|
|
An option that I use, in addition to what you do (saving to multiple locations) is saving to an external USB drive that is not always connected. I have a 1TB USB 3.0 drive that I use for backups that is only ever connected for that purpose and is kept in a cool dry place when not in use. But even this is not foolproof. If you think about it, a 1TB drive has over 8 TRILLION individual magnetic 'spots' on its surface(s), so it is amazing that it can hold that at greater than 99.5% accuracy for years of use at a time.
I wonder if my old Commodore 64 floppy disks in the closet still work?...
Russell1967
|
|
|
Yeah, I definitely plan on purchasing a Blu-ray burner in the near future - although the ability to utilize the more advanced codec but with smaller (and cheaper) storage media is a nice plus. Unfortunately, I found my manual and it does not mention AVCHD disks being supported - officially - although, as mentioned, I have made a Blu-ray structured DVD with a third party software that played fine (Acted and looked exactly like a Blu-ray, but with less space available, which is perfectly fine for smaller projects).
About the m-disk and the longevity of recording media: Under test conditions, according to m-disc ( http://www.mdisc.com/what-is-mdisc/ ), the average life expectancy of storage media is:
Hard drives: Up to 5 years
DVD+-R/RW: Up to 7 years
USB Flashdrive: Up to 8 years
m-disc: Up to 1000 years
Under extremely favorable conditions, your storage media may last longer (high quality manufacture, ideal environmental conditions, low usage, etc). But even under these conditions, hard drives will lose their magnetic integrity, DVD's (and Blu-Ray/HD recordables) dye layer will break down and flash memory will start to break down as well. It's just a matter of time.
m-disc actually records its data by 'engraving' (using a high powered laser) a rock-like layer below the protective upper surface. Under tortuous conditions that would immediately destroy all of the other media solutions - high magnetic fields, continuous temperatures of 176F (80C) degrees with 85% humidity for days, etc - the m-disc will survive and protect its data.
Currently only single layer formats are available because the rock-like layer does not lend itself varying wavelength lasers able to access data in a lower section. Still, this is 4.7GB or 25GB of essentially permanent data that can be READ with normal players and drives (the Blu-ray m-disc, when it becomes available, can be WRITTEN by regular Blu-ray burners while the DVD m-disc requires a compatible DVD burner).
Hope this helps!
Russell1967
|
|
|
From Heavytiger's post: "I finally figured out a way to author avchd video to a blu ray disc without transcoding. I have an old version of Pinnacle studio 14 on my computer. I don't normally use it anymore because I edit with PD11. But I discovered it has a setting for authoring blu ray discs using AVCHD file types. Setting one is Blu ray mpeg2 and setting two is blu ray AVC. I used the AVC setting and burned a very clear blu ray disc that was about 80minutes long. Conversion to a different format was not necessary. "
He did it from another program.
Russell1967
|
|
|
What's odd is that AVCHD is one of the choices for disk creation types within PD12 - although only 4.7GB - but it doesn't work on my Blu-ray player. To be honest, it MAY be that my Blu-ray player just doesn't support AVCHD disks, but I'm 99% sure I've burned Blu-ray structures onto 4.7GB DVD-Rs and it worked (using another NLE program) on that same Blu-ray player. This makes me think that PD is doing something wrong or non-standard, but who knows?
Russell1967
|
|
|
Seems sensible. I'll check it out.
Russell1967
|
|
|
Did you say author AVCHD to a *Blu-ray* disk? Or do you mean to a DVD, since that's really what AVCHD disks are for?
Russell1967
|
|
|
The problem is this: If I need a video to be in a resolution that is not standard (for some portable video player, for example), I can not currently use PD directly for this. Even if the aspect ratio is 4:3 or 16:9 it does not necessarily fall into a standard vertical x horizontal resolution. (example: 1600x900 is a 16:9 aspect ratio, but is not a standard format).
The other problem is that if I have a very large video, I can't utilize SVRT - to speed up the rendering process dramatically - even if I'm just adding titles or transitions because I can't keep the original resolution. Lots and lots of videos on the internet are non-standard resolutions (but mostly with square pixels).
If I'm just creating Blu-rays or DVDs then, yes, PD12 needs to produce them according to certain standards. But the 'Produce' capability is not necessarily for this purpose.
Russell1967
|
|
|
Has it been pushed back again? Darn. Still, the currently available 4.7GB (single layer DVD) is quite a godsend if you have data that you want to be able to store reliably for a very long time (about 40 human generations!). Of course, whether or not DVD drives will even be available at that time to READ those disks is another matter...
Russell1967
|
|
|
Yeah, I had a cheap DVD player years ago that apparently didn't even read the region code on the disk and would play any DVD I popped in it, including ones whose resolution was outside of the capabilities of my TV (I'm NTSC, which has fewer lines, so PAL DVDs would just be cropped at the bottom - It didn't scale unfortunately - and the video would play slightly faster!).
But yeah, you can find good BD-R disks (such as Verbatim) for around $1 each if you look hard enough or buy them in large enough quantities - say, spindles of 50 or more. And decent burners, which were over $200 just a few years ago, are now well under $100.
