** UPDATED March 2008 ** Working with Adobe Encore CS3 and Blu-ray
During our internal CS3 beta cycles of Adobe PremierePro CS3 and Adobe Encore CS3 , I spent most of my efforts on HDV and Blu-ray workflows while prepping for NAB 2007. The idea was to come up with a simple workflow allowing the user to ingest HDV and end up with a playable Blu-ray disc for the Sony Playstation 3, which is currently the least expensive Blu-ray player. In the Adobe booth we demo’d Blu-ray authoring on an Intel QuadCore Mac and playing burned media on a Playstation3. We had 2 Blu-ray discs, one encoded as MPEG2 Single Pass (draft mode) and a H.264 Two Pass (High Quality Mode) ** UPDATE ** Since this article was written last year, I have spent my early 2008 efforts on working with Panasonic P2 footage and Blu-ray and have been very happy with the workflow. P2 footage to Blu-ray works amazing well with Encore. Look for an upcoming article. Once you go tapeless , it's hard to go back to tape. I'll also be working with Sony EX tapeless footage this year as well - Stay tuned.
In the Sony booth Blu-ray area, a Sony Rep was demoing and burning Blu-ray discs from EncoreCS3 via a Sony burner and Dell machine. He was taking the burned BD-RE Sony disc from the Dell Desktop and playing it in the PS3.For time sake, they were also encoding in MPEG2 Single pass “draft mode” and using a standard DVD size project (720x480). This allowed them to demo a complete “click to burn” cycle in just a few minutes. They wanted to show a complete Blu-ray workflow from PremierePro’s Timeline to Encore to Auto Erase to burn, and lastly, playing in the PS3. It was a great demo. The video quality was so so, but keep in mind that the idea was to show the workflow, not wait for a long H264 Encode for the highest quality.
Read on to learn more .......
CREATING THE PROJECT
For my tests I used the Mac OSX version of Adobe PremierePro CS3 and Encore CS3. For hardware, I used a new 8 Core MacPro Desktop and my 17” MacBookPro laptop. Both systems have internal Blu-ray Matsushita Panasonic BD drives. The Mac Laptop has the new Matsushita UJ-215I internal BD drive (www.fastmac.com and only fits the 17”) and 3 GB RAM. The Mac Desktop has the Matsushita SW-5582 drive and 8GB Ram. Both Macs are running 10.4.9. ** A note for PC users, I will be running the same workflow tests shortly on XP and expect similar results. The current tests had more to do with getting a fast machine for H.264 crunching and the 8 core mac was available. I recently upgraded my GravTY XP desktop (The DV Shop.com) to an 8 Core system running CS3 and will be posting the results soon. Having an 8 Core machine ( Intel Mac or PC) makes all the difference when it comes to processing power. Adobe and Intel have done a great job on utilizing the 8 Cores to about 80% (See screen grab). I did the same test on a 4 Core machine and all 4 cores were pegged at 98-99% - meaning that more processors would help.
The above Mac screen grab shows the 8 Core processors crunching a H.264 Two Pass file. Note the processors levels. I did a quick test on an 8 Core PC and got the similar results. If you were wondering whether to spring for an 8 Core, this should help your decision.Both the Mac and PC have utils for monitoring the performance of your memory and processors.
KNOW YOUR SOURCE
For source material, I used both Canon and Sony HDV demo tapes. The Canon tapes had demo footage from their new HV10, XH A1, and XH G1. The Sony tape had demo footage from their Z1U camera. Sony overlaid a Sony Z1U Logo in the upper right hand corner, which means at some point it was recompressed back to HDV and put back on tape therefore making the Canon footage a little cleaner. For BEST results, shoot your own HDV footage so you know where the source originated. After NAB, I used some of my own HDV footage I shot with a Canon XH G1 and the final Blu-ray quality was simply amazing. I am totally sold on the XH G1 and SDI.
THE REAL WORK
The HDV capture process in Premiere CS3 is the same as earlier versions of PremierePro. By picking the correct HDV project preset when I launched PremierePro, the HDV capture settings were ready to go.
One thing to point out, HDV to Blu-ray projects can get very large rather quickly. Most people just keep track of the footage files and their sizes, but when you start encoding for Blu-ray (or DVD) you can take up an additional 12GB per hour ( 3 Gb per hour for Standard DVD) and finally, once Encore starts the burning process, you take additional space to create the Image File (another 12GB per hour) which is burned on the disc. This Image file is automatically deleted once the burn is completed. Obviously, the file size will differ depending on your encoding method and settings. H.264 is roughly 7 GB per hour and MPEG2 is roughly 12GB per hour – but having a general rule of how much working space you need on your drive is key – many drives have errors on various long processes when they reach the last 20% of the drive. This one of many reasons to always create a simple internal 2 drive Striped Raid set for your video data.
