Best bluray authoring software for menu creation

[mulliganman]

Newbie here and considering creating menus for my recordings and want to know from others what the best options are that aren't terrible difficult to use. I have looked at multiAVCHD (even though it is tough to find a thorough guide for it) and TMPencg authoring works. Are there others I am overlooking? Including other commercial/mainstream options? I want the option to create my own menu and not just stuck with templates. Thanks in advance.

[Baldrick]

Maybe sony dvd architect also.

Or https://www.videohelp.com/software/sections/authoring-bd-hd-dvd . Let me know if you find any other blu-ray author software that I should add to that list.

[SameSelf]

I am in the throes of evaluating software with BDMV support. Here is what I have looked at so far:

Sony DVD Architect. Pros: has a fairly flexible and intuitive menu creation/editing interface with the ability to do loop points which is quite slick. Cons: does not have popup menu support or BD-J support.

TAW5. Pros: holds your hand a lot (can also be a con), supports popup menus but not BD-J, cheaper than DVDA. Cons: menus creation not as flexible, basically have to use their templates.

There are some others, but they cost even more and while they tend to offer nothing in the way of handholding or support, they do offer maximum flexibility, customization, and BD-J support.

But, from what I have seen, they all offer trials. So I recommend going through the list as Baldrick suggests and finding the one that suits you.

[LMotlow]

TAW5 allows you to create menus using a variety of pre-designed elements like dozens of Play, Next Page, Thumbnail, etc., but you can modify those in many ways and save your mods as your own templates. Anything that offers more than the software you mentioned will cost more, and you have to have advanced skills and get thru a more involved learning curve to use the pro stuff.

[mulliganman]

Maybe sony dvd architect also.

Or https://www.videohelp.com/software/sections/authoring-bd-hd-dvd . Let me know if you find any other blu-ray author software that I should add to that list.

Thank you for the list! I had been looking at that section on the website. Mainly wasn't sure if there were any other commercial offers that were pretty decent/good that wasn't on the list. Anyone know what DVDFab Bluray Creator is like?

Also curious if there is anyone out there still using multiAVCHD? Is it still working well? Have you found any good guides for using it for someone new to it?

[mulliganman]

TAW5 allows you to create menus using a variety of pre-designed elements like dozens of Play, Next Page, Thumbnail, etc., but you can modify those in many ways and save your mods as your own templates. Anything that offers more than the software you mentioned will cost more, and you have to have advanced skills and get thru a more involved learning curve to use the pro stuff.

Yeah been looking at them. I know you can use your own image. Is their software ever available at a discount? I asked them about a holiday special and they said no.

[manono]

Have you found any good guides for using it for someone new to it?

There are five at the bottom of the multiAVCHD page on this site. Have you seen them? Are any useful to you?

[mulliganman]

Have you found any good guides for using it for someone new to it?

There are five at the bottom of the multiAVCHD page on this site. Have you seen them? Are any useful to you?

I had looked at those a while back but not extremely in-depth. Just looking at the first link there does that mean the program does not accept .m2ts files as input files? My files are likely to have .AVI as a container but using the Lagarith video codec. Will multiAVCHD accept it? Are you using this program?

Here's what I was thinking my process would be: original file (Lagarith) > lossless editing of original file with Free Video Editor (looks like I have to pay a bit to keep the lossless editing) > convert edited file to .m2ts and then input into a bluray menu program for creating menus > take saved filed with menus (continuing as .m2ts file) and burn using IMG Burn

[manono]

Will multiAVCHD accept it?

I have no idea. How long will it take you to try? It accepts AVS input which is how I'd do it anyway.

Are you using this program?

Nope.

Just looking at the first link there does that mean the program does not accept .m2ts files as input files?

It specifically says it accepts M2TS files as input.

[mulliganman]

Will multiAVCHD accept it?

I have no idea. How long will it take you to try? It accepts AVS input which is how I'd do it anyway.

Are you using this program?

Nope.

Just looking at the first link there does that mean the program does not accept .m2ts files as input files?

It specifically says it accepts M2TS files as input.

Thanks regarding the m2ts files! I wasn't sure if I was misreading it or not. Do you think it is better to add the menus to a lossless Lagarith recording and then convert to m2ts for burning or convert to m2ts first (from Lagarith) and then add the menus and burn.