Speaking of which, I currently have a DVD burner that can burn m-disks and I've burned some of my most crucial files onto it, like family pictures, etc. The Blu-ray version of the m-disk was supposed to be released last August but got delayed to Q1/2014. These disks do not require a special burner, but should work with most modern Blu-ray burners.
What is m-Disk, one might ask? These are disks that are designed to last at least 1000 years. Yes, 1000 years. And they can withstand completely unreasonable torture (I saw a video showing the tester submerging an m-Disk alternately into boiling water and liquid nitrogen and the disk still worked!). The average burnable disk that uses dye will last, if you're lucky, about 7 years. Possibly more if they are extremely good quality and you keep them out of the sun, away from temperature extremes and in a cool, dry and dark place. Even then, don't expect 100% of your data to be there after 7 years or so. M-disk is currently the ONLY semi-permanent solution, unless you want to pay big $$$ to have your disks stamped like a store-bought movie!
Anyway, when those 25GB m-Disks become available (they only come in single layer because they actually etch the information into a non-transparent stone-like layer) I will splurge and get the Blu-ray burner.
Russell1967
|
|
|
In the case of generating media-compliant output, whether it be for Blu-ray, DVD or whatever, I can understand why PD would want to stick to specific resolutions and frame rates (and bitrates) so that the generated files would be more likely to work properly on those devices. But in the case of the 'Produce' tab, where I'm just rendering a file for who knows what purpose, I don't get why those options would not be there. Sure, there are a million commercial, open-source and/or public domain programs that can do that, but it sure would be nice to be able to do this without yet another rendering step. Not to mention that the SVRT would not have to render the video if the output (resolution, frame rate, etc) is going to be the same as the source - Maybe only the transitions, overlays and modified audio need to be rendered, potentially saving a LOT of time.
Anyway, I guess I have to see it at least partially from Cyberlink's point of view: PowerDirector's primary purpose is not to be the be-all/end-all of video file generation, but is probably intended as a tool for the beginner to intermediate user who wants to create fun and/or interesting videos for DVD or Blu-ray. That being said, though, how much trouble would it be to add this capability to at least the 'Produce' portion of the program, Cyberlink?
Russell1967
|
|
|
Not all videos are directly from the output of a camera such as 720x480, 1920x1080 or what have you. I'm kind of surprised that I can't set my own vertical and horizontal resolution (amongst other things) within PD's 'Produce' area (even if I select '+' to create my own profile - Seems I can adjust very little here!). I searched and discovered that it is possible to create your own custom profiles - outside of PD - but this is a little inconvenient.
Sure would be nice (and, I suspect, faster) if I could output my video in the same resolution as my source video(s). Impossible to do if the source video is in a non-standard resolution like 854 x 356.
Does anyone know if this is in the works for PD13, or better yet as an update for PD12?
Russell1967
|
|
|
"The easiest way to do this is to just burn your BD project to your HDD then use IMGBURN to burn the structure to your blank DVD"
I did just this, and my Blu-ray player would not play it correctly (It would start to play the 'first play' video for a few seconds - the one played before the menu shows -and then lock up the machine). It may be because I have a cheap Blu-ray player but who knows?
I have found that if I just produce a 1920 x 1080 mp4 file and put it on a disk (any disk) I can play it and it looks beautiful. The main downside to this is that there is no menu or chapter selection possible. Oh well.
But you know, Blu-ray burners and media have come way down in price in the past year, so I think I'll just splurge and get one.
Russell1967
|
|
|
Well, one problem is that although mpeg-2 can have very high bitrates (greater than 30mbps - HD territory), not all players will support this maximum. I'm pretty sure that the DVD standard allows for a maximum of about 8mbps, but that's rarely used (most top quality DVDs are around 6mbps) and this is for standard definition resolutions and framerates (720x480@29.97fps or 720x576@25fps if I remember correctly).
For playback on a Blu-ray player, mpeg-2 is not the most efficient codec to use, nor is it the most supported for HD playback (it has been superceded by mp4/h.264). You should be fine using h.264 at around 25mbps and 1920x1080@30p, but it's always a good idea to test your prototype disks on an actual Blu-ray player (more than one, if possible - cheapo and higher quality players) just to make sure.
Russell1967
|
|
|
It all depends on bitrate and other quality factors. For a given resolution and bitrate, though, h.264 will have a better quality picture than mpeg2, and h.265 (being tested and refined now as x.265) will up the ante even more with finer possible detail and more.
4k resolutions (and whatever comes after that!) demand better and better codecs. The pinnacle, to me, will be when totally lossless and deep (30, 33 or 36 bit color depths) video is feasible. FLAC does well for lossless audio, so we just need to take that extra step for video.
Russell1967
|
|
|
GGRussell: I'll give that a try and see what happens.
Thanks all!
Russell1967
|
|
|
What I'm talking about is the structure of a Blu Ray, but burned onto a DVD-R instead. Yes, it can be done, because I've done it (but not with PowerDirector). Perhaps this is what a AVCHD disk is? (AVCHD is the codec developed by Sony and others for HD video).
