Just so I'm clear on the stuttering issues on the A2 - do DVD-R's perform better in terms of the stuttering than DVD+R's? I'm using almost exclusively +R's and I've had the problem on 3 or 4 discs of the some 4 or 5 dozen I've played. How much of a problem are the -R's for those of you who've been using them for authoring?

No difference for me with 16x certified -R vs +R SLs.

I get both via Dish. TNT's bitrate is usually a little better than HBO's. I can fit 1:15 to 1:25 of TNT on a DL disc & 1:20-1:40 of HBO on a DL disc.


Thanks for the good info. So are you essentially looking at the size of the recording and determining if it will fit on a single DL-DVD or how do you determine in advance if it will fit on a single disc?

By guess-timating :). Since bitrate varies between movies & channels, I usually try to push it & create a 1:30-plus MPG segment from a TS capture I have. It doesn't take Video Redo or MPEG-VCR that long to spit it out. The idea is to get a filesize of close to 7.9 GB for DL & 4.37 GB for SL.

Thanks again. So are you re-encoding with VideoRedo or Womble at a lower bit rate when you need to reduce the size of the file to ~7.9GB? On that same thought, what is the absolute maximum size .ts file you can use?

I'm not re-encoding, simple converting TS to MPG so Ulead MF5 will accept the MPG as a compliant file. The size of the TS file isn't a good indicator of what the size of the resulting MPG file will be. VRD & Womble strip TS null packets, so the resulting MPG is smaller, but that varies given the actual bitrate.

I am getting some serious bad pixelation (maybe wrong term) problems throughout my video when I convert my TS files to MPEG with VideoRedo Plus. Has anyone else encounter this problem? Is there a solution to this?

Sorry if someone has already posted this, but found an HD DVD demuxer (http://www.dvd-logic.com/hddemuxer.htm) tool. Hopefully a cheapware or freeware isn't far off.

1) PS3 will not read red-laser HD discs.

2) Sony BD player will not read BD-R or BD-RW which delays the value of BD burners. Assume the same is true for other BD players.

3) Xbox player cheap, but useless unless you have an Xbox and even then is a 2 box solution. Limited to about 20Mbps with red-laser discs -- maybe less.

4) Only Dell and Toshiba laptops can burn HD DVD, so not a general solution.

5) Toshiba players will play red-laser HD discs at 25Mbps. Even AC3 audio can be used.

If I'm correct on these points, there is only one solution for those shooting 1080i rather than copying ATSC -- and that's using a Toshiba player. Moreover, most editing apps. can output 720p at 25Mbps (chose D-VHS).

So, are there any differences (other than audio) between picking up a cheap 1st gen. verses buying a new 2nd generation?

Just so I'm clear on the stuttering issues on the A2 - do DVD-R's perform better in terms of the stuttering than DVD+R's? I'm using almost exclusively +R's and I've had the problem on 3 or 4 discs of the some 4 or 5 dozen I've played. How much of a problem are the -R's for those of you who've been using them for authoring?
In my case I only use DVD-r's for the A2 now as I found that any time I saw any stuttering it was exclusive to DVD+r discs. Never had any stuttering at all with DVD-r's. As to the authoring, no difference except that -r's take a extra few seconds at the end of the burn to fixate the disc, +r's skip that step.... but it's an automated process- so no difference to the end user.

1) PS3 will not read red-laser HD discs.

2) Sony BD player will not read BD-R or BD-RW which delays the value of BD burners. Assume the same is true for other BD players.

3) Xbox player cheap, but useless unless you have an Xbox and even then is a 2 box solution. Limited to about 20Mbps with red-laser discs -- maybe less.

4) Only Dell and Toshiba laptops can burn HD DVD, so not a general solution.

5) Toshiba players will play red-laser HD discs at 25Mbps. Even AC3 audio can be used.

If I'm correct on these points, there is only one solution for those shooting 1080i rather than copying ATSC -- and that's using a Toshiba player. Moreover, most editing apps. can output 720p at 25Mbps (chose D-VHS).

So, are there any differences (other than audio) between picking up a cheap 1st gen. verses buying a new 2nd generation?

First gen players don't seem to have as much trouble playing our homebrew discs without stuttering, as the A2 does on some discs. First gen players are maddeningly slow after you get used to how quickly the second gen players handle everything from turning on to ejecting discs.

In my case I only use DVD-r's for the A2 now as I found that any time I saw any stuttering it was exclusive to DVD+r discs. Never had any stuttering at all with DVD-r's. As to the authoring, no difference except that -r's take a extra few seconds at the end of the burn to fixate the disc, +r's skip that step.... but it's an automated process- so no difference to the end user.

Thanks for the feedback. I think I'll use -R's once I run through this stockpile of +R's. Fortunately, I haven't had much of a problem so far.

3) Xbox player cheap, but useless unless you have an Xbox and even then is a 2 box solution. Limited to about 20Mbps with red-laser discs -- maybe less.


this one is not accurate. i've gotten 25 mbps files to play...

this one is not accurate. i've gotten 25 mbps files to play...

1) So when one person says the first gen is better and another says the second gen works fine with -R, should I assume the person who had problems with the second gen was using +R?

2) I thought all the posts about padding and keeping rates to 20Mbps were about playing on a MS player? Or, is this a +R verses -R issue as well.

Bottom line, if the media makes a difference -- which I can't see why it would -- then when folks post postive or negative results they need to post media type.

this one is not accurate. i've gotten 25 mbps files to play...

Yes, 1080i HDV footage is 25mbps. My Sony HC1 material plays just fine.

5) Toshiba players will play red-laser HD discs at 25Mbps. Even AC3 audio can be used.
I used Ulead DVD Movie Factory 5 Plus to encode some (uncompressed!) HD video (1080x1920 RGB) to 30Mb/s MPEG2 (the highest supported bitrate from what I've read here) and it played fine. This was also with LPCM audio (that's what I fed it, not sure what got authored to the HD-DVD file structure though. I might try that HD-DVD Demuxer posted a few posts back to see what actually got authored audio-wise.).

This was to single-layer red-laser DVD-R's by the way (Taiyo-Yuden).

I used Ulead DVD Movie Factory 5 Plus to encode some (uncompressed!) HD video (1080x1920 RGB) to 30Mb/s MPEG2 (the highest supported bitrate from what I've read here) and it played fine.

This was to single-layer red-laser DVD-R's by the way (Taiyo-Yuden).

Which Toshiba?

Where on earth would you get Taiyo-Yuden?

Which Toshiba?
Sorry, it was the Toshiba HD-A1.

Where on earth would you get Taiyo-Yuden?
http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-8x-dvd-r-media-value-line.html

Yes, no stuttering problems on the A1 or XA1, but yes on the A2 w/18mbps+ footage, including my Sony HC3 25mbps footage. Again, all play fine on the XA1 I now got.

that's strange about the A2. I'd like to know what changed.

in my brief testing i have found the following with my 360 hd-dvd:


(tried both 720p and 1080i material for these)
verbatim +r and -r work fine
staples +r work fine
TDK -r work fine

the only stuttering i get is if i skip a chapter, the first couple seconds stutter to play catch up i guess. if i then rewind it a little and play it, the same scene works fine, so its a problem with changing the chapters, not with the burn or the video itself.

dual layer i havent had any success yet at all, ive tried verbatim and memorex so far, today i will go get some of the "new" faster speed verbatims and try those. right now, ive only tried 1080i material on dual layer, and i get almost non stop stutters and this doesnt improve as time goes on. Im burning on a plextor 740a fw 1.02.


thanks for all this great info by the way!

I suspect it comes down more to the quality of the media and the burn than the format.

I've had stuttering and no stuttering on discs authored exactly the same way on exactly the same media (TDK -R and RiDATA +R.) I've only tried a couple of Memorex +R DLs, but no problems so far.

Burning at a slower speed helps. FYI, I'm using an NEC 3520 to burn and 360 add-on to play.

Sorry, it was the Toshiba HD-A1.


http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-8x-dvd-r-media-value-line.html

Have you tried DL?

And, is this +R or -R media?

I'm interested in a HD camcorder and Sony's HDR-SR1 looks nice, but instead of MPEG2 like earlier HD camcorders, it uses AVCHD, which is sort-of MPEG-4, but perhaps different enough to be a problem.

If I buy this camcorder, can I make 1080i videos and burn them on regular DVD-Rs for playback in my HD DVD player? If AVCHD isn't supported directly, can it easily be converted to regular MPEG-4 and then played on HD DVD player?

If none of this can be done for HD DVD, can it be burned to regular DVD and played back in Blu-ray player, as I am considering getting a PS3.

Would this need special software to edit? Would I be better off just buying previous generation MPEG-2 camcorder?

If none of this can be done for HD DVD, can it be burned to regular DVD and played back in Blu-ray player, as I am considering getting a PS3....
1) PS3 will not read red-laser HD discs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by drhollen
If none of this can be done for HD DVD, can it be burned to regular DVD and played back in Blu-ray player, as I am considering getting a PS3.

...

Quote:
Originally Posted by d-v-c
1) PS3 will not read red-laser HD discs.



I believe he said regular DVD not red-laser HD so the answer should be yes

Well, I actually meant HD video on regular red-laser DVD+/-R discs, as I don't have a HD DVD or BD burner. I realize I can't have long videos on these, but vacation video clips would easily fit on these (perhaps a few).

So, the PS3 doesn't have a red-laser at all?, so it can't read CDs or any regular DVDs, regardless of content, including music, pictures, video to playback using it's media features? I was figuring on getting the cheaper 20GB model as I didn't think I'd use the media reader, but without good network access, I'd figure I'd use media features via CD-R or DVD-R.

Well, I actually meant HD video on regular red-laser DVD+/-R discs, as I don't have a HD DVD or BD burner. I realize I can't have long videos on these, but vacation video clips would easily fit on these (perhaps a few).

So, the PS3 doesn't have a red-laser at all?, so it can't read CDs or any regular DVDs, regardless of content, including music, pictures, video to playback using it's media features? I was figuring on getting the cheaper 20GB model as I didn't think I'd use the media reader, but without good network access, I'd figure I'd use media features via CD-R or DVD-R.

The PS3 can read CDs and DVDs. But it can't play back anything in HD unless it's on a BD.

In other words, you can't use the method outlined in this thread to author an HD DVD on DVD-R and expect it to play back on a PS3. So either you get a BD burner or put your vaction videos on a standard DVD at 480i.

The PS3 can read CDs and DVDs. But it can't play back anything in HD unless it's on a BD.

And if the new Toshiba can't playback more than about 20Mbps -- and the Sony BD players can't playback anything but bd-rom -- then as a general distribution method for our 1080i videos, we're at a dead-end.

I've watched 25mbps MPEG2 1080i videos on DVD-R on my XA1. Is this a temporary problem where the new A2 players can't read them, perhaps fixable with firmware, or some strange reason due to less processing power than the first generation? Do you think XA2 would be more capable with different electronics than A2 in this regard.

Why can't PS3 play HD video from DVD-R if it can read regular DVDs. Is this Sony disabling the feature on purpose?

Why can't PS3 play HD video from DVD-R if it can read regular DVDs. Is this Sony disabling the feature on purpose?

It's a format difference. There is no way to record BD to a DVD-R. You can record HD DVD to DVD-R.

I repeat, if you want to use a standard burner and DVD-R you can use the method in this thread to author HD DVD at 1080i, but it will only play back in an HD DVD player (or 360 add-on.)

If you want playback from a PS3, you can only get HD on a Blu-ray disc with a Blu-ray burner. DVD-R will be limited to 480i.

Anybody tried to add HDi (ADV_OBJ) feature for authored in Ulead DMF5 HVDVD_TS ?

i don't understand why they haven't added AVC or VC1 to the specs yet for making HD DVD's. Do we have an answer?

I've watched 25mbps MPEG2 1080i videos on DVD-R on my XA1. Is this a temporary problem where the new A2 players can't read them, perhaps fixable with firmware, or some strange reason due to less processing power than the first generation? Do you think XA2 would be more capable with different electronics than A2 in this regard.


Supposedly there are only minor difference beteen G1 and G2 -- all of which one would think would make G2 to better.

Has more than one person confirmed the G2 is limited? Because given media differences, etc. I'd like to see about 5 negative reports before I really believe the G2 is slower.

PS: Because AVCHD writes using a red-laser, and it can work at 24Mbps for 1920x1080, and can be played on all BD devices -- whatever is limiting the PS3 is not in the BD spec. Something about the PS3 is the problem, and could be fixed. Moreover, the Samsung can play red-laser up to 20Mbps. I'd like to see that re-tested with the Sony and Panasonic.

So while the current general limit "is" 20Mbps for both BD and HD DVD, that may change.

in my brief testing i have found the following with my 360 hd-dvd:


(tried both 720p and 1080i material for these)
verbatim +r and -r work fine
staples +r work fine
TDK -r work fine

the only stuttering i get is if i skip a chapter, the first couple seconds stutter to play catch up i guess. if i then rewind it a little and play it, the same scene works fine, so its a problem with changing the chapters, not with the burn or the video itself.

dual layer i havent had any success yet at all, ive tried verbatim and memorex so far, today i will go get some of the "new" faster speed verbatims and try those. right now, ive only tried 1080i material on dual layer, and i get almost non stop stutters and this doesnt improve as time goes on. Im burning on a plextor 740a fw 1.02.


thanks for all this great info by the way!

i have finally had success with DL media, if i use the verbatim "old style" 2.4x discs and FORCE a 2.4x burn, they play back without stutter. I think i managed to bump into the MPS limit though - the first few things i capped at 20MPS and they worked fine, single and dual layer, however i just tried to burn something at 22.5mps and i'm getting the xbox 360 "cant playback that type" c667000a error... i'm reburning the same material with the rate down to 20mps again to see if its the source or not, hopefully its just the fact it was at 22.5mps before

i have finally had success with DL media, if i use the verbatim "old style" 2.4x discs and FORCE a 2.4x burn, they play back without stutter. I think i managed to bump into the MPS limit though - the first few things i capped at 20MPS and they worked fine, single and dual layer, however i just tried to burn something at 22.5mps and i'm getting the xbox 360 "cant playback that type" c667000a error... i'm reburning the same material with the rate down to 20mps again to see if its the source or not, hopefully its just the fact it was at 22.5mps before


update: using hdpatch i changed the header to 20M, recreated the folders and burned again, worked like a charm! yet another push in the direction that the xbox addon doesnt play that high of a bitrate, but perhaps its a file size thing, as people have had success with higher bitrates apparently. i'll waste some discs and mess around and see if i can report anything new or interesting on it

More Coverart added *Thanks to all the Contributors*

http://www.wifi-spy.org/coverart

I'm interested in a HD camcorder and Sony's HDR-SR1 looks nice, but instead of MPEG2 like earlier HD camcorders, it uses AVCHD, which is sort-of MPEG-4, but perhaps different enough to be a problem.

If I buy this camcorder, can I make 1080i videos and burn them on regular DVD-Rs for playback in my HD DVD player? If AVCHD isn't supported directly, can it easily be converted to regular MPEG-4 and then played on HD DVD player?

If none of this can be done for HD DVD, can it be burned to regular DVD and played back in Blu-ray player, as I am considering getting a PS3.

Would this need special software to edit? Would I be better off just buying previous generation MPEG-2 camcorder?

I wouldn't touch a AVCHD camera with a 10 foot pole.... Get a HDV one.... go read about it on http://www.dvinfo.net

It's a format difference. There is no way to record BD to a DVD-R. You can record HD DVD to DVD-R.




I have both the Samsung blu-ray (VERY recently acquired) and the Toshiba A1 (for ~6 months).
So I am interested in a BD disk creation process just like we now have for HDDVD's,thanks to Joseph Clark (and others).


We are able to make HD DVD on DVD+/-R's because you all figured out the HDDVD format :
VIDEO_TS ---> video_ts.vob
HDDVD_TS ----> hv001t0x.evo

Where:
The video_ts.vob file merely needed to be a blank file.
The .EVO files are HDDVD compliant files made by Ulead Movie factory



What is the format of BD's?

If we knew the directory format of a BD disk,like we do on HD DVD disks, then it seems to me all we would need is a tool to make BD compliant files.