For this first test project, I captured 10 minutes of 1440x1080i HDV footage, created a simple title logo and exported using the Adobe Media Encoder (AME). The new version of AME allows you to encode Blu-ray as either MPEG2 or H.264. In all cases I used the standard High Quality presets (make sure to double check that your frame rate is correct 29.97 NTSC or 25 PAL and so on). MPEG2 Single Pass encodes faster than RealTime. I found the Single Pass quality to be very useful when you want to quickly create a “draft” quality Blu-ray. For the best quality, I found using H.264 Two Pass (High Quality Preset – check your frame rate) to be excellent. The encode time was about 41 minutes for the 10 minute timeline (basically a 4 to 1 encode). REMEMBER, that I am using an 8 core Mac with 8GB ram. When I ran the same 10 minute test on my Core 2 Duo 2.33 Ghz 17” laptop, the results were 24 minutes for the MPEG2 Single Pass and 110 Minutes H.264 Two Pass.
Encode Times Table for the 8 Core Intel 3.0Ghz
Compression Type |
10 Minute HDV Encode |
File Size in GB |
|
MPEG2 Single Pass |
8 min (Fast Draft Quality) |
2.1 |
|
MPEG2 Two Pass |
14 min |
2.1 |
|
MPEG2 CBR |
8 Min |
2.1 |
|
H.264 Single Pass |
25 Min |
1.1 |
|
H.264 Two Pass |
41 Min (Best Quality) |
1.2 |
|
H.264 CBR |
18 Min |
1.4 |
|
Source: Sony Z1U 1440x1080i
Hardware: Macintosh MacPro Dual Quad 8 Core 3.0 Ghz. 8 MB Ram. OSX 10.4.9
Next step, Launch Encore CS3 and select Blu-ray for Authoring Mode, 1440x1080 for Dimensions and H.264 or MPEG2 as the codec (depending on which one you exported out of PremierePro).For my quick test, I simply imported the video and audio files (takes a few minutes to read the H264 file, be patient) and selected both clips in the Project Panel, right mouse clicked and selected New >Timeline. Encore automatically named the timeline with the same name of the first selected clip, in my case, Sony H.264. From Project Panel I selected the Sony H.264 Timeline and took the End Action “pick whip” from the Properties Panel and dragged it to the Sony H.264 Timeline in the Project Panel.
This creates a quick looping project. Next, I clicked the gray area in the Properties Panel, which will change the Properties Panel to Disc. I used the “pick whip” again on the Title Button and dragged it to the Sony H264 Timeline in the Properties Panel. This will allow you to select the “Title” button on your Blu-ray remote and restart the Disc from the beginning. Lastly, I selected the Build Panel and pressed the [Check Project] button and then [Start]. This would have listed any errors in the project. There were none.
I use Verbatim BD-RE (re-writable) Blu-ray media as they always result in a great quality disc. Encore can erase them in just a few seconds and they can be used over and over allowing you to start with a quick preview of the video quality without wasting a BD-R disc (write-once). Encore goes through several processes before writing the disc. Some of these are ; Transcoding the Audio (remember, the video was already transcoded from Premiere and AME), Importing Sequences, Building Movies (folders), Building Disc Image, and finally Write the disc.
The write speed currently is 2.5x on the Desktop models and 1.0x on the internal laptop slim drive. If you are writing a 20GB disc, it will take a while. Again, this is a great reason to use reliable media BD-RE media for testing in case something fails.
After the write process was completed Encore ejected the disc. I put the disc in the Playstation3 and in just a few seconds the video was playing. *** Note *** the Playstation 3 requires the 1.6 or higher firmware update to play BD-R and BD-RE discs. If you have a PS3, make sure you have updated the Firmware using the System Update.
I have also played the disc on the Samsung and higher end Blu-ray players with no issues.
A FEW MORE NOTES
If you are new to Blu-ray authoring, you will find the process in Encore to be much the same as creating a standard DVD. The Menu creation is the same with the exception of the size of the menu (HD), I did have one menu, which the quality seemed low, and I realized that the menu I selected was a 720x480 size , after adjusting the size in Photoshop to HD, it looked fine. In later tests, I created larger projects (2 Hrs) and used sub-menus, the same as if I was creating a standard DVD. Encore had no issues.
Be careful when adjusting the bit rates for video and audio, try using the default settings in AME and Encore. I always use AME straight from PremierePro rather than importing the Quicktime or AVI into Encore and having Encore Trascode the video. It’s simply a matter of disc space. Both Premiere and Encore use the same AME engine, only the presets are slightly different.
(OK - The War is OVER. THIS IS OLD NEWS) WHAT ABOUT HD DVD ?
WHAT ABOUT BD-J ?
