I am in the middle of working on a DVD for a client and there was a conversation about creating a Blu Ray disc as well.
So I did a little research and discovered that DVD Studio Pro does not author Blu Ray, only HD DVD. Well after a couple of clicks I found Adobe Encore and was simply amazed how easy it was to get building.
If you’re not familiar with it, Encore is Adobe’s DVD/Blu Ray authoring software and in my opinion is so easy to use you feel stupid for thinking that making a DVD was difficult at all.
I have some experience with creating DVD’s with custom menus in DVD Studio Pro and found the process to be not well documented.
The thing that I really love about the Adobe suites are how integrated the different programs are. In the case of Encore all the built in menu are built in Photoshop and there is even a button on the tool bar to edit the menu I Photoshop. That makes it so easy to edit a menu and learn the process on the go with the only prerequisites being knowledge of Photoshop and knowing the the naming conventions for creating buttons and replacement layers etc.
This next part is theoretical as I haven’t gone though this yet but it looks like I can create a Blu Ray disc and by simply changing a setting can use the same project to create a DVD. I would assume that the media would have to be transcoded to the correct size but Encore will take care of that for you. (please note that I haven’t taken into account the massive storage differences between the media so the content may have to change to accommodate)
The only hiccup in the process at this point is that I can’t burn Blu Ray discs on my Mac at home. I have been looking into the cost of a burner and they don’t seem that costly. If anyone has any experience with any particular models please let me know.
I’m working on a few personal projects to get more familiar with Encore and the overall process so I’ll let you know how it goes.