[manono]

Do you think it is better to add the menus to a lossless Lagarith recording and then convert to m2ts for burning or convert to m2ts first (from Lagarith) and then add the menus and burn.

In this tutorial, it makes no mention of AVIs outside of DivX, XviD, and AVC, so I'm not convinced it'll even accept your Lagarith AVI as input. As I mentioned earlier, since it accepts AVS input I'd make a simple AviSynth script using AviSource to open it. But the first thing to do, I think, would be to try and open your Lagarith AVI to see if it accepts it. If not you'll either have to use an AviSynth script or reencode it yourself outside of multiAVCHD to something it will accept. In any event, according to that same tutorial, the menu creation is the last step after opening and setting everything up, before the transcoding (if necessary) and authoring takes place.

The tutorial is very good and detailed and if you take it a step at a time you should get what you want out of it.

[mulliganman]

Do you think it is better to add the menus to a lossless Lagarith recording and then convert to m2ts for burning or convert to m2ts first (from Lagarith) and then add the menus and burn.

In this tutorial, it makes no mention of AVIs outside of DivX, XviD, and AVC, so I'm not convinced it'll even accept your Lagarith AVI as input. As I mentioned earlier, since it accepts AVS input I'd make a simple AviSynth script using AviSource to open it. But the first thing to do, I think, would be to try and open your Lagarith AVI to see if it accepts it. If not you'll either have to use an AviSynth script or reencode it yourself outside of multiAVCHD to something it will accept. In any event, according to that same tutorial, the menu creation is the last step after opening and setting everything up, before the transcoding (if necessary) and authoring takes place.

The tutorial is very good and detailed and if you take it a step at a time you should get what you want out of it.

Looks like you are right about it not accepting AVI File. When I choose the folder where it is located only mp4 files are displayed. None of the AVI files even show up. So what would the difference be in taking an edited AVI Lagarith file and convert it to .m2ts format before loading it to the multiAVCH program as opposed to the AviSynth you mentioned (I'm not familiar at all with that program).

On a side note, if I stick with converting the edited AVI file is there a better format i should be converting it to besides .m2ts? I'm not done this before so I really don't know. I have been operating under advice that .m2ts files make for easy burning with IMG Burn.

[mulliganman]

Interesting that when I added an .m2ts file the program gives this message: You selected NTSC system but clip contains PAL video. It is possible the title won't play in NTSC players/PS3

[manono]

So what would the difference be in taking an edited AVI Lagarith file and convert it to .m2ts format before loading it to the multiAVCH program as opposed to the AviSynth you mentioned (I'm not familiar at all with that program).

If you do the conversion properly there should be little, if any, difference. You'll have to make the M2TS (or other format) file Blu-Ray compliant so no reencoding is done. I don't know what program to suggest. Maybe AVCHDCoder (if it accepts Lagarith AVIs as input). Or check the link provided by Baldrick in his earlier reply.

[mulliganman]

So what would the difference be in taking an edited AVI Lagarith file and convert it to .m2ts format before loading it to the multiAVCH program as opposed to the AviSynth you mentioned (I'm not familiar at all with that program).

If you do the conversion properly there should be little, if any, difference. You'll have to make the M2TS (or other format) file Blu-Ray compliant so no reencoding is done. I don't know what program to suggest. Maybe AVCHDCoder (if it accepts Lagarith AVIs as input). Or check the link provided by Baldrick in his earlier reply.

It doesn't look like AVCHD Coder will accept a Lagarith recording with AVI as the container either. I'm not sure what to do. I chose that codec because I thought that's what I would have to do to get the best possible recording for burning to BD since it is lossless.

[manono]

Then install AviSynth and create an AVS (a text file with an .avs extension rather than .txt) with this one line inside:

AVISource("NameOfAVI.avi")

Test out the AVS script in VDub (File->Open Video) to make sure the script is good before then opening it in multiAVCHD. If for some reason VDub throws an error message, tell us exactly what it says.

Or maybe someone else can advise on how to get a Lagarith AVI encoded for Blu-Ray.

[mulliganman]

Then install AviSynth and create an AVS (a text file with an .avs extension rather than .txt) with this one line inside:

AVISource("NameOfAVI.avi")

Test out the AVS script in VDub (File->Open Video) to make sure the script is good before then opening it in multiAVCHD. If for some reason VDub throws an error message, tell us exactly what it says.