I also got a ton of questions at NAB on BD-J (Java) which is a method of making an interactive Blu-ray menu and more. This is obviously a possible future direction for Encore and other Blu-ray authoring systems, but requires an entirely new menu-editing mode. The BD-J authoring system I saw at NAB used a ton of Java command lines and, to me, this seems to me to be the wrong approach for the typical user of Adobe video tools. We will have to wait and see what the Encore Engineering team dreams up for BD-J or maybe they have a different approach all together ; )
FINAL THOUGHTS
I wasn't’t quite sure what to expect from creating my first Blu-ray disc. The PremierePro editing and Encore process was as simple as creating standard DVD's with the exception the various settings. The 1440x1080 workflow seems to be perfect for the standard LCD's and Plasma 16:9 screens as the 1440 image fills the entire screen. The HD quality looked beautiful and I now seem to be spoiled and whenever I see a standard DV project burned to a Standard DVD-R it just isn’t the same. The only thing I can compare it to is Cassette Tape to Compact Disc. As we all know, Cassette Tape is pretty painful to listen to after years of Cds.
UPDATE 5/17 David Helmly Adobe Systems,Inc.
I have been getting questions on the various Blu ray burners we have tested with Encore CS3 and we will be posting them on the Adobe site once PremierePro CS3 and Encore CS3 ship this summer.
Some of the models we have tested: Pioneer BDR-101A , Sony BWU-100A , Plextor PX-B900A , Lacie d2 External Blu-ray Drive , Matsushita UJ-210S , Matsushita SW-5582 , Matsushita UJ-215I slim laptop, Phillips SPS7000 , LITE-ON LS2B1S , LG GBW-H10N. Note I plan to check out the new Primera Bravo SE Blu and the Bravo XR-Blu as they also use the Matsushita Panansonic SW-5582.
Entry Update 3/01/08
IMPORTANT MacPro UPDATE: Using the 2 ODD onboard SATA ports.
I have had a lot of questions recently on using the Optical Disk Drive (ODD) SATA ports on the MacPro towers with Encore Blu-ray burning. These 2 ports are located under the Front Fan Housing. People wanting to install an internal Blu-ray drive are finding it more and more difficult to get their hands on the older IDE/ATA Blu-ray drives like the Sony 100A or the Panasonic 5582 or others. These drives can simply connect to the spare IDE cable in the MacPro drive cage. SATA Blu-ray drives like the new LG GGW-H20L , Pioneer BDC 202, and the Sony BWU 200S are becoming cheaper and cheaper, now under 399.00. It would seem like a quick and easy solution to simply connect the SATA Blu-ray drive to one of the ODD SATA ports on the MacPro logic board. If you choose this route you WILL run into a ton of burning issues. I have spent hours testing this and it will not work reliably as of today. I see issues with burning a simple BR data disk in Mac OS 10.5.2, which now appears to support Blu-ray BD-R mounting and writing (Apple makes no mention of supporting BR) . Toast 8 seems to have issues burning BR with the SATA ports as well.
Someone from the Apple Hardware team responded to us with this statement:
"I spoke with our engineering folks and they've said that those ODD SATA ports were never intended for customer expansion. They were there for future possible expansion. In the current Mac Pro 2008, those ports should be turned off completely. It looks like the best alternative right now is the approach you've taken with the converter board. I'll keep poking around to see if there is any more data on this but for now, I think that the best answer is that those ports aren't supported for expansion."
I also spoke to our lead engineer on Encore and asked him to double check with Sonic (they write the Blu-ray and DVD drivers for Encore) and he replied with this:
"The AS_Storage team found a problem in the transport layer in OSX. They’re going to report the bug to Apple, but will look for a work-around in the mean time. I’ll let you know if we find a resolution."
I HAVE FOUND A WORKABLE SOLUTION FOR INSTALLING SATA INTERNAL BLU-RAY DRIVES:
You need to buy a cheap (20-30 US dollars) 40 pin IDE/ATA to SATA converter adapter. This small adapter connects to the back of the SATA drive and gives you 40 pin IDE on the back side and it appears to work OK. I have been testing this found no down side. You may need an IDE extension cable depending on the SATA drive you buy. My Pioneer BDC 202 Blu-ray drive did need a 4" extension cable. The drive still shows 4x speed. If anything changes on using the ODD SATA ports on the MacPro , I will post info. For now, save your self the headache and get an older IDE internal drive or SATA with the Manhattan Adapter or use an External Blu-ray burner (best solution) PLEASE BE SMART - HAVE AN AUTHORIZED MAC SERVICE CENTER INSTALL THESE DRIVES: you don’t want to void your warranty.
If you want to try the Manhattan adapter, here is some info:
Purchase:
http://www.computercablesource.com/sata-adapter-adapt-your-serial-ata-drive-to-a-ide-40-pin-controller-manhattan-170000-internal-use-1383.html
Hope this helps
DKH