We are using MF5 for making compliant HDDVD files so it would not be a stretch to expect Ulead to come out with a new version with support for BD.

Joe

First of all, Happy Christmas :) Here in the UK, we're 15 minutes into the day itself :)

I see people having luck with the Sony HD camcorders. I've got a HC1, but can't find a good way of using the footage. I can follow the tutorial ok when converting a 1080i ts stream, and also used HDpatch to convert a 1088i ts stream.

Can someone point me in the right direction as to how to get my Sony HC1 footage onto a HD-DVD compliant dvd-r?

Cheers :)

Not sure about 1088i, but here's what I do with HDV format video from my Sony HDR-HC3:

1) Capture with HDVSplit. That results in an m2t (MPEG2 Transport Stream) file.

2) Process with MPEG-VCR, save as Program Stream, that yields an mpg file.

3) Use Ulead DVD Movie Factory 5 Plus to author an HD-DVD folder from the mpg file.

4) Burn that HD-DVD folder to disc using Nero 7, with that X-box Compatibility flag.

I've burned about 15 discs this way, they all work on my Toshiba HD-A1.

Not sure about 1088i, but here's what I do with HDV format video from my Sony HDR-HC3:

1) Capture with HDVSplit. That results in an m2t (MPEG2 Transport Stream) file.

2) Process with MPEG-VCR, save as Program Stream, that yields an mpg file.

3) Use Ulead DVD Movie Factory 5 Plus to author an HD-DVD folder from the mpg file.

4) Burn that HD-DVD folder to disc using Nero 7, with that X-box Compatibility flag.

I've burned about 15 discs this way, they all work on my Toshiba HD-A1.

Same here, except that I capture in Adobe Premiere with the Aspect HD plug-in (from an HC1).

More Coverart added *Thanks to all the Contributors*

http://www.wifi-spy.org/coverart
Sent you two more for the year: 'Finding Nemo' & 'Shrek 1 & 2'. These have improved top/bottom Universal-style swooshes. Enjoy!

Thanks guys, much appreciated :)

Thanks guys, much appreciated :)

Now it's Christmas here, too. Merry Christmas, Johnny. Always glad to welcome a new member. What part of the UK are you from? I was there in 2000 and had a wonderful time. I just wish I'd had my HD camcorder for that trip.

Now it's Christmas here, too. Merry Christmas, Johnny. Always glad to welcome a new member. What part of the UK are you from? I was there in 2000 and had a wonderful time. I just wish I'd had my HD camcorder for that trip.
Hi, I'm from the the south west of England - glad you had a good time when you were here :)

Hi, I'm from the the south west of England - glad you had a good time when you were here :)

south west huh.........

so its ooooooooooooooo, aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr, we all off to watch the Jethro Xmas special on the box :)

Bob.

OK so i just got this from another board. What's the deal!?!?!

No problem with H264 (compliant HD DVD) in HD DVD structure on DVDR.

HD XA1 read it (perfectly), but you must have H264 video compliant
with HD DVD specification. And the HD DVD authoring software that I use
need NAL Header and other information on H264 video stream (x264 forget it
or make mistakes...).

Can anyone make heads or tails of this?

I've been researching the A1 vs the A2 and they both use the same NEC drive. The drive has 2 chips: one for HD and one for SD. They also use the same chips.

So there should NOT be any reason for the A1 offering about 30Mbps while the A2 offers limits rate to about 20Mbps.

However, early reviews of the drive indicated it's single optical head made it sensitive to media and any media damage.

So, can those who posted they got 30 and those that got 20 post info about the media used.

PS 1: The Xbox uses the same drive -- so it should be able to read red laser HD, unless code in the Xbox prevents it. (Pinnacle is said to be working the issue with MS.)

PS 2: Other than MPEG-2 (HDV) home movies, Toshiba expects only AVC (Japan) or VC-1 (USA) to be used.

digitalfreak, what board?

digitalfreak, what board?

here's the thread. He references Apple's DVD Studio Pro 4.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=111788&page=3&highlight=quicktime+trailers

Could this be a breakthrough? he says it works.

I've been researching the A1 vs the A2 and they both use the same NEC drive. The drive has 2 chips: one for HD and one for SD. They also use the same chips.

So there should NOT be any reason for the A1 offering about 30Mbps while the A2 offers limits rate to about 20Mbps.



I thought the A1 had NEC drive and the A2 and Xbox add-on used Toshiba drives.

I thought the A1 had NEC drive and the A2 and Xbox add-on used Toshiba drives.

I've read, but can't confirm, that the Xbox uses both. People were comparing noise levels of the NEC vs. Tosh versions.

OK so i just got this from another board. What's the deal!?!?!


No problem with H264 (compliant HD DVD) in HD DVD structure on DVDR.

HD XA1 read it (perfectly), but you must have H264 video compliant
with HD DVD specification. And the HD DVD authoring software that I use
need NAL Header and other information on H264 video stream (x264 forget it
or make mistakes...).

Can anyone make heads or tails of this?

That hd-dvd was probably made with Scenarist Standard Contect; recently, scene has released a crack of this program.

* You can make a compliant h264 stream with mainconcept h264 encoder
* x264 is NOT compliant by now.
*...

there's a thread on the doom 9 forum regarding using Canopus Procoder 2 to convert h264 into mpeg2 files, but I never got it to work. Still searching and hoping for an easy solution to come soon.

That hd-dvd was probably made with Scenarist Standard Contect; recently, scene has released a crack of this program.

* You can make a compliant h264 stream with mainconcept h264 encoder
* x264 is NOT compliant by now.
*...

Nope.

If you read the thread, the post was made back in August.

I have Adobe Premier Elements 3.0 and ULead Videostudio 10+. I am trying to author HD-DVDs using Nero 7 to burn them. Basically I can make an HD-DVD that is recognized by my A2 as an HD-DVD using standard blank 4.7GB media, but the playback always stutters badly.

I have a BenQ 1640 DVD burner, and I use verbatim media. I have tried burning at 4x rather than 16x. The .EVO files playback fine using VLC or similar players, no stuttering. But I cannot get anything to playback without stuttering on the Toshiba HD-DVD player.

My workflow is, do the project in elements, make a .m2t file. Create a disc in ULead 10+ and write the data to an HD-DVD folder. Go into Nero Burning Rom, choose UDF DVD, No Multisession, and enable XBox compatibility. Burn the disc's HDDVD_TS folder onto the DVD.

Like I said the DVD is recognized as an HD-DVD and plays back in High def, but the sound stutters badly as does the picture usually.

Any clue what Im doing wrong or how I can fix this?

Any clue what Im doing wrong or how I can fix this?

I think this is because you haven't run the file thru VideoRedo before authoring it with Ulead. VRD will get rid off all the stuttering by filling in the missing time codes (make sure to turn on that feature in VRD, read Joe Clark's instructions). Just download the free 15day trial version of VRD and let us know how its working out for you.

Hi,please dont be too harsh on me.I've authored Gladiator-Bev onto a HD-DVD using this guide .However,i find that playback on the Xbox 360 HD-DVD player on my Sharp lcd-32g4e via component to be quite jerky.Could this be a pal-ntsc framerate difference(The Xbox 360 display settings are 1080i-pal-60) and the Gladiator-Bev has ntsc framerate(29.97fps)???Is there anything i can change to allow this to play more smoothly?vga cable?pal-50?

I tried video re-do and enabled the time code option using the SHIFT key technique described in the original post. I chose a segment of a m2t transport file, and saved it using Video Redo plus.

It doesnt help at all, and even if I use HDPatch Video Studio wants to re-encode everything, even if I set the bitrate of the HD-DVD project to 250000.

Basically I can create D-VHS tapes from the m2t transport streams, but ULead and all these tools seem useless in the creation of an HD_DVD that doesnt stutter on playback.

I wonder if the HD-A2 is somehow different than the A1 in the bitrate it will accept from a non HD-DVD disc? Maybe the higher than 8k bitrate on a normal dvd is no longer supported?

did you do 'save as' or 'quick stream fix'? You should use QSF to get it into PS format for use in ulead.

It doesnt help at all, and even if I use HDPatch Video Studio wants to re-encode everything, even if I set the bitrate of the HD-DVD project to 250000.

I wonder if the HD-A2 is somehow different than the A1 in the bitrate it will accept from a non HD-DVD disc?

1) What is the source? Is it 1080i HDV?

2) First, try Verbatim SL "old style" 2.4x discs and FORCE a 2.4x burn. Does this work?

3) Then try DL? Does this work?

PLEASE REPORT BACK!


4) Can you define a lower export bit-rate in Premiere for the HDV output? If you can, try setting the video to 17Mbps or 18Mbps. This should keep the total at, or under, 20Mbps.

5) If you can't change the export data rate in Premiere, then change the HDPatch Video Studio bit-rate to 20Mbps.

6) I know nothing about HDPatch Video Studio. But, most everyone else is using MF5P so why not try it. We know it works with the A1!

7) Doesn't ULead Videostudio 10+ make an HD DVD file?

8) Anybody -- does Pinnacle Studio 10.7 make a ready-to-burn HD DVD file? Will it burn it, or does one still need Nero?

9) You are asking THE critical question. This previously posted comment implies the data rate on the A2 is limited to the ATSC 20Mbps. "i have finally had success with DL media, if i use the verbatim "old style" 2.4x discs and FORCE a 2.4x burn, they play back without stutter.

I think i managed to bump into the MPS limit though -- the first few things i capped at 20MPS and they worked fine, single and dual layer, however i just tried to burn something at 22.5mps and i'm getting the xbox 360 "cant playback that type" c667000a error..."

PLEASE REPORT BACK!

The source is 1080iHDV from a Sony HC3 Camcorder. I tried to force a 2.4x burn, it made no difference.

I could try DL, but I cant see how that would change anything. Ulead 10+ makes an HD-DVD folder you still burn with Nero.

Let me try and go with a lower bitrate out of Premiere and see if that helps.

The source is 1080iHDV from a Sony HC3 Camcorder. I tried to force a 2.4x burn, it made no difference.

I could try DL, but I cant see how that would change anything. Ulead 10+ makes an HD-DVD folder you still burn with Nero.

Let me try and go with a lower bitrate out of Premiere and see if that helps.

Any way you can try a different burner? I haven't had such problems with HC1 footage.

Ok,

I have had success! Well, kind of. :)

Video playback is flawless now on the 8 gig movie I burned!

However, it is only in 2.0 PCM instead of 5.1!!!!

The .TS is 5.1 so I am guessing MovieFactory5 changed the audio? I looked in advanced options and it allows me to choose Dolby Digital but under audio type it shows 2/0 (L,R) and it is greyed out so I cannot change it.

Any ideas or is this all MovieFactory can do, 2.0?

Man, I am so close to finally getting this to work.

Playing back on HD-A1.

Maybe DVD MovieFactory 5 Plus lets you choose the 5.1 track?

I appreciate any replies and information on how to keep the 5.1 audio from a .TS file, going to HD_DVD directory.

Maybe DVD MovieFactory 5 Plus lets you choose the 5.1 track?

I appreciate any replies and information on how to keep the 5.1 audio from a .TS file, going to HD_DVD directory.

Most versions of MF5 keep the 5.1 audio intact if the video is not re-encoded. Re-encoding will always force it to 2 channel. Do your files take a long time in the final stage of the HD DVD folder creation process? If so, they're re-encoding.

Most versions of MF5 keep the 5.1 audio intact if the video is not re-encoded. Re-encoding will always force it to 2 channel. Do your files take a long time in the final stage of the HD DVD folder creation process? If so, they're re-encoding.

Yes, it does take a while.

I am guessing now tht HDTVtoMPG is not making compliant MPEG2 files and that is why MF5 is re-encoding it, you think?

Running the MPG through hdpatch to see if that fixes it...

Ok,

I have had success! Well, kind of. :)

Video playback is flawless now on the 8 gig movie I burned!

However, it is only in 2.0 PCM instead of 5.1!!!!

The .TS is 5.1 so I am guessing MovieFactory5 changed the audio? I looked in advanced options and it allows me to choose Dolby Digital but under audio type it shows 2/0 (L,R) and it is greyed out so I cannot change it.

Any ideas or is this all MovieFactory can do, 2.0?

Man, I am so close to finally getting this to work.

Playing back on HD-A1.

I had the same 5.1 changed to 2.0 problem with MF5P. I solved it by passing only video thru MF5P and then muxing in the AC3 stream in another application. Worked fine.


You are playing on an A1 so it doesn't help us with an A2.

----------

If SL doesn't work, DL isn't likely to be better. So its either the burner, the disc brand, or the A2. Seeming more like the A2. Damn!

Most versions of MF5 keep the 5.1 audio intact if the video is not re-encoded. Re-encoding will always force it to 2 channel. Do your files take a long time in the final stage of the HD DVD folder creation process? If so, they're re-encoding.

I've had it change to 2.0 with no recoding. Although I was working with a very short file so maybe it did recode. But, I used 1080 HDV which should have been complient.

But that a very good tip!

Because BD players MUST be able to play 1920x1080 60i at 24Mbps, AVCHD recorded on red laser, it looks like we need to get a BD creation process working. Hopefully this will handle 25Mbps HDV.

Who has a BD player other than a PS3?

bump

Still no luck with MF5 and 5.1.....has anyone gotten it to work?

What other ways are there to create an HD DVD folder?

I think it depends on the version of your MF5. I know that my version 5.0 works with dolby digital 5.1, and so does MF5+ and VS10+. You may want to try another version of MF5.
It may sound odd, but there is huge difference between versions of MF5.

THanks,

I have 5.0.0000.0

I guess it's time to buy plus....

I have Adobe Premier Elements 3.0 and ULead Videostudio 10+. I am trying to author HD-DVDs using Nero 7 to burn them. Basically I can make an HD-DVD that is recognized by my A2 as an HD-DVD using standard blank 4.7GB media, but the playback always stutters badly.
I have a BenQ 1640 DVD burner, and I use verbatim media. I have tried burning at 4x rather than 16x.
Any clue what Im doing wrong or how I can fix this?
You didn't mention the media type you're using... +r or -r
On my HD-A2 I found that -r Verbatim DVD's work well with both 720p and 1080i content. The +r media I tried all suffered from stuttering- especially with 1080i content.

Do NOT use HDTVtoMPG! Use VideoRedo and follow the instructions as posted at the beginning of this thread. When importing the movie it *should* be approximately the same size as the original mpg file and it should happen very quickly. Also when pushing the burn button (final step) the encoding bar should show 99% instantly and the lower bar should show that it is muxing - that is, if you chose not to create any menus.

Trying VideoRedo now, thanks! It crahed on me last night but I got it installed this time. I should know in about an hour! Thanks!

Shows 99% and is muxing now....looks like it will take 15 minutes for 8 gigs.

THanks,

I have 5.0.0000.0

I guess it's time to buy plus....

5.0.0000.0 should do it. No plus needed.
BTW I also use the VRD before MF5.

What is the VRD?

its VideoRedo.

I have both the Samsung blu-ray (VERY recently acquired) and the Toshiba A1 (for ~6 months).
So I am interested in a BD disk creation process just like we now have for HDDVD's,thanks to Joseph Clark (and others).


We are able to make HD DVD on DVD+/-R's because you all figured out the HDDVD format :
VIDEO_TS ---> video_ts.vob
HDDVD_TS ----> hv001t0x.evo

Where:
The video_ts.vob file merely needed to be a blank file.
The .EVO files are HDDVD compliant files made by Ulead Movie factory



What is the format of BD's?

If we knew the directory format of a BD disk,like we do on HD DVD disks, then it seems to me all we would need is a tool to make BD compliant files.

We are using MF5 for making compliant HDDVD files so it would not be a stretch to expect Ulead to come out with a new version with support for BD.

Joe
For those of you still wondering if the BD can do the same thing as the HDDVD here the answer is YES. The process is identical to that of HDDVD outlined on this thread with the only change being the folder coming out Ulead MF5 being BDMV instead of HV_DVD.

The only catches of this approach are BD player must be Samsung (Sonys don't work!) and the bit rate stay under 20mb/sec.

