Author HD-DVD using x.264 Ulead VideoStudio 11 Plus???

[blkdumplin]

Has anyone tried the latest VideoStudio 11 Plus to author an HD-DVD to a
Standard DVD-9 disk with the video encoded using x.264 codec???

Below is what the uLead site says...

Enhanced Menus and Authoring

High-definition Authoring
Author HD DVD discs with crisp, professional 16:9 high-definition menus.
Easy-to-use menu templates
Select from over 100 motion menus in a range of styles for any occasion.
Modify and personalize menus
Add your own photos, video and titles.
Switch on the fly
Choose 4:3 and 16:9 authoring modes and standard and high-definition output at any time.
SmartScene Menus
Project titles share a single large preview area that changes as you roll over titles.
Menu transitions
Create menu-in and menu-out transitions just like Hollywood DVDs.
Create 3X DVDs
Author your project in HD DVD, then burn it to a
DVD using a standard burner. Get about 40 minutes of HD DVD content on a standard DVD disc, and play it back on an HD DVD player.

[bgbop15]

would LOVE to know the answer to this one!

[Baldrick]

Doesn't it just support mpeg2 hd-dvd?

[Tedness]

Last I used it it does only support Mpeg 2 for any HD disc made, unless a newer update came out.

[PuzZLeR]

If anyone is interested, VS 12 only does BD, and only does MPEG-2 and two resolution templates. It tends to border the image of SD content.

It also outputs to AVCHD, but the quality is rather poor after a long encode...

And what do you mean "author an HD-DVD to a Standard DVD-9 disk with the video encoded using x.264 codec" ? VS does use H.264 for it's AVCHD profile, but not x264.

As for Smart Rendering the project using the x264 properties intact, I have yet to succeed - it insists on a re-encode. It only does Smart Rendering with .mpg and .avi files - both unnatural with x264 or any H.264 implementation.

[Nelson37]

I got as far as using an H264-encoded file with AC-3 surround to author and play, BUT the sound was significantly out-of-synch.

Ulead 11 with HD plug-in.

It did work, sort of, there was a minor trick with how you imported the file and specified it's type or resolution to avoid the re-encode. I'll have to go back and look at this, I sort of abandoned the project after having issues playing the authored files with software players. Files were fine pre-"authoring", and with the HD format dying it seemed kind of pointless.

I'm saying the re-encode was avoided based on time indications only, the import took 10 minutes or so but not long enough to re-encode a 5 gb file.

Video quality was good, tried a few things with the audio, synch would start OK then gradually worsen, there weren't too many options available. When I couldn't find a software player to play the authored disks, though the original files were fine, I went the route of using Xbox360 format. While there are some limitations, you won't run out of devices to play the disks.

On the software playback issue, it's been a while but I'm pretty sure few softwares even recognized the authored disk as playable in any way. I'm really not certain, but I think only VLC would play the EVO files directly but had some major issues.

Few tools, future-proofing issues, and a frustrating pain in the ass. I gave up.

[bulletbob]

I had the same problem. Converting movies for the 360 was a jumpy mess for me I couldn't take it anymore. I bought 4 hd-dvd drives for around $100 bucks total. Unless the x264 content was encoded with megui using the HD-DVD stand alone spec you need to recode it. How ever I did find an easy way to do it on the avs forums(just giving credit). I am going to use Big Buck Bunny for example, since it is free. Using Megui you make an avs script out of the mkv and recode the video to the HD-dvd standalone/fast, then once that is done you use h264info to do a pull up to 29.997 fps, change the ac3 audio to 448k ac3 with eac3to, mux the resulting files into a .ts with tsmuxer, then load up in movie factory 6 or video studio 11, check the box "Do not convert compliant Mpeg Files" and output to a hd-dvd folder and burn with nero udf 2.5. works for me, if i find that am not allowed to post a link directly to the tut on avs just google "author hd-dvd mpeg4 avs" you will find it. credit goes to throttleabuse on their forum for creating an awsome thread.

The video has to be 1920x1080p 29.97 fps level 4.1 264 hd-dvd compliant format, audio has to be 448k ac3, I don't know why you cant use higher quality audio, but for now this is all that is availible.

[Baldrick]

You are allowed to post links to guides...so post the link!

[bulletbob]

You are allowed to post links to guides...so post the link!

Thanks for letting me know. I was not sure. The only thing I hate is my cam records at 720p avc and i have to up convert to 1080p to make it work with the software. It is still neat for losers like me that paid 200 bucks for the 360 hd-dvd drive back in the day. Hope the link works, this guide really did help me out.


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1076535

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1076535

[Nelson37]

Have you found any software players that will play such a disk from a standard DVD drive, on a PC?

I am still concerned with having "orhpaned" HD disks when my A-30 finally dies from loneliness.

[greymalkin]

I've got the A30 as well. got it for $75 on craigslist and it almost died on the first day I bought it cause it got too hot..I hacked into it and mounted a slim CPU fan at the top of the case to hopefully keep it running as long as I can .

I originally had a used xbox 360 drive I bought for about $35 and getting HD DVD's to play on my computer was an absolute pain..I had the hardware to do it but the software support is just pitiful. I just want to put a movie in and watch it...not spend 30 minutes tweaking settings! So that's what drove me to buy the A30

[Undead Sega]

I was about to create a new thread about if it possible to author HD DVDs in a certain way, but i reackon it would be okay here.

i was wondering if there was software where it is possible to create HD DVDs from a h.264 stream (made by x264) and a audio stream? very much like a DVD authoring process.

is this possible or such way to do this method?

[Nelson37]

This method should work with those files, as long as the particular encoding spec is folowed.

It's an interesting concept I'm still playing with, having limited sucess.

Software playback still a problem, and it's the authoring step which creates the incompatibility.

[jman98]

Undead Sega - You can try, but note that both Ulead's product and the older version of Scenarist that could author HD DVD are both incredibly picky about what they will accept for input. If you are lucky, whichever one you are using to author will accept your video as is. If you are unlucky, Ulead will re-encode it for you with terrible results or you'll have to re-encode it yourself and try again. It's ugly, but I had some success using HCEnc to re-encode H.264 streams to MPEG-2 for home brew HD DVD. I know the purists will flip out, but my PC is older and not really set up for H.264 encoding. At least I could do MPEG-2 encoding in a reasonable time and at a high enough bit rate it's good enough for me.

Note that both programs are incredibly picky about audio too and trying to use DTS or HD audio streams will never work if your ultimate destination is DVD-5 or DVD-9. Stick with AC3 and keep the bit rate below 448 and you'll be fine.

Neither Ulead nor Scenarist are free. I used both. Ulead is significantly pickier about what it will work with. Scenarist is incredibly complicated to use and not user friendly at all. Should you find a way to acquire a copy of the old version that could make HD DVDs, you'll need to have prior experience authoring DVDs with Scenarist or you'll get nowhere quickly. You'll almost certainly never figure out on your own how to use Scenarist.
Ulead is user friendly. Note that Ulead will re-encode if your input video isn't exactly 1920x1080 (some TV sources are 1920x1088 and they have to be patched or Ulead will re-encode them) or 1440x1080 or 1280x720.
If your input video is 720p, it MUST be either 50 fps or 59.94 fps or Scenarist will refuse to use it.

Good luck, but ultimately this is a big waste of time. I bought the Western Digital WDTV player in November and I now that I have a high def playback source in it I have no need to fool with making HD DVDs now.