Workflow to create Blue ray discs

[Andrew Hagan]

Hi everyone,

Can anyone describe for me the workflow and cheapest technology needed to create Blue ray discs. I currently make films in HDV 720p, edit it with AVID Media Composer v3.5, export as a wmv file and then create a DVD using an authoring package, or straight to DVD recorder.

However, I am looking into buying a Canon 550D DSLR which allows me to film in full HD 1080p. Therefore to maximise my output, I would like to offer the end films as an HD disc -Blue ray.

Can anyone describe their workflow using this format from finishing the edit through to burning the disc - including technology used etc.

Is it the same or similar to creating normal DVD's and what is the best movie file to create, to keep the maximum amount of quality for the film when exporting. As mentioned earlier, I currently export as wmv as this keeps better colours than Quick time movies.

Someone mentioned the new 'Pioneer Internal Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD Writer', has anyone used this before or something similar.

Any help / information would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Andrew

[LeetPirate]

Hi Andrew, welcome to our forums.

First thing you want to make sure of is whether the camera supports the right storage format, look for one that directly outputs to an AVCHD file format, MPEG4, AVC, H.264 are key words to look out for because those are the best quality 1080p formats.

Next you need some high quality blur ray authoring software and my personal recommendation is Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum which can do all the authoring and burning. For 1080p processing I suggest you use a quad core cpu at the very least, if you plan to upgrade for this purpose then I recommend that you buy the new AMD 6 core cpu which wins every benchmark in HD encoding. It can also save you alot of money since the AMD 6 core is a 300USD CPU that matches and even beats an Intel i7 extreme which is a 999USD CPU, when referring to HD encoding.

I'm sure there are free blu ray authoring software out there but I don't know any of them, Sony Vegas is the best I know of.

Then the last thing you need is a Blu Ray burner and yes pioneer makes high quality blu ray burners so if you are lucky to find a pioneer drive then buy it. My second choice would be ASUS and then Lite-On. If you want to know more about Burners then I suggest you join the cd freaks forum those guys know everything there is to know about optical drives.

That's the cheapest way to get the best quality I can think of. I hope you are a real person and not a spammer from a Chinese warehouse and I didn't just waste my time replying to you.

[Andrew Hagan]

Hi Leetpirate,

Thanks for the information, there's a lot to digest and look into. So when I get my head around things, you may be hearing from me again.

Thanks again

Andrew