Or maybe someone else can advise on how to get a Lagarith AVI encoded for Blu-Ray.

I am still exploring options on the conversion and still welcome input. But, for future reference would any of the following codecs within AVI be easier to deal with: UtVideo RGBA VCM, UtVideo RGB VCM, UtVideo YUV420B-601VCM, UtVideo YUV422-BT.601 VCM, UtVideo YUV420BT.709 VCM, or Ut Video YUV422 BT.709.VCM

Only asking because I downloaded that codec suite from the website last night since they were another lossless format that seems to be highly regarded.

[manono]

I have no problems at all using lossless AVIs. But, apparently, some of the Blu-Ray encoders don't like them if you try to open them directly (hence the AviSynth suggestion). I'm pretty sure changing from Lagarith to UT Video Codec won't make a bit of difference. If one's not accepted then neither will the other be accepted. That multiAVCHD tutorial mentions the AVI codecs it accepts and the lossless ones weren't in the list.

[pepegot1]

TAWS you can use any background you want-not limited to templates-even video backgrounds

[PuzZLeR]

I'd prefer to encode to compliancy and mux properly into M2TS beforehand, then author, since, to be honest, I wouldn't want a menu program doing this for me, particularly the encoding part, and even the muxing if the video has certain attributes like pulldown, etc. You will also have better control IMO over the video this way.

It was mentioned that multiAVCHD does indeed input an M2TS file. But does it leave it (completely) untouched in the authoring (if you ask it to)? I think it should also be pointed out in this thread which tools are capable of being able to author and in the process NOT change anything with the video/audio streams if you input ready-to-go M2TS files.

[mulliganman]

I'd prefer to encode to compliancy and mux properly into M2TS beforehand, then author, since, to be honest, I wouldn't want a menu program doing this for me, particularly the encoding part, and even the muxing if the video has certain attributes like pulldown, etc. You will also have better control IMO over the video this way.

It was mentioned that multiAVCHD does indeed input an M2TS file. But does it leave it (completely) untouched in the authoring (if you ask it to)? I think it should also be pointed out in this thread which tools are capable of being able to author and in the process NOT change anything with the video/audio streams if you input ready-to-go M2TS files.

When I converted my AVI Lagarith file to .m2ts and then inserted into the program I got this message: You selected NTSC system but clip contains PAL video. It is possible the title won't play in NTSC players/PS3

Don't really know what that means.

I also tried converting the same file to "bluray" format using a trial version of AVS Video Converter and then inserting into MultiAVCHD and got: play item size exceeds split point of 4,000 MiB (set in Author tab). Don't know what that means either...

[PuzZLeR]

When I converted my AVI Lagarith file to .m2ts and then inserted into the program I got this message: You selected NTSC system but clip contains PAL video. It is possible the title won't play in NTSC players/PS3

Don't really know what that means.

Maybe you have NTSC and PAL video in the same project. Maybe your converted video has 25fps, or is a certain resolution that would not work with NTSC enabled.

I also tried converting the same file to "bluray" format using a trial version of AVS Video Converter and then inserting into MultiAVCHD and got: play item size exceeds split point of 4,000 MiB (set in Author tab). Don't know what that means either...

I'm not sure either since that's the split point for DvD video, and/or DvD disc layers, etc, where you have to tell the authoring tool where you need to "cut" it due to the MOD file size limitation being over.

I personally haven't tried multiAVCHD in years, and not sure if it does DvD, but are you in some DvD mode, or DvD disc mode (such as for AVCHD) or something? (Which may explain the previous problem somewhat too.)

[mulliganman]

When I converted my AVI Lagarith file to .m2ts and then inserted into the program I got this message: You selected NTSC system but clip contains PAL video. It is possible the title won't play in NTSC players/PS3

Don't really know what that means.

Maybe you have NTSC and PAL video in the same project. Maybe your converted video has 25fps, or is a certain resolution that would not work with NTSC enabled.

I also tried converting the same file to "bluray" format using a trial version of AVS Video Converter and then inserting into MultiAVCHD and got: play item size exceeds split point of 4,000 MiB (set in Author tab). Don't know what that means either...

