Blu-Ray file format

[Tafflad]

I'm creating a BD 1920 x 1080, 50i

The source is a video form Sony Vegas of a a family 35mm slide collection ........... so movement not much more than simple slide pan & zoom animation with a stereo audio track.

I know that as I want a European disc for HD wide screen TV .. then it's 1920 x 1080 50i which gives me 25fps

The confusion I have is that I can render video to several options under 'Blu-Ray' output

Sony AVCHD 1920 x 1080, 50i which gives me .m2ts files
Main Concept Blu-ray 1920 x 1080, 50i which gives me .m2v files
Sony Blu-ray 1920 x 1080, 50i which gives me .avc files


The latter I can select as 10 or 16Mbps video stream

The table below gives indication of different file size for a 1:38 sec sample (12 slides)




Which file format (codec type) is the correct or most suitable for a compliant Blu-Ray DVD.

If the .avc is no problem (assumed) then is there any reason to use 16Mbps over 10 Mbps ?
Initailly I thought I had a bigger problem none of my usual players could play .avc files ....... Splash lite, VLC, 4K, (which is listed as suitable) but dropped back to MPC-HC and that worked OK .... don't know if that means .avc is a lesser option or not.

[Baldrick]

I would choose m2ts.

But a blu-ray is not just a single file. It's a BDMV folder with several files, https://www.videohelp.com/hd#filestruct . But the video is in m2ts.

[Tafflad]

Thanks ... will do

[DB83]

As above, you still have to author your file(s) into a compliant format and then burn those files to disk.

.avc = advanced video codec = h264. If the video has .avc as the extension ie myvideo.avc a player might baulk. But wrap that avc into a container format such as .mp4 and it will play.

BTW Shocking waste of bitrate for essentially still images. But, obviously, you have motion for the transitions.

Do you really need to do this as Blu Ray ?

[Tafflad]

As above, you still have to author your file(s) into a compliant format and then burn those files to disk.

.avc = advanced video codec = h264. If the video has .avc as the extension ie myvideo.avc a player might baulk. But wrap that avc into a container format such as .mp4 and it will play.

BTW Shocking waste of bitrate for essentially still images. But, obviously, you have motion for the transitions.

Do you really need to do this as Blu Ray ?

The images are high resolution slide scans .. 4264 x 2884 (typ) as these will be watch on an HD TV ... seemed logical to resize these down to HD size and create 1920 x 1080 video
Only being done for the master disc(s) for myself I will create DVD versions for family members (I am aware of aspect ratio issues)

Its been about 350 Hrs on this so far .. sort, clean, scan, edit, resize ....... with slide show creation & then video creation & final burn yet to go ......... started as small job for family .... (800+ slides)

[Tafflad]

In addition a second set of options arise …. I also need to take the output of a presentation program (ProShow Gold) for a number of small projects – again to be dropped into Sony Movie Studio for Blu-ray final medium.

The options for output are :
M-JPEG 1080p - Quicktime MOV file mpeg-4 for use in 3rd party video editor module
mkv using H.264/AVC 1080,50i - HD Disc Authoring option module
MPEG-2 1080,50i
MPEG-4 using H.264 video for editing **

** This last option would need a purchase of a plugin for it to be used.

The text in blue is not meant to be insulting, just the template description ... seems they recommend M-jpeg or MPEG-4/H.264 when sending for onwards editing.
My limited understanding is that MPEG2 would provide me with best image quality (others may match but not exceed) but it has significantly larger file size.
Welcome your advice.

[DB83]

I cannot answer your last Q. but I will now give you some food for thought.

A 35 mm image/scan is 3:2. The logical size IMO for a video from these is 4:3. If you want to create a Blu Ray that is not a deterrent. Resizing your scan directly down to 1920*1080 will lose you a lot of detail.

Sony Vegas may not be the best tool for you. There is a free program DVD SlideShow GUI takes all the pain out of the video creation for you.

[Tafflad]

The images are resized to twice the vert resolution (seems to be common advice) so set to 2160 before they are input into ProShowGold

I just invested in Pro Show Gold (20% off deal) - less than the price of a meal.
So have now decided to use that to create the individual slide shows ...it even takes output direct from Lightroom ...resizes automatically and takes care of aspect ratio.

I will create separate MPEG2 files for each 'set' and then drop them into Movie Studio to add music & text overlays.

Then render final as Bu-ray .. if I can figure it out with menus .... had issues trying to do this with DVD Architect. I know it's a misnomer ...but it does support Blu-ray.

[DB83]

Ok. It's your money.

Been there myself when have bought stuff and finding, via this site, free software which often is better.

[Tafflad]

It was under £30 ...so not too expensive ... not like I was buying photoshop.

They also just sent me for free the plugin that provides extra codecs.

after doing some testing choice is down to 3 ... results for 30 sec sample below, all play well, and to my eyes look the same.

MJPEG/MOV file is 367MB render time 50 sec - Quicktime for use in 3rd party video editor module
MPEG2 file is 231MB render time 58 sec
H264/MP4 118MB encode time 2m 30 - video with HIGH profile for use in external editor


Would appreciate any advice if either of the above is better for image quality or NLE use ..... in case the bitrate would impact the advice ....I attach the 3 media info files ...
On the PSG program I can adjust MPEG bit rate but not the other 2.