ahhh OK -

When I shoot with my Sony HC1, I really plan my shots in advance, that way I pretty much don't have to edit anything at home on the PC. All the footage I shoot gets used.

I've been capturing from the HC1 directly into DVDMF5 -- so thats why my processing times are so low.... But I have done generic captures to my hard drive using HDVSplit and then processing them through VideoRedo and then later importing them into DVDMF5 and it still doesn't have to re-process the footage -- go figure!

Aaron


My HDV compile times may have something to do with the way the Aspect HD codec creates .m2t files from Premiere Pro. I rechecked and the movie output option in Premiere describes the output file as Cineform .m2t. Perhaps there's a re-render involved, or maybe I just missed a setting in MF5.

Cineform is a wavelet codec, so it has to recompress when making .m2t.

I'm talking about after it's it has done the re-encode. It calls it Cineform .m2t, and I'm not sure if that's different than the standard .m2t files straight from the camcorder.

Update on the Best Buy trip this afternoon.

My HDV project looked and sounded great, but it did the same thing with the video that it did yesterday - it thought the start of the video was a few minutes in and refused to play any of the start of the file, even though the menu and chapter stops for the start were there. Next step is to just output the file, without a menu at all.

None of the other files I created played without audio or video stuttering. All of these files were originally null stripped in HDTVtoMPEG2. Right now, I'm trying a file that hasn't gone through H2M first.

I found the setup menu with help from a BB guy. I didn't know there was a flip down section on the remote. That's where it is. I couldn't see anything wrong in the setup, but I'm not at all sure if the audio/video problems aren't a fault of the particular Toshiba player and/or the way it's hooked up to their receiver. Right now, I don't have another player to try out.

I have a file that is MPEG- 2 1920x1080 with an AC-3 5.1 soundtrack. I try to put it through Video Studio and it wants to re-encode it. I set up Video Studio to not re-encode compliant files. Why does it want to re-encode it? This is a capture from cable. I'm trying to covert the ts file with Womble now, but it wants to re-encode the 5.1 soundtrack to 2.0. I'm not having any luck here. Any thoughts?

Thanks,

All my Sony HC1 Projects compile very quickly -- only the menus take a little while to render (Pentium D Dual Core 3ghz) -- are you sure you have the "Do Not Convert Compliant MPEG Files" option checked?

And YES - DVDMF5 does support Dolby Digital 5.1 if it is part of the original MPEG file. When I did a test clip from my HDTV saved Starship Troopers 1080i movie and burned a 30 minute clip to DVD via MF5 and played it back on my Toshiba, it played the DD 5.1 exactly as it should.

Aaron

Aaron,

What sort of connection from the A1 to the receiver do you use? The Best Buy rep told me they were using the optical S/PDIF. Any file I've tried that was recorded from satellite has choppy audio. Nothing in the Toshiba audio menu let me get clean audio if that audio was Dolby Digital. HC1 audio sounds fine.

Are you using the R5000 mod or a digital cable box to record the original files?

I'm just trying to find out where our audio results might be diverging. I can't get any Dolby Digital audio to play cleanly from the HD DVDs I've created. (Again, it could be this particular Best Buy unit. I'm going to try to find another machine to test on. Anyone reading this thread live in the St. Louis area?

Anyone trying to put a demo disc together? I've been trying to dl hd quicktime from apples site. DVD Studio doesnt seem to like those though... Trying to convert to mpegs now.

Quick update on my audio problems with the A1 -

After fiddling with the A1 at our local Best Buy, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that it's a problem with this particular unit and/or their setup. I was able for a brief time to get the audio to play normally, but adjusting the settings in the A1 setup menu. Changing things back and then trying to duplicate the process led to bad audio again. I think this particular unit it flaky.

Looks like I may have to buy an A1. Frustrations aside, this is just too tempting.

I have a file that is MPEG- 2 1920x1080 with an AC-3 5.1 soundtrack. I try to put it through Video Studio and it wants to re-encode it. I set up Video Studio to not re-encode compliant files. Why does it want to re-encode it? This is a capture from cable. I'm trying to covert the ts file with Womble now, but it wants to re-encode the 5.1 soundtrack to 2.0. I'm not having any luck here. Any thoughts?

Do you know the specs of your source file? Could be it's doing something weird that Ulead doesn't know how to deal with. For example, if it's 24p native, Ulead might not know how to insert the frame repeat tags, for example. I know Apple's tool can't.

I confirmed the audio stuttering was an issue with the Best Buy setup. I played the "bad" disks at another store. No problem with the audio.

I just ordered my A1 from Best Buy. They found one in the local network of stores for my area and it's on its way. I have to say that the local Best Buys have been very accomodating in letting me experiment with the player. They do have a rule about not playing commercial disks in the player, but they were able to confirm the audio issue by trying out one of the commercial disks after hours. It stuttered just like my disks.

