Optimal workflow settings for Blu-ray
 

I have been editing my FX1 footage using Cineform and Premiere CS3.

I have been using Encore CS3 with Blu-ray (maximum quality H.264 settings )and am very happy with the image quality. Is a data rate of 30mb/sec with H.264 overkill?

What are the recommended settings for Blu-ray output from a Cineform intermediate to not have any visual quality loss?

"30mb/sec with H.264 overkill?" Seems like it to me, can all hardware the decoders handle datarates that high? 20Mb/s H.264 should be plenty, equivalent to about 35Mb/s MPEG2.

The Encore h.264 presets for 1440x1080i 29.97 are

Maximum Quality Target rate 35mb/sec Max 35mb/sec
High Quality Target rate 25mb/sec Max 30mb/sec
Long Form Target rate 9mb/sec Max 11mb/sec

all VBR 2 pass

My PS3 has had no problem playing projects with the Maximum quality setting,
but it sounds like I will not have a noticable difference with the high quality setting.

35mb/sec isn't a million miles away from the CineForm intermediate filesize! It certainly is overkill for the vast majority of material.

Are those settings tweakable? Personally I would be aiming for a target rate of around 15mbps (20 at the absolute max) with a peak of 35mbps. It seems rather odd to have a two pass variable bitrate when the peak isn't a million miles away from the average.

Blu-ray's bandwidth maxes out at around 50mbps, I believe with HD DVD coming in at around 30mbps. Don't forget though that you'll need to factor in audio as an additional overhead.

The settings are all adjustable.