I burned some HD shows I recorded OTA at 17mb onto a DVD+R and Samsung played flawlessly just like the original broadcast.

Maybe Joe Clark should consider creating such a sticky for BD software forum too. ;)

its VideoRedo.

I updated my version of VRD and I STILL have the very, very slow load times into Ulead MF5. DAMN THIS IS FRUSTRATING!!

I tried using MPEG2VCR on it and it introduces artifacting for this mpg file (original is TS file). VideoRedo looks excellent, but just plain wont load in MF5.

Anyone found any tricks that might help out?

For some reason, MPEG2VCR makes my mpg file look like crap, otherwise, I would use it.

I have an error in my EVO file that hangs up my Tosiba HD-A1 player. Basically I need to be able to cut about 2-3 seconds out the HV001T03.EVO file to fix the problem. Are there any tools that allow me to do this?

For those of you still wondering if the BD can do the same thing as the HDDVD here the answer is YES. The process is identical to that of HDDVD outlined on this thread with the only change being the folder coming out Ulead MF5 being BDMV instead of HV_DVD.

The only catches of this approach are BD player must be Samsung (Sonys don't work!) and the bit rate stay under 20mb/sec.

I burned some HD shows I recorded OTA at 17mb onto a DVD+R and Samsung played flawlessly just like the original broadcast.

Maybe Joe Clark should consider creating such a sticky for BD software forum too. ;)

1) I know this is an HD DVD forum, but since there is so much knowedge here and still so many unknowns, it really makes sense to work together. Those producing high def DVDs for weddings, etc will need to burn for both formats.

2) Exactly how did you get Ulead MF5 to output BDMV?

3) Exactly what is the max data rate?

4) Interesting the new Sony's don't work as they also can't play BD R or RW yet. So it looks like everything Sony is missing the firmware to read BDMV! (Despite the fact you can burn these with a VAIO!)

5) And, it looks like the A2 and Samsung are both limited to ATSC rate of 19.4Mbps.

6) But, why did Toshiba lower the limit? Perhaps it was an accident. Does anyone have any friends at Toshiba?

7) Of course, AVC and VC-1 will be great at 20Mbps, BUT the encode times will be so painful that those with MPEG-2 sources will likely not bother.

8) Current AVCHD discs are well under 20Mbps -- although there is a 24Mbps camcorder coming in 2007. Which suggests a future problem unless both BD and HD DVD systems can play 25Mbps. That would mean Samsung will need a patch and Toshiba may need to remove the limit on the A2.

9) Excellent comparison of Sammy and A1 at:
http://www.film-talk.com/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t11362.html

However, the comment that the Sammy will not play red laser unless it has ACSS appears to be wrong -- unless MF5P creates that when it makes a BDMV file.

Still no 5.1.....even after VideoRedo....very frustrating.

Now I am thinking the .TS file might just be 2.0 (even though I was told it was 5.1).

What's the best way to tell the audio properties of a file?

Sure enough, it is 5.1....converting to the .mpg keeps the 5.1 channels, just confirmed.

So, it is MF5 that is somehow converting it to 2.0 PCM only....

sample info from a .ts file:

File Name: O:\Ep5Cmax\crossroads.0005.ts
File Size: 104857564 ( 0.10 GB )
Program Duration: 00:01:31.26
File Type: TS Stream
Encoding: MPEG 2
Video stream Id: 17 (x11)
Encoding Dimensions: 1920 x 1080
Display Size: 1920 x 1080
Aspect Ratio: 16/9
Frame Rate: 29.97 FPS
Bit Rate: 14.000 Mbps
VBV_Buffer: 976 KB
Profile: Main/High
Progressive: Prog or Int
Chroma: 4:2:0
Audio Format: 5.1
Audio Stream Id: AC3: 20 (x14)
Audio Bit Rate: 384 Kbps
Audio Sampling Rate: 48000 Hz

Then from the .mpg I created from all .TS files:


File Name: O:\Empire_b.mpg
File Size: 8342892548 ( 7.77 GB )
Program Duration: 02:04:09.11
File Type: PS - MPEG2
Encoding: MPEG 2
Video stream Id: xE0
Encoding Dimensions: 1920 x 1080
Display Size: 1920 x 1080
Aspect Ratio: 16/9
Frame Rate: 29.97 FPS
Bit Rate: 14.000 Mbps
VBV_Buffer: 976 KB
Profile: Main/High
Progressive: Prog or Int
Chroma: 4:2:0
Audio Format: 5.1
Audio Stream Id: AC3: 0 (x80)
Audio Bit Rate: 384 Kbps
Audio Sampling Rate: 48000 Hz

and to confirm, in MF5 I am making sure that I check the box that says "don not convert compliant MPG files"

Exactly how did you get Ulead MF5 to output BDMV?

I use MF5 version 5.0.0000.0. That version has BD authoring as an option along with HDDVD. So you burn the BD to a folder just like what you do with the HDDVD. Then the folder MF5 creates becomes BDMV instead of HV_DVD.

Sure enough, it is 5.1....converting to the .mpg keeps the 5.1 channels, just confirmed.

So, it is MF5 that is somehow converting it to 2.0 PCM only....

and to confirm, in MF5 I am making sure that I check the box that says "don not convert compliant MPG files"

I aleady posted that MF5P flags the file, or converts it to, 2/0.

You must use MF5P only to make a video file. Then externally mux with an AC3 file, and burn that. I have forgotten how I did it back in Nov. I only did it to confirm MF5P was broken.

You are confirming my finding. But, if anyone has gotten an AC3 file thru MF5P, we would all like to hear how.

PS -- if MF5P is only changing the audio TYPE header, it should be possible to patch it back to 5.1. Any takers?

I aleady posted that MF5P flags the file, or converts it to, 2.0.

You must use MF5P only to make a video file. Then externally mux with an AC3 file, and burn that. I have forgotten how I did it back in Nov. I only did it to confirm MF5P was broken.

You are confirming my finding. But, if anyone has gotten an AC3 file thru MF5P, we would all like to hear how.

PS -- if MF5P is only changing the audio TYPE header, it should be possible to patch it back to 5.1. Any takers?

I have tried everything with MF5 and no luck. If you used MF5 to create the HD DVD folder, how did you edit the audio in the folder? Just wondering because it would seem that MF5 is the last step, before burning with Nero.

I don't see how you could add the 5.1 track to the separated files in the folder....

Dude, I think 384Kbs is 2.0 audio (could be dolby 2.0) wrapped in 5.1 ac3 stream. Usually, 5.1 is 448Kbs, at least that what I have noticed.

Ummm....No....."dude."

No, you can have 5.1 and 384k.

However, I was looking at the mpg settings and noticed it says:

Audio Stream Id: AC3: 0 (x80)

The .TS says:
Audio Stream Id: AC3: 20 (x14)

Could that be it?

If anyone wants to help, PM me and I will set up a sample for download so you can try to convert it!

I have tried everything with MF5 and no luck. If you used MF5 to create the HD DVD folder, how did you edit the audio in the folder? Just wondering because it would seem that MF5 is the last step, before burning with Nero.

I don't see how you could add the 5.1 track to the separated files in the folder....

I think I used another app (MPEGstream clip, perhaps) to open the VOB and replace the PCM with AC-3 and then remuxed. Anyway, the result had 5.1.

But, the point is HOW to get MF5P to not convert 5.1 to 2.0.

However, I suspect it's because Dolby offers a free license for 2/0 and, for legal reasons, Ulead must output only 2/0. Therefore, it must convert. We need a more expensive version of MF5P that allows 5.1 output.

What about using Pinnacle Studio 10.7?

I tried Vegas 7.0 but no luck.

I have not tried Pinnacle Studio yet (waiting for it to arrive, got it free).

So no one here has gotten 5.1 to work with MF5. Right?

Earlier I posted:

5) And, it looks like the A2 and Samsung are both limited to ATSC rate of 19.4Mbps.

6) But, why did Toshiba lower the limit?

9) Excellent comparison of Sammy and A1 at:
http://www.film-talk.com/forums/lof...php/t11362.html

However, the comment that the Sammy will not play red laser unless it has ACSS appears to be wrong -- unless MF5P creates that when it makes a BDMV file.


PERHAPS under pressure from the studios, without ACSS the limit is now 20Mbps. The A1 slipped out before Japan Inc. agreed to this limit. (Like the first PS3 that output upscaled SD as 720p via component, until the firmware patch removed that option.) Which means:

A) the A1 is very good for your own work.

B) That to go above 20Mbps, software will need to set some kind of ACSS flag. Or, possibly we will never be able to go above 20Mbps.

C) The coming 24Mbps AVCHD camcorder will write some kind of ACSS flag.

D) No AVC or VC-1 encoding may be supported without an ACSS flag. Perhaps that too will have a limit.

The point being is to prevent anyone but Hollywood from burning content with a picture quality equal to BD or HD DVD. Or, to prevent red laser copies of movies with the same quality as BD or HD DVD.

So was anyone able to make heads or tails of the stuff that i posted about x264 from that thead??? Isn't that what we're all waiting for right now?

back to the 5.1 issue and MF5,

Please post your version of MF5 if you HAVE gotten 5.1 audio to work.

Thanks!

back to the 5.1 issue and MF5,

Please post your version of MF5 if you HAVE gotten 5.1 audio to work.

Thanks!
I use DVD MF 5 Plus, ver 5.30.0107.0 and 5.1 audio is perfect!

I use DVD MF 5 Plus, ver 5.30.0107.0 and 5.1 audio is perfect!

Great! Exactly how do you get 5.1 audio into MF?

Is it with the video or are you ADDing it?

What steps do you use.

I use DVD MF 5 Plus, ver 5.30.0107.0 and 5.1 audio is perfect!

Hey Rob,

Can you let me know your complete process?

Here is what I do:

1. Use VideoRedo to conver the .TS file into a .MPG file
2. Open MF5, choose new project, select HD DVD. open the .MPG file from the top left menu, click on settings and make sure that "do not convert compliant MPGs" is checked.

No menus, no chapters, burn to HD DVD directory.

3. Open Nero, choose UDF, no multisession and force playback. Burn to DVD.


Audio always comes out 2.0 for some reason...I have triple checked and the file, as listed above is 5.1.

I have now tried this on MF5 plus and had the same results.

The 5.1 audio is in my .MPG (or .ts too).

I have tried this with multiple .TS files and all end up as 2.0 PCM only. VERY frustrating and I am about to lose it!!! :)

1. Use VideoRedo to conver the .TS file into a .MPG file.

I never used VR.

I exported .mpg from my NLE as a separate file. Then output the AC3 as a separate .ac3 file and ADDED it to my Video file already imported into MF5P.

Try this while you wait for Rob's answer.

Thanks,

I guess while I wait for responses, I will check out other options....

Hey Rob,

Can you let me know your complete process?

Here is what I do:

1. Use VideoRedo to conver the .TS file into a .MPG file
2. Open MF5, choose new project, select HD DVD. open the .MPG file from the top left menu, click on settings and make sure that "do not convert compliant MPGs" is checked.

No menus, no chapters, burn to HD DVD directory.

3. Open Nero, choose UDF, no multisession and force playback. Burn to DVD.


Audio always comes out 2.0 for some reason...I have triple checked and the file, as listed above is 5.1.

I have now tried this on MF5 plus and had the same results.

The 5.1 audio is in my .MPG (or .ts too).

I have tried this with multiple .TS files and all end up as 2.0 PCM only. VERY frustrating and I am about to lose it!!! :)

Gruson, I believe I have the same set of software as yours and I always get 5.1 with my HDDVD from recorded HDTV shows.
My workflow is almost identical to yours except the last one. I open Nero 7 burning rom and then pick DVD-video. Then I drag the HV_DVD folder into the tree and add the dummy file video_ts.vob into video_ts folder. And then I burn the disk. It always comes out as a clone to the original material both in video and audio quality. Hope that helps. Good luck.

Gruson, I use MF5 version 5.0 and have only found 3 ways to end up with your problem.

1. multipart TS files that start off as 2.0 and then change to 5.1. after combining them they show as 5.1 in videoredo but MF5 will process as 2.0. I always check the first TS file in videoredo (ctl +L) to get info and cut any 2.0 video off the beginning.

2. Forget to change the audio data rate to match your video, if you set MF5 for 384K and the video is 448K MF5 will convert the video and you'll end up with 2.0.

3. If you have a video with a strange resolution, high data rate etc that makes MF5 convert the video to a compliant form you will end up with 2.0 audio.

hope this helps

Bob

Robert,

Please check your PMs.

Thanks!

Earlier I posted:

PERHAPS under pressure from the studios, without ACSS the limit is now 20Mbps. The A1 slipped out before Japan Inc. agreed to this limit. (Like the first PS3 that output upscaled SD as 720p via component, until the firmware patch removed that option.)
The point being is to prevent anyone but Hollywood from burning content with a picture quality equal to BD or HD DVD. Or, to prevent red laser copies of movies with the same quality as BD or HD DVD.

Well, I guess that means that we'd better not do any firmware update on our A1 offered by Toshiba.

I am on the verge of buying a second DVD player. If A2 is much less than A1 in many respects as it now appears I guess finding a bargain A1 would be my only option.

This sort of confirms the fear many of us had here that A1 may be the last of its kind. Though red laser HD is in HDDVD specs there is no garruanttee that there won't be any bit rate cap. That leaves the red laser HD just an empty promise.

This is very disappointing about the A2 problems with HDV. I purchased the A1 some time ago on the merits of this thread that I would have a distributable format for 1080i HDV camcorder video. And that process worked!

But if you're pursuing a distribution format for HDV video, it seems the A2 has pushed us back to square one. Of course I can still play HDV on the A1, but what good as a format for distribution if Toshiba has dropped support for 25 mbs in the second generation?

I'm sure this is not an objection for more than 1% of HD DVD owners, but going forward I can't support the format because it doesn't support me.

It's just too bad more people didn't embrace the hi-def multi media players like the AVel LinkPlayer2, Buffalo and a few others that were mostly stillborn. Those players did everything and so much more than HD DVD or Blue Ray except satisfy the copy protection paranoias of the hollywood studios.

Hey Everyone. This is an excellent thread. I have one question. When I play my videos using the HDA1 I have to switch the audio to PCM from Bitstream when using the optical output. I have two HDA1s in my house. One is hooked up to my home theater via analog outs and one is hooked up via optical. How do I get my HD-DVDs to work through the Optical outputs on my HD-A1 without having to change the output settings. In MF5, I can select MPEG, LPCM, and Dolby Digital. All of my films are from my HV-10 Camcorder and are MPEG audio. When I select that in MF5, it still will not output until I change the audio settings in the HDA1 to PCM.
Any Ideas?

My A2 plays HDV content. Maybe we should do a poll, as to who is having success and who isn't. According to texmex, some time ago, red laser support is built into the HD DVD spec, so that won't be going away. If the problems being reported were a result of a Hollywood reaction to this process, then why target HDV at a higher bitrate? The bitrate of virtually every program being recorded from satellite and cable falls below HDV's bitrate.

I've also had no problem getting 5.1 audio to pass through. There was a report of an early (maybe OEM) version of MF5 having this problem, I think, but that issue hasn't been reported for a long time.

Hey Everyone. This is an excellent thread. I have one question. When I play my videos using the HDA1 I have to switch the audio to PCM from Bitstream when using the optical output. I have two HDA1s in my house. One is hooked up to my home theater via analog outs and one is hooked up via optical. How do I get my HD-DVDs to work through the Optical outputs on my HD-A1 without having to change the output settings. In MF5, I can select MPEG, LPCM, and Dolby Digital. All of my films are from my HV-10 Camcorder and are MPEG audio. When I select that in MF5, it still will not output until I change the audio settings in the HDA1 to PCM.
Any Ideas?

I have this problem, too. I use Adobe Premier and output audio fro all my projects as Dolby Digital.

My A2 plays HDV content. Maybe we should do a poll, as to who is having success and who isn't. According to texmex, some time ago, red laser support is built into the HD DVD spec, so that won't be going away. If the problems being reported were a result of a Hollywood reaction to this process, then why target HDV at a higher bitrate? The bitrate of virtually every program being recorded from satellite and cable falls below HDV's bitrate.

