Blu-ray Authoring for BD-R & BD-ROM
A bolt out of the Blu!
Following on from our successful CD & DVD authoring services, Alpha Duplication is now offering a full range of Blu-ray authoring services. Using Hollywood standard software such as Sonic Scenarist, Cinevision Encoder, Adobe Photoshop & Adobe After Effects CS4, we are able to provide you with a HD master that is duplication or replication ready.
These new services are completely in-house, making it possible for you to couple your authoring needs with disc printing, packaging and fulfilment options, saving you time AND money!
So What's the Difference?
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As you can tell from the comparison above, picture quality is the most obvious difference. Blu-ray video is up to six-times the resolution of DVD video. Any digital signal has a measurable bit rate, which is basically the speed that data is being transmitted. The clarity of Blu-ray comes from its high bit rates. DVDs can provide up to 8 Megabits per second (Mbps) which includes the video, audio and subtitles. Your SkyHD box delivers at 19Mbps. Blu-ray discs have a maximum data through-put of 54Mbps! Saying that, most assets aren't encoded at such a high rate because the newer algorithms used to encode High Definition video and audio are much more efficient. On average, we encode video anywhere from 17 to 38Mbps, leaving plenty of room for multi-channel, lossless audio tracks and animated menu items, also exclusively available on Blu-ray.
These higher bit rates, better picture and audio quality are due entirely to the storage size of a Blu-ray disc. There are two varieties, a 25GB single-layer disc and a dual-layer, 50GB. The laser used to read/write Blu-ray discs is much finer and can focus much more precisely than the laser in CD and DVD players. (See below) This makes high data output and large storage capacities possible. A Blu-ray laser occupies the same frequency space of blue light, hence its name!
High Quality In, High Quality Out
At Alpha Duplication, we have only used the highest quality CDs & DVDs, and this continues into the BD-R discs we use for duplication. TDK discs, which in testing have shown to be the most reliable on the market, are used exclusively for BD duplication at Alpha Duplication.
Figure 1 shows TDK disc (blue line) compared against the more commercial Ritek disc when tested on a variety of drives. The TDK disc has between two and three times fewer errors than the Ritek disc. Unlike many brands, TDK discs have an alloy, rather than organic dyed recording layer, which helps to preserve the data burnt to the disc. (fig. 2) The organic dyed layer is photosensitive and, in lab testing, has been known to break down when exposed to UV and sunlight.
(fig. 2)
Our Services :: Authoring
After receiving an authoring brief, we collect all assets needed for disc creation. Menus are created in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe AfterEffects. Video assets are either loaded from external hard drive or captured via HDMI. Once the footage is brought in, all video assets are encoded using CineVision. This is a Hollywood-level product capable of producing results that will impress! After encoding, menus, video, audio and subtitles (if applicable) are combined using Sonic Scenarist. At this time, menu animations and pop-up menu functionality is added, if required.
Our Services :: Duplication
Our state of the art duplication department now offers a complete duplication service for 25GB BD-R media. Utilising the latest Pioneer recorders and Grade A media from manufacturers such as FTI, your copies will have the highest compatibility rating in the industry. Duplication is ideal for short run production when you need just a few or a few thousand copies.
With BD-Rs and duplication, you avoid the AACS minefield associated with full scale replication, which means you can get your product to market quickly and with minimal expense.
Our Services :: Printing & Packaging
Even before the end user plays your disc, they will see the artwork printed on the disc and the packaging it came in. It's got to look good. After your job is booked in, a member of our in-house artwork and reprographics team is assigned to you, and will work with you personally during the entire process. Your artworker will make sure that all artwork is "up to spec" and will send you PDF proofs of all your art before anything goes to print. Having everyone under one roof makes turn-arounds very quick!
Our Services :: Thinking Outside the Box
Blu-ray isn't just for the latest blockbuster to come out. As time goes on, we're seeing more and more interesting and creative projects for this new format.
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One example of a simple, but effective Blu-ray disc we did was for a company that needed a showreel for an exhibition. All they wanted was some HD footage over a couple of looping animations. They had implemented that same idea on DVD and said that the High Definition version brought more people in initially to see the sharpness of the video, but stayed and eventually bought from this company!
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On the other side of the coin, the Blu-ray spec allows for some pretty fun & complex user interactions. Because there is the ability to have full-colour, interactive menus on top of full HD video, it's a great platform for corporate training videos. You can have 'Quiz Questions' after each chapter, or a business presentation that features a speaker and then overlayed with financial charts and graphs.
A good analogy is to think of what you have seen on a Flash website. Navigation, simple animations background images and video... Give us a call to discuss any other ideas you may have!
