Blu-ray, AVCHD & DVD (HQ) Questions & Problems

George1938

Senior Member Location: Northern & Central New York, Summer & Orlando, FL winter Joined: Jun 20, 2009 04:58 Messages: 162 Offline

Solved by

Sep 16, 2009 17:03

I have been following the posts quite regularly since joining in late June and have found them to be extremely helpful. Now I have a problem that I hope someone can help me with as this is only my 3rd post, rather long but wanted to present the facts.

My camera is a Canon HG21 recording in H.264, 1920 x1080, 16:9 and 24 bitrate. Currently using PD-7 which I have been very pleased overall with except for burning issues, now pretty much resolved, now and issue playing a BD disk that I can’t resolve.

I edit in PD, Produce file to MPEG2 and was saving as BD 1920 x 1440, burn to BD disk on a Sony 300S burner, played on my Sony BDP-S350 player and Sony LCD TV and was pleased overall with quality, although I didn’t think quite up to the original from the camera. I guess this is true correct?

Then I developed a problem when it played the next clip for instance I would get a black screen with audio only. I then tried 1440 x 1080 and that seemed to solve the problem until recently. I have assembled a 1hr 5min video edited the way I want, but when burnt to BD it gives me the black screen after the first clip of about 7 minutes with no video again. Once I get the black screen it remains for the rest of the movie. By turning off and restarting the same will happen.

So I thought it was a bad clip, so replaced and reburnt and same thing. Then I tried saving all the clips as one continuous video, but still black screen at the very same point in the video. I though perhaps the transition at the end, so removed and still the same. The same videos however will play perfectly on my computer. I have tried other clips and the same after the first clip or so.

So I am very frustrated as I have a show to do the first week of October and at the present can’t seem to make a BD that will play properly. Contacted Sony and they stated not a problem with the player, but most likely the program it was created with as not all homemade BD videos will play in the Blu-ray Player.

So does anyone have any idea as to what the problem is and what to do? At present my only choice would be to save and play as a DVD HQ but the quality is only fair. Second choice is AVCHD on multiple disks but again the quality is not up to par with BD and should this be the case?

Also I am a little confused as to 1920 x 1080 versus 1440 x 1080, so can someone please explain and what one should I use.

Cheers
Dell Studio XPS 9100
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz
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12 GB DDR3 SDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 1248 MB Memory

Canon HF S21 & Canon HG21

James W

Senior Contributor Location: Lakeland, FL USA Joined: Aug 18, 2008 10:36 Messages: 911 Offline

Sep 16, 2009 21:32

Hi George,

Sorry to hear about your problems. I do not have a BlueRay player so I can't comment on your main issue, but I will comment on the resolution. Since your camera records 1920x1080i I would produce your videos at the same resolution. I don't see any reason for you to change the resolution to 1440. Also, I think you made a typo when you said 1920x1440. Q9300 2.5 GHz
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George1938

Senior Member Location: Northern & Central New York, Summer & Orlando, FL winter Joined: Jun 20, 2009 04:58 Messages: 162 Offline

Sep 17, 2009 03:46

Hi James,

Yes I did mean 1920x1080 and since I record in 1920x1080 I will as you suggest produce my videos in.

When the problem of the black screen first occurred with the Blu-ray and I reproduced the exact same video in 1440x1080 it played ok, I thought that solved my problem which now makes no difference as having the problem with 1440x1080 as well.

With regards to achieving the highest quality in my final video I believe I achieve the highest as follows:

By first Producing all projects as you recommend to MPEG2 versus AVC.MPEG4 which appears to produce more artifacts.

Then combining all MPEG2 files into the timeline and then burning to a BD disk in either BD 1920x1080 or 1440x1080 which to me then gave the best HD video when played on my LCD TV and would require only 13.341 GB on a 25 GB BD disk.

My 1hr 5 min video produced in AVCHD would contain 8.536 GB w/o menu so would require 2- 4.7 GB disks versus 14.302 GB with lower quality.

My other choice would be a DVD (HG) which would require 4.571 GB which would fit on a 4.7 GB DVD disk and would be the choice for those who wanted a copy but did not have a Blu-ray player.

Again I achieved the highest quality with the BD choice, AVCHD 2nd and DVD (HG) 3rd although the very best quality was still with the original H.264 from the camera.

So if I can’t resolve the problem of getting a black screen with audio only when playing the BD disks on my player, then I have no choice but to use AVCHD. If that is the case it defeats the need for and expense of Blu-ray. I was hoping someone else had experienced this problem as well or could help me solve the problem. I tend to agree with Sony that it is somehow caused by how the video is produced in Power Director, but what I have yet to find out with all the experimenting I have done.

Would someone else recommend a differnt workflow to achieve the highest quality?

Dell Studio XPS 9100
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz
64 Bit Operating Sytem
12 GB DDR3 SDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 1248 MB Memory

Canon HF S21 & Canon HG21

Alextzi

Newbie Joined: Mar 11, 2009 15:17 Messages: 47 Offline

Sep 20, 2009 14:40

Its all about the renderer. Apparently there is a rework of the renderer for PD7 and PD8 (do a search on AVCHD and you will find the threads).

Here is what I do: produce a 1920 x 1080 AVCHD file, then import it to Nero 9 and have it re-render it and burn the AVCHD....I find that Nero has an excellent renderer (but the rest of the authoring tools are crap).

Only decent solution I have right now till CL stops releasing new software and fixes its current software issues.

Alex

George1938

Senior Member Location: Northern & Central New York, Summer & Orlando, FL winter Joined: Jun 20, 2009 04:58 Messages: 162 Offline

Sep 21, 2009 01:53

Hi Alex,

I am rather new at this, but I guess the more times I rendered in PD-7 the worst the problem of the black screen became. It got to the point that each and every time when played on my Blu-ray player when it went to a different clip it would give a black screen with sound only. Even if I first combined all clips into one movie it would still remember the locations.

The only solutions I finally discovered were to hit next prior to the end of a clip and it would go to the next clip or chapter ok. The other solution if I received a black screen was to turn the player off and restart but neither very practical.

You are correct about the rendering as day before yesterday I downloaded Sothink HD Movie Maker and ImgBurn and now no problems, so it was due to rendering and burning with PD.

So far I have only experimented with Sothink HD Movie Maker but the quality was impressive compared to PD.

Thanks Dell Studio XPS 9100
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz
64 Bit Operating Sytem
12 GB DDR3 SDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 1248 MB Memory

Canon HF S21 & Canon HG21