Let me ask this question about Womble - does it always want to downconvert the audio from 5.1 to 2-channel? I haven't really had the opportunity to check that out, and if it does it won't serve my purpose well. I want to maintain the 5.1 sound for all the shows and films I have. The problem with HDTVtoMPEG2 and VideoRedo is that they don't play nice with Ulead Movie Factory 5, while Womble MPEG-VCR does. I've yet to process a file through Womble that doesn't work, but H2M and VdeoRedo are creating problems. MF5 chokes on several of the files.

Is there a program that will tell me quickly if 5.1 sound has been retained in the cnoversions?

Now it's off to confess on my local thread that I caved and bought an HD-DVD player, when I vowed to ride out the first wave of the format war.

AAron, you might take a look at Pinnacle S10+ for video editing. If you have a fast, 3Ghz , 2Gb RAM etc computer it works fine and is priced app same as MF5. But much easier to use and has other features.
Hopefully they will add HD DVD burning at some stage.
At this point I burn the edited video in HDV2 fileform and play from computer.


Gene

Beware of Pinnacle S10+ when creating HD video to burn to a playable HD-DVD. When I tried to import the edited video from Pinnacle to Movie Factory, it didn't work. Movie Factory choked on the file. I'm not saying this will happen with everyone, but it happened with me. I ended up having to capture the video and create the HD-DVD all in Movie Factory. Worked perfectly.

Hey, guys, I still need to know about how MPEG-VCR saves audio during its conversion of .ts files. Does it convert 5.1 to 2-channel?

I was disturbed to find that after running a lot of my .ts files through HDTVtoMPEG2 even Womble wouldn't fix them. I have a lot of these null stripped files stored on computer, but MF5 choked on the Womblized H2M files. I ran the the H2M .ts files through MPEG2Repair and all was well again. It's a tedious process, but it works, so I won't have to capture the material again.

Thank you Chris.
S10 has a export back to camera feature, wonder if that is in the same format that came from the camera? There is some rendering before it exports.
Is there some software that identifies video files as to format, data rate etc?

I have used Pinnacle products for 10? years because editing is so simple with its pull down from album to timeline method. But they are very slow to add innovative features like Ulead did with HD-DVD authoring .

Gene

I came across this on the highdefforum, author PAINTIT::


standard def?


Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 28

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You need footage from your HC-3, Ulead DVD Movie Factory 5 and Nero Burning Rom version 6.6 then do as follows.
STEP 1-
You need a HD Video (1080i from the HC-3)

STEP 2-
Open Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5

STEP 3-
Select "NEW" project.

STEP 4-
Select "HD DVD"

STEP 5-
Select "Add Media" and find the HD Video from step 1

STEP 6-
Select "NEXT" and set-up your menu if desired

STEP 7-
Select "NEXT" then select "Create HD DVD Folders" check box. Make sure you know where the folder will be saved. When this is completed go to step 8

STEP 8-
Open up Nero 6.6 and select Nero Burning Rom. Select DVD-Video from left menu.
Next, click the "NEW" box.

STEP 9-
The left half of the next screen is your new DVD, the right half is you files. Find the HDDVD_TS folder you created in step 7 from the right side and drag it over to the left (Your new HD DVD). Notice that the option to burn the DVD is ghosted, preventing you from creating the new HD DVD...no problem, lets go to step 10.

STEP 10-
Go to your desktop and create a new text file. To do this right click on the desktop and select NEW. Then select TEXT DOCUMENT. Now right click this file and select "rename". Rename the file "VIDEO_TS.VOB" and drag it into to Nero screen. You need to drop it into the folder "VIDEO_TS" (it has the red folder icon).

Now notice what just happened....the "BURN THE CURRENT COMPILATION" icon has become un-ghosted. MIRACLE! WOW!

STEP 11-
Burn the DVD

STEP 12-
Put the DVD in the Toshiba HDA1 HD-DVD Player

STEP 13-
WOW...it works!

I tried searching but found nothing.

For the 1080p HD-DVD movies, 1080i output is recommended on the toshiba players since there's an issue with downscaling to 720p. For those who have successfully created a 720p ts to hd-dvd formatted dvdr, how does it look with the toshiba output set to 720p vs 1080i? Just curious.

Thank you Chris.
S10 has a export back to camera feature, wonder if that is in the same format that came from the camera? Funny you should ask that. I made a picture montage in Pinnacle S10+ with music. I exported the finished product back to tape in my Sony HC-3. I then re-captured it in Movie Factory. It worked. :)

I came across this on the highdefforum, author PAINTIT::


standard def?


Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 28

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You need footage from your HC-3, Ulead DVD Movie Factory 5 and Nero Burning Rom version 6.6 then do as follows.
STEP 1-
You need a HD Video (1080i from the HC-3)

STEP 2-
Open Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5

STEP 3-
Select "NEW" project.

STEP 4-
Select "HD DVD"

STEP 5-
Select "Add Media" and find the HD Video from step 1

STEP 6-
Select "NEXT" and set-up your menu if desired

STEP 7-
Select "NEXT" then select "Create HD DVD Folders" check box. Make sure you know where the folder will be saved. When this is completed go to step 8

STEP 8-
Open up Nero 6.6 and select Nero Burning Rom. Select DVD-Video from left menu.
Next, click the "NEW" box.

