Please help me with a Blu Ray project I am attempting.

[jrodefeld]

Hello everyone,

I have been having a really hard time with a Blu Ray project I have been working on and I need some help. I am so close to finishing up but little problems keep cropping up.


The project is actually creating a custom Blu Ray of an old Jackie Chan film, with custom audio tracks, special features and everything else. I have worked on the project in Encore.


Basically the first problem I had was that when I authored the film, the main video titles would stutter frequently when played. I did NOT have Encore transcode them. In fact they were encoded in Premiere and played perfectly after they were created. Encore should be simply passing these files through untouched.


The only thing that would work is if I use TsMuxer and swap out the video file in the M2TS for the file Premiere outputted. If I do that and replace the relevent M2TS file in my authored Blu Ray folder, the video would play perfectly smoothly with no apparent problems,


Do you know if there are any problems with swapping the M2TS files in this manner? Remember, I keep the video and audio tracks absolutely identical to the ones in the original M2TS.




The file plays perfectly when I create an image and mount it and play with WinDVD. Everything works flawlessly.


However, when I try to play it on my PS3, it has problems. It won't play the main video files at all. The screen just goes black and I can only press the main menu button and exit out of the video.


I don't know what is going on. Its frustrating because I have a perfectly good project that I worked on for a long time but simply will not play reliably on all devices I have.


Why would it play pretty much perfectly mounted in Windows yet the main video won't play at all on the PS3?


Any ideas on how to fix this project?

[Baldrick]

It's same issue as in https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/359828-Rebuilt-Blu-ray-image-playback-issues

You can't just replace files and hope that it will work.

[jrodefeld]

It's same issue as in https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/359828-Rebuilt-Blu-ray-image-playback-issues

You can't just replace files and hope that it will work.

Thats probably what is making the Blu Ray not play correctly on the PS3. I didn't think it would work without issues. I only attempted it because the main video kept playing choppy in the Encore build.


I really have no idea why that would be. The video file is already encoded into a blu ray compatible m4v file which plays perfectly when played on its own yet plays choppy once Encore authors it along with the menus and everything else.


Do you have any idea what might be causing this? Even the M2TS file in the folder plays choppy. I really don't know what Encore could be doing to the file to make it not play as smoothly as it should.

[Cornucopia]

The same encoding engine that is in Encore is in Premiere. Only difference, if there even is one, would be in the GUI and in which presets are allowable/shown and/or modifiable (I would expect Premiere to have greater latitude & variability).

Even though I have 2 (older) versions of both Premiere & Encore, I have NEVER liked Encore's authoring. Maybe it's time for YOU to try something different also?

It could be the encoding, but it could also just be the authoring. Try outputting lossless from Premiere, encode using x.264 (along with whichever GUI you prefer) to h.264/AVC (making sure to use BD-compliant presets), and then author in something like DVDArchitect. While it's still not GREAT for BDMV authoring (for that, you would need something like Scenarist or DoStudio), it sure seems more consistently error-free (or LESS errors) than Encore.

Scott

[jrodefeld]

The same encoding engine that is in Encore is in Premiere. Only difference, if there even is one, would be in the GUI and in which presets are allowable/shown and/or modifiable (I would expect Premiere to have greater latitude & variability).

Even though I have 2 (older) versions of both Premiere & Encore, I have NEVER liked Encore's authoring. Maybe it's time for YOU to try something different also?

It could be the encoding, but it could also just be the authoring. Try outputting lossless from Premiere, encode using x.264 (along with whichever GUI you prefer) to h.264/AVC (making sure to use BD-compliant presets), and then author in something like DVDArchitect. While it's still not GREAT for BDMV authoring (for that, you would need something like Scenarist or DoStudio), it sure seems more consistently error-free (or LESS errors) than Encore.

Scott

The problem is that I have created pretty elaborate motion menus with animation. It took quite a while to put this project together and I don't want to lose that work.


Is there any way I could swap out the video stream in the Blu Ray Folder and make it work? Could I just author the folder with Encore and then tweak it somehow without screwing up the project?


I really don't know what is going on. The video file I encoded in Premiere plays fine on its own. But once its authored in Encore it plays jerky and the video freezes for a second then skips forward several frames. Some parts play okay but I have no idea why it would be doing this.


Please let me know if you have any other suggestions to make this work.

[smrpix]

Encore does not have the best burning engine. Try outputting a disk image from Encore and then burning that to disk with Imgburn.

Also, Encore can handle replacing a file ok, but it must be frame accurate.

[jrodefeld]

I have been lead to believe that I could successfully swap the video stream in the M2TS files and keep a working Blu Ray with BDedit. Does anyone know if that is correct? If that is possible, that would seem to be the best solution. I mean, I have everything already created. It is only the main video file that plays jerky. If I could swap out that file and keep everything else, the project would be complete and I wouldn't have to start from scratch with different software.

Do you think I could do this with BDedit?

[jrodefeld]

Encore does not have the best burning engine. Try outputting a disk image from Encore and then burning that to disk with Imgburn.

I haven't been burning it with Encore. I have been outputting a Blu Ray folder. Then I could either build an image to mount in Windows with Imgburn or burn a disc with Imgburn. Either way I see the same problems.

[Brainiac]

Just a thought...have you tried demuxing the M2TS file and then importing the 2 streams into Encore and building from there? I would encourage you to try a sample and see if that works for you.

Brainiac

[Cornucopia]

Separate the 3 processes and find which is the culprit (or weakest link): ENCODING - AUTHORING - BURNING
1. Try encoding via Premiere like you have done, then authoring a simple test disc in something like BDEdit, TSMuxer, AVCHDcoder, etc. & burn in ImgBurn.
2. Alternately, try rendering to Lossless in Premiere, encoding with x.264+GUI (handbrake?), then authoring simply as above & burning w/ ImgBurn.

If the first one still has problems but the 2nd doesn't, it's mainly your encoding. If they are both OK, it's likely your authoring. If both are still bad, could be your source files, or YOU are doing something wrong (or have a wrong playback setup).

Scott

[Nelson37]

The next time you decide to spend a lot of time on custom menus in a particular program, FIRST make sure that the program will make a workable disk. All of your work is MEANINGLESS if the video will not play.

Playback in Windows is only good for basic testing. To test playback on a standalone player, you need, um..... - a standalone player.

Check the muxing and/or preparation time for this file against a KNOWN GOOD, STANDARD file. Something in this process and/or your source files is causing Encore to make a defective disk. It may, or may not, be an actual problem with the file itself. It may simply be causing a process that Encore does not do well.

Framerate, audio bitrate or type, file encoding, separate audio or video files, what you want to do is to either force Encore to stop doing something it should not be doing, or make the program handle it differently.

I have always found it a major key to use an authoring program that ONLY authors, and nothing else. Same with burners. If the program can mess with the file, that's usually bad.

[Cornucopia]

I second Nelson37's sentiment (and should have mentioned the standalone testing before, though that's what I was thinking of).

Scott