As promised, I have been working on a Tutorial of sorts describing my workflow from MC to a final authored Blu-Ray disc.

I know there are quite a few spelling mistakes (n.b. Please allow for my British English spelling )
Also I am open to all the constructive criticism you want to throw at me, as well as suggestions of information you lack and would like me to divulge in an updated version.

The tutorial can be found HERE

Regards,

Douglas

 Hi Douglas, got your mail and am popping in here, I am still a liquid user, for how long I don´t know, depends ..

Nice tut you have created, we have been discussing this for a year or so now now and I thank you for the tip from the beginning about  " go bluray " you were right, I am currently waiting for my Plextor 920 bluray burner, my PS3 is working fine and with the firmware update ver 2,20 through my home w-lan yesterday eveníng, it now also should support BD 2,0

My workflow in Liquid is to go from an uncompressed hd timeline, then use the DNxHD AVID codecs to export to a  *.mov-file, I have tried 2 different ways for that file, one is to use it directly into dvdit pro hd as in your workflow, the audio is enbedded in my workflow, that is the only difference, the other way is to run it through Adobe CS3 mediaencoder and create a 2-pass encoded bluray file, well actually 2 files, one m2v and one wav, the videofile runs straight through dvdit pro hd without needing to reencode, the audiofile is reencoded if needed ( to DD 2 ch for example ) 

 Thanks for taking the time to do this Douglas. While I am nowhere near Blu-ray production at the moment, it will come one day, and I will need to be prepared.

Mark

 I agree, thanks for your time, Douglas, I'll read your tutorial ASAP.

mjolnarn:

 .........the videofile runs straight through dvdit pro hd without needing to reencode......

Thanks for dropping in, Tomas

When I was still with Liquid I fused my timelines and used the .M2V and .WAV files direct into DVDitPro. There they were transcoded.

There is one piece of "logic" I cannot fathom out. I read it on the Roxio Forums and I have seen it elsewhere. I quote from your posting - but you know me well enough to know I am not pointing my finger at you...it is a widespread piece of "logic"

You say

1. You export using the Avid DNxHD codec from Liquid = 1st re-encoding.
2. You encode again in Adobe CS3 = 2nd re-encoding

and then the resulting files run straight through DVDitPro without the need to re-encode?!
Sorry but I can count 2 re-encodings.

However the whole topic of Blu-ray burning is in its infancy and a lot of things will be tested and discovered in the coming weeks and months.
I am going to stay on the alert and will change and modify my workflow if I see a more efficient way.

Back to the MC side of things - Sorenson Squeeze is provided with MC.
I have installed it have been doing some tests with the Blu-Ray compression settings.
There are some impressive bitrates being generated, but the resulting files don't appear to be making better picture quality Blu-ray discs -  so I'll stick to my workflow for the time being.

Regards

Douglas

Very nice tutorial. Thanks so much for creating this.

Douglas,

Nice job, your getting me more and more interested in Blu-Ray

That is absolutley fantastic I'm emailing the link to all my colleagues. Blu-Ray hasn't taken off that much in England mainly due to fear of the unknown so it's great to know that when requests start coming we don't have to run away and hide.

drbgaijin:

Thanks for dropping in, Tomas

When I was still with Liquid I fused my timelines and used the .M2V and .WAV files direct into DVDitPro. There they were transcoded.

Hi Douglas, one of our old favourite discussions, the one about fusing, hope that the MC users wouldn´t be to bored about some Liquid mania but this is also about encoding and workflow, might be of interest even for the MC users.

Fusing from Liquid is to put the files in the render folder together into one file and if you work in standard hd, as is the fact for you, you will get an 25 mbps m2v video file and some wav files.

The videofile is not compiant with Dvdit pro dh and will be needed to be reencoded of the app to a new file of the same type and the same speed.

My workflow is different from yours, when I am completely satisfied with my work ( well, noone actually never is ...) I change my render codec to uncompressed hd and let the project rerender, might take a while.

The files created in my render folder is YUV files, very fast and very big, if I fuse my timeline, I will get one big file of this type, hard to handle and hard to use in other apps.