STEP 9-
The left half of the next screen is your new DVD, the right half is you files. Find the HDDVD_TS folder you created in step 7 from the right side and drag it over to the left (Your new HD DVD). Notice that the option to burn the DVD is ghosted, preventing you from creating the new HD DVD...no problem, lets go to step 10.

STEP 10-
Go to your desktop and create a new text file. To do this right click on the desktop and select NEW. Then select TEXT DOCUMENT. Now right click this file and select "rename". Rename the file "VIDEO_TS.VOB" and drag it into to Nero screen. You need to drop it into the folder "VIDEO_TS" (it has the red folder icon).

Now notice what just happened....the "BURN THE CURRENT COMPILATION" icon has become un-ghosted. MIRACLE! WOW!

STEP 11-
Burn the DVD

STEP 12-
Put the DVD in the Toshiba HDA1 HD-DVD Player

STEP 13-
WOW...it works!


he just cut and pasted the instructions I posted at the begining of this tread, including all my sarcasm. (see post #61)

I keep getting "this mpeg program stream is not compatible with this dvd engine" when I try to create the iso image....anyone else getting this or know why I'm getting it?

he just cut and pasted the instructions I posted at the begining of this tread, including all my sarcasm. (see post #61)

They plagiarized you!!!

I keep getting "this mpeg program stream is not compatible with this dvd engine" when I try to create the iso image....anyone else getting this or know why I'm getting it?

Where was it recorded from? Could be that it is not a supported format (1920x1080 or 1440x1080).

it's 1920x1080 that I recorded of my hd card....it was a .ts file and ran it thru hdtv2mpeg2 and changed it to mpg file...

I keep getting "this mpeg program stream is not compatible with this dvd engine" when I try to create the iso image....anyone else getting this or know why I'm getting it?

I got this on a few of my more non-standard TS streams (ie, they had subtitles and multiple audio tracks and what have you). It frustrated me to no end until I converted the TS files to MPEG2 using Womble Mpeg-Vcr. The conversion took longer than using HDTV2MPEG, but the files worked in Ulead FLAWLESSLY. They also loaded into Ulead a lot faster than my other files before, so it definently seems like Mpeg-VCR is the way to go on these things.

I just received my Sony HC3 two hours ago (largely due to the success reported in this thread!). I also downloaded the Ulead MF 5 trial version. Is there another piece of software I need to import the video into the PC prior to using Ulead because Ulead was complaining about missing some drive when I tried to capture? I also have a Nero 6.0, is that edaquate for burning the DVD later? Any info or advice is much appreciated.

I ran my files thru womble mpeg-vcr and I still get the same error...wonder what's wrong..

Hmm. How did you run the conversation? I know there's several ways to do it in MPEG-VCR. The method I've used is to open up the TS as a project using the file menu, then clicking the little yellow cylinder button in the movie's window to bring up the 'Save...' dialogue. At this screen, make sure you're clicking to save it as an MPEG2 Program Stream.

This solved all my problems. If it isn't solving yours, then I've got nuthin'. ^^;

still not working.... I wonder what I'm doing wrong...

THANKS!!!! TROUT!!! I followed your instructions and guess what....it finally worked!!! Again, thanks for much for your help....

I just received my Sony HC3 two hours ago (largely due to the success reported in this thread!). I also downloaded the Ulead MF 5 trial version. Is there another piece of software I need to import the video into the PC prior to using Ulead because Ulead was complaining about missing some drive when I tried to capture? I also have a Nero 6.0, is that edaquate for burning the DVD later? Any info or advice is much appreciated.

Ok, I found the missing piece. I forgot to install the Sony HC3 driver in my PC.

THANKS!!!! TROUT!!! I followed your instructions and guess what....it finally worked!!! Again, thanks for much for your help....

No problem - like I said, I felt your pain. ^^; I nearly killed myself trying to get some of my HDTV recordings to burn before figuring that out.

Again, thanks Trout....I know how you feel...I was just about to give up....but, always nice people here to help...again, thanks

I was able to author to HD-DVD! The trick for me was converting the file from mpeg-ts to straight mpeg. Here's what I did:


Given a 26Mbit HDTV test clip in mpeg2-ts format.

Download (http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~balazer/HDTVtoMPEG2/index.html) and run HDTVtoMPEG2 version 1.10.3.

Load TS file and set output type as mpeg2, set max size as 4500MB

Press convert.

output is testclip.0000.mpg


I downloaded trial versions of Ulead's movie factoy 5 and Nero 7.

I followed the instructions on this thread to author and burn the project.

It played perfectly on my Toshiba HD DVD player.

-Techtom

I was able to author to HD-DVD! The trick for me was converting the file from mpeg-ts to straight mpeg. Here's what I did:


Given a 26Mbit HDTV test clip in mpeg2-ts format.

