Importing MTS to Encore CS3

[kshavo]

I am tying to import MTS to Encore CS3. Encore will not properly import the format. So I am trying to encode the video into an acceptable format. I am using VideoRedo TVSuite 4 an Xmedia Recode, but I cannot get a file that is HD and acceptable to Encore. What specs, bitrate...., does Encore require to import a file and then not re encode it? Thanks for any help in advance!

[poisondeathray]

I thought CS4 was the first version for BD compatibility, but this suggests otherwise . Do you have that update ?

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3675


If the MTS is not compatible already, you need to use BD compatible encoding settings for "pass through" in any authoring software . For x264 they are summarized here
https://sites.google.com/site/x264bluray/home

[kshavo]

I can't get the update to work. I downloaded it but it won't install for some reason.

[poisondeathray]

Do you have administrator priviledges ?

What is the error message if any ?

What is the current installed encore version ? (I think you can check with help=> about or something like that)

[kshavo]

I'm going to try Sony Vegas! Sick of troubleshooting!

[poisondeathray]

I'm going to try Sony Vegas! Sick of troubleshooting!

hahaha ... see you when you come back for help with vegas and dvda ... joking

To be fair, CS3 is about 7-8 years old . Vegas/ DVDA has it's own share of quircks and bugs, but it's worth a try , or update your Encore . Both have pros/cons to the actual authoring functionality

If you use mediainfoxp (view=>text) on the mts it will provide more information on whether or not they are natively compatible for BD

[racer-x]

Try Demuxing to elemental streams and import them. You can use TsMuxer for that

[kshavo]

Thanks for the help. I need to take a break from this. I will report what I accomplish in the near future.

[SameSelf]

I thought CS4 was the first version for BD compatibility, but this suggests otherwise . Do you have that update ?

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3675


If the MTS is not compatible already, you need to use BD compatible encoding settings for "pass through" in any authoring software . For x264 they are summarized here
https://sites.google.com/site/x264bluray/home

Encore CS3 does support BD. But I believe it only accepts elementary streams in either .m4v or .264 format. And make sure it is blu-ray compliant. Alternatively, if you can bring the video into Premiere Pro CS3 then just export from there to Encore. That will ensure compatibility. Alas, I am uncertain if it supports above 1440x1080.

[kshavo]

I can't get the Encore update to install. It gives me an error. I found a workaround but it won't work either. Adobe stalls and won't encode my files. I wish I could just import it into Encore with no further encoding!

[kshavo]

Oh and this post looks interesting
https://sites.google.com/site/x264bluray/home
But I don't know what it is - what do I do with this?

[kshavo]

Also what does "pass through" mean?

[SameSelf]

If you are trying to author a BD in Encore, there is no getting around it, you will have to encode the video in a blu-ray compliant codec. In some cases you can bring non-compliant H.264 video into Encore and it will trigger the Transcode flag, but that is not the recommended workflow. It is much better to encode outside of Encore. I also think Encore will accept mpeg2 for BD but I haven't tried that. So if H.264 refuses to work, try mpeg2. That is the DVD compliant codec. My guess is it will just trigger the Transcode flag in Encore and that will solve your problems. However it will take a long time to build the BD because now Encore has to encode before it can build.

As for the Encore update not working are you talking about CS3 or CS4 or what? "Adobe stalls" is very non-specific. Are you talking about Encore? Premiere Pro? which Adobe program and version?

That x264 link is for the x264 codec which is a free alternative to the Adobe Media Encoder (AME) which some people prefer. However to use it requires either frameserving from Premiere Pro or you can use a program like Handbrake.

Encore is a little flaky (er buggy, and I am not just talking about CS3, that includes the updates all the way to CS6 which is the last and final release as Adobe has ceased support for Encore) and will freeze and stall and do other nasty things if the video isn't encoded just right. It would be easier to help if you posted the Mediainfo of you video.

As for "pass through" I assume you are referring the the fact the examples use 2-pass encoding. Without getting into too much detail, it is equivalent to encoding you video twice to ensure that the encode is both efficient and meets the targeted specs. Adobe Media Encoder defaults to 2-pass. So in most cases unless you really know what you are doing, you should stick to 2-pass for compliant encodes.

[poisondeathray]

I used "pass through" in the sense that it means non re-encoding in an authoring progam ie. it indicates compatibility of the asset

eg. If your MTS was compliant it would pass through without wasting time or reducing quality because of re-encoding . Or if you re-encoded it to BD compatible specs it would pass through as well

[kshavo]

If you are trying to author a BD in Encore, there is no getting around it, you will have to encode the video in a blu-ray compliant codec. In some cases you can bring non-compliant H.264 video into Encore and it will trigger the Transcode flag, but that is not the recommended workflow. It is much better to encode outside of Encore. I also think Encore will accept mpeg2 for BD but I haven't tried that. So if H.264 refuses to work, try mpeg2. That is the DVD compliant codec. My guess is it will just trigger the Transcode flag in Encore and that will solve your problems. However it will take a long time to build the BD because now Encore has to encode before it can build.

As for the Encore update not working are you talking about CS3 or CS4 or what?


I am trying to update CS3. I get error messages which appear to be normal as per the web.

"Adobe stalls" is very non-specific. Are you talking about Encore? Premiere Pro? which Adobe program and version?

Both Encore and Premier stall when I try to encode with either

That x264 link is for the x264 codec which is a free alternative to the Adobe Media Encoder (AME) which some people prefer. However to use it requires either frameserving from Premiere Pro or you can use a program like Handbrake.