If I can find an X2 at a retailer connected to an HDTV, I'll try inserting one of my disks. If your X2 is able to play HDV at 25mbs, there is hope then. I agree with you, would make no sense to "target" HDV's higher bitrate, so the plot may not be insidious.

Hey Everyone. This is an excellent thread. I have one question. When I play my videos using the HDA1 I have to switch the audio to PCM from Bitstream when using the optical output. I have two HDA1s in my house. One is hooked up to my home theater via analog outs and one is hooked up via optical. How do I get my HD-DVDs to work through the Optical outputs on my HD-A1 without having to change the output settings. In MF5, I can select MPEG, LPCM, and Dolby Digital. All of my films are from my HV-10 Camcorder and are MPEG audio. When I select that in MF5, it still will not output until I change the audio settings in the HDA1 to PCM.
Any Ideas?

HDV audio is mp2. Demux your HDV video into separate streams for video and audio. Convert the audio stream to AC3 (dolby), remux the AC3 with the video to recombine them.

Then when you author it with MF5, the audio will playback on the HD DVD player with the audio setting = bitstream.

This is very disappointing about the A2 problems with HDV. I purchased the A1 some time ago on the merits of this thread that I would have a distributable format for 1080i HDV camcorder video. And that process worked!

But if you're pursuing a distribution format for HDV video, it seems the A2 has pushed us back to square one. Of course I can still play HDV on the A1, but what good as a format for distribution if Toshiba has dropped support for 25 mbs in the second generation?

I'm sure this is not an objection for more than 1% of HD DVD owners, but going forward I can't support the format because it doesn't support me.

It's just too bad more people didn't embrace the hi-def multi media players like the AVel LinkPlayer2, Buffalo and a few others that were mostly stillborn. Those players did everything and so much more than HD DVD or Blue Ray except satisfy the copy protection paranoias of the hollywood studios.

I agree with you completely if this is verified as an on-going problem. This process was very exciting for me as an ex-teacher of video production because of the value it would have for students looking for a distribution format for their own work. Several of my students had become involved in HDV just before I left teaching about a year and a half ago.

As I've said, though, I have no problem playing back HDV footage on my A2. I just watched a short HDV video I did on the Missouri Botanical Garden. It played back without skipping a frame or dropping a note from the music, start to finish. That's the norm for me. My own footage (HDV at 25mbps) has never stuttered. I have had 3 or 4 discs (out of dozens played) stutter briefly on the A2, but the bitrate has always been well under 20mbps (captures from Dish Network).

I don't think the problem is HDV's datarate. I suspect bad burns or bad media. One approach might be to verify every burn in Nero. That way, you'll know if the HD DVD matches the source. If it doesn't, then you can work to find a consistent source of media and burners. For students and event videographers, finding a solution that works consistently and is verifiable is the only way to know your work is going to play.

The other possibility, of course, is that the A2 drives are inconsistent, machine to machine, in their ability to playback red laser recordables. That's altogether possible, but there's little evidence at this point of a deliberate attempt to limit datarate on the machines.

At one point or another, I think all of us who use this process have had problems with our specific combinations of hardware and software that limited how well the process worked. In the beginning, I was unable to do a successful burn of almost any film I'd captured from Dish. I wasn't too happy about that, but I still considered it worth it just to have a means to distribute HDV footage.

Some people, I'm sure, gave up when they hit such walls. That would have been easy for me after my first few trips to Best Buy to try out the process on their display A1. Certainly, this process isn't for everyone, and it's not perfect. In the case of HDV, though, I think it's worth it to try to track down the issues and solve the problems.

Hopefully, new software is on the horizon that will consolidate these steps into one painless workflow. As I've said before, this thread is here only to help us through a rough stretch. I look forward to the day when we won't need it at all.

HDV audio is mp2. Demux your HDV video into separate streams for video and audio. Convert the audio stream to AC3 (dolby), remux the AC3 with the video to recombine them.

Then when you author it with MF5, the audio will playback on the HD DVD player with the audio setting = bitstream.

Thanks, Tom. As I said, I use Premier for HDV editing. Would you mind providing a step-by-step for what you use to achieve that? Most people aren't going to use Premier for HDV - too expensive and complex. If you can do that, I'll put it in the FAQ section.

Edited: sorry, just downloaded and seems corrupted.

Thanks, Tom. As I said, I use Premier for HDV editing. Would you mind providing a step-by-step for what you use to achieve that? Most people aren't going to use Premier for HDV - too expensive and complex. If you can do that, I'll put it in the FAQ section.

1.) TMPGEnc Xpress 3.0 (or later) with the AC3 license. Use this to export DVD compliant 720x480 mpeg2 file from HDV 1440x1080i. Choose 48khz 384 kbps 16 bit audio output. Many times it is advisable to export your HDV project to standard def DVD. If you don't require it, then you can export to any size mpeg2 file to save rendering time, say 180x120 since you are only interested in harvesting the AC3 (dolby digital) audio track from it later.

2.) Womble MPEG Video Wizard. Use the demultiplexer tool (under options) to split your HDV file into separate tracks for the video and the audio, placed onto the timeline.

3.) Delete the audio track from the timeline. This will be replaced with the AC3 dolby track you strip from the std definition DVD mpeg2 file you rendered previously with TMPGEnc Xpress.

4.) Repeat step 2 for the std def DVD compliant file except uncheck the box that causes the video and audio files to be placed onto the timeline. You will get two files, filename.mpv and filename.mpa. Drag filename.mpa from the folder onto the timeline where the audio track that you just deleted was.

5.) Export the project as 1440x1080i mpeg2 program stream, checking the tab for audio, and the box for AC3 audio.

6.) Author PS into HD-DVD format as before with MovieFactory5.

7.) Your HD-DVD project will now play audio with Bitstream output setting in 2.0 Dolby Digital.

This works well for Sony Z1U, FX1, Canon XL-H1, XH-A1, HV10, I have tried them all (1080i) with equal success, and surely others HC1, HC3, A1U etc.
Feel free if any questions...Hope this helps

1.) TMPGEnc Xpress 3.0 (or later) with the AC3 license. Use this to export DVD compliant 720x480 mpeg2 file from HDV 1440x1080i. Choose 48khz 384 kbps 16 bit audio output. Many times it is advisable to export your HDV project to standard def DVD. If you don't require it, then you can export to any size mpeg2 file to save rendering time, say 180x120 since you are only interested in harvesting the AC3 (dolby digital) audio track from it later.

2.) Womble MPEG Video Wizard. Use the demultiplexer tool (under options) to split your HDV file into separate tracks for the video and the audio, placed onto the timeline.

3.) Delete the audio track from the timeline. This will be replaced with the AC3 dolby track you strip from the std definition DVD mpeg2 file you rendered previously with TMPGEnc Xpress.

4.) Repeat step 2 for the std def DVD compliant file except uncheck the box that causes the video and audio files to be placed onto the timeline. You will get two files, filename.mpv and filename.mpa. Drag filename.mpa from the folder onto the timeline where the audio track that you just deleted was.

5.) Export the project as 1440x1080i mpeg2 program stream, checking the tab for audio, and the box for AC3 audio.

6.) Author PS into HD-DVD format as before with MovieFactory5.

7.) Your HD-DVD project will now play audio with Bitstream output setting in 2.0 Dolby Digital.

This works well for Sony Z1U, FX1, Canon XL-H1, XH-A1, HV10, I have tried them all (1080i) with equal success, and surely others HC1, HC3, A1U etc.
Feel free if any questions...Hope this helps

Thanks Tom.
Good help from a fellow Coloradan! I will give it a try!

I'm trying to figure out why the playback is "jerky" I guess would be a good way to call it. The audio is fine in sync with the video but at times, usually when there is motion in the video the objects seem to jump or jerk forward.

If there is a car moving forward it seems to jump a fame or two as it moves but does not effect the playback entirely just for a few frames. It's very watchable and I know this may never be perfect but I was just wondering if anyone had a suggestion, It gets annoying when I know it's there and I'm looking for it.

Also playback on PowerDVD HD version plays the video fine without any jumps in frames.

I followed the guide and used the correct software.

Burner:
TSSTCorp H552 and Pioneer 111D (use the pioneer more)

Media:
Dynex (RITEKR03) DVD+R at 4x, Verbatim DVD+R DL at 2.4x(noticed more frame jumps), Unbranded RITEK DVD-R at 4x.

Video: 1920x1080 29.97FPS 14MBPS AC3 5.1 384kbps

Most people aren't going to use Premier for HDV -- too expensive and complex.

If one is shooting HD, it's hard to believe they don't use a "pro" NLE. Of these, Premiere Pro 2 is one of the cheapest, simplest, and has the largest user base in the world. In any case, the majority of HDV editing is done with FCP -- which is just as complex as Premiere.

The real problem comes when folks try editing HDV using somthing other than one of the major NLEs. Because they are using some $50 application, no one with years of HDV editing experience can help them.

If you publish a Premiere workflow, 99% of the users of other NLEs will understand the process and be able to see how it will work with their NLE.

The big issues that differ between NLEs are:

1) If it turns out we need to limit the video data rate to 17 or 18mbps -- some NLE's have you choose an HDV Export TEMPLATE. Therefore, it's important that instructions describe HOW to lower the video data rate after chosing a Template. (Assuming that is possible. If it's not, then I would rule this NLE out as one does NOT want to re-encode MPEG-2 in orer to lower its data rate!)

2) AC3 is not valid with an HDV export. This means the instructions need to describe how, after exporting HDV, one replaces the .mp2 audio with an .ac3 audio. And then, where and how, to combine these two files.

3) If you NLE can create AC3, then obviously you can't export as HDV. So the instructions need to describe how to export the HD video as .mpg and the audio as .ac3 and where and how to combine these two files.

4) It looks like there is an issue in getting receiver's to recognize 5.1, so instructions on this are also needed.

Thankfully, these instructions will be independent of media, data rate, etc. Thus, they will be useful no matter what burner player issues arise.

Good luck!

HDV with PCM stereo audio (25mbps):

I have no problem playing back HDV footage on my A2. I just watched a short HDV video. It played back without skipping a frame or dropping a note from the music, start to finish. My own footage (HDV at 25mbps) has never stuttered. Joe


QUESTIONS = what form is the audio? what media?

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

HDTV with AC3 audio (20mbps):

Gruson, I believe I have the same set of software as yours and I always get 5.1 with my HD DVD from recorded HDTV shows. My workflow is almost identical to yours except the last one. I open Nero 7 burning rom and then pick DVD-video. Then I drag the HV_DVD folder into the tree and add the dummy file video_ts.vob into video_ts folder. And then I burn the disk. GodobeHD

QUESTIONS = A1 or A2?

I've also had no problem getting 5.1 audio to pass through. Joe

QUESTIONS = are you ADDing AC3 in MF5P or are you simply IMPORTing a movie with AC3?

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

BD Burning:
That version has BD authoring as an option along with HDDVD. So you burn the BD to a folder just like what you do with the HDDVD. Then the folder MF5 creates becomes BDMV instead of HV_DVD.

QUESTIONS = steps to use the "option" or to use the BD application that ships with MF5P.

=============================

SUMMARY: it seems the common thread of Joe and GodobeHD is that the AC3 is intregal to the movie imported into MF5P. Perhaps only then does 5.1 not get converted to 2/0. Correct?

So far the only confirmed 25mbps playback on an A2 is from Joe. Luck or skill? :)

Joe, we need your exact steps including media and burner. Also, if you can try your working discs on several other A2 that will be very helpful!


Since BD is claimed to be so similar, even if it is limited to 20mbps we need to understand the process. Then, perhaps, we can see how to increase BD to 25mbps.

It seems, other than those recording HDTV for their own use, the rest of us need at least 25mbps for our HDV work. In fact, ideally we want 30mbps! (Joe, can you try 27mbps and 30mbps.)

Wonderful guide!

I downloaded Ulead MovieFactory 5 and used it to import a clip from my HC1 .. burned it with nero 6, played it on my XA1. It all worked perfect the 1st time. :)

Proshow gold has just come out with version 3 that outputs HD files 1080p / 1080i / 720p etc.. so i tried one of my old 16:9 slide shows.. and burned it to hd dvd with movie factory... that looked wonderful as well.

Proshow converts all sorts of movie files, so i tried it with one of the windows media HD file - sample clips, and burned it to a dvd. It worked, BUT, the aspect ration was wrong. I tired outputing the file in 16:9.. i tried it in 4:3. The latter works ok if you could tell the monitor to play it stretched, but you can't on a hd dvd, the sony tv locks to "full'. IN either situation you're stuck with an anamorphic file playing 4:3 after its burned to the HD DVD.

could someone help me out here? :)
Thanks

Wonderful guide!

Proshow converts all sorts of movie files, so i tried it with one of the windows media HD file - sample clips, and burned it to a dvd. It worked, BUT, the aspect ration was wrong.

Oh .. nevermind.. I could use HDpatch to fix that after Proshow outputs the HD file.

*smacks forehead*

I should just read the guide somemore I guess.
:rolleyes:

If one is shooting HD, it's hard to believe they don't use a "pro" NLE.
The real problem comes when folks try editing HDV using somthing other than one of the major NLEs. Because they are using some $50 application, no one with years of HDV editing experience can help them.

2) AC3 is not valid with an HDV export. This means the instructions need to describe how, after exporting HDV, one replaces the .mp2 audio with an .ac3 audio. And then, where and how, to combine these two files.

3) If you NLE can create AC3, then obviously you can't export as HDV. So the instructions need to describe how to export the HD video as .mpg and the audio as .ac3 and where and how to combine these two files.

Thankfully, these instructions will be independent of media, data rate, etc. Thus, they will be useful no matter what burner player issues arise.

Good luck!

Where did I say I don't use a "pro" NLE?

You did a "lot" of assuming there, and I'm doing the same by assuming you have not been able to get bitstream audio output from HDV audio tracks.

But the bottom line for anyone wanting to would be to try exporting to 1440x1080i mpeg2 PS with AC3 if HDV with AC3 is regarded as an illegal format template by your NLE. Because the derided $50 tool (MF5) has no objection to happily authoring HD DVD files with AC3 bitstream audio, and the A1 has no objection playing them, and the AV receiver happily displays the dolby digital 2.0 logo with sound coming from the speakers. Amazing!

So let's try and stay constructive because I'm almost regretting I even mentioned HDV bitstream output. Let the naysayers control the mic. I only chimed in because the question was asked. Heck I assumed most everyone was doing it.

Anyway, the subject of demuxing/remuxing audio streams is very old hat for anyone thinking beyond the confines of the "pro" NLE and willing to try a free tool like virtualdub, or dozens of others. Every tool in your box need not be a Snap_On or Craftsman to get used.

I did exactly the creation process as described with MF and Nero 7, but when I put in the DVD in my new Toshiba HD-E1 (euoprean version), the display on the player shows shortly 'HDDVD' but then on the screen an error message is showed: 'no DVD format'. Any ideas?

Sascha

Problem: The A1 plays for a few minutes, then pauses, and goes into slow-motion.

Here's the particulars:

Encoded at a rate of 20 mbps. Converted the m2t with Video Redo, authored with Ulead, burned with Nero, paying particular attention to the details. I'm sure I've gotten everything right up til now. It loads, and plays fine for a few moments then suddenly freezes and holds, then into slomo.

I'm thinking it might be the particular DVD's I'm using. Any recommendations?

(note: A1 plays regular DVD's and HDDVD's fine)

thanks in advance for the help.

steve

I found out the reason for the E1 problem: the E1 is a european player but currently only supports 29,97 fps! After have found out this, I changed MF from PAL to NTSC and...it worked! A new software update in Feb for the E1 should solve this thing.

Problem: The A1 plays for a few minutes, then pauses, and goes into slow-motion.
steve
Steve-
It sounds like your problem is either your DVD media or your DVD burner. The easy first step is to buy better media (it appears Verbatim +R DL disks are the best DL disks) and see if the problem goes away. A less expensive option for testing the media is to try using good SL media for recording ~40 minutes of material. If you still have the problem it may be your burner.