Download (http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~balazer/HDTVtoMPEG2/index.html) and run HDTVtoMPEG2 version 1.10.3.

Load TS file and set output type as mpeg2, set max size as 4500MB

Press convert.

output is testclip.0000.mpg


I downloaded trial versions of Ulead's movie factoy 5 and Nero 7.

I followed the instructions on this thread to author and burn the project.

It played perfectly on my Toshiba HD DVD player.

-Techtom

Hey, Techtom,

Good to see you here! Thanks for all your help and info in other threads!

Isn't this an exciting development - already being able to author to HD DVD at this stage of the game?

Do you think the Dish Network MPEG4 files will work with this technique? So far, I don't have any such files to play with, since I'm not receiving the St. Louis locals from Dish yet. Would you happen to know if the MPEG4 version used by Dish is the same as the MPEG4 used for HD DVD? I have the R5000 mod to a Dish 211 and as soon as I can I'm interesting in seeing if this is feasible.

If you've read this thread, then you probably know that some have tried MPEG4 files using this technique, but haven't had any success. I'm thinking their MPEG4 files simply aren't compatible with the Toshiba decoder.

One other question. You say you used HDTVtoMPEG2 to convert the file to MPEG. I used version 1.11.83 and I had a lot of trouble with the resulting files. Movie Factory 5 choked on them. These were all files which had commercial edits, not just a simple conversion of .ts to mpeg. Any thoughts?

I have a file that is MPEG- 2 1920x1080 with an AC-3 5.1 soundtrack. I try to put it through Video Studio and it wants to re-encode it. I set up Video Studio to not re-encode compliant files. Why does it want to re-encode it? This is a capture from cable. I'm trying to covert the ts file with Womble now, but it wants to re-encode the 5.1 soundtrack to 2.0. I'm not having any luck here. Any thoughts?

Thanks,


I can't say for the Ulead software but just about every editing software I have fiddled with always had 5.1 as an upgrade that had to be purchased separately. There also may be a drop down box under audio options to change sound settings.


HDTVtoMpeg2 has always given me problems with files after they have been rejoined and put into an editor. Buy VideoRedo if you want a solid prgram (no offense to hdtvtompeg2).

HDTVtoMPEG2 has known errors when converting TS to mpeg.

I can't say for the Ulead software but just about every editing software I have fiddled with always had 5.1 as an upgrade that had to be purchased separately. There also may be a drop down box under audio options to change sound settings.


HDTVtoMpeg2 has always given me problems with files after they have been rejoined and put into an editor. Buy VideoRedo if you want a solid prgram (no offense to hdtvtompeg2).

I have both HDTVtoMPEG2 and VideoRedo and both give MF5 fits. It chokes on MPEG files created with either. I'm not sure that's in every case, but it has happened frequently.

I asked this question before about Womble MPEG-VCR but haven't gotten an answer. Does it convert 5.1 to 2-channel audio? It seems unlikely to me, because it edits so quickly, but others indicate it does.

I asked this question before about Womble MPEG-VCR but haven't gotten an answer. Does it convert 5.1 to 2-channel audio? It seems unlikely to me, because it edits so quickly, but others indicate it does.

Using the method I posted above (opening the TS as a new project and saving it as an MPEG-2 Program Stream), my 5.1 track stayed intact. At the very least, my reciever SAYS it did. ;)

Using the method I posted above (opening the TS as a new project and saving it as an MPEG-2 Program Stream), my 5.1 track stayed intact. At the very least, my reciever SAYS it did. ;)

That's good news. I didn't see how MPEG-VCR would have time to downmix, but I still don't have my HD DVD player yet, so I can't test anything easily. (It should be coming to my Best Buy tomorrow from another store in this area.)

Thanks, Trout.

Using the method I posted above (opening the TS as a new project and saving it as an MPEG-2 Program Stream), my 5.1 track stayed intact. At the very least, my reciever SAYS it did. ;)




A few days ago, back at post 60 (page 3) of this thread, I let everyone know that Womble-VCR fixes TS files without modifying the audio or video in any way. Works like a charm!

Marc.

Hey Techtom,

Do you think the Dish Network MPEG4 files will work with this technique? Would you happen to know if the MPEG4 version used by Dish is the same as the MPEG4 used for HD DVD? I have the R5000 mod to a Dish 211 and as soon as I can I'm interesting in seeing if this is feasible.

I'm looking into it... I wanted to try mpeg2 first, but my main goal was to get h.264 working. The h.264 used by dish is the same as the h.264 used by HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.



If you've read this thread, then you probably know that some have tried MPEG4 files using this technique, but haven't had any success. I'm thinking their MPEG4 files simply aren't compatible with the Toshiba decoder.

It must be h.264 (mpeg-4 part 10). It cannot be Divx (mpeg-4 part 2).


You say you used HDTVtoMPEG2 to convert the file to MPEG. I used version 1.11.83 and I had a lot of trouble with the resulting files.

Try version 1.10.3 from balazer's web site. IIRC the earlier versions did a better job with mpeg conversion.


