EX1 -> Blu-Ray Discs

[Ian Smith]

I'm hoping this is the right place to ask this. Unfortunately it's a question that involves aspects of the PMW-EX1, Sony Vegas Pro and Windows Vista.

Can anybody recommend a good external Blu-Ray writer for use with a Windows Vista PC. Longer term I intend to go Mac and Final Cut Pro but that's way too expensive at the moment and I'm looking for a drive that will work with Vegas Pro 8 and Vista to produce disks that can be played back on a Sony PS3.

There seem to be a couple out there from LG and LaCie but nearly always displaying "Out of stock" in the stores and not sure which is "better".

One concern I have, after watching the VASST training video (volume 8) is how little information about Blu-Ray there is. The VASST training shows the new Blu-Ray options added under the AVC option but this talks only of 1440x1080 PAL and there's no template for 1920x1080 PAL. Surely I can't be the only one wanting to make Blu-Ray discs from his EX1 footage (even if its without any menu or titles) rather than plain old DVDs?

Any thoughts/advice welcome. Thanks!

[Paul Burgess]

All I can say is that I use a Lacie Blue Ray drive with Toast 8 to burn the discs and have no problems.

[Mike Ward]

I am using the (LG GGW-H20L) BD burner with bundled Cyberlink software because i only have sony vegas movie studio.Something people might already know but when i am capturing from tape to vegas the average rate is 4Mbps,whereas when capturing to BD using Cyberlink it captures at the full 25 mbps to disc,& the result is the best image & sound you can get from a tape for archiving.But there is no way to edit in this manner

[Barry J. Anwender]

Originally Posted by Ian Smith

Can anybody recommend a good external Blu-Ray writer for use with a Windows Vista PC. Longer term I intend to go Mac and Final Cut Pro but that's way too expensive at the moment and I'm looking for a drive that will work with Vegas Pro 8 and Vista to produce disks that can be played back on a Sony PS3.

I use the Sony BDRW BWU-200S which can work with 4x single and dual layer Blu-ray discs. Although a bit expensive at this time, it got a top review and rating at CD-Freaks. I have it installed in my MacPro Octo using it with Adobe Encore CS3 and Toast 9. I haven't burnt any coasters yet (25 & 50 Gb) and it also works fine with re-writable 25 & 50 Gb discs. All disc formats play as expected in my Sony BDP-300S Blu-ray player and Pioneer PDP-5010FD.

[Malcolm Hamilton]

Hi there,
Are there any Blu-Ray recorders out yet that connect via e-SATA? Would such a thing speed up the process of burning Blu-Ray discs (or is it some other part of the process, or the computer's CPU perhaps, that accounts for the time it takes to burn a disc)?
Malcolm

[Barry J. Anwender]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Hamilton

Hi there,
Are there any Blu-Ray recorders out yet that connect via e-SATA? Would such a thing speed up the process of burning Blu-Ray discs (or is it some other part of the process, or the computer's CPU perhaps, that accounts for the time it takes to burn a disc)?
Malcolm

The Sony BWU-200S is a SATA port drive, although an internal drive. It would need a case and power supply but those are plentiful.

There is currently not advantage of SATA over IDE that I am aware of when burning Blu-ray discs. The primary factor is the drive and media. This drive with Blu-ray disc reads and write up to 4x. The media is either 2x or 4x for either write-once discs or re-writable discs and for either 25Gb or 50Gb discs. Burning at 2x speeds is a lengthy process and its amazing how much faster burning at 4x is.

[Shaun R Walker]

Originally Posted by Barry J. Anwender

The Sony BWU-200S is a SATA port drive, although an internal drive. It would need a case and power supply but those are plentiful.

How easy or difficult is it to get a case and power supply and what do you call them so when I walk into my local computer supplier to ask for them I'm not going to look like an idiot!?

[Barry J. Anwender]

Originally Posted by Shaun R Walker

How easy or difficult is it to get a case and power supply and what do you call them so when I walk into my local computer supplier to ask for them I'm not going to look like an idiot!?

Shaun cruise on over to granitedigital.com There will find all kinds of options as well as an IDE to SATA bridge board should you decide to mount the Sony SATA drive into an empty drive bay of your computer. For Windows users this drive comes with a fairly comprehensive software package for Blu-ray support. I have done some limited testing on my MacPro with Boot Camp and Vista. In that environment the drive with software bundle do work with my Nvidia 8800GT video card. Windows XP and especially VISTA require a very beefy video card--thank Microsoft for that. Sony's Blu-ray site provides support details as well as latest driver upgrades for XP and VISTA, so I suppose that can be a reassurance.

I can confirm that Sony drive works in a Mac with Leopard, Adobe Encore 8.02 as well as Toast 9.02. Remember that Mac G5 PPC computers cannot run Encore because it requires an Intel CPU. However, Toast 9 does work fine in PPC and Intel machines. So lots of possibilities here.

I't also prudent to mention that Pioneer has a 2nd generation BDR-202 Blu-ray 4X burner. I didn't choose Pioneer because it does not burn dual layer 50Gb Blu-ray discs. Hope this helps.