I have tried Handbrake buy Encore still wants to encode the files I encode with Handbrake and it can't because it stalls upon conversion

Encore is a little flaky (er buggy, and I am not just talking about CS3, that includes the updates all the way to CS6 which is the last and final release as Adobe has ceased support for Encore) and will freeze and stall and do other nasty things if the video isn't encoded just right. It would be easier to help if you posted the Mediainfo of you video.

As for "pass through" I assume you are referring the the fact the examples use 2-pass encoding. Without getting into too much detail, it is equivalent to encoding you video twice to ensure that the encode is both efficient and meets the targeted specs. Adobe Media Encoder defaults to 2-pass. So in most cases unless you really know what you are doing, you should stick to 2-pass for compliant encodes.

vv

[racer-x]

Download and unpack this zip file containing elemental streams and see if it will correctly import into Encore CS3 and pass-through. If it does, I'll let you know what settings to use in x264.

[SameSelf]

I have tried Handbrake buy Encore still wants to encode the files I encode with Handbrake and it can't because it stalls upon conversion

Hmm, that is strange. Are you sure you told Handbrake to make a blu-ray compliant video? Also, what are the specs of the video that Handbrake makes? Unless you download Mediainfo and post back the specs here, it is impossible for us to help really.

[kshavo]

I was able to import the file you sent me racer-x. It still needed to be converted upon importing it into encore. I just did a build of a dvd folder and it worked well. Send the settings when you can.

[SameSelf]

Racer-x's video needs to be converted because it is a 1920x1080p24 file which does not fit on a DVD. DVD is standard definition (SD) only, that is, 720x480 in either 4:3 or 16:9 format. However, the video should have showed up as Don't Transcode under the Blu-Ray Transcode Status field. Are you trying to author a DVD or Blu-ray? If you are trying to author a DVD, that might be your problem because your MTS needs to be encoded as mpeg2, not H.264. For that you may want to try using HCenc.

[kshavo]

I am eploring new land - BD encoding - authoring - and burning. So yes I am shooting for a Blu-Ray disk. How do ensure that Encore is making a BR disk?

[kshavo]

A strange turn of events. I downloaded DVD Architect and it imported mt MTS and my TS files easily. I also burned them with excellent results! Maybe it's time for a change.

[SameSelf]

Great to hear. It is probably time to let go of Encore CS3. It is nearly 10 years old. And Encore, sadly, was always buggy, even CS6. And, to add salt to the wound, Adobe doesn't even support Encore anymore. You won't find an authoring program in CC. It's one of my pet peeves.

[kshavo]

I have been looking into DVD Architect and the menu and button creation doesn't compare to Encore's ability. This is important to me. This stinks!!

[kshavo]

I took the video that DVD architect outputed and tried to import it into Encore and same results.

[smrpix]

FWIW, no problems using Racer-x's files in CS6. Pass through worked fine. The issue probably lies in using the old CS3 version.

[kshavo]

I had some success with TSdemuxer. I demuxed a file of mine and imported it fine, but I don't like Encores encoding ability.

[racer-x]

FWIW, no problems using Racer-x's files in CS6. Pass through worked fine. The issue probably lies in using the old CS3 version.

It should have passed through CS3 with no problems. It was encoded using my DVDA custom preset. DVDA is a lot more restrictive than Encore and likes GOP's to be 1/2 second lengths. I believe the problem is that the OP doesn't know what he is doing based on what he's wrote. He has a lot of learning to do.

Anyway here are my DVDA compatible x264 encoding presets if anyone is interested:

DVDA - Blu-Ray film (23.976fps):
--crf 19 --bluray-compat --min-keyint 1 --b-pyramid none --tune film --weightp 0 --bframes 3 --nal-hrd vbr --vbv-maxrate 40000 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --level 4.1 --keyint 12 --slices 4 --aud --colorprim "bt709" --transfer "bt709" --colormatrix "bt709" --sar 1:1 --fps 24000/1001

DVDA - Blu-Ray film (24fps):
--crf 19 --bluray-compat --min-keyint 1 --b-pyramid none --tune film --weightp 0 --bframes 3 --nal-hrd vbr --vbv-maxrate 40000 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --level 4.1 --keyint 12 --slices 4 --aud --colorprim "bt709" --transfer "bt709" --colormatrix "bt709" --sar 1:1 --fps 24000/1000

DVDA - Blu-Ray film (720/60p):
--crf 19 --bluray-compat --min-keyint 1 --b-pyramid none --tune film --weightp 0 --bframes 3 --nal-hrd vbr --vbv-maxrate 40000 --vbv-bufsize 30000 --level 4.1 --keyint 30 --slices 4 --aud --colorprim "bt709" --transfer "bt709" --colormatrix "bt709" --sar 1:1 --fps 60000/1001

[kshavo]

I definitely do not know what I am doing as for as Blu-Ray! I have alot of learning to do. I'll just keep trying and asking questions. Thanks for everyone's help!

[sneaker]

FWIW, no problems using Racer-x's files in CS6. Pass through worked fine. The issue probably lies in using the old CS3 version.

It should have passed through CS3 with no problems. It was encoded using my DVDA custom preset.

No, it wasn't. The custom presets you posted in post #27 include "--open-gop" while the sample you posted in #16 does not use open gop.
And open gop is a known problem with Adobe:

Adobe Encore CS5 has poor performance when --open-gop is enabled

https://sites.google.com/site/x264bluray/issues-with-certain-players


About HandBrake: don't use it for Blu-Ray encoding. Stick to something that uses x264cli ("x264.exe") like MeGUI to output H.264 ES.

[racer-x]

Good eye, sneaker! The example I posted was encoded in Virtualdub via external encoder feature. Looking at the settings I used, it does not have open gop enabled. You can omit it in the templates. I'll go back to that post and edit them...

I very rarely Author BD or DVD anymore these days.