Burning Blu-Ray format to DVD-R

[reddragon105]

I've authored many DVDs and several Blu-Rays successfully in the past but I'm currently having issues with a short film that I need to put onto Blu-Ray. As it's only 10 minutes long, it doesn't really justify using up a 25gb disc for it (the authored files are around 1.8gb if I use H.264 and 1.9gb if I use MPEG), so I would like to burn it to DVD instead, and have that DVD work as a Blu-Ray in PCs and standalone players. From what I understand, this should be technically possible - and I'm pretty sure I've read that people have had success with this in the past.

 

However, I'm having a few problems. Firstly, my plan was to create an ISO and test that on my PC using a virtual drive before burning anything to disc. I'm authoring the Blu-Ray in Adobe Encore - there are no menus, just the short film which is set to play automatically. If I use Encore to create an ISO, then mount it in Daemon Tools, Cyberlink PowerDVD (my default player) just gives me the message 'This type of disc is not supported'. I tried burning the ISO to disc anyway and the burned DVD-R does play in PowerDVD, however it does not play in my Playstation 3 - it just appears as a 'Data Disc'. I can use the PS3 to manually browse to BDMV/Stream and play 00000.m2ts to watch the film, but I really need the disc to play properly.

 

I did read elsewhere on this forum that I can use ImgBurn to create an MDS file for the ISO and mount from that - and that does work in Cyberlink PowerDVD, so I have been able to successfully test it that way. However, burning from the MDS gave me another disc that won't play in the PS3. I've also tried just exporting folders from Encore and using ImgBurn to create the ISO from that, but that gives the same result.

 

Any ideas on what I'm missing or doing wrong? Should this be possible and, if so, what would the PS3 require to play Blu-Ray from a DVD-R? I don't have easy access to any other Blu-Ray player so the PS3 is my baseline - I assume if I can get it to play on that, it would work on most players.

[dbminter]

Unfortunately, I have tested this.  You cannot just put the contents of a Blu-Ray that fits on a DVD onto a BD.  The PS3 does a media type check and attempts to play the contents based on the media inserted.  It does not check the contents of the disc and attempt to play them based on the contents.

 

 

For instance, if the PS3 did a check for the contents on a disc, you could put a VIDEO_TS from a DVD onto a BD-RE and have it play as a DVD on the PS3.  I have tested this and this does not work on the PS3. 

 

 

You will notice when you insert a disc, the PS3 displays the media type that is inserted if you have turned off auto play or if auto play is on when you exit playing back to the PS3 main screen.  So, the PS3 plays media based on what type of media is inserted, not the format of contents that may be on it.

[reddragon105]

Unfortunately, I have tested this.  You cannot just put the contents of a Blu-Ray that fits on a DVD onto a BD.  The PS3 does a media type check and attempts to play the contents based on the media inserted.  It does not check the contents of the disc and attempt to play them based on the contents.

 

 

For instance, if the PS3 did a check for the contents on a disc, you could put a VIDEO_TS from a DVD onto a BD-RE and have it play as a DVD on the PS3.  I have tested this and this does not work on the PS3. 

 

 

You will notice when you insert a disc, the PS3 displays the media type that is inserted if you have turned off auto play or if auto play is on when you exit playing back to the PS3 main screen.  So, the PS3 plays media based on what type of media is inserted, not the format of contents that may be on it.

 

Thanks for the information. That does make sense, although I wish it wasn't the case. So the PS3 simply won't play a Blu-Ray as a Blu-Ray Video if it's on a DVD-R because it's essentially the wrong kind of disc? And likewise for DVD Video files on a BD-R? Is that the case with all Blu-Ray players, or just some or many? Basically, this is for a submission to a film festival and I don't know exactly what they'll be playing the disc on so I want to maximise compatibility. It seems a shame to use a 25gb use for 2gb of video but the expense is immaterial if it will help to avoid any issues.

[dbminter]

Yeah, I wