Another 1080p Demo Disc Project

I just picked up a Blu-ray writer with the intent of pulling off one of these projects of my own.

Years ago I compiled my own DVD of clips from my favorite movies with my own custom menu. Not only did it become my go-to disc for theater demonstration but it became my reference material for evaluating upgrades, new equipment and other modifications. Over time I ended up adding content to discs as new movies and scenes came out. This DVD ended up being 12gigs in size (I drove it from an HTPC). I plan to do something similar with my HD project

Here is what I plan to do:

-The video will be untouched
-The audio will feature the DTS-HDMA and TrueHD audio. No exception.
-Would like to have a lossless audio or DTS-HDMA audio section
-There will be revisions of the disc as new content from new movies are added.
-I plan to make my project file for the disc authoring available to anyone so that they could easily insert their own menu background images. I plan to use a popular image as the default.
-The project may get a "lite" version where it will be an AVCHD DVD-9 disc that features the more popular clips.

Obviously this project is very similar to Swithey's project. I'm not trying to step on his toes. In fact I intend to offer different clips and scenes so that my project compliments his while offering something somewhat different. For those that don't have BD writers I may be able to work something out where I burn the disc if you supply a blank BD-R. (They are still quite expensive) I'm definitely not looking to profit, or necessarily even wanting to get into the hassle of making discs for people, but I will do it to some degree because I want to give back the community that I took much from while building my theater.

If anyone has an experience with Blu-ray authoring I'd like a recommendation on which software to use. I already know how to get the individual clips off of a Blu-ray that already has the HD audio in place. All I need is authoring software that capable of creating menus and receiving the M2TS files of the individual clips. I want the authoring software to absolutely not re-encode anything.

Here is the final versions of the disc menus:

Standard Main Menu:


LFE Main Menu:


The pop up menu with Avatar playing in the background:


The disc thumbnail which appears on the PS3 (maybe other players with GUIs that read the META folder, picture taken with iPhone4)

It was recommended by forum member Audixium to use Adobe Encore for the Authoring.
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That was the first piece of software that I looked into but from what I gathered by reading the Adobe forums is that it does not support DTS-HDMA. I'm unclear if that's just for any encoding that it would do(none for this project) or if it's overall support for disc architecture

Perhaps the upcoming CS5 handles it.

Ideally I'd like to just drop my M2TS files (or demuxed files) into whatever software that will do the menu authoring.
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I don't mind jumping through the Encore hoops as I'd like a better looking menu that the advanced capabilities of Encore will bring, I simply just do not know if Encore is capable of authoring with content that contains DTS-HDMA and TrueHD.

I'm still on the hunt for authoring software that is compliant or won't try to encode content that contains TrueHD and DTS-HDMA.

So far, I've only found professional grade software with an expensive price to handle it.

However, there is a glimmer of hope with Adobe Encore CS5, from the "what's new" section I found the following


Hopefully this means what I think this means.

I should be able to get access to Encore CS5 when it releases.

With that issue aside I've taken a few test clips and using MultiAVCHD built a simple AVCHD disc to test the waters. The Good news is that it works, the bad news is that the menu is support isn't very good. The author seems to be a hobbyist and given that he is not a tool developing company he has done quite well.

I WILL offer a DVD-9 AVCHD disc complete with the simple, auto generated menu as a "lite" version to my Blu-ray.

What I need know are some clip suggestions and can receive M2TS streams if someone has already gathered some.

There are the clips that I have so far:

Monsters Inc - DTS-HD - Scene where the lights go out due to kids laughing (LFE/PQ)
Transformers 2 - DTS-HD - Scene where Optimus fights and dies in the woods (Surround/LFE/PQ)
Transformers 2 - DTS-HD - Scene towards the end with plenty of action (Surround/LFE/PQ)
The Orphanage - DTS-HD - Short clip with creaking floorboards (LFE)
Lord of the Rings (ROTK) - DTS-HD - Fight sequence with Giant Elephant Thngs (Surround/LFE)
Lord of the Rings (ROTK) - DTS-HD - Fight Sequence with Catapults and Wyverns (Surround/LFE)
Avatar - DTS-HD - Short Clip with Jake flying his creature (LFE/Surround)
Avatar - DTS-HD - Short clip with Jake and Netyri mate (PQ/contrast)
Avatar - DTS-HD - Clip of the war/fight between Blue people and military (Surround/LFE/PQ)
THX Clip - DTS-HD - THX clip featured on Avatar
DTS-HD Clip 1 - DTS-HD - DTS-HD clip from DTS-HD Demonstration Disc
DTS-HD Clip 2 - DTS-HD - DTS-HD clip from DTS-HD Demonstration Disc
This is it(Michael Jackson) - DTS-HD - Black or White clip with good guitar solos (Audio Quality)
GraveDigger (Dave Matthews) - TrueHD - Song from Radio City performance (Audio Quality)

At this point I'm just collecting clips and am still waiting for Adobe CS5 to release so that I can author the disc. I am currently sitting at about 8 gigs with all of the above clips, some of these may not make the cut as I continue to add clips. I intend for this project to fill a 50gig Blu-ray so it should hold plenty of content.

I have a little experience making demonstration discs and I have most certainly attempted to make the clips somewhat sensical or complete. I think it's a careful balance, you don't want to pass on excellent content if you can't find the perfect clip but at the same time you don't want random stops.

I typically look for something that is contextual, that lets the watcher know sort of what is going on. For instance in one of my Lord of the Rings clips, it begins with Gandolph saying "send these creatures back to the abyss" or something to that effect, then the battle begins. The battle concludes with Gandolph telling one the hobbits to go somewhere and the hobbit can be seen heading up a stairwell.

With that said, not every clip is ideal. The Monster Inc clip kind of throws someone right into it.

As for the rating, there will be nothing sexual, but given the nature of good surround scenes war, battles and other such content is to be expected. Some violence, guns, swords, explosions and things of that nature will be on the disc. I think that will make it not a good to show around young children, but IMO should be suitable for 13 year olds.

Adobe released trial versions of CS5 today, which presumably means CS5 is now shipping. I gave Encore CS5 a spin and it seems like it will NOT work in the "M2TS passthrough".

Passthrough worked when I loaded in M2TS file that contained only 2 channel audio.

I couldn't get it to work with a M2TS file that contains HD audio.

Looks like I may be very stuck, unless someone can give some tips on how one could "patch" the audio in after authoring was complete.

I may have an idea.

Heres an update:

I've continued to collect clips but I'm not going to sort them out and list them here, it should be no surprise that this disc will contain many clips.

Since my last post, I've gotten access to Sonic Scenarist and have successfully authored a test-disc. It's not a simple program by any stretch but I think I know my way around it enough now. My original goal with this project was to not have to touch the audio or video that is ripped off of the Blu-ray disc however I realize that is going to be a slight problem. Some movie clips come in at 23.96 fps while others are 29.97 fps. While this will work just fine on the authoring side it presents a problem on the playback side. Many projectors will have to handshake with a framerate change and no one would want that after every scene, so I'm going to calculate how many clips I have at each framerate and then go with that framerate as the menu base, I will then change the framerate of the other clips to match. I believe this to be an easy task and I also believe it doesn't re-encode the video.

Moving on, I've started development on the menus. I'm not a photoshop wiz by any stretch but something is starting to come to form. I want this demonstration disc to have a pop-up menu simply because I want to learn to make one, so I have kept that element in mind thus far. I've also designed the menu structure so backgrounds can be easily changed. Here are some examples:

The first background comes from a google search for "Movie Theater"

Main Menu:


Surround Clip Menu


This next image I grabbed off of these forums, I'm not really sure who the image belongs to and I do NOT plan to use it in the final build, I just wanted to demonstrate what an interesting home theater background could look like.

Main Menu:


Surround Clip Menu


If anyone is interested in giving permission to use their theater for the final build please send me the images, please provide high resolution images because the disc menu will be 1920x1080

Thanks for the suggestions, those "icons" are what I feel is the weakest link. I initially had that one called "LFE" but then I realized that it was too similar to the menus that Audioxum created in the first HD Demo disc thread. I didn't set out for the menus to be like his, but there is only so much creativity possible for a home theater demonstration disc menu!! It's a very specific genre'

I think "Bass" may work well!!

I've made my avatar clip but I have not ran it through MUI generator yet, are people reporting problems?