I'm currently having burner problems similar to yours with my new Gateway computer's burner so I'm going to replace it with a Nec 3550 that cost me $30. The Gateway DVD burner works fine with good quality media, but unfortunately I bought a lot of poor quality media because it worked fine with the Nec 3550. My problem is not exactly like yours because it happens after the layer change. At that point, it behaves exactly as you describe. None of the disks burnt by the Nec 3550 behave this way.

Got the right DVD and it works now.

steve

You did a "lot" of assuming there:

1) my post about Premiere was in response to Joe.

2) "Because the derided $50 tool (MF5) has ..."

I wasn't talking about MF5P. You'll note in my posts that it is the heart of the task. I was talking about the cheap home HDV editors.

I suggest you read posts carefully and stop assuming someone is putting YOU down.

... if HDV with AC3 is regarded as an illegal format template by your NLE.

It is not an NLE that "regards" HDV with AC3 "illegal." The specification for HDV regards it as illegal. HDV has only .mp2 audio. ProHD allows PCM audio -- although it's not yet been implemented.

1) Those choosing any HDV template will never get AC3.

2) Since most NLEs provide ONLY HDV templates, they can not get AC3.

Therefore, I was suggesting to Joe -- not you -- that the instructions need to cover the many, many NLE's that use HDV Templates.

In short something a bit more detailed than "... try exporting to 1440x1080i mpeg2 PS with AC3 if HDV with AC3 is regarded as an illegal format template by your NLE."

So why not be "constructive" and provide us -- and Joe -- with the path you suggest we "try."

For those NLEs that only output HDV -- how to replace the .mp2 audio with .ac3 audio BEFORE importing into MF5P.

Or, how to remove the .mp2 audio before importing it into MF5P and then ADDing the .ac3 file in MF5P.

There are lots of ways you can be of help to the group.

Have read some of the post on this thread and I am not sure if someone mentioned this site http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=119871&page=8

It appears that they may have a tool to decrypt ACCC files. Just joined that forum but it takes 5 days to be able to post or reply. Hope it helps, they might be able to use info. from this thread and vise versa. :D


Happy New Years :)

It is not an NLE that "regards" HDV with AC3 "illegal." The specification for HDV regards it as illegal. HDV has only .mp2 audio. ProHD allows PCM audio -- although it's not yet been implemented.

1) Those choosing any HDV template will never get AC3.

2) Since most NLEs provide ONLY HDV templates, they can not get AC3.

Therefore, I was suggesting to Joe -- not you -- that the instructions need to cover the many, many NLE's that use HDV Templates.

In short something a bit more detailed than "... try exporting to 1440x1080i mpeg2 PS with AC3 if HDV with AC3 is regarded as an illegal format template by your NLE."

So why not be "constructive" and provide us -- and Joe -- with the path you suggest we "try."

For those NLEs that only output HDV -- how to replace the .mp2 audio with .ac3 audio BEFORE importing into MF5P.

Or, how to remove the .mp2 audio before importing it into MF5P and then ADDing the .ac3 file in MF5P.

There are lots of ways you can be of help to the group.


I've already described exactly how I do it. I am happy to elaborate with more detail, post screen grabs or answer any questions about THAT process. But as of now, your NLE doesn't do what you need, and you don't sound open minded about trying something different.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9313142&&#post9313142

All of my captures are 720p/60 all are 12gigs + each. with full audio.

What is a good way to re-encode them so when I author they fit onto a dvd-r2.


thanks



rod

Great! Exactly how do you get 5.1 audio into MF?

Is it with the video or are you ADDing it?

What steps do you use.
The original .ts file captured by my OnAir GT is already 5.1 audio. I don't modify it at all.

Hey Rob,

Can you let me know your complete process?

Here is what I do:

1. Use VideoRedo to conver the .TS file into a .MPG file
2. Open MF5, choose new project, select HD DVD. open the .MPG file from the top left menu, click on settings and make sure that "do not convert compliant MPGs" is checked.

No menus, no chapters, burn to HD DVD directory.

3. Open Nero, choose UDF, no multisession and force playback. Burn to DVD.


Audio always comes out 2.0 for some reason...I have triple checked and the file, as listed above is 5.1.

I have now tried this on MF5 plus and had the same results.

The 5.1 audio is in my .MPG (or .ts too).

I have tried this with multiple .TS files and all end up as 2.0 PCM only. VERY frustrating and I am about to lose it!!! :)
I use the same exact method you do. If you want to send me a short section of 5.1 content to run through my system, PM me. Oh yeah, 10MB or less for the file size.
Here's a copy of the file attributes "before" and "after" I use DVDMF to author to HD-DVD:

File properties as reported by VideoRedo of raw saved 5.1 content (episode of House)
File Name: C:\Temp\House 5.1.mpg

File Size: 57769988 ( 0.05 GB )
Program Duration: 00:00:55.46
File Type: PS - MPEG2
Encoding: MPEG 2
Video stream Id: xE0
Encoding Dimensions: 1280 x 720
Display Size: 1280 x 720
Aspect Ratio: 16/9
Frame Rate: 59.94 FPS
Bit Rate: 19.000 Mbps
VBV_Buffer: 976 KB
Profile: Main/High
Progressive: Progressive Only
Chroma: 4:2:0
Audio Format: 5.1
Audio Stream Id: AC3: 0 (x80)
Audio Bit Rate: 448 Kbps
Audio Sampling Rate: 48000 Hz


File properties as reported by VideoRedo of above file authored to HD-DVD format by Ulead DVD Movie Factory Plus ver 5.30.0107.0

File Name: D:\HVDVD_TS\HV001T01.EVO
File Size: 57999360 ( 0.05 GB )
Program Duration: 00:00:55.46
File Type: PS - MPEG2
Encoding: MPEG 2
Video stream Id: xE0
Encoding Dimensions: 1280 x 720
Display Size: 1280 x 720
Aspect Ratio: 16/9
Frame Rate: 59.94 FPS
Bit Rate: 19.000 Mbps
VBV_Buffer: 976 KB
Profile: Main/High
Progressive: Progressive Only
Chroma: 4:2:0
Audio Format: 5.1
Audio Stream Id: Raw PS1
Audio Bit Rate: 448 Kbps
Audio Sampling Rate: 48000 Hz

[QUOTE=Tom Roper] But as of now, your NLE doesn't do what you need, and you don't sound open minded about trying something different.

I have every NLE from Avid to Vegas so I'm not limited in any way.

I was posting the request for those that don't have PP.

But thank you for the link to your earlier post -- frankly I skipped it as it was far too many steps to be an IDEAL working solution.

But, it will work for the time-being while folks are experimenting.

Or, maybe it doesn't always work.

thanks Rob,

PM sent.

I have tried everything....videoredo, mpegvcr, hdtvmpg, to convert it to a mpg then use MF5 and it never keeps the 5.1 track.

My guess is it still does not think it is compliant...very frustrating so I hope you can figure it out.

thanks Rob,

PM sent.

I have tried everything....videoredo, mpegvcr, hdtvmpg, to convert it to a mpg then use MF5 and it never keeps the 5.1 track.

My guess is it still does not think it is compliant...very frustrating so I hope you can figure it out.


Easy to tell if MF5 thinks its compliant, when you click on burn you will see 2 task bars, first should immediately go to 99% complete and the second should go to 10% and show that it is multiplexing. If it says anything about "converting" you will end up with 2.0 audio.

Easy to tell if MF5 thinks its compliant, when you click on burn you will see 2 task bars, first should immediately go to 99% complete and the second should go to 10% and show that it is multiplexing. If it says anything about "converting" you will end up with 2.0 audio.

The top one does always say 99%.

Bottom says Video/Audio Multiplexing for a while and then finalizing VOB....

In the end, still no 5.1 audio, only PCM.

The top one does always say 99%.

Bottom says Video/Audio Multiplexing for a while and then finalizing VOB....

In the end, still no 5.1 audio, only PCM.
Grunson -
I may have missed some of your posts, but how do you know that 5.1 audio is coming in and how do you know it is not in the final EVO files? I ask this because unless MF5 says it is converting something, it is spitting out exactly what it was given. You can tell when it is converting either the audio or the video by the first task bar ... as was mentioned, if it goes immediately to 99% something is being converted. Conversely, if it does go to 99% nothing is being converted and the original audio is still in the EVO files.

If anyone can read the non-English text -- this might be something of interest. Supposedly the software can convert HD AVI files to HD AVC files.

Nothing is clear about using the files, but supposedly they can be played in HD on a PS3.

The best I can figure-out is the AVC file can be played from an SD card. Silly, if true. On the other hand, it does show the file is useable and could potentially be burned -- somehow -- for HD DVD and BD players. Maybe.

http://www.mp4converter.net/ps3-video-converter-guide.html

You can create AVCHD compliant DVD's using Sonys latest Hard Drive Camcorders. I wonder if they are just ISO Data DVDs with the files on them. I tried to make an MP4 file that the PS3 would play as HD Video, but it always said unsupported format or something when I tried to play it. I'll email the mp4 convertor people and see if they know how you could create an AVCHD compatible DVD for the PS3.

Grunson -
I may have missed some of your posts, but how do you know that 5.1 audio is coming in and how do you know it is not in the final EVO files? I ask this because unless MF5 says it is converting something, it is spitting out exactly what it was given. You can tell when it is converting either the audio or the video by the first task bar ... as was mentioned, if it goes immediately to 99% something is being converted. Conversely, if it does go to 99% nothing is being converted and the original audio is still in the EVO files.

Hyrax,

Good observation.

I have tried to playback the EVO file a couple of ways.

1. burned to DVD, then played on HD-A1. There is no audio when I have the settings set for bitstream. If I change to PCM, I only receive 2.0. I use optical out from the HDA1 to my receiver.

Maybe that is the issue and I should be going HDMI or anaolog out for 5.1 audio? I was hoping bitstream would work and could go over optical.....guess not?

2. Using VLC, I tried to open the EVO file. No audio at all comes from it.

I appreciate your help!

JW

does anyone have any updates on H264 files? Ive tried quite a few different programs and ive found nothing but wasted time and headaches, i see a few people report success in this thread however they dont all mention the tools they used.

thanks!

Sure enough, I get 5.1 when I use the analog ouputs of the HDA1!

Thank you guys!

does anyone have any updates on H264 files? Ive tried quite a few different programs and ive found nothing but wasted time and headaches, i see a few people report success in this thread however they dont all mention the tools they used.

thanks!

Everyone keeps ignoring me. :(

Everyone keeps ignoring me. :(

Someone has done it. I see some things on newsgroups that say h264 to mpeg2 or something like that.

Someone has done it. I see some things on newsgroups that say h264 to mpeg2 or something like that.

we're not talking about h264 to mpeg2.

we're talking about burning h264 onto discs and playing them.

yes, i was referring to direct h264, sorry - the h264 to mpeg2 stuff does work of course. i'll dig back through your posts digitalfreak, i must have missed something. a decent and easy/fast tool to go from 264 to mepg2 would be nice to have too (to hold us over) :)

we're not talking about h264 to mpeg2.

we're talking about burning h264 onto discs and playing them.

Ah gotcha....does Ulead MF5 even support h264? VideoRedo does not. Ive tried and it didnt work for me.

I posted in the last couple of pages. There was a link from someone who got it to work but since he doesn't speak english very well, it's a bit difficult.

I have another question.

Let's say I have a .mpg movie that is just around 9 gigs.

I would hate to burn it to two DVDs (one dual layered and a single).

Is it possible to resample the .mpg and lessen the data rate? That way I could burn it to one dual layered DVD and give up just a very little bit of quality.

Anyone know?

Thanks!

Something similar to DVDShrink I guess.

Is it possible to resample the .mpg and lessen the data rate? That way I could burn it to one dual layered DVD and give up just a very little bit of quality.
That was covered earlier in the thread. There's a very good Japanese MPEG2 transcoder which is useful for exactly that purpose. The company's called Intercom and the software is Super MPEG2 Transcoder. It can be purchased quite easily on their website (the URL of which I don't remember now).

we're not talking about h264 to mpeg2.

we're talking about burning h264 onto discs and playing them.

You know if you burn the raw h264 files or m2t files onto a DVD+/-R it will play in PS3. I know this is a HD-DVD forum but it might be to your interest.

So it looks like BD does allow the bitrate to go as high as 25mb with m2t, but not with mpeg format.

That was covered earlier in the thread. There's a very good Japanese MPEG2 transcoder which is useful for exactly that purpose. The company's called Intercom and the software is Super MPEG2 Transcoder. It can be purchased quite easily on their website (the URL of which I don't remember now).

I found it. Thanks!

I assume they will still be compliant MPEGs? :)

You know if you burn the raw h264 files or m2t files onto a DVD+/-R it will play in PS3. I know this is a HD-DVD forum but it might be to your interest.

So it looks like BD does allow the bitrate to go as high as 25mb with m2t, but not with mpeg format.

That's what the $30 product does that I posted a few days ago. Looks like you have to navigate to find the right file on the disc.

a) does this mean it is only the lack of a correct folder structure on the red-laser disc that prevents playing or the lack of code in the PS3 to recognize anything but a DVD-ROM. Since the latter is the Sony's BD player's problem, it might be the PS3's problem as well.

b) does this trick allow your DVDs to have menus?

You know if you burn the raw h264 files or m2t files onto a DVD+/-R it will play in PS3. I know this is a HD-DVD forum but it might be to your interest.

So it looks like BD does allow the bitrate to go as high as 25mb with m2t, but not with mpeg format.

That is good to know.

Now if only there were some cheap BD burners and media, that would solve everything. ;)

You know if you burn the raw h264 files or m2t files onto a DVD+/-R it will play in PS3.
Yeah well, no they won't. Or, to be more precise, 90% of them won't. PS3 is extremely picky about the files it plays.

I found it. Thanks!

I assume they will still be compliant MPEGs? :)
You're welcome and yes, they are compliant if the source file was compliant in the first place. I've given it MPEG2 PS files edited with VideoReDo in HD DVD compatibility mode, and the files load just as fast into MF5/VS10 after the 'shrinking'.

Got my HD-E1 (i.e. A2) today and have had nothing but trouble with red laser HD DVDs. Damn it. Guess I need to contact Toshiba and raise a stink.

Everyone keeps ignoring me. :(
Ok, after much searching and trying of different programs I've found one that work to covert h264 files to mpeg2. The program I used is called Elecard Converter Studio. They have a free demo, but no word on how much the program costs, probably expensive. The demo gives you 15,000 frames to demo the project. I used a clip I have from a avch264 file I had. It converted it and seemed to have the same quality. It would be nice not to have to convert anything or have a program without a frame limit.

Got my HD-E1 (i.e. A2) today and have had nothing but trouble with red laser HD DVDs. Damn it. Guess I need to contact Toshiba and raise a stink.

did you own an HD-A1 previous?

did you own an HD-A1 previous?
A1 and XA1 both, yes. Same discs work fine on them, but glitch like mad on the E1.

A1 and XA1 both, yes. Same discs work fine on them, but glitch like mad on the E1.

are you using +Rs ?

I really want an A2 but can't live without my homemade HD DVDs :)

is Joe Clark the only one here so far who has had success with homemade HD DVDs on A2?

are you using +Rs ?
Almost exclusively, yes. I think all discs I've tried so far on the E1 have been +R. And yet those same discs work fine on the Xbox HD DVD add-on when connected to a PC - and as far as I know, it's got the same drive as the E1. That points towards software, which makes it possible for Toshiba to fix the issue.

is Joe Clark the only one here so far who has had success with homemade HD DVDs on A2?

I have the A2 and my old homemades work along with 2 new ones that I made this week.

Im using Fuji, Ritek and Verbatim DL DVD+Rs.

Ok, after much searching and trying of different programs I've found one that work to covert h264 files to mpeg2. The program I used is called Elecard Converter Studio. They have a free demo, but no word on how much the program costs, probably expensive. The demo gives you 15,000 frames to demo the project. I used a clip I have from a avch264 file I had. It converted it and seemed to have the same quality. It would be nice not to have to convert anything or have a program without a frame limit.

lol

*sigh*

AGAIN.... we're not looking to CONVERT. WE'RE TRYING TO GET X264 FILES ONTO DVD-R!!!

is Joe Clark the only one here so far who has had success with homemade HD DVDs on A2?
THAT'S GREAT QUESTION!

