[Blee]

I'm new to this forum. This must be a common question but none of my searches found anything recent.

I heard that a BlueRay burner (obviously with BlueRay discs) is required if one wants to maintain the 1920x1080i resolution of the video captured by the camcorder... and then obviously playback on a BlueRay player.

Without a BlueRay burner, high definition is still possible but not 1920x1080.

I need to get my PC ready for the Canon HF11 I just ordered.

Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks
Ben

[andy1249]

The answer is , it depends. You dont necessarily have to have a blu ray player , any device with the capacity to hold the content can be used to play it back.

AVCHD ( the format from your camera) , can be played back to the TV regardless of what physical medium it happens to be on.
There are many devices that can do this , HTPC's , media player hard drives , WDTV and so on ....

Its just the size of the content thats the limiting factor. Of course if you want to pass around discs of your movies or archive them then blu ray is probably the best way to go , but if its just for yourself , you dont necessarily need a blu ray recorder.

You can fit a certain amound of AVCHD onto a blank DVD , but not much , and it will play back in any player at full resolution if that player supports AVCHD

If you have a Panasonic TV , all the 2008 models can play back AVCHD material from the SD memory cards , as can all the Panasonic blu ray players , an 8GB card can hold 40 minutes of content from your camera on an SD card , and in some places , these cards are currently cheaper than blu ray blanks ! Go Figure !

[alpine101]

Originally Posted by andy1249

You can fit a certain amound of AVCHD onto a blank DVD , but not much , and it will play back in any player at full resolution if that player supports AVCHD

It's perfectly possible to bore everyone to death with even 20mins of footage! Less is best for most of us...

[Sheks]

Originally Posted by andy1249

You can fit a certain amound of AVCHD onto a blank DVD , but not much , and it will play back in any player at full resolution if that player supports AVCHD

This is exactly what I do for play back on a PS3 and a Sony Blu-Ray. Picture looks great and that is using very cheap blank DVD's. I was also considering a Blu-Ray burner, but with the cost of blank discs etc I have avoided for now.

Sheks

[jwramsay]

I burn AVCHD onto normal DVDs. OK, not the longest playback but it does keep things short n sweet and you can use lots of DVDs very cheaply.

[glesgaguyav]

Same here, never felt the need for a an expensive blu-ray burner, all my AVCHD goes on to DVD

[senu]

Originally Posted by glesgaguyav

Same here, never felt the need for a an expensive blu-ray burner, all my AVCHD goes on to DVD

Me too
I needed a secod optcal drive for my PC and considered a BD burner for burning ad playback of my growing BD collection. I ended up geting a BD reader/ DVD burner as it was half the cost of a BD writer and I cold still watch BD and burn AVCHD discs which both my Sony and Panasonic players can read
Also the advent of very cheap HDD Media players seriously weakens the case for a Burner and expensive discs, for now

[sussexmariner]

Originally Posted by PDP-434HDE

I burn AVCHD onto normal DVDs. OK, not the longest playback but it does keep things short n sweet and you can use lots of DVDs very cheaply.

Can I ask you how much playback do you get on a DVD disc? just got myself a Canon HF100 and I want to backup my footage. Thanks

[tekneons]

Originally Posted by sussexmariner

Can I ask you how much playback do you get on a DVD disc? just got myself a Canon HF100 and I want to backup my footage. Thanks

You would get around 20 minutes of video

[jwramsay]

Originally Posted by tekneons

You would get around 20 minutes of video

Depends whether you use MPEG2 or AVC's MP4 compression and the bitrate you throw at it.

I have used Sony Vegas+DVD Architect to create an AVCHD using AVC at 8Mbps, and have a 51 minute production with AC3 5.1 sound as the main and LPCM as the 2nd audio track. This fits on a standard DVD.

I have also used Sony Vegas+DVD Architect to create an AVCHD using AVC at 15Mbps, around 30 mins, AC3 5.1 sound, no 2nd audio track, again on a DVD.

Both play fine on Sony S350 Blu Ray player.

Source was HDV video from Sony HC-3 camcorder.

I used TMPGenc's latest offering (is it called Works?) to create an AVCHD encoded in MPEG2 (no AVC MP4 option!) and it doesn't play right on the Sony Blu Ray Player, hitting a bitrate limitation from DVD I think.

[senu]

Thank for that
A few questions:


Which version of Vegas did you use? Pro ver 8?
Also did you need DVD-A?

