FCP 2 BLURay - How?

[David Chandler-Gick]

I got a question today that I have no idea how to answer.

Production shot in HDV, edited HDV in FCP 5.1.4(ish) and needs to get authored onto a BluRay via a LaCie BluRay burner.

How?

TIA

-DJ

[Jim Fields]

Yeah, lets hear how content made in DVD Studio Pro and FCP can makes it's way to a real Blu Ray, or HD DVD.

I am curious, as I would buy a BR Burner if someone has a way to do it.

[Robert Lane]

Currently DVDSP4 does not support Blu-Ray and neither does the OS. To burn tracks or data to Blu-Ray you'll need Toast 8.

CS3 Premiere which ships with Encore can both author and burn Blu-Ray on the Mac, but so far Apple does not natively support it. Hopefully soon.

[Sean Paterson]

Not sure about blu-ray but here is a link for a "how to" for HD-DVD using Std dvd-r disks.

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage...vds_young.html

I have used this method myself and the Dvds play fine in my X-Box 360. Now I need to find a way
to burn blu-ray for my PS3 Lol....

[Tim Dashwood]

My understanding is that both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are capable of playing mpeg2 transport streams.
If you do not have a need to add interactivity and simply want to play your HD m2t on a Blu-Ray player then you should be able to burn it as a BD data disk with just the m2t. Of course, you may also want to try a standard red-laser DVD data disk as well.

[Andrew Clark]

Is there is a way to get your finished FCP project into a Windows based HD authoring program such as Roxio's DVDit Pro HD or Adobe's Encore (latest version)?

Maybe save the FCP project on an external HDD; Bootcamp into Windows; launch either the Roxio or Adobe HD capable authoring programs; then burn to Blu-Ray?

BTW, are there any HD-DVD writers/burners on the market?

AC

[Jim Fields]

I would think authoring in DVDSP and build/format onto the hard drive, then use Roxio to burn the TS folders to a Blu Ray. However I am not spending 600.00 for a burner to test this out, and I wont instal or use Windows to save my life, so does someone with both want to try this out?

Basically build in DVDSP, and use Roxio to burn the actual disc.

[Robert Lane]

True HD-DVD & Blu-Ray authoring are both in a state of limbo on the Mac. All the major burner manufacturers have announced PC compatible HD-DVD burners (Toshiba's is supposed to be around $250) but there are no Mac-supported drivers - yet. The media itself is still not readily available. One of the best vendors we use for our media, Tape Resources, still doesn't carry HD-DVD discs unless you buy them in blocks of 1000.

Although Blu-Ray can be burned in MacOS using Toast or Adobe Encore CS3 there is limited functionality when compared to DVDSP4.

The main issue with cross-platform authoring is that there's nothing to suggest that chapter markers and other sub-meta data created in FCP would be recognized by a PC program such as DVDit Pro, which at the moment is the only Blu-Ray capable program that has more functionality than Encore - without spending $10k on Scenarist.

So again as before, Apple is putting it's technological might behind it's biggest money makers, the consumer "i" products rather than being an industry leader with it's professional programs. PC's have and will for the foreseeable future always get the latest updates for pro apps first and the Mac will play catch-up.

Apple, had they chosen to, could have made DVDSP4 completely BR capable by NAB this past year (along with some other updates we all expected to get in FCP) but instead they did *almost* nothing to the app other than bug fixes. My only hope is that SP5 is just around the corner and will finally address the most lacking features of otherwise a hugely powerful authoring app.

[Robert Lane]

There's yet another snafu in Blu-Ray burners for the Mac: all the *internal* BR burners are using a SATA interface, just like the HDD's. Unfortunately even the new MacPro's don't have the ability to put a SATA-optical drive in the bay since the connectivity is still the *old* parallel cables. There may be a mod that allows SATA connectivity for the optical drives, but I haven't looked yet.

[Chris Luker]

There are 2 exra sata connectors in the Mac Pro... you just need to snake the cable around the back.

[Jim Fields]

A right angle SATA cable and your on your way to a SATA drive in a Mac Pro.

Or you could ad a SATA card and get the drive.

[Robert Lane]

Originally Posted by Chris Luker

There are 2 exra sata connectors in the Mac Pro... you just need to snake the cable around the back.

Those extra SATA connectors are not dedicated to the optical drive pathways, meaning the command keys for "drive open/close" will not be recognized nor will software commands.

The *rumour* is that when 10.5 releases there will be some additional support for BR burners, both in drivers and in allowing the OS to seek out the drives connected to other ports (i.e. those extra SATA connectors) but right now it's not possible to connect an internal BR burner.

[Mike Williams]

I know this is in here somewhere but couldn't find it.

Has someone found a way to install an internal LG super blu or Pioneer 202 inside a octo 2008 mac pro?

I thought I read about an adapter cable or something that makes it possible to take the serial cable to sata?

TIA

[Robert Lane]

You don't need an adapter, you need the right ATAPI-connected burner:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Panasonic/SW5582BK/

[Mike Williams]

I really appreciate your help in this forum!!!