Got another response regarding the x264 issue. can anyone make heads or tails of this?

Now people know. There is some companies which have this software
"Header Patcher" for H264.
I see a video from x264 codec working fine in HD XA1
(accept by a simple muxer in standard content for HD DVD).
I will test if this H264 is real compliant after (there is one software
from DCA which make this job nicely, but on HD DVD project... )

lol

*sigh*

AGAIN.... we're not looking to CONVERT. WE'RE TRYING TO GET X264 FILES ONTO DVD-R!!!
sorry, didn't read thru all 1200 posts in this thread. Just saw the post from you asking for help with h264 files and something about people ignoring you. Now I know I will ignore you too.

sorry, didn't read thru all 1200 posts in this thread. Just saw the post from you asking for help with h264 files and something about people ignoring you. Now I know I will ignore you too.

Once we can figure out how to get h264 files onto DVD-R, we won't have to deal with splitting movies up onto two discs. This should be priority #1.

Thanks for your help but obviously you didn't read my posting.

There is that PS3 file converter that can convert various files to PS3 compatible form, but once you have such a file, has anyone found a way to put it on a DVD, a REGULAR single layer DVD, in a way the PS3 recognizes?

Has anyone been able to burn HD files of any sort onto a regular blank DVD in such a way that a PS3 will play it as an HD movie?

I just made a DVD with High Definition MPEG-2 files on it that plays fine on my PS3. Just make an ISO Data DVD, and put a folder in the root that is named VIDEO. Inside there put your MPEG2 files, either .m2t transport streams or MPEG Files.

You DON'T need to transcode to MP4, in fact that converter program didn't know how to handle HD files in any format, only SD video. The PS3 convertor program that is.

is Joe Clark the only one here so far who has had success with homemade HD DVDs on A2?
I've made HD-DVD's with 720p content on Verbatim DVD-R's that playback perfectly on my A2.
For longer 720p content I use the Verbatim 8.4Gb DL +R's and put a 500mb-1GB dummy file as the first clip so as to avoid stuttering issues near the disc hub.

I haven't found a solution for 1080i content yet other than just burning the captured raw .ts file to disc and saving it for future use.

I just made a DVD with High Definition MPEG-2 files on it that plays fine on my PS3. Just make an ISO Data DVD, and put a folder in the root that is named VIDEO. Inside there put your MPEG2 files, either .m2t transport streams or MPEG Files.

You DON'T need to transcode to MP4, in fact that converter program didn't know how to handle HD files in any format, only SD video. The PS3 convertor program that is.

Interesting, I may just have to try this tonight.

Thanks for posting.

I've made HD-DVD's with 720p content on Verbatim DVD-R's that playback perfectly on my A2.
For longer 720p content I use the Verbatim 8.4Gb DL +R's and put a 500mb-1GB dummy file as the first clip so as to avoid stuttering issues near the disc hub.

I haven't found a solution for 1080i content yet other than just burning the captured raw .ts file to disc and saving it for future use.

Wow! You haven't been able to get any 1080i content to play back on your A2? This issue needs to be explored fully. I haven't had significant problems with any but a very small number of the discs I've burned in the past (and that played just fine on my A1). I have had a very small number stutter a little (and not consistently) on the A2. Almost all of my material is 1080i.

We should do a poll on the topic.

Wow! You haven't been able to get any 1080i content to play back on your A2? This issue needs to be explored fully. I haven't had significant problems with any but a very small number of the discs I've burned in the past (and that played just fine on my A1). I have had a very small number stutter a little (and not consistently) on the A2. Almost all of my material is 1080i.
My 1080i authored disc's do play, but with stuttering.
The 1080i content stuttering is not as bad with -R discs, but any stuttering at all is unacceptable. My 720p content on DVD-R is 100% perfect. 720p on +R disc has stuttering issues near the root hub but usually ceases after the first 3-5 min of playback.
I'm using Verbatim media exclusively.

First HD-DVD burner for the PC announced:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=781347
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=781001

Maybe we won't have to mess with burning HD content on SD DVD's much longer :D :D

I just made a DVD with High Definition MPEG-2 files on it that plays fine on my PS3. Just make an ISO Data DVD, and put a folder in the root that is named VIDEO. Inside there put your MPEG2 files, either .m2t transport streams or MPEG Files.

You DON'T need to transcode to MP4, in fact that converter program didn't know how to handle HD files in any format, only SD video. The PS3 convertor program that is.

Good job :) Were you able to get 5.1 (assuming they the file was 5.1) ?
I've been playing around with some .ts stuff with mixed results. I think the PS3 didn;t like 1088i stuff (as MPEG). I put a clip of 1080i Monsters Inc on a DVD as UDF and played nicely but only in 2.0.
I have a feeling PS3 will be a monster movie/media player once a few more updates are released by Sony :)

Any idea on the price of the HD-DVD burner that was just announced?

I haven't seen anything yet but I'm sure we'll know soon enough.

As for burning these discs, any chance you could run through what your doing to get them to work. I took a sample, joined files with H2M (as .ts), ran through VRD to MPEG and put on disc. PS3 says corrupt data even though I c an press triangle and read the info about file, which is all correct.
It's a 1920x1080 5.1 file.
Any help would be appreciated :) I have quite a few .ts movies on my server at under 8.5GB so would ove to get this sorted so I can at least get some on disc, as well as HD series like Band of Brothers etc.

I did look but couldn't see a thread about this stuff on Bluray or Playstation area

I've been playing around with some .ts stuff with mixed results. I think the PS3 didn;t like 1088i stuff (as MPEG). I put a clip of 1080i Monsters Inc on a DVD as UDF and played nicely but only in 2.0.
I have a feeling PS3 will be a monster movie/media player once a few more updates are released by Sony :)
I tested PS3 media players capabilities a month ago and again last night with updated firmware (no difference in performance). Placed the video files in two directories (MPG and AVC) under VIDEO. Program streams won't play at all, PS3 claims the data is corrupt. Transport streams play fine. In the AVC directory I had files from seven different sources, created with various AVC/H264 encoders. Each file was on disc thrice with different file extensions as well. Only one of the files played, a lowres clip from The Lion King. Most of the other ones were listed as unsupported and one was listed as corrupted, tho the file plays fine on a PC.

Very disappointing results all in all. Yet I agree, PS3 will be one heck of a media player some day.

I took a sample, joined files with H2M (as .ts), ran through VRD to MPEG and put on disc. PS3 says corrupt data even though I c an press triangle and read the info about file, which is all correct. It's a 1920x1080 5.1 file.
Any help would be appreciated :)
I think we should probably take this topic to a thread of its own on another area of AVS, but for now: PS3 won't play Program Streams, which you created by running the file through VRD. H2M created Transport Stream should work fine.

Can someone suggest where to put this thread, or start a new one?

Can someone suggest where to put this thread, or start a new one?

How about Blu-Ray Software? ;)

hey im totally new to this hd dvd lark and well i`ll explain - my sister asked me to record her video - did that - edit the video and put it onto a dvd - sounds simple doesnt it - oh dear problem without checking i deleted the edited video and whompppppphhh - the dvd folder is actually a hd dvd folder - shame on me for not checking. basically i know that there is some very smart people on here and i`m asking for help - is there any chance i can put the hd dvd onto a dvd that can be watched in a normal dvd player - i can watch it in media player but only as a video - can i convert the hd dvd to a dvd - please help and make a very miserable brother make a happy sister - in advance thankyou if you can

azetdk, only way I know to do it is use this tool. I've not tried it but it sounds like it should do the job.

I can't post the Url but google "demuxer hd-dvd" the company is named dvd-logic.

anyone have any further success with PAL/25FPS material yet? I see some dead ends in this thread and no follow ups. I tried a suggestion where you force UMF5 into PAL mode, but even then it still wants to convert my source file. Does anyone know the proper way to put UMF5 into PAL mode? All i did was go into preferences and switch from NTSC to PAL. According to previous posts, the A1 will not play these discs, but im curious if anyone has tried with either the latest firmware, or with the 360HD add on. If i can get UMF to stop converting this i will burn and test both pieces of hardware and post the results.

I tried to edit an mpg that had been converted from an HD Tivo. After making my changes I try to create the HD folders and immediately get an error message. If I make no changes in the file the folder creation occurs without errors. Any suggestions?

I tried to edit an mpg that had been converted from an HD Tivo. After making my changes I try to create the HD folders and immediately get an error message. If I make no changes in the file the folder creation occurs without errors. Any suggestions?

I'm not a Tivo guy, but I think you need to supply more info on your hardware and software. Especially, what did you use to edit the MPEG?

I'm not a Tivo guy, but I think you need to supply more info on your hardware and software. Especially, what did you use to edit the MPEG?


OK. I imported the MPEG into MovieMaker and used it to edit out the "junk" before and after the feature. I then create the HD folders with MovieMaker and thats when I get the error. If I do no editing the process works fine.

First off I'm an amateur compared to most on this board so please bare with me. When I playback some recordings (.ts files) there seems to be lines all over whatever is moving. Sometimes it's only in certain parts as in Arlington Road 1080i (HDNetMovies) scene is at a party and children are running and I notice the lines just on the children. When it's played back on an Xbox 360 HDDVD player it makes the children jump or jitter through the frame. Almost like I pause for a tenth of a sec them then fast forward them. This does not cause sync issues or overall playback but just certain scenes makes it hard to watch. As far as I know they are interlace lines and maybe the player cannot deinterlace. I don't know. 720p playback is perfect btw. If anyone can help maybe I need to do something to the some of the 1080i .ts files I do not want to convert them to 720p. Thanks!

Looks like there's some more headway being made with the h264 material.

I got another "broken english" reply:

You don't search, in Japan Pony Canyon author (exactly MemoryTech author its)
HD DVD with H264 codec use inside. And some titles are TWIN Disc:
HD DVD layer and DVD layer on "SAME SIDE"

There is not Twin Disc in others place on world than Japan...
(thank you MemoryTech....)

and

It's a "home made" software make to test H264 encoder (software and hardware)
by companies which test the compatibilities with hardware chipset decoder.
I see yesterday this soft in french company...

I can say that we will say soon HD DVD with H264 video codec...

Looks like there's some more headway being made with the h264 material.

I got another "broken english" reply:



and


I made a post before about success making a HD DVD using h264 material. I use VideoReDoPlus-2-2-1-445 to convert I, Robot_h264-mp2_OAR_1080i_DD5.1_448 files to mpeg compliant file, then proceed with the directions listed in the first post. I have done this successfully also with a similar file of Batman Begins. I had no problems playing it on my Xbox 360 addon and off the harddrive using PowerDVD Ultra 7.2.

I made a post before about success making a HD DVD using h264 material. I use VideoReDoPlus-2-2-1-445 to convert I, Robot_h264-mp2_OAR_1080i_DD5.1_448 files to mpeg compliant file, then proceed with the directions listed in the first post. I have done this successfully also with a similar file of Batman Begins. I had no problems playing it on my Xbox 360 addon and off the harddrive using PowerDVD Ultra 7.2.

*sigh*

AGAIN...
THIS IS IN REGARDS TO BURNING x264 FILES TO DISC.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT TRANSFERRING A x264 FILE TO MPEG2. IT'S ABOUT KEEPING IT IN THAT CODEC.

No offense but this is the third or fourth time i've said this.

*sigh*

AGAIN...
THIS IS IN REGARDS TO BURNING x264 FILES TO DISC.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT TRANSFERRING A x264 FILE TO MPEG2. IT'S ABOUT KEEPING IT IN THAT CODEC.

No offense but this is the third or fourth time i've said this.

Opppps! Sorry :D

Opppps! Sorry :D

It's all good. :) I just think that getting this to happen is exciting. I sure as hell don't want to go back to switching discs like my days of laserdisc.

another Guide, maybe somone need this :)
this is a Guide to Convert Apple HighDef Trailer's to a valid Ulead Movie Factory
HD DVD File:

What you need:
1. Ulead Movie Factory 5 (Trial or Full)
2. CoreAVC Video Decoder (free up to 1.1) & Zoom Player
3. Yamb 1.60 or newer (free)
4. aacdecdrop (free)
5. avc2avi_r594 or newer (free)
6. ffmpeg.rev7375 or newer (free)
7. Canopus ProCoder 2.04 or newer (Full Version)
8. mpeg2repair (free)
9. HDTVtoMPEG2_v1.11.89 or newer (free)


Go:
0. Install ZoomPlayer and assign the CoreAVC Filter to H.264 Playback (Audio&Videodecoder->VideoDecoder->H264),also under Source Filters & Splitter-> Audio&VideoSplitter->create H.264 and assign the Haali Media Splitter.
0. Download the Trailer you want from Apple 1080p
1. open Yamb end Raw extract the *.h264 an *.aac Track
2. open aacdecdrop and Drag&Drop the *.aac Track to the
dropfield -> a *.wav is created
3. Rename the *.h264 to *.264, open avc2avi Gui source you stream, edit the FPS (most Trailers are 23.98) click Mux, a h264 Avi Container is created.
4. move the *.avi + *.wav to the ffmpeg folder, open a commandline and use the following syntax to mux the *.avi and *.wav: ffmpeg.exe -i *.avi -i *.wav -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f avi name.avi[ffmpeg -i (Input video) -i (Input Audio) -vcodec (only Kopie) -acodec (only Kopie)-f (Fileoutput) avi (format) (Name)
5. open Canopus ProCoder -Tab Source your *.avi -Tab Target click add and use the HD-Mpeg-Mpeg2 NTSC preset, here are my settings click advanced:
Choose Splitting - No Splitting
Stream Format - Generis ISO..
Stream Type - MPEG-2 Transport Strean
Video PID - 4096
Width - 1920
Height - 1080
Frame Rate - 29.976 NTSC
Interlacing - Non Interlaced
Aspect Ratio - 16x9
Quality/Speed - Mastering Quality
Bitrate Type - VBR
Passes - 2 pass
Video Bitrate - 19000
Max Bitrate - 25000
Min Bitrate - 10000
Profile/Level - MP @ HL
Put Sequence Header - ON
VBV Buffer - 1194
max Gop Size - 15
Intra DC Prec - 10
Audio Stream - MPEG Audio Layer 2
Audio Bitrate - 384
Sample Rate - 48
Channels - Stereo

Tab Convert klick Convert, wait wait wait on my sytem for a Trailer ~35min (Dual Xeon 2.4Ghz)

6. Open Mpeg2Repair load the *.m2t and repair the File, i use FixMacroblockErrors=0 in the ini File, to prevent white Pixels
7. Start HDTVtoMpeg2 open the Fixed *.m2t, you can cut the Green Start Screen, klick Process, the valid *.mpg for Ulead is created.
8. Open Ulead MovieFactory, change setting to 1920x1080, import your trailer, create your menü, 'Burn' to a HD DVD Folder, only the transitions are created no Trailer reencode needed.
9. Open Nero and create a DVD-Rom(UDF), no Multisession and TAB UDF enable XBox compatibele Checkbox, klick new, drag and drop the ADV_OBJ and HVDVD_TS folder and burn.