My undertanding was that t Vegas itself produced the " folder" and you only needed a burning program to make the dicss
Also what ( if any?)was the difference in perceived quality between the lower bitrate versions
Have you made an mpeg2 AVCHD disc and compared the quality?
I do not like TMPegenc.. the need for recurrent activation does not go down well withme .. it almost assumes its uses are illegal until proven otherwise

[chrishull3]

For what its worth the most hateful software will make avchds with no trouble but only if i make the whole disk[whatever the content]first in hdv then capture again to the hateful and it burns avchd no problems[35 m for 15 mbps]bds the same but hateful will not allow title windows like click to dvd bd on vaio laptop, all avchd and bd discs have to be pre made if i use hateful.
After changing the titles of 12 hours of captured video i find they will not now open instantly but it take ages so now in the process of recapturing the tapes i want to store with the correct titles.
Another point blu ray discs are not expesive anymore i have some 2£99p and there are cheaper ones around still but cheapest is not always best.

[jwramsay]

Originally Posted by senu

Thank for that
A few questions:


Which version of Vegas did you use? Pro ver 8?
Also did you need DVD-A?

My undertanding was that t Vegas itself produced the " folder" and you only needed a burning program to make the dicss
Also what ( if any?)was the difference in perceived quality between the lower bitrate versions
Have you made an mpeg2 AVCHD disc and compared the quality?
I do not like TMPegenc.. the need for recurrent activation does not go down well withme .. it almost assumes its uses are illegal until proven otherwise

Yeah, latest version, Vegas Pro 8.0c.
Vegas does produce a Blu Ray and write it to DVD, but:

1. No menu
2. No Chapters

I think Vegas burned the disk too.
Yeah, I have and the quality is as good, but obviously takes more room.

The tmpgenc is pretty poor, not enough rendering options.

[bstevenson]

hi,

hope this doesnt stray too far off topic but I have just purchased an HV20 and a will be downloading my footage onto my pc to create dvd's using Nero Vision.
(want to stay with tapes for archiving).
I have a PS3 and an HD DVD player/recorder, although I take it by creating the movies on Nero and burning to a standard disc I will not get HD quality footage.
from what Im reading here i also take it that there are no cheap options for getting HD footage from your camera to disc?

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by bstevenson

hi,

hope this doesnt stray too far off topic but I have just purchased an HV20 and a will be downloading my footage onto my pc to create dvd's using Nero Vision.
(want to stay with tapes for archiving).
I have a PS3 and an HD DVD player/recorder, although I take it by creating the movies on Nero and burning to a standard disc I will not get HD quality footage.
from what Im reading here i also take it that there are no cheap options for getting HD footage from your camera to disc?

get a blu ray burner

Amazon.co.uk: blu-ray burner
you can make your film on hdv then put two tapes on a bd disc you then have the tapes and blu rays.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Traxdata-Blu.../dp/B001I75ZTK

[bstevenson]

Originally Posted by chrishull3

get a blu ray burner

Amazon.co.uk: blu-ray burner
you can make your film on hdv then put two tapes on a bd disc you then have the tapes and blu rays.

Traxdata Blu-Ray 25Gb 4x BD-R Blank Discs - White: Amazon.co.uk: Your Store

thanks. if i use a BD burner and discs will I still be able to download my footage to the pc and create 'movies' (ie. title page, chapter menus, music etc) through a program like nero and then burn to BD disc with bd burner and get hd quality?
i know nero has a setting to create AVCHD dvd's but dont know if that will help me using an HDV camera??

[chrishull3]

Originally Posted by bstevenson

thanks. if i use a BD burner and discs will I still be able to download my footage to the pc and create 'movies' (ie. title page, chapter menus, music etc) through a program like nero and then burn to BD disc with bd burner and get hd quality?
i know nero has a setting to create AVCHD dvd's but dont know if that will help me using an HDV camera??

You should , i make my complete films on tape first including any music etc if wanted i then copy the tapes to my vaio laptop which allows chapter menus to be added[click to dvd bd], in theory pinnacle should allow chapter menus but it allways crashes for me if i try to use them, with pinnacle captured completely made hdv tapes can be burnt to blu ray but not with chapter menus for me any way,i am sure other programns like you mention may well allow the chapter menus without crashing.
The quality of the blu rays will be as good as the hdv tapes,some software like pinnacle burn blu ray as mpeg2 so avchd 1920/1080 is down graded to 1440/1080 this would not afect you.