MacOS: Burning UHD/4k Blu-ray Home Videos with Free Software - Help

[choodburner]

I am a computer engineer and video/audiophile. In the year 2025 I never would have guessed burning a 4k Blu-ray would be this tedious but after many attempts and failures I am curious if anybody out there has conquered this.

I bought a Panasonic Lumix GH5II to record high-quality 4k home videos with the intention of burning 4k blu-rays.

The goal is to create universally compatible UHD 4k Blu-ray Discs on a Mac with free/open source software.

Hardware:

• MacBook Pro (2023) Apple M2 Max
• Verbatim Ultra HD 4K Reader/Writer
• Verbatim BD-RE 25GB Discs
• Sony BD-RE DL (50GB) Discs

Software:

• ffprobe (for info)
• ffmpeg (preferred over Handbrake)
• tsMuxeR (built from source -- .dmg did not work, I assume because it's x86/intel based)
• hdiutil (macos built-in terminal/CLI burning tool)
• VLC Media Player (for testing and info)

A few existing threads on the subject:

• MAC OS - MKV burn to UHD Bluray Disc to play on TV (2024)
• Ripping Blu Ray UHD disks on a Mac (2024)
• I recall a thread describing a procedure to build the ISO on Mac, then transfer it to Windows to burn the disc -- if someone has it please post the link

The original videos from the Panasonic have the following attributes:
Video (Stream 0):

• Codec: HEVC (H.265)
• Color primaries: ITU-R BT.2020
• Color transfer function: Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG)
• Dimensions: 3840x2160
• Frame Rate: 60000/1001 (59.94 fps)
• Profile: Main 10
• Level: 153

Audio (Stream 1):

• Codec: MPEG AAC Audio (mp4a)
• Sample rate: 48000 Hz
• Bits per sample: 32

- CONVERSION AND BURN WORKFLOW -
The closest I have gotten to success so far:

1. Convert the original video to a "UHD compliant" format using ffmpeg ---

   ffmpeg -i ORIGINAL.MP4 \
   -vf "zscale=transfer=linear:range=limited,tonemap=hable:desat=0,zscale=transfer=smpte2084:primaries=bt2020:matrix=bt2020nc:range=limited" \
   -c:v libx265 \
   -x265-params "level=5.1:profile=main10:crf=18:colorprim=bt2020:transfer=smpte2084:colormatrix=bt2020nc:max-cll=1000,300:master-display=G(13250,34500)B(7500,3000)R(34000,16000)WP(15635,16450)L(10000000,1)" \
   -pix_fmt yuv420p10le -c:a ac3 -b:a 640k -ar 48000 \
   OUTPUT.MKV

   This resulting media has attributes that should be UHD blu-ray compliant, as shown by the following ffprobe analysis --

   # INPUT #
   ffprobe -v error -select_streams v:0 -show_entries stream=codec_name,profile,level,bit_depth,width,height,r_frame_rate -of default=noprint_wrappers=1 OUTPUT.MKV
   
   # OUTPUT #
   codec_name=hevc
   profile=Main 10
   width=3840
   height=2160
   level=153
   r_frame_rate=24000/1001
   
   # ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #
   
   # INPUT #
   ffprobe -v error -show_streams -show_frames -print_format json OUTPUT.MKV | grep -E "color|HDR|side_data" | head -7
   
   # OUTPUT #
   "side_data_list": [
                       "side_data_type": "AVMatrixEncoding"
                       "side_data_type": "Metadata relevant to a downmix procedure"
               "color_range": "tv",
               "color_space": "bt2020nc",
               "color_primaries": "bt2020",
               "color_transfer": "smpte2084", ...

2. With the resulting OUTPUT.MKV, create the Blu-ray ISO with tsMuxeR:
   • Tracks: HEVC and AC3
   • Output: Blu-ray ISO
   • Insert Chapter: Every 5 minutes
   • Click 'Start muxing' to create ISO -- ensure process completes without errors
3. Using terminal, burn the ISO with --

   hdiutil burn ./OUTPUT.ISO

- RESULTS -
I own an Xbox One S and PlayStation 5, both of which play 4k Blu-rays.

• Xbox One S: Plays successfully!
• Playstation 5: Audio only -- black screen

The Playstation 5 has stricter Blu-ray standards, while the Xbox One S is more lax (or so I've read).

I desire a universally compatible disc so I can distribute it to others without issues.

What am I missing?

[geek gift]

i don't think the playstation 5 "officially" plays any burned discs. but some may have worked around it a bit for 1080p burned blu rays.

and you might have to forget getting burned 4k discs to get anywhere near the universal level of play.

see this thread. and i don't think things have gotten one bit better.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/388243-BluRay-Player-with-BDXL-Support

seems so hit and miss with even with even people with the same players getting different results.

and the list of players that even have a chance to work, being small too.

[choodburner]

Thanks for the thread. I know it is the Wild West when it comes to finding players that are more flexible with amateur produced media.

However, the burning question is -- what exactly is the disc missing (e.g., media/format/metadata) that it will not play on some players? Has anybody ever found the official 4k UHD specification document? Or source code or even debug output for players such as the Playstation 5?

If we knew what we were missing, we could make it work.

[geek gift]

sorry for the delay. if you see page 11 of the thread i linked. this reply from Cornucopia, might explain the problem.

i'll just quote his his entire reply here.

From Wikipedia (Bluray)...

BDXL

100 GB BDXL triple-layer disc by Sharp
The BDXL format allows 100 GB and 128 GB write-once discs,[141][142] and 100 GB rewritable discs for commercial applications. The BDXL specification was finalised in June 2010 but the first 128 GB quad-layer discs were not released until November 2018, and these discs are currently sold only in Japan.[143][144] BD-R 3.0 Format Specification (BDXL) defined a multi-layered disc recordable in BDAV format with the speed of 2× and 4×, capable of 100/128 GB and usage of UDF2.5/2.6.[145] BD-RE 4.0 Format Specification (BDXL) defined a multi-layered disc rewritable in BDAV with the speed of 2× and 4×, capable of 100 GB and usage of UDF2.5 as file system.[146] Although the 66 GB and 100 GB BD-ROM discs used for Ultra HD Blu-ray use the same linear density as BDXL, the two formats are not compatible with each other, therefore it is not possible to use a triple layer BDXL disc to burn an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc playable in an Ultra HD Blu-ray player.

My emphasis in BOLD.

You are trying to make a UHD/4k Bluray using R and RE discs, where the layer breaks won't match, the read speeds won't match, the sector layouts won't match. If you get it working, you just lucked out this time. There is still currently NO official spec for UHD Bluray on burned media, and this is the result of trying to put a square-ish (but maybe slightly rounded to the naked eye) peg in a round hole. Who ever told you it would always work doesn't know the full story.

Scott