Enjoy ! in my case HD-E1 (European Version)

Rinas

Rinas; we are talking about putting h.264 files on disc, please stick to topic

another Guide, maybe somone need this :)
this is a Guide to Convert Apple HighDef Trailer's to a valid Ulead Movie Factory
HD DVD File:

What you need:
1. Ulead Movie Factory 5 (Trial or Full)
2. CoreAVC Video Decoder (free up to 1.1) & Zoom Player
3. Yamb 1.60 or newer (free)
4. aacdecdrop (free)
5. avc2avi_r594 or newer (free)
6. ffmpeg.rev7375 or newer (free)
7. Canopus ProCoder 2.04 or newer (Full Version)
8. mpeg2repair (free)
9. HDTVtoMPEG2_v1.11.89 or newer (free)


Go:
0. Install ZoomPlayer and assign the CoreAVC Filter to H.264 Playback (Audio&Videodecoder->VideoDecoder->H264),also under Source Filters & Splitter-> Audio&VideoSplitter->create H.264 and assign the Haali Media Splitter.
0. Download the Trailer you want from Apple 1080p
1. open Yamb end Raw extract the *.h264 an *.aac Track
2. open aacdecdrop and Drag&Drop the *.aac Track to the
dropfield -> a *.wav is created
3. Rename the *.h264 to *.264, open avc2avi Gui source you stream, edit the FPS (most Trailers are 23.98) click Mux, a h264 Avi Container is created.
4. move the *.avi + *.wav to the ffmpeg folder, open a commandline and use the following syntax to mux the *.avi and *.wav: ffmpeg.exe -i *.avi -i *.wav -vcodec copy -acodec copy -f avi name.avi[ffmpeg -i (Input video) -i (Input Audio) -vcodec (only Kopie) -acodec (only Kopie)-f (Fileoutput) avi (format) (Name)
5. open Canopus ProCoder -Tab Source your *.avi -Tab Target click add and use the HD-Mpeg-Mpeg2 NTSC preset, here are my settings click advanced:
Choose Splitting - No Splitting
Stream Format - Generis ISO..
Stream Type - MPEG-2 Transport Strean
Video PID - 4096
Width - 1920
Height - 1080
Frame Rate - 29.976 NTSC
Interlacing - Non Interlaced
Aspect Ratio - 16x9
Quality/Speed - Mastering Quality
Bitrate Type - VBR
Passes - 2 pass
Video Bitrate - 19000
Max Bitrate - 25000
Min Bitrate - 10000
Profile/Level - MP @ HL
Put Sequence Header - ON
VBV Buffer - 1194
max Gop Size - 15
Intra DC Prec - 10
Audio Stream - MPEG Audio Layer 2
Audio Bitrate - 384
Sample Rate - 48
Channels - Stereo

Tab Convert klick Convert, wait wait wait on my sytem for a Trailer ~35min (Dual Xeon 2.4Ghz)

6. Open Mpeg2Repair load the *.m2t and repair the File, i use FixMacroblockErrors=0 in the ini File, to prevent white Pixels
7. Start HDTVtoMpeg2 open the Fixed *.m2t, you can cut the Green Start Screen, klick Process, the valid *.mpg for Ulead is created.
8. Open Ulead MovieFactory, change setting to 1920x1080, import your trailer, create your menü, 'Burn' to a HD DVD Folder, only the transitions are created no Trailer reencode needed.
9. Open Nero and create a DVD-Rom(UDF), no Multisession and TAB UDF enable XBox compatibele Checkbox, klick new, drag and drop the ADV_OBJ and HVDVD_TS folder and burn.

Enjoy ! in my case HD-E1 (European Version)

Rinas

Thanks for sharing this. I'm sure some will find it helpful.

Rinas; we are talking about putting h.264 files on disc, please stick to topic

So this thread has now exclusively become the thread about how to put h.264 files on disc? I thought the topic was broader, namely about HD DVD Authoring.

Corel and Ulead® Demo Advanced HD DVD Authoring, Navigation, and Playback Suite at CES

Complete HD Solution for OEMs, Studios and Businesses

LAS VEGAS, NV - January 08, 2007

Corel Corporation (NASDAQ:CREL) (TSX:CRE), announced today that its subsidiary Ulead®, industry leaders in video, image and DVD software, will demonstrate its next-generation HD DVD Authoring Suite at the HD DVD Promotion Group's CES Booth 7914 in the Central Hall.

A complete HD DVD solution for creating and validating HD DVD titles, the Ulead HD DVD Authoring Suite includes Ulead® DVD MovieFactory® Studio Pro Edition, the first DVD authoring software to support burning to HD DVD-R; InterVideo® WinDVD® HD, for smooth, flawless playback of both Standard and Advanced Content (HDi) HD DVD titles; and a professional Muxer for creating HD DVD-compatible titles.

"The Ulead HD DVD Authoring Suite is a comprehensive suite that delivers on the promise of superior HD DVD video quality and enhanced interactivity," said Blaine Mathieu, General Manager of Corel's Digital Media business. "Customers have all the tools they need to author, burn and verify HD DVD discs. They can work with confidence, knowing that the tools support all HD DVD functions and that the discs they produce will be compatible."

Studios and businesses can author HD DVD titles with input from VC1 Streams, Dolby® Digital and Dolby Digital+ audio as well as custom HDi objects. DVD MovieFactory Studio Pro Edition supports output to HDDVD-R, HDDVDfolders,DVD-R/RW and CMF/AACS formats.

The Ulead HD DVD Muxer offers versatile, professional authoring capabilities. Adopted by the DVD Forum to develop verification discs, the Muxer supports all functions in the HD DVD specification 1.0 and supplemental specifications, including HD-DVD Standard and Advanced content for picture in picture, multi angles, and seamless playback, as well as sub-video and sub-audio.

OEM customers can add Ulead and InterVideo HD DVD software to their desktop and notebook PCs, barebone systems and TV tuners to quickly bring solutions to market that set the pace for next-generation HD DVD technology.

Corel and Ulead® Demo Advanced HD DVD Authoring, Navigation, and Playback Suite at CES

Complete HD Solution for OEMs, Studios and Businesses

LAS VEGAS, NV - January 08, 2007

Corel Corporation (NASDAQ:CREL) (TSX:CRE), announced today that its subsidiary Ulead®, industry leaders in video, image and DVD software, will demonstrate its next-generation HD DVD Authoring Suite at the HD DVD Promotion Group's CES Booth 7914 in the Central Hall.

A complete HD DVD solution for creating and validating HD DVD titles, the Ulead HD DVD Authoring Suite includes Ulead® DVD MovieFactory® Studio Pro Edition, the first DVD authoring software to support burning to HD DVD-R; InterVideo® WinDVD® HD, for smooth, flawless playback of both Standard and Advanced Content (HDi) HD DVD titles; and a professional Muxer for creating HD DVD-compatible titles.

"The Ulead HD DVD Authoring Suite is a comprehensive suite that delivers on the promise of superior HD DVD video quality and enhanced interactivity," said Blaine Mathieu, General Manager of Corel's Digital Media business. "Customers have all the tools they need to author, burn and verify HD DVD discs. They can work with confidence, knowing that the tools support all HD DVD functions and that the discs they produce will be compatible."

Studios and businesses can author HD DVD titles with input from VC1 Streams, Dolby® Digital and Dolby Digital+ audio as well as custom HDi objects. DVD MovieFactory Studio Pro Edition supports output to HDDVD-R, HDDVDfolders,DVD-R/RW and CMF/AACS formats.

The Ulead HD DVD Muxer offers versatile, professional authoring capabilities. Adopted by the DVD Forum to develop verification discs, the Muxer supports all functions in the HD DVD specification 1.0 and supplemental specifications, including HD-DVD Standard and Advanced content for picture in picture, multi angles, and seamless playback, as well as sub-video and sub-audio.

OEM customers can add Ulead and InterVideo HD DVD software to their desktop and notebook PCs, barebone systems and TV tuners to quickly bring solutions to market that set the pace for next-generation HD DVD technology.

Any indication as to price? I'd assume stratospheric at this point - "for studios and businesses" almost guarantees that.

I dont know if its been mentioned before but I tried burning an HD-DVD as Man ual Settings UDF 2.50 (Physical Partition) in Nero 7.5.9.0 instead of Xbox Compatibility and it seems to read back better. The 2 disks I burnt this way have no noticable stuttering, one 1080i and one 720p. I need to probably try a few more to be sure but so far so good. Thats on the X-Box 360 HD-DVD drive.

Also, I compared PowerDVD HD 7.2 (or 7.1 as it reports installed as HD-DVD Version) to the X-Box 360 and the 360 seems to have FAR better picture quality. Im unable to playback with video acceleration though (not sure if without its dropping quality to save CPU cycles) as it doesnt seem to work on my 6600GT AGP. It plays back perfectly smooth without on my new Core 2 Duo 6400 overclocked to 2.377Ghz though around 60% CPU use on 32bit XP MCE.

Thanks, Alex. Keep us posted on this.

Is there another transcoding options besides Super MPEG2 Transcoder? Super MPEG2 Transcoder will not install on my computer and I need to shave 100MB off a video to get it to fit on a single disc

Sorry, that I am getting on this thread at this point in time and their is a lot of reading to go through but how are you guy's getting the HD-DVD to your hard drive etc. :)

Sorry, that I am getting on this thread at this point in time and their is a lot of reading to go through but how are you guy's getting the HD-DVD to your hard drive etc. :)

Take a look at the guide at the beginning of the thread. It will take you through the entire process in detail. Then, if you have specific questions, we can help.

One thing never mentioned here is the role of the VFB size in stuttering video. In MPEG-2 encoders, there is code that uses the desired Bit Rate to calculate the VFB size. If this buffer is too small, it UNDERFLOWs during playback. This causes video to stutter during playback!

The Video Elementary Stream VFB buffer size is passed to the MUXER where it -- I believe -- is increased to accomadate the Audio Elementary Stream. The final VBF size includes: Video Elementary Stream + Audio ElementaryStream + data ADDED by the MUXER.

You'll note the the one thing MF5P does, is REMUX the imported PS stream to an HD DVD apropriate stream. The MF5P final data rate is always 30.2Mbps -- the max for HD DVD. So HOW does MF5P define the VFB?

Joe -- any idea?

One thing never mentioned here is the role of the VFB size in stuttering video. In MPEG-2 encoders, there is code that uses the desired Bit Rate to calculate the VFB size. If this buffer is too small, it UNDERFLOWs during playback. This causes video to stutter during playback!

The Video Elementary Stream VFB buffer size is passed to the MUXER where it -- I believe -- is increased to accomadate the Audio Elementary Stream. The final VBF size includes: Video Elementary Stream + Audio ElementaryStream + data ADDED by the MUXER.

You'll note the the one thing MF5P does, is REMUX the imported PS stream to an HD DVD apropriate stream. The MF5P final data rate is always 30.2Mbps -- the max for HD DVD. So HOW does MF5P define the VFB?

Joe -- any idea?

Not a clue. Maybe texmex might. Are you still out there?

My HD-E1 started playing RL HD DVDs a whole lot better after the 1.2 firmware upgrade. Tested 10 discs, all +R DLs, burned on four different brands, and they all worked flawlessly.

Another thing: is anyone else having problems running VS10+ on an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU? Whenever I select "HD DVD" in VS10+ Disc Creator, HDD chitters for a couple of seconds and VS10+ crashes. Installing VS10+ SP1 didn't help.

Any indication as to price? I'd assume stratospheric at this point - "for studios and businesses" almost guarantees that.

Joseph, without professional muxer (for Advanced Content) Ulead® DVD MovieFactory® 6 (?) with support h264 and may be vc1 must be priced similar to Ulead DVD Workshop 2 or Roxio DVDit Pro HD 6. More than $500 but less than $1000. Just my speculation:)

I assume the MovieFactory Studio Pro Edition is in fact the app Ulead announced at the DVD Forum Conference in Barcelona a couple of months ago. It was called HD Creater back then. The "professional muxer" is in fact the same muxer used in professional HD DVD authoring applications. Can't verify the price, but I got the feeling it's going to be surprisingly cheap.

Take a look at the guide at the beginning of the thread. It will take you through the entire process in detail. Then, if you have specific questions, we can help.

Thanks for the info. :D

So what I gather you must have Direct TV HD channels, like HBO or whatever HD device or signal you are receiving and from this you are downloading the HD movie to your hard drive, then processing all the above steps as instructed on the beginning of this thread, Am I correct or am I missing something?

1 Have Direct TV and Hd Channels
2. Nero 6

and believe that that is it. can someone give me a rough estimate on the additonal software or devices that would need as far as $. I am glueless on how to get the Direct Tv programs to the hard drive. :(

Thanks for your patience.

Thanks for the info. :D

So what I gather you must have Direct TV HD channels, like HBO or whatever HD device or signal you are receiving and from this you are downloading the HD movie to your hard drive, then processing all the above steps as instructed on the beginning of this thread, Am I correct or am I missing something?

1 Have Direct TV and Hd Channels
2. Nero 6

and believe that that is it. can someone give me a rough estimate on the additonal software or devices that would need as far as $. I am glueless on how to get the Direct Tv programs to the hard drive. :(

Thanks for your patience.

You don't have to have DirecTV. Dish Network, cable boxes with FireWire out and OTA tuners will all give you files you can use to create your own HD DVD's. I have a Dish 211 receiver with the Nextcom R5000 modification, which allows me to capture anything from the Dish broadcasts (MPEG2) and then use this procedure to make HD DVD's. I also have the MyHD PC capture card for OTA broadcasts. Prices can vary greatly, depending on whether you have a compatible receiver, OTA or cable box. What's your situation and how much do you want to spend?

Joe you mean cable boxes, like cable tv??? with OTA tuners, not to familiar with this area, so pardon my stupidity.

Do have a Tosh A1, and Sat HD receiver and probably can get a HD recorder from Direct Tv. Reason for the $ question is, that thinking on getting my Mits PJ ISF calibrated and thinking of the overall cost.

What kind of HD-DVD can you capture, anything that it's transmitted over the air and Dish?

Joe you mean cable boxes, like cable tv??? with OTA tuners, not to familiar with this area, so pardon my stupidity.

Do have a Tosh A1, and Sat HD receiver and probably can get a HD recorder from Direct Tv. Reason for the $ question is, that thinking on getting my Mits PJ ISF calibrated and thinking of the overall cost.

What kind of HD-DVD can you capture, anything that it's transmitted over the air and Dish?

I can capture anything from Dish satellite broadcasts and anything broadcast locally over the air. The R5000 mod costs about $500-550, for Dish or DirecTV. Don't know about cable boxes. Some cable boxes already have FireWire out. Check in your area.

Will this work????


MyHD PCI HDTV Tuner / Decoder Card

With MyHD you can watch both Digital and Analog TV broadcasts on your PC at an affordable price. MyHD is the hardware decoding HDTV card. Unlike software decoding HDTV cards, MyHD does not require the resources of your graphics card and CPU. All you need is a PCI slot and MyHD to experience crisp, clear HDTV. MyHD supports live-pause, record and playback of HD broadcasting programs with time-shifting capability. MyHD is ideal for use with LCD Displays, Projectors, Plasmas and other digital displays in both 4:3 and 16:9 ratios. MyHD also supports digital video output (DVI-D) using optional MDP-130DVI adaptor. MyHD MDP-130 features TitanTV integration that makes scheduling recordings a snap! Record HDTV, capture still HDTV images, up-convert NTSC, MyHD is the perfect next generation card that keeps getting better.

Will this work????


MyHD PCI HDTV Tuner / Decoder Card

With MyHD you can watch both Digital and Analog TV broadcasts on your PC at an affordable price. MyHD is the hardware decoding HDTV card. Unlike software decoding HDTV cards, MyHD does not require the resources of your graphics card and CPU. All you need is a PCI slot and MyHD to experience crisp, clear HDTV. MyHD supports live-pause, record and playback of HD broadcasting programs with time-shifting capability. MyHD is ideal for use with LCD Displays, Projectors, Plasmas and other digital displays in both 4:3 and 16:9 ratios. MyHD also supports digital video output (DVI-D) using optional MDP-130DVI adaptor. MyHD MDP-130 features TitanTV integration that makes scheduling recordings a snap! Record HDTV, capture still HDTV images, up-convert NTSC, MyHD is the perfect next generation card that keeps getting better.

That's what I use for OTA local HD broadcasts. An added advantage is that those shows are free - local NBC, CBS, Fox, etc. Put it into a free PCI slot in your computer, load the software and record to a big hard drive. That'll get you started with this process; then you just follow the directions in the guide to convert the .ts files to MPEG's. Of course for it to work, you have to be within range of the transmission towers for your area.

Good luck.

mpeg to vcr by Womble will only work on half of my .ts files ( it scans the others and then nothing) and I cannot get Video Redo to work at all. Can someone please recommend another program that will do the same thing so that I can convert the rest of my .ts files?

HDTV to MPEG2 doesn't do it for me either.

thanks

mpeg to vcr by Womble will only work on half of my .ts files ( it scans the others and then nothing) and I cannot get Video Redo to work at all. Can someone please recommend another program that will do the same thing so that I can convert the rest of my .ts files?