I'm not sure either since that's the split point for DvD video, and/or DvD disc layers, etc, where you have to tell the authoring tool where you need to "cut" it due to the MOD file size limitation being over.

I personally haven't tried multiAVCHD in years, and not sure if it does DvD, but are you in some DvD mode, or DvD disc mode (such as for AVCHD) or something? (Which may explain the previous problem somewhat too.)

How would I know if I am in DVD mode?

On a separate note, I changed that MiB number to 9,000. then i took my avi Lagarith file and ran it in Freemake Video converter choosing "bluray" as the output. It did convert and and created a folder inside of the videos folder named what the lagarith file was named. So i opened MultiAvchd and chose the folder and it seemed to input just fine. The only thing it did was it not only input the folder contents of the Lagarith file but also other contents within that Video folder. Not really sure why. It also asked if I wanted to enter reauthor mode or something to that effect. Thoughts?

[PuzZLeR]

How would I know if I am in DVD mode?

Like I said, I hardly used MultiAVCHD in years, so wouldn't know this, or for the other problem. I did mention "DvD mode" since your problem applies to DvD video and/or DvD discs, so figure MultiAVCHD must be thinking for some reason that you want DvD and maybe you can look into your settings a bit more.

[mulliganman]

Is there anyone who can tell me why I would be getting this error message when importing an .m2ts version of my original file into MultiAVCHD.

This is the message: You selected NTSC system but clip contains PAL video. It is possible the title won't play in NTSC players/PS3

Is there something I need to be choosing that I am not when selecting for conversion to .m2ts? I used Video to Video Converter.

[Baldrick]

Is there anyone who can tell me why I would be getting this error message when importing an .m2ts version of my original file into MultiAVCHD.

This is the message: You selected NTSC system but clip contains PAL video. It is possible the title won't play in NTSC players/PS3

Is there something I need to be choosing that I am not when selecting for conversion to .m2ts? I used Video to Video Converter.

What are you source files resolution/frame size and frame rate? Check with mediainfo if you have no idea...

[mulliganman]

Is there anyone who can tell me why I would be getting this error message when importing an .m2ts version of my original file into MultiAVCHD.

This is the message: You selected NTSC system but clip contains PAL video. It is possible the title won't play in NTSC players/PS3

Is there something I need to be choosing that I am not when selecting for conversion to .m2ts? I used Video to Video Converter.

What are you source files resolution/frame size and frame rate? Check with mediainfo if you have no idea...

I will double check and report this back this evening when I am home from work (off the top of my hand I believe the original file was 1600 x 900). I may have figured out the NTSC message though. Video to Video Converter and MultiAVCHD were reading the file as 25 frames per second. So, I changed this to 30 frames per second prior to converting to m2ts. then i uploaded this to MultiAVCHD and it didn't get that error message.

So, I have a couple of follow up questions in the meantime. The first is about the converted m2ts file. I noticed when loaded this file to play in VLC it has black bars on the side. Will this show up if burning to BD too? If so, how do I fix this?

The second question is about settings for Video to Video Converter. Early in this thread it was said converting from the lossless file to m2ts would result in very little to no quality loss if using the right settings. So, can anyone share what I need to have settings to in order that happens? Also, I mentioned the error I was getting about "MiB" in MultiAVCHD before upping this amount to 9,000. What does this setting need to be at?

Thanks to all who have responded and for showing patience to a newbie!

[philamber]

It was mentioned that multiAVCHD does indeed input an M2TS file. But does it leave it (completely) untouched in the authoring (if you ask it to)?

Yes.

[mulliganman]

It was mentioned that multiAVCHD does indeed input an M2TS file. But does it leave it (completely) untouched in the authoring (if you ask it to)?

Yes.

Thank you! Do you know anything about the black bars question I asked. When taking an m2ts file into VLC to preview it I see the black bars on the left and right side of the video. I was wanting to know if this is due to some sort of VLC setting or something that I should have done when converting the original file to .m2ts to prevent it? I just don't want it showing up that way on the BD disc.

[SameSelf]

Have you tried elementary video and audio encodes? As a rule, I don't think I have ever imported muxed files into an authoring tool. Rule #2: I always encode my raw streams in a compliant manner, e.g. x264 bluray compliant, so the authoring tool does not have to re-encode. The bundled encoders may or may not do a good job.