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matt3sa

Deliver HD video without blue ray?

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I finally bit the bullet and purchased the appropriate hardware to render HD video efficiently. I'm now learning that any time HD video (h.264) is burned to a DVD + or - R that it's encoded and compressed to sd quality. I'm aware that blue ray is the most likely solution, but in consideration of delivering the product to the customer, how many people actually have blue ray players now a days? Is there any way to make this work without switching to blue ray? I want to have a finalized HD video (or at least a video with barely noticable quality loss). I've been using Vegas and DVDA. Any help would be appreciated.

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roxio creator allows you to burn hd to dvd's (it basically just a different folder structure and file format) that will then be properly recognised as blue-ray on blue-ray players.

you are restricted in film length, but for tandem videos this should not really be a problem.

I'm sure that roxio is not the only dvd authoring sw that offers this.

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beowulf,

I'm really just looking to avoid losing quality. I'm not necessarily looking to target blue ray player owners. I want to burn direct to a regular dvd - r. I'm assuming your method involves rendering the H.264 to AVCHD and then burning to a blue ray disk?

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No, you can burn the files in a AVCHD format to a DVD and the content will only play on a BluRay player. The files will not play on a normal DVD player. This will let you put a tandem video on a DVD in HD format. The main draw back is you need a computer or a BluRay player to use it.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

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No, you will not have to write to a Blu Ray disk. By writing to the AVCHD format you can write the video to a dvd-r and it will play on a Blu Ray disk player in full 1920 x 1080 or 1440 x 1080 depending on the video.
You won't be able to play that video on a non Blu Ray disk player.

There is no way to get full HD quality on a DVD-r that will play on a DVD player. The video will have to be written to mpeg 2 for DVD players.

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That's exactly what I was getting at. I fear that a large majority of our customers aren't going to have a blue ray capable home dvd player. Is it safe to assume that making blue ray disks is the only way to deliver near hd quality?



Blu-ray players are the ONLY way to deliver HD on disc, whether on a standard DVD or a BD disc.
You can burn HD to a standard disc (very easy in DVD Architect) but they cannot be played on anything but a Blu-ray compliant player, ie; PS3 or Blu-Ray set top player.

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Is it safe to assume that making blue ray disks is the only way to deliver near hd quality?



No, there are other options, but it will involve communication with the customer and giving them the proper information.

Though many people still don't have Blu-ray, they still have flat panel HDTV's that'll play back various HD formats from removable media. The simple challenge is finding out what type of removable media and the proper video format the TV accepts.

I usually just get the modal # of the TV from the customer and do a simple google search for the tech specs.

Most tv's will accept a simple USB thumb drive and playback formta like WMV and MOV in HD format.

Other tv's will accept memory cards that'll play back ACVHD and other formats.

Overall, I've found USB to be the most convenient and affordable option since there may be some issues with memory cards depending on the type of card and it's price, so you'll wanna do some research on that.

The other option is computer playback. It's just as easy to hook up a computer to the TV as it is a bluray player, especially if you have the cables conveniently in place for quick hook up.

I understand people may have some issues with doing things this way, but you do what you gotta do and make it happen.

I've found many customers are happy to hear that they don't need to get a bluray player...though I always recommend it.
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I create 2 discs.
- DVD (5) with BR structure and
- Regular DVD with .mp4 file and still photos.
DVD plays nice on PlayStation, BR drive and on comp, and customer can always copy .mp4 on USB stick or simlilar and play it directly on TV with USB jack.
dudeist skydiver #42

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there are a couple of DZ's out there looking at USB-only delivery. Cheaper, one mechanical device, customer gets a small bonus, speedy, and can be used as a playback device too.



We were thinking of USB drives for HD delivery, especially because you can print DZ info on it. But in the end we never got to it... [:/]
dudeist skydiver #42

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there are a couple of DZ's out there looking at USB-only delivery. Cheaper, one mechanical device, customer gets a small bonus, speedy, and can be used as a playback device too.



How would you deal with customers who manage to delete the files?

Back in the days of VCRs this was a fairly common problem, someone taping "Days of our Lives" over the tandemvideo :S

ciel bleu,
Saskia

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we archive everything. And charge to access the archive.
This year, I'd suppose we've had 10-15 call back about a lost DVD, dog ate it, can't find it, can you make me a new one?



Yeah, I archive my raw files too and can usually dig them up again, would have to re-do the video edit most likely though so could never reproduce 100% the same video.
However most of our staff deletes the files after, whenever the memory card is full or something, so with these videoflyers doing a remake is not an option.

We tell the customers to make backup copies of both discs before playing them at home. We do get a few calls for remakes due to "scratched or broken-in-half dvds", but since we started asking them for the original dvd back before making a new one (and sending it to them for free), demands for new dvds have dropped significantly :S;) Occasionally we have a dvd that won't play at home when it played at our DZ, those are a slightly bigger issue since we only have one type printed dvd, but these calls are getting rarer luckily.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

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At our DZ we give the customer a USB stick with our DZ logo branded on it. It may even work as a small promotional item if the customer wishes to continue using the stick for other purposes.

Personally I could see my self using only two ways of delivering data:
-USB stick
-uploading to the net

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DSE,

Thanks that's exactly what I was looking for (straight answer). To all the others, the USB stick idea is brilliant. That would be extremely fast and the customer would have a better quality video. Archiving with a recovery fee sound brilliant as well. For those of you who are distributing with memory sticks, are you still editing?

Mtt

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For those of you who are distributing with memory sticks, are you still editing?



Im not sure I understand your question? Are you asking wether we edit the footge before we give it to the customer, or do we just give raw footage ?

In that case, yes we edit our videos. Not the photos.

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