How to choose Blu-ray 1080p24 with Encode CS6?

[Caltan0]

According to this Encode CS6 FAQ  about supported export formats, Encore should be capable of producing a Blu-rays with 1920×1080 24p 16:9 settings.

According to the Blu-ray article on Wikipedia, 1920×1080 24p in a 16:9 aspect ratio is a mandatory format. So every consumer Blu-ray player should be able to play it.

However, that format is not selectable with my Encore CS6 installation (version 6.0.2.004 - no further updates where found):

When I try to create a custom preset, progressive mode is not selectable ("None") with "Field Order".

How do I export/author a Blu-ray with the following settings?

• Resolution: 1920×1080
• Frames per second: 24 (progressive)
• Aspect ratio: 16:9
• Codec: H.264

[Stan Jones]

Did you mean to create a PAL project? I ask because it looks like NTSC in the background of your screenshots.

You can put 24/23.976 on a PAL BD, I think. But it appears to me that Encore will not transcode it that way in a PAL project.

Yes, 6.0.2 was the final update (for PC; 6.0.1 for Mac).

[Caltan0]

You can ignore (hopefully) the source summary. My intention was to setup the export settings in a empty project. So I can use the export quality preset in actual Encore projects.

But yes, I have chosen PAL when creating the project. All my target regions would be European. So I always use PAL.

The actual source material is 1920x1080p25 16:9 H.264 90 Mbit/s.

[Stan Jones]

Thanks. If you are working with PR 2018.0.0 or later, see next paragraph. As a test, export a short bit from PR or AME using the H.264 Blu-ray format with the setting you want on the disk. I just looked, and you can do 1920x1080 23.976 or 24 and fields is locked to progressive. Import that to Encore "as timeline" and see if it says "do not transcode."

The complication is that sometime after 2018.0.0 (and including the new 2019 release), H.264 Blu-ray exports from PR/AME result in a file that Encore accepts, but that results in the build failing - whether burn or build to image or folder - with an error "Code "3", Note: "File can not open."

If this affects you, workarounds include:

Install PR and/or AME 2017 and use them to create the H.264 Blu-ray format export,

Use MPEG2 Blu-ray from PR 2018,

Export a regular H.264 (not H.264 Blu-ray) using higher bitrate to maintain maximum quality - and then let Encore re-transcode it, or

Use a lossless intermediate from PR and let Encore transcode.

Code "3", Note: "File can not open.

[Averdahl]

The actual source material is 1920x1080p25 16:9 H.264 90 Mbit/s.

If you source material is 1080p25, why do you want to export it as 1080p24? By just exporting it as 1080p24 you will lose quality and i guess that´s not the desired result. Exporting 1080p25 directly to 1080p24 will result in one less frame/second and can be seen when there is fast motion in the video or when the camera pans.

For best result, export 1080p25 to 1080i 25.

If you still want/need 1080p24 you will get best result in Adobe apps if you render out the timeline to a good quality intermediate codec and then import it into Premiere Pro and use Interpret Footage and set the Assumed Framerate to 24 and then export it to 1080p24. The audio will change it´s pitch, so the audio needs some love in Adobe Audition.

All Blu-Rays i do are 1080i 25 when the source footage is 1080p25. (Yes, i have done the nerd tests with 25p v.s 24p...)

[Caltan0]

Hi Averdahl,

1080p25 is, according to the Wikipedia Blu-ray article about what the standard describes, only a mandatory format for UltraHD Blu-Ray. A cite on that goes even further:

Only supported on UltraHD Blu-Ray with HEVC video compression standard

So I would extremely reduce my potential audiences, and receive bad reviews due to customers buy the Blu-ray and cannot play it back with their non-UltraHD or UltraHD without HEVC support Blu-ray player. This is why I will not author Blu-rays in that format.

And more important: As you can see from the screenshots, there are none p25 options available, only i25.

And for all: Do I lose anything when I go with i25 when the source material is p25?

[Caltan0]

I just figured out, that when I choose NTSC with Encore project creation, the selectable options with H.264 Blu-ray "explodes"...

There I have my 1920x1080p24

Why "on earth" is that not selectable with PAL when 1920x1080p24 is the definite Blu-ray standard (every Blu-ray film I own is in that format, and I own a lot).

[Averdahl · Accepted solution]

And for all: Do I lose anything when I go with i25 when the source material is p25?

No, but you do loose quality when exporting 25p straight to 24p. My experience is that 25p comes out as 25PSF (Progressive Segmented Frame) and will display as a full frame/second.

Unfortunately Adobe software is not so good in frame rate conversions. There are a reason to why there are dedicated hardware converters for such jobs.

You are doing a Blu-ray and not an UltraHD Blu-ray so no need to worry about "Only supported on UltraHD Blu-Ray with HEVC video compression standard". Encore is not capable of doing a UltraHD Blu-ray. When Blu-ray came along this rigid PAL/NTSC-thing dissapeared. A Blu-ray player can playback both PAL and NTSC as can the televisions that are connected to those players. That´s one of the biggest advantages Blu-ray have besides HD, that you can mix PAL and NTSC on the same disc without issues.

At the end, use whatever frame rate you are satisfied with but bear in mind that it will be visible, depending on content, that one frame per second is missing.