HDTV to MPEG2 doesn't do it for me either.

thanks

Check the guide for VideoRedo's secret technique to allow greater compatibility with MF5. Are you sure you read the guide thoroughly? There are several "gotchas" that could be preventing you from having successful conversions. You shouldn't be having that many problems.

And make sure its VideoReDo 2.5.3.500 or better. I always got corruption with earlier versions. Incidentally AFAIK all the settings you need for it to work on MF5 are set by default on that version, at least I did not have to change anything to get it working on MF5+.

Of course I still havent solved the problem where certain conversions just do not work with MF5, it just eats all the RAM and murders the virtual memory. It seems to be related to certain TS streams.

Seems we are at a dead end for red-laser 25Mbps HDV.

1) Other than Joe, I have yet to see anyone post that they can get 1080i to playback on their A2. Correct? And, I can' see what Joe does that's different than everyone else. I'm not even sure he get's 100% perfect playback.

2) The A1 will soon be gone, so the fact things work fine in it is really useless for general future distribution. Moreover, if the A2 limit is for legal reasons we can never be sure A1's won't be disabled in future. So that's a dead end.

3) The similar BD thread is doing much better, but they aren't even trying red-laser -- only BD. The can get BDAV playback on the PS3 and Samsung -- which are about the same price as an HD DVD player.

4) AVCHD on red laser is limited to 12Mbps and Sony only claims it will play on the PS3 -- nothing else. True, there is a 24Mbps spec. -- but no release yet. Could even wait for a BD camcorder. So those that reported the PS3 will play red laser, but at low data rates are probably correct. No 25Mbps so another dead end.

5) If red-laser isn't going to work for us, then it means buying an HD DVD or BD burner. The BD Pioneer is now $700 and the Sony $750. Which although expensive -- at least exist. I don't know of any HD DVD burners -- although they should be cheap.

6) If a playback data rate limit is the problem with the A2 -- AVC or VC1 could solve this. It can even solve the problem for the PS3. But, not only are there no encoding solutions to red laser discs -- the encode time will be unacceptable. So that's a dead end.

The key seems to learn how Joe got his A2 to play 25Mbps!!!

my burns r not working im getting a blank screen but the disc is being reconised as a hd dvd disc but if i add a menu that works (but still no video)
im using the hd dvd x360 add on can anyone confirm that this works ?
and im using latest trial of videoredo from the site its not a beta
im usung ulead dvd moviefactory 5 and i am using nero 7 using dvd-rom (udf) with no multisession and xbox compatability off
im using hdv mprg files from a pal hc1 and i have ulead set to pal

have i done anything wrong?

xbox compatability off

have i done anything wrong?
The directions say to use Xbox Compatibility on. I do that and it works.

sorry ive had the xbox compatability on

ok would my problems be that am using hdv 25mb file and maybe that the file is pal?

Seems we are at a dead end for red-laser 25Mbps HDV.

1) Other than Joe, I have yet to see anyone post that they can get 1080i to playback on their A2. Correct? And, I can' see what Joe does that's different than everyone else. I'm not even sure he get's 100% perfect playback.

2) The A1 will soon be gone, so the fact things work fine in it is really useless for general future distribution. Moreover, if the A2 limit is for legal reasons we can never be sure A1's won't be disabled in future. So that's a dead end.

3) The similar BD thread is doing much better, but they aren't even trying red-laser -- only BD. The can get BDAV playback on the PS3 and Samsung -- which are about the same price as an HD DVD player.

4) AVCHD on red laser is limited to 12Mbps and Sony only claims it will play on the PS3 -- nothing else. True, there is a 24Mbps spec. -- but no release yet. Could even wait for a BD camcorder. So those that reported the PS3 will play red laser, but at low data rates are probably correct. No 25Mbps so another dead end.

5) If red-laser isn't going to work for us, then it means buying an HD DVD or BD burner. The BD Pioneer is now $700 and the Sony $750. Which although expensive -- at least exist. I don't know of any HD DVD burners -- although they should be cheap.

6) If a playback data rate limit is the problem with the A2 -- AVC or VC1 could solve this. It can even solve the problem for the PS3. But, not only are there no encoding solutions to red laser discs -- the encode time will be unacceptable. So that's a dead end.

The key seems to learn how Joe got his A2 to play 25Mbps!!!

Almost everything I do is 1080i. I have very few 720 HD DVD's. There have to be other people getting good results with 1080i files on the A2 - nothing particularly special about how I do any of this. Can we hear success stories from others on the topic?

Almost everything I do is 1080i. There have to be other people getting good results with 1080i files on the A2 -- nothing particularly special about how I do any of this. Can we hear success stories from others on the topic?

Joe, unless I missed it -- you are the ONLY person to report 1080i playing on an A2. The only person! So a few questions, please.

1) What is the NLE's output format you use: a 1080i HDV Template OR do you set MPEG-2 parameters? If so, what video data-rate? And, what do you output audio as?

2) If you output HDV do you input that directly into MF5P? What file extension?

3) If you don't output HDV, how do you mux the files to PS?

3) If you were to bring your 1080i file into HDPatch, what is the reported data-rate?

4) Do use HDPatch to set a new data-rate? If so, what rate? Only FIRST HEADER, or all?

5) I notice even when you set no MENU, MF5P always reports it is creating a Title. Do you see this?

6) In the HD DVD folder there are two .EVO files. My imported file is almost 500MB. One EVO is 1GB and one is almost 500MB. Do you know why two EVO files?

Thank you,
Steve

6) In the HD DVD folder there are two .EVO files. My imported file is almost 500MB. One EVO is 1GB and one is almost 500MB. Do you know why two EVO files?
EVO files in HD DVD file structures are split at 1GB boundaries, just like VOB files in DVD file structures. It's simply part of compliance with the specifications (no file larger than 1GB), they can be considered to be a single 1.5GB file, and are by both the player and any applications that understand HD DVD file strucutres.

EVO files in HD DVD file structures are split at 1GB boundaries, just like VOB files in DVD file structures. It's simply part of compliance with the specifications (no file larger than 1GB), they can be considered to be a single 1.5GB file, and are by both the player and any applications that understand HD DVD file strucutres.

Thank you!

This is interesting -- 500MB of MPEG-2 video and AC3 audio are demuxed, from a PS, and remuxed into whatever HD DVD uses. In the process it grows by a factor of 3.

My feeling has been that although we say MF5P doesn't do anything -- it really does do something. Wouldn't 3X more bytes increase the needed playback data-date? When I check the EVO file, it claims the Sys Data Rate is 30.2Mbps which is near the maximum for HD DVD.

Bottom-line -- is MF5P increasing the data during remuxing and hence the data-rate?

Does anyone understand the HD DVD mux process?

Joe, unless I missed it -- you are the ONLY person to report 1080i playing on an A2. The only person! So a few questions, please.

1) What is the NLE's output format you use: a 1080i HDV Template OR do you set MPEG-2 parameters? If so, what video data-rate? And, what do you output audio as?

2) If you output HDV do you input that directly into MF5P? What file extension?

3) If you don't output HDV, how do you mux the files to PS?

3) If you were to bring your 1080i file into HDPatch, what is the reported data-rate?

4) Do use HDPatch to set a new data-rate? If so, what rate? Only FIRST HEADER, or all?

5) I notice even when you set no MENU, MF5P always reports it is creating a Title. Do you see this?

6) In the HD DVD folder there are two .EVO files. My imported file is almost 500MB. One EVO is 1GB and one is almost 500MB. Do you know why two EVO files?

Thank you,
Steve

I haven't done any HDV projects for a while, so bear with me while I recreate the process. It may take a day or so to recreate a couple of the HD DVD's I did of my own work. When you said 1080i, I was thinking of most 1080i that I create, which of course is not my own work but captures from satellite. I'll try to answer all your questions as soon as I can. The last few days I've been doing some remodeling for a Sharp 20000 DLP projector and a new High Power screen, so I haven't had much time for other things.

1) Other than Joe, I have yet to see anyone post that they can get 1080i to playback on their A2. Correct?
Nope. My E1 plays red laser 1080i content glitch-free, after I upgraded the firmware to v1.2. Practically none of the discs that played perfectly on my A1 and XA1 worked on the E1 before the firmware upgrade.

Nope. My E1 plays red laser 1080i content glitch-free, after I upgraded the firmware to v1.2. Practically none of the discs that played perfectly on my A1 and XA1 worked on the E1 before the firmware upgrade.

The E1 is the first gen right? It's the A2 that seems to be the probem.

I'll try to answer all your questions as soon as I can.

I'm going to burn 4 discs from about 21Mbps to 25Mbps and take to BB. Hopefully they let me try them.

Take your time -- we all appreciate your help.

Sony has loaned me the new V1 for a review and I'd love to put my test samples on a disc.

Good night!
Steve

Sorry, I haven't kept up w/this thread in a while, but is there a way now to rip HD DVDs back to the computer? I'm asking because I just don't have the space to save all my original TS files, and should HD DVD fail or we'd want to re-author the movies to another format, is there a way w/already burned red-laser HD DVDs?

Thank you!
This is interesting -- 500MB of MPEG-2 video and AC3 audio are demuxed, from a PS, and remuxed into whatever HD DVD uses. In the process it grows by a factor of 3.

d-v-c,
For me, MF5 adds a very, very small amount to the total size of the final result. A 7.47GB MPG source file becomes a 7.48GB HD DVD - and that may be because I add chapters every 3 minutes.

If MF5 is increasing all your projects files by a factor of 3, then something is wrong.

File size explodes when MF5 considers the source file as non-compliant, and re-encodes it. A good sign that something is definitely wrong, indeed. Remember the "Do not convert compliant MPEG files" check box in Project Settings?

Sorry, I haven't kept up w/this thread in a while, but is there a way now to rip HD DVDs back to the computer? I'm asking because I just don't have the space to save all my original TS files, and should HD DVD fail or we'd want to re-author the movies to another format, is there a way w/already burned red-laser HD DVDs?
I did see a mention of a de-muxer somewhere, but can't remember any details. While waiting for a working solution, do like I do: make a HD DVD, then burn the source file on another DL DVD.

Just tracking back over the thread to catch up with recent developments.

On the topic of h264/x264 files being burned to DVD, I'm afraid the news is not good. h264 files need to be encoded to HD DVD compliant streams. The commonly found Matroska and h264 TS files won't cut it. They will need to be re-encoded.

Over on the Doom9 forum, people are experimenting with the professional Scenarist HD DVD authoring tool which has been leaked to the net. They have h264 encodes working by using the (presumably also leaked) Mainconcept encoder which has an HD DVD profile.

While MPEG2 HD content is reasonably standards compliant across the board, h264 is a completely different kettle of fish. I would expect no simple authoring solution for h264 content - at the very least you'll be looking at re-encoding material into *compliant* h264 before authoring. Once a non-pirate authoring package is available...

The Doom9 thread is here (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=119392).

While I'm here, I guess there's still no news of Apple BD/working HD DVD authoring via DVD Studio Pro?

at the very least you'll be looking at re-encoding material into *compliant* h264 before authoring.
Yup. And on my Core 2 Duo E6600 it takes approx. 10x the time of the original to encode into compliant stream with Mainconcept. That's 20 hours for a 2-hour movie, folks.

Yup. And on my Core 2 Duo E6600 it takes approx. 10x the time of the original to encode into compliant stream with Mainconcept. That's 20 hours for a 2-hour movie, folks.

Two years ago it was taking me 12+ hours to re-encode a 90 minute HD stream into a high quality DVD project. The simple re-encoders like Nero took 4 hours and did a terrible job. The good news is that we'll be seeing some higher speed, true quad-core chips from Intel this summer and the recode times may become significantly smaller. It is hard to imagine, however, that it wil lever be less than 1x - I'd be thrilled with 3x.

bump

File size explodes when MF5 considers the source file as non-compliant, and re-encodes it. A good sign that something is definitely wrong, indeed. Remember the "Do not convert compliant MPEG files" check box in Project Settings?

Sorry -- my PS file was 1.44GB so the increase from MF5P is minimal.

So I'm going to burn a few samples to take to BB.

The E1 is the first gen right? It's the A2 that seems to be the probem.
No. E1 is the European equivalent of A2. Exactly the same player.

I've been authoring HD programs recorded on my HDTivo (1280x1088 -> 1280x1080 using HDPatch) and so far they've played back fine on my A2. I haven't watched anything at length yet since I've spent most of my time processing the files and burning them to DVD. I ran a spot check on every disc I've burned and so far I haven't seen an issues with playback on any of them. The recordings were made from TNT-HD, HDNet Movies, and HBO-HD. I've also recorded some OTA HD broadcasts but have yet to author them to HD-DVD.

I just started to get caught up with this thread when I read about the AC3 audio issue. Sure enough, when I checked the files on the DVDs they showed the audio as raw PS1 and not AC3, even though the original was in AC3. I guess I'll have to play around with the audio to see if I can extract and then import the AC3 soundtracks. There are utilities that work with Tivo files for splitting the mpegs into elemental streams so it should be a simple matter of extracting the AC3 audio for reinsertion later. Interestingly enough, when I'm playing them back on the A2 my preamp/processor indicates it is processing a Dolby Digital soundtrack. I haven't compared the recorded soundtrack to the original to see if I can tell the difference but to my ears it still sounds pretty good, and there is definitely surround information being processed.

FWIW, I followed the guide verbatim and everything went smoothly. I've been using VideoReDo for years and like the way it works. The shows I used were extracted from my HDTivos using methods that are a forbidden topic at the Tivo Community Forum so I will assume they are verboten here as well. I find this ironic since there are plenty of methods for extracting digital content obtained via other means that seem to be permissible for discussion but when it comes to doing the same using a Tivo we're told to keep it under our hats.

After re-reading some of the posts regarding the AC3 issue it seems that the accepted workaround is to convert the mp2 audio to AC3, resulting in a DD 2.0 soundtrack. I'm wondering what exactly is the benefit of doing this? Although my audio is indicated as raw PS1 it shows that I have 5.1 channels of audio and not 2.0. How does converting a 5.1 channel soundtrack to 2-channel improve the playback in any way? Call me confused. :eek:

A) Here's my version of the Nero Guide:

1. Start Nero StartSmart application.

2. Choose "Nero Burning ROM" version 7.2.7.0.

3. Select "DVD-ROM (UDF)" on the left side of the screen (you may need to scroll down).

4. In the New Compilation box, Under the Multisession tab, click the "No Multisession" radio button.

5. Click on the UDF tab.

6. Under Options pull-down select “Enable Xbox compatibility mode."

7. Disregard warning and check “do not warn again.”

8. Under the Label tab, enter an 8-character, or less, name.

9. Load a blank disc.

10. Click New button.

11. Drag the HVDVD_TS folder you created into second column on the left. It will appear in the root directory of the compilation the far left column.

12. Check the size indicated by the green ruler.

13. Burn the disc by clicking on the Disc/Burn Match icon at the top.

14. When the Burn tab pops-up, enter the next lower speed of the media.

15. Click the Disc/Burn Match icon.

16. Check the Verify option.

17. Quit Nero Burning ROM.

18. Quit Nero StartSmart application.


B) I'm not sure about the LABEL instruction.

finally got sum footage form my hdv hc1 to play had to convert the audio to ac3 and i patched the framerate to ntsc as it was 25 (pal) and the bitrate is 25mbps the video a bit stuttery at beginning but played good after a few minutes got about 20 mins but i think theres room for another 5 mins on the disc thanks for the guide folks oh playing on a x360 add onn

Maybe this will resolve the stuttering issue (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=789943) w/high bitrate MPGs on the HD-A2. Just maybe. Wishful thinking I know :). We'll know by tomorrow night I guess.

Maybe this will resolve the stuttering issue (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=789943) w/high bitrate MPGs on the HD-A2. Just maybe. Wishful thinking I know :). We'll know by tomorrow night I guess.
The European HD-E1 got the 1.2 firmware some days ago already. Like I mentioned earlier in this thread (apparently nobody reads my posts), my redlaser HD DVDs started working a whole lot better after the firmware upgrade.

Encouraging, thanks. If my 25mbps HDV HD DVDs work, I can sell my XA1 & just keep the A2.