-Techtom

I've been looking (Googling) for the HD_DVD spec, but cannot find it. What other resolutions does it support?
Sorry for the late reply. Here's the list of supported resolutions.

1920x1080i/p@29.97, 25
1440x1080i/p@29.97, 25
1280x1080i/p@29.97, 25
960x1080i/p@29.97, 25

1280x720p@59.94, 50

720x480p@59.94, 50
704x480p@59.94, 50

720x480i/p@29.97, 25
704x480i/p@29.97, 25
544x480i/p@29.97, 25
480x480i/p@29.97, 25
352x480i/p@29.97, 25

352x240p@29.97, 25

Ron

Very useful. Thank you.

I'm looking into it... I wanted to try mpeg2 first, but my main goal was to get h.264 working. The h.264 used by dish is the same as the h.264 used by HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.



It must be h.264 (mpeg-4 part 10). It cannot be Divx (mpeg-4 part 2).


Try version 1.10.3 from balazer's web site. IIRC the earlier versions did a better job with mpeg conversion.


-Techtom

Glad to hear you're interested in the H.264 issue with authoring. I tried the H2M 1.10.3 version and still had mixed results. The newer version seems to work fine for some of my R5000 files. They load without incident into Movie Factory 5. Others don't. I also have not been able to duplicate some of my earlier success using MPEG2-Repair to fix "broken" .ts files.

I have not been able to get a longer movie to work with this process. So far, every one has choked. Has anyone had success with entire films grabbed from Dish?

Also, I've had no success getting any of the Toshiba HD DVD players I've tested on to recognize double layer discs. That includes mine, which I just got this evening. The single layers play fine, but the DLs don't.

What software tools can be used to create MPEG4-10 files?

Also, I've had no success getting any of the Toshiba HD DVD players I've tested on to recognize double layer discs. That includes mine, which I just got this evening. The single layers play fine, but the DLs don't.

I have had good luck with Verbatim DVD+R DL discs on my Toshiba HD-A1. People seem to be having different results with different brands.

20 minutes of video on a single layer DVD just isn't goint to cut it. I think H264 is the answer. I have been converting HD captures in both TS and MPEG2 format to h264 using x264 codec and MeGUI as the front end. I have converted HD movies to 1280x720p using 5000Kb/s bitrate with great results and a two hour movie fits on one single sided DVD. Of course the only way to view these converted movies is using a pretty hefty computer right now but this discussion gives me great hope that maybe these new HD players just might be able to play them.

I'm not sure where the "20 minutes of video" thing got started, but I'm getting around 40 minutes of 1080i video per single layer disc. Admittedly, this largely depends upon how the TS file is encoded. Some are at lower bitrates than others. But generally, 40 minutes seems to be about my single-layer average for MPEG2 files.

I think it came from the general accepted rule-of-thumb of 9 GB per hour of full mpeg2 bandwidth (ATSC 19.2 Mbits/s). But you are right, a more realistic number might be closer to 40 minutes especially when dealing with 720p content that is usually broadcasted at 12-14 Mbits/s (sometimes as low as 10 Mbits/s).

well, I have read the whole thread and follow all the recommendations. But the captured video clips from HC3 in MF5 just looked downright horrible, pixelations everywhere, stuttering audio and jitters all the time, anyway just plain unwatchable. The HD DVDs burned using the process outlined here always get stuck in HD-A1 after playing for about 20 sec, and the picture put out by HD-A1 is 4:3 squeazed on the left side. Needless to say the video clip is also unwatchable.
FYI, I used the 30 day trial version MF5. I wonder if that has something to do with the performance. I have set the Mpeg settings to 1080x1920 and "do not convert ..." before capturing from HC3. But the file still comes out as 1080x1440. I guess that is normal before the conversion, isn't it?
I am sure I probably missed something rather obvious. Can the experts here offer some suggestions? Thanks much.

well, I have read the whole thread and follow all the recommendations. But the captured video clips from HC3 in MF5 just looked downright horrible, pixelations everywhere, stuttering audio and jitters all the time, anyway just plain unwatchable. The HD DVDs burned using the process outlined here always get stuck in HD-A1 after playing for about 20 sec, and the picture put out by HD-A1 is 4:3 squeazed on the left side. Needless to say the video clip is also unwatchable.
FYI, I used the 30 day trial version MF5. I wonder if that has something to do with the performance. I have set the Mpeg settings to 1080x1920 and "do not convert ..." before capturing from HC3. But the file still comes out as 1080x1440. I guess that is normal before the conversion, isn't it?
I am sure I probably missed something rather obvious. Can the experts here offer some suggestions? Thanks much.

1440x1080 is the pixel resolution for HDV 1080i, so that's normal. I can say, though, that my footage from an HC1 looks spectacular and plays well on the HD-A1. I've also been using the free trial of Movie Factory 5, although I just bought the full version today from the Ulead website. It works well. It could be a capture issue. Have you tried playing the footage before you import it into MF5? I use Adobe Premiere for capture and editing, so all I'm using MF5 for is HD DVD authoring.