Anyway, I'll just keep trying different methods until something works. If you think about it, why should a Blu Ray player care what kind of disk you have your movie on as long as it's in the correct Blu Ray format? Mind you, the DVD disk I'm talking would NOT be able to play in a DVD player but most Blu Ray players are capable of reading DVDs.
Russell1967
|
|
|
As this tool does not compete with PD12 in any way, I figured it would be Ok to mention it here:
As I mentioned in another thread, I recently bought a program called "Phantom Disk" (only $20US!) that does something extremely useful for people who regularly burn disks: It creates virtual blank disks, such as DVD-R or BD-R, and then mounts them in a virtual drive which Windows (and thus all programs that burn disks, such as PD12) sees as a drive with a blank disk in it. Now you can try out your disk ("preview" within PD12 is useful, but it's an emulation) without possibly wasting actual disks. Then, if you like it, just copy it to a physical disk!
It emulates just about any kind of disk you can name, including BD-R/BD-RE (single and dual layer), every DVD variant you can name (-R, +R, -RW, +RW, single layer, dual layer, etc) and CD-R/RW.
I've been looking for a program that does this for a while, such as TotalMounter (very poorly reviewed, buggy and doesn't work with Windows 7) and Daemon Tools (supposedly does what Phantom Drive does, but their website doesn't mention this feature). Phantom Drive does the trick very well!
And no, I am not affiliated with that company at all. It's just a very very useful program for people that burn disks on a regular basis, whether it be for video, audio or whatever.
Toodles!
Russell1967
p.s. You might be thinking that a program like Virtual Clone will do what this one does, but it doesn't. It just mounts already created ISO files (which Phantom Drive can also create if you want). Supposedly MagicISO or PowerISO can do it, but they cost a lot more and I have not been able to confirm that they can actually do the same thing as this program.
Sorry for the long post, but this program is THAT useful, at least to me.
|
|
|
I know it's possible to create a Blu Ray format DVD (that plays on a Blu Ray player) because I've done it before with another program, but I'll be darned if I can successfully do it with PD12. The created disk starts to play the menu intro (first play) and then locks up the Blu Ray Player. Windows Media Player says the disk was created in a manner it doesn't support and VLC player can't read it either.
The idea of a Blu Ray DVD is that Blu Ray disks are expensive, and so if the data will physically fit on a cheap DVD-R/RW why not use it instead?
I've also tried creating an AVCHD disk, but with the same results.
Now, I recently bought a program called "Phantom Drive" for about $20US that creates virtual blank DVD-Rs (and just about any other kind of disk you can name) and then mounts them in a virtual drive. Programs, including PD12, see this as a blank DVD-R (or whatever) and can burn to it - Sure beats making drink coasters out of your blank DVD-Rs when you have a mistake in your PD12 project, etc! If it is a bad project you can delete it and start over - no harm done and no wasted disk! If you like the results you can just copy it to a physical disk.
Well, if I create a "blank" virtual 4.7GB DVD-R with this program and burn a regular DVD format project to it, everything works great. (As you can imagine, the burn speed is staggeringly fast, since it is on your hard drive). But if I create a virtual BD-R and burn even a normal HD project to it, Windows Media Player and VLC once again can not recognize the format. I don't have a physical Blu Ray burner yet. (Windows Explorer can see the created virtual disk and all of its files and folders, so something else is wrong)
Are there any known issues with Blu Ray burning, whether it be on 25GB Blu Ray disks or 4.7GB DVDs?
Thanks!
Russell1967
|
|
|
Hopefully it has a keyframe curve editor so you can speed up and slow down the video at will - For those Zack Snyder "300" moments...
Very cool!
The white paper explaining how it works (Google 'optical flow') is also very interesting. It works best with quick shutter times because the less blur in the shot the better, so that means lots of light is needed in the shot (Outdoor shooting on a bright sunny day works great!).
Later,
Russell1967
|
|
|
For the purposes of using the alpha channel (and other reasons), it would be helpful if I could load an image sequence as video. That is, if I load "image0001.png" the file requester would have the option of "Load sequence as video?" with an input box for how many images to include. Or, since you can already select more than one image when loading media, just select the whole range (select the first image, hold shift and then select the last image). This would be very helpful for layering effects where chroma key would not be appropriate or adequate. Of course, there are video formats that support the alpha channel but I don't think any of them are currently supported by PD.
And since we're on the subject of program features, I have a couple more ideas!
Whenever a color is needed as a parameter in any effect, etc, the eye dropper tool should be available - in addition to the normal color selection dialog. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't...
In the motion designer, it would be great if we could set the size of the 'zoomed' box via a 'width' and 'height' set of text boxes and/or display the size of the box as it is being resized. This is useful if you don't want the zoomed box to be scaled lower then the final output video size (quality will suffer otherwise).
These are all relatively minor additions, but would be useful I believe.
Thanks!
Russell
p.s. I have more if you want 'em! 
|
|
|
I have to say, Pixelan, that I am impressed with how you are addressing these issues in a timely manner. It shows you actually care about your users! This is a quality that should be emulated by all companies.
Thanks again,
Russell
|
|
|