The recommendations from Roxio is to use a source file of highest possible quality for the app to encode well, I have tried different file types from Liquid, the one I have used for some time is the 4 : 2 : 2 avi file created from the mjpeg encoder in liquid, will give you a 85- 90 mbps hd avifile with enbedded audio, that file is able to use in the same way as I now am using the mov file.

About the DNxHD mov file; Mark ( editzz in this forum ) gave me that tip that it should be able to use from inside of Liquid, thanks a lot Mark.

I was satisfied with my avi workflow until I tried the mov file workflow, at least my imagination tells me that i get a better deep when viewing it on the plasma, that goes even for dvd projects created in the same way.

So, Douglas, I think going from an uncompressed timeline in liquid through a 185 mbps mov file and then down to the final file does not cause any degradation, what might cause a degradation, however not viewable with todays tech and screens, is to have Dvdit pro hd to reencode a 25 mpbs mpg file to a new 25 mbps mpg file, (here comes our old discussion once again ... )

What I really should want is to have Liquid, from my uncompressed hd timeline, as is the fact with low speed mpg files for dvd creating, to create a mpg file even in highspeed that is possible to run straight through Dvdit pro hd without the need of reencode, I am pretty sure that this workflow soon will be possible from all editing apps and then we will get new workflows.

mjolnarn:

Hi Douglas, one of our old favourite discussions, the one about fusing, hope that the MC users wouldn´t be to bored about some Liquid mania but this is also about encoding and workflow, might be of interest even for the MC users.

Tomas, with all due respect for your knowledge of Pinnacle Liquid, I don't really feel that the Media Composer PC Forum is the correct place to be posting the information about your workflow.
(Although there is a lot of common ground in the processes I mention in my "tutorial".)

I am sure that the members of the Liquid Forum will be more than happy to hear about your experiences in this field, and take up the discussion about Liquid to Blu-Ray.

I hope I don't offend any MC users by speaking my mind.

Regards,

Douglas

drbgaijin:

I hope I don't offend any MC users by speaking my mind.

No, I guess as not !

drbgaijin:

mjolnarn:

Hi Douglas, one of our old favourite discussions, the one about fusing, hope that the MC users wouldn´t be to bored about some Liquid mania but this is also about encoding and workflow, might be of interest even for the MC users.

Tomas, with all due respect for your knowledge of Pinnacle Liquid, I don't really feel that the Media Composer PC Forum is the correct place to be posting the information about your workflow.
(Although there is a lot of common ground in the processes I mention in my "tutorial".)

I am sure that the members of the Liquid Forum will be more than happy to hear about your experiences in this field, and take up the discussion about Liquid to Blu-Ray.

I hope I don't offend any MC users by speaking my mind.

Regards,

Douglas 

Correct Douglas, the Liquid mania, as I said, doesn´t belong to this forum, the interesting part for the MC users might be the use of the DNxHD codec and, for those who have it, the CS3 media encoder and to put this workflow into the dvdit pro bluray creating workflow.

About Liquid and Bluray, there is the same sitation as seems to be in this forum, we, you and me, seems to be all alone creating bluray projects

Hi Douglas, Great information.  Your willingness to share your vast knowledge is very much appreciated.  I expect to join the Blu-ray crowd within the next 30 to 60 days.  Jim  

 Thanks, Jim

However I disagree with the "vast"!

I am a newcomer here and am very much "feeling my way".
Thankfully there is a vast group of users who have been using the Avid solutions for many many years and who are willing to lend a helping hand to us newcomers by sharing their vast knowledge.

By the way, some viewers of my tutorial have been trying to adapt my workflow to "burn" a Blu-Ray "volume" from DVDitPro and then play it from a hard-drive connected to a PS3.
My workflow is designed to work with actual burned Blu-Ray media.
As far as I know, burning a "volume" to a hard drive will only allow you to play individual m2ts streams on the PS3 - if you copy them to a folder that you name "VIDEO". You cannot play the menus etc.
(I may be wrong on this. In that case please correct me, so I don't spread the wrong information)

Regards,

Douglas