As to the disc size issues above, we definitely need the HD DVD recordables, but I don't expect them to come down in price for some time. I hope I'm wrong on that, but look how long it's taken even double layer DVDs to come down from $13 each. I do find the single and double layer discs are perfect for half hour and hour long programs. (That is, when I get the double layer discs working on the player.) I've had the player a little over 24 hours and I've already created between 15-20 HD DVD discs. Although I had some issues getting the process down (and still have unresolved issues with menus), I'm now able to author half hour and hour long HD programs consistently. I'm still haven't been able to do a feature film. Not a one I've tried has worked.

Using this technique for my own original recordings alone makes it worthwhile. But, it is so much more valuable when combined with the Nextcom R5000-HD.

Hello, Joe, thanks a lot for your reply and sharing your new experience. It sounds like MF5 is not good for capturing. But on this thread people haven't complained about this aspect of the Ulead MF5. I will try the HDsplit or some other freebie software just to rule out there is any issue with my hardware.

So you've had it only for a day and you have already created 15-20 HDDVD disc? that's impressive! What is your secret? because with MF5 and Nero it took me 2 hours for each disc, not to mention they all have come out garbage.

Is there a consensus here that Ulead MF5 is too slow for capturing process?

Hello, Joe, thanks a lot for your reply and sharing your new experience. It sounds like MF5 is not good for capturing. But on this thread people haven't complained about this aspect of the Ulead MF5. I will try the HDsplit or some other freebie software just to rule out there is any issue with my hardware.

So you've had it only for a day and you have already created 15-20 HDDVD disc? that's impressive! What is your secret? because with MF5 and Nero it took me 2 hours for each disc, not to mention they all have come out garbage.

Is there a consensus here that Ulead MF5 is too slow for capturing process?

Most of what I've done has been with captured .ts files, not original footage from the camcorder. Those files have not needed reencoding, so they fly through the process. But, native HDV footage doesn't need reencoding either, so it should be quick once you have the footage on the computer. I'm not saying that MF5 is the culprit. It just seems like the capture process could be causing you issues. There could be other factors causing capture problems besides the MF5 software, such as hardware issues on your system.

I have been converting HD captures in both TS and MPEG2 format to h264 using x264 codec and MeGUI as the front end. I have converted HD movies to 1280x720p using 5000Kb/s bitrate with great results and a two hour movie fits on one single sided DVD.
I've been trying to use x264 for the past two weeks and all I get is errors, like this:

Job is a dgindex job. dgindex commandline:
"C:\Program Files\GordianKnot\DGMPGDec\DGIndex.exe" -AIF=[E:\Recode\Bountiful.mpg] -OF=[E:\Recode\Bountiful] -exit -OM=2
successfully set up dgindex
Processing ended at 11:40:58 AM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Log for job job1

Cannot open d2v file, 'E:\Recode\Bountiful.d2v'. Error message for your reference: Script error: there is no function named "DGDecode_Mpeg2Source"
Applying force film failed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The odd thing is that the file 'E:\Recode\Bountiful.d2v' does exist. I assume that I am doing something wrong, perhaps in my set up of x264. I downloaded the latest build (x264-517). Do you mind taking a moment to help me - or to at least push me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

Edit: I believe I found the problem. MeGUI needs to be in the AVSynth Plugin folder.

Starting with a JPG test pattern series I created with Photoshop + some scripts I wrote, then converted into an uncompressed AVI, I was able to follow the directions in this thread to make a HD-DVD disk which shows static color squares and some resolution charts and some various text fonts. Here's what it looks like while playing:

http://www.wb5mrn.com/tv/hdtestpattern/tiny.jpg

Click here for full size (http://www.wb5mrn.com/tv/hdtestpattern/photoOfTVWhilePlaying.jpg)

and here's the original image it came from:
Original 1920x1080 image (http://www.wb5mrn.com/tv/hdtestpattern/testPatternOriginal.jpg)

DVD MF5 had to do mpeg2 compression due to my AVI source. The resultant output does not seem to maintain vertical nor horizontal resolution - not sure why. There is a 1 pixels wide black frame around the 1920x1080 boundary (1 pixel in from the edge). There is a 3 pix moving dot in the upper right to mark frame progression. The 3 resolution patterns are at 1, 1/2 and 1/4 times Nyquist. The text rows 1 through 6 are 23,11,9,8 and 6 pixels high respectively. Some of the characters in the smallest font row were visible on my Sharp 45. Most were (just barely) readable on the original. Here's a closeup of what I saw on my TV. (http://www.wb5mrn.com/tv/hdtestpattern/closeUpSharp45.jpg) The video is 6 seconds long and loops, with a slight jump at the loop. I'll see if I can find any mpeg compression quality settings to improve (already checked the 2 pass box in MF5).

