...delivered some delivery format. When Toshiba recently threw in the towel with HD DVD and Blu-ray won the next-generation optical disc format war, I knew it was time to start getting some archived projects delivered.

When I had the opportunity to write this article I wanted to approach it from the standpoint of an editor looking to get into Blu-ray authoring without spending huge amounts on new applications. When you are ready to start authoring Blu-ray Discs you have probably just invested a large amount in cameras, edit systems, and other peripherals needed for an HD workflow. And if you've already developed your skills set in an NLE other than Adobe Premiere Pro (which ships with the Bluraycapable Encore authoring tool), you shouldn't have to change editing platforms or invest in a new postproduction suite in order to deliver your product on Blu-ray Disc (BD). Naturally, you'll need a BD burner, but if you're not already using a BD-capable pro authoring tool such as Encore or Sonic DVDit Pro HD, there are a number of consumer ($129 or less) authoring tools that claim BD authoring capability, although only a few of them support even basic menu creation, which should be a given.

So, with this as a goal--delivering wedding videos on Blu-ray Discs, with menus, for minimal additional investment beyond my HDV camera, my current NLE of choice, and my HD-capable editing system--here's the workflow I developed, and how I got there.

GETTING STARTED

I recently took delivery of a nice new Sony BWU-200S 4X BD recorder (Figure 1) and started the journey to Blu-ray authoring. What a crazy ride. You have lots of new terminology to worry about--BDMV, BDAV, BD-R, BD-RE--and new issues to address, such as creating BD-compliant files, bit rates, authoring challenges (including applications) just to name a few. I did some asking around in online forums and with others I knew had already started authoring Blu-ray Discs and tried to compile an easy and cost effective workflow to Blu-ray authoring. First let's clarify some of those terms.

* BDAV--Blu-ray Discs that have chapter marks but no menus, and start playing automatically when loaded in a player

* BDMV--Blu-ray Discs with full menu functionality

* BD-R--Write-once Blu-ray Discs (analogous to DVD [+ or -] R)

* BD-RE--Rewritable Blu-ray Discs (analogous to DVD [+ or -] RW)

* Blu-ray compliant files--Files encoded for Blu-ray authoring that will not require additional transcoding when working with more advanced authoring applications. It is very important to get Blu-ray-compliant files if you aren't going to have your authoring application encode the files. If they aren't compliant, many authoring applications will transcode them to a compliant format and your final product will be encoded twice and suffer the generation loss attendant to multiple transcodes.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

(For more detail on Blu-ray Disc specifications, see The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) FAQ on EMedialive.com.)

Creating compliant files is where I spent the most time researching and learning. From creating SD DVDs you are probably familiar with bitrates of between 6Mbps and 7.5Mbps for good-looking DVD video that will play successfully on DVD players. In HD, you get to work with bitrates of 20Mbps and higher. According to...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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