Quote: Which is the best format to auther blu-ray discs in?
My original camera footage is avchd but i understand that commercial blu-rays are mp4, so would the final result as mp4 look cleaner than h264. avc? especially being that i have added fine film like noise to the footage.

original avchd file shot in 50i

There are two formats in Powerdirector create disk for BluRay, MPEG-2 and H.264.
MPEG-2 creates larger files and uses more space on a BluRay Disk.

H.264 is the same CODEC used for MP4. So if your original videos are MP4 or H.264 use H.264 for BluRay disks.

Carl312: Windows 10 64-bit 8 GB RAM,AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4 GHz,ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB,240GB SSD,two 1TB HDs.

thanks, i didn't get as far as the "create disc" tab, i went to the produce tab first and noticed 264 and mp4 and wanted to produce the video in one or the other with the view to later burn that produced file onto BD. so if i did produce before burning i should still opt of 264?

i'm also having major compression issues on both mp4 and 264
you can see static parts of the picture as slow changing blocks of colour, and motion leaves a terrible noise trail.

I have since created a custom profile and cranked up the kbps to 48500, now the movement trails are gone but static objects are still very blocky. my original camcorder mts file has fine noise in certain static areas from high iso, but after producing at 48500kbps the noise is gone due to over compression.

I wanted to add a film grain noise to my footage, but after producing it at it's highest level, the grain is all but gone or else i see slow changes to the grain effect apposed to the fast random movement it should have.

any advice to get the produced file to look the same as the original ?

It's ok, i found the cause of the compression issues, aparantly with "hardware video decoder" switched on, these problems arise, i have since switched it off and it's producing much better now.

Glad you have it sorted. I prefer SW encoding as I've found that the encoder used by PD is both high quality and flexible in the various profiles. HW encoding is can be good but it depends on the GPU, GPU Drivers and the formats/profiles being created (eg more Hit and Miss). PD 64 Bit-Win10 64 Bit-32GB RAM-80TB HDD
Sony FX6 - 500Mbps 4k/50p AVC-I HLG
Canon XF400 - 150Mbps 4k/50p AVC
GoPro Hero6 Black
Pana HS700-28Mbps 1080/50p AVC (High@L4.2)
Canon HV20-HDV 25Mbps 16:9 1440x1080/25p MPEG