I created an nrg image file but Nero won't burn more copies from it, perhaps due to the 2 warning messages one must skip to burn per the instructions in prior posts. I have built a zip file with the contents you'll need to burn your own copy in Nero. Follow the instructions above, but drag the HVDVD_TS folder from the zip file at http://www.wb5mrn.com/tv/hdtestpattern (96 Mbytes!) to the left pane before the burn.

I've been trying to use x264 for the past two weeks and all I get is errors, like this:

Job is a dgindex job. dgindex commandline:
"C:\Program Files\GordianKnot\DGMPGDec\DGIndex.exe" -AIF=[E:\Recode\Bountiful.mpg] -OF=[E:\Recode\Bountiful] -exit -OM=2
successfully set up dgindex
Processing ended at 11:40:58 AM
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Log for job job1

Cannot open d2v file, 'E:\Recode\Bountiful.d2v'. Error message for your reference: Script error: there is no function named "DGDecode_Mpeg2Source"
Applying force film failed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The odd thing is that the file 'E:\Recode\Bountiful.d2v' does exist. I assume that I am doing something wrong, perhaps in my set up of x264. I downloaded the latest build (x264-517). Do you mind taking a moment to help me - or to at least push me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

Edit: I believe I found the problem. MeGUI needs to be in the AVSynth Plugin folder.

So is it working? I don't have MeGUI in the AVSynth Plugin folder and it works fine. Make sure all your Programs Paths are all correct under the tools/settings tab of MeGui. Also be sure you get the latest version of MeGUI to go along with the latest version of x264.


On another note. Does anyone know what the HD-DVD structure is like for h264 encoded movies? Does it follow the same structure as the earlier mentioned HVDVD_TS folders?

Hi everyone,

Ive been following this thread with great interest, considering it seems the perfect low cost way of getting my Sony HDR-HC1 videos to play in HD on the new HD player. Especially with no HD burners or blank discs out there yet!

I've got a few questions though...especially for those who are converting their captured HC1 files through MF5 into HD DVD folders.

I noticed that the default setting in the advanced settings menu of MF5 is at 1440x1080, as opposed to 1920x1080. Which one is preferable as far as superior PQ at the end product (especially for the HC1).....considering I am importing the video file into the computer straight from the HC1 (using the capture utility of MF5...which works smoothly, by the way...). Also, if no difference, will one choice improve the rendering time over the other??

Also, when delving deeper into the advanced settings menu, I noticed that the default quality setting of the compression slider(?) is set at 90%?...should I increase this to 100% ? This particular setting can be found by hitting the "customize" tab under the 1440x or 1920x resolution choice tab...and going to the second section. Hopefully, someone knows what Im talking about...excuse my poor tech speak.

Finally, at the last screen before you can burn the folder, when you have to check off create HD-DVD folder.....there is another option that you can check off called "normalize audio"....should this be checked off as well? What is its effect on the final product?

I made sure the "do not convert compatable file type" box was checked in MF5...any other tabs have to be checked for max performance/quality?

I'd be very thankfull for any advise/suggestions you might be willing to provide....the fact that this method can be used at all just blows my mind!
I can finally get my HC1 vids off the tapes and onto discs...hurray!

Thanks again......

Goldy

. I'll see if I can find any mpeg compression quality settings to improve (already checked the 2 pass box in MF5).


As per my last post, Ive found a slider for mpeg compression quality on MF5...the default setting for mine was at 90%...I also was curious as to wether or not I should bump it to 100%.

It is located under the "customize" button, in the advanced project settings menu, when you are given the option of checking either the 1920x1080 or 1440x1080 resolution for your video project.
On the second page/tab of the menu which pops up after you hit the "customize" button...you will find the compression/mpeg quality slider,...as I said, mine was default at 90%...maybe the little extra to 100 can solve your dilema....good luck!

When I play the HDDVD authored disc using MF5, I still get the 3:4 squeezed image to the left side of screen and the rest of the area on the right side is filled squarish color lines. The audio is missing as well. The disc would freeze inside the HD-A1 after 30 sec and the only way to get it out is to unplug the power cord on A1 and restart. So far I have checked the 1920 HD and "do not convert ..." in the MF5 settings before creating HDDVD folder and I used Nero 6 to burn the DVD which oddly enough didn't grey out the Burn option after I dropped the HDDVD folder in it. Can somebody please suggest some ideas of what might have gone wrong here? BTW the video clip seems to play back OK in MF5 before HDDVD authoring.

When I play the HDDVD authored disc using MF5, I still get the 3:4 squeezed image to the left side of screen and the rest of the area on the right side is filled squarish color lines. The audio is missing as well. The disc would freeze inside the HD-A1 after 30 sec and the only way to get it out is to unplug the power cord on A1 and restart. So far I have checked the 1920 HD and "do not convert ..." in the MF5 settings before creating HDDVD folder and I used Nero 6 to burn the DVD which oddly enough didn't grey out the Burn option after I dropped the HDDVD folder in it. Can somebody please suggest some ideas of what might have gone wrong here? BTW the video clip seems to play back OK in MF5 before HDDVD authoring.

this is while playing back in your HD-A1/XA1 ??

yes, this occurs during the playback on A1, which actually only lasts about 30sec before A1 freezes. The playback of the original clips seem to be OK with aspect ratio on MF5.

When I play the HDDVD authored disc using MF5, I still get the 3:4 squeezed image to the left side of screen and the rest of the area on the right side is filled squarish color lines. The audio is missing as well. The disc would freeze inside the HD-A1 after 30 sec and the only way to get it out is to unplug the power cord on A1 and restart. So far I have checked the 1920 HD and "do not convert ..." in the MF5 settings before creating HDDVD folder and I used Nero 6 to burn the DVD which oddly enough didn't grey out the Burn option after I dropped the HDDVD folder in it. Can somebody please suggest some ideas of what might have gone wrong here? BTW the video clip seems to play back OK in MF5 before HDDVD authoring.

Is there any way you can test the captures on a different computer? I haven't used MF5 for capture, but I do know that capture can be corrupted by both hardware and software problems. This may not be your problem, but it's one way of narrowing down the possiblities.

So is it working? I don't have MeGUI in the AVSynth Plugin folder and it works fine. Make sure all your Programs Paths are all correct under the tools/settings tab of MeGui. Also be sure you get the latest version of MeGUI to go along with the latest version of x264.


Yes, it seems to be working (I'm 14 hours into an encoding session now) , but only after I moved the DGDecode.dll into the AVSynth plugin folder. I only have a few of the applications in the path, but I dont think that is the problem. I do have GKnot installed but could never get it to work, which I think probably is is the problem.

Doesn't x264 install MeGui? I think that is where it came from on my system.


Does anyone know what the HD-DVD structure is like for h264 encoded movies? Does it follow the same structure as the earlier mentioned HVDVD_TS folders?

I second this question...does anyone know the answer? Also, if you feed a .h264 file to MF5, does it know what to do with it?

Yes, it seems to be working (I'm 14 hours into a decoding session now) , but only after I moved the DGDecode.dll into the AVSynth plugin folder. I only have a few of the applications in the path, but I dont think that is the problem. I do have GKnot installed but could never get it to work, which I think probably is is the problem.

Doesn't x264 install MeGui? I think that is where it came from on my system.



I second this question...does anyone know the answer? Also, if you feed a .h264 file to MF5, does it know what to do with it?

Someone's working on this - Techtom. I'm sure he'll come up with some answers to this and other questions.

I was able to get a double layer disc to play without issue when I set the Book Type to DVD-ROM. Unfortunately, I have only one burner that allows me to do this - an external Mad Dog unit. My Pioneer burners don't allow bitsetting. Anyone want to buy some Pioneers? I'm off to buy a PX-750a Plextor drive tomorrow.

I was able to get some longer material (tonight's two part episode of Battlestar Galactica and a couple of movies) to run through the process successfully. I was beginning to suspect MF5 might have a built-in limit to the length of a project. That doesn't appear to be the case. I still haven't come up with an answer as to why some material seems to work and others don't.

Goldy -

If you want your Sony HC1 footage to look its best, you need to forget about all these settings and make sure that the option "Do Not Convert Compliant MPEG Files" under "Project Settings" (little cogwheel icon in lower left corner of the window) is checked.

With this setting checked, DVDMF5 DOES NOT do any conversion to your HC1 footage and leaves it in its original, pristine format. Once you start messing with the other options, the program will start to convert the footage and you will loose some sort of quality.....

Aaron


Hi everyone,

Ive been following this thread with great interest, considering it seems the perfect low cost way of getting my Sony HDR-HC1 videos to play in HD on the new HD player. Especially with no HD burners or blank discs out there yet!

I've got a few questions though...especially for those who are converting their captured HC1 files through MF5 into HD DVD folders.

I noticed that the default setting in the advanced settings menu of MF5 is at 1440x1080, as opposed to 1920x1080. Which one is preferable as far as superior PQ at the end product (especially for the HC1).....considering I am importing the video file into the computer straight from the HC1 (using the capture utility of MF5...which works smoothly, by the way...). Also, if no difference, will one choice improve the rendering time over the other??

Also, when delving deeper into the advanced settings menu, I noticed that the default quality setting of the compression slider(?) is set at 90%?...should I increase this to 100% ? This particular setting can be found by hitting the "customize" tab under the 1440x or 1920x resolution choice tab...and going to the second section. Hopefully, someone knows what Im talking about...excuse my poor tech speak.

Finally, at the last screen before you can burn the folder, when you have to check off create HD-DVD folder.....there is another option that you can check off called "normalize audio"....should this be checked off as well? What is its effect on the final product?

I made sure the "do not convert compatable file type" box was checked in MF5...any other tabs have to be checked for max performance/quality?

I'd be very thankfull for any advise/suggestions you might be willing to provide....the fact that this method can be used at all just blows my mind!
I can finally get my HC1 vids off the tapes and onto discs...hurray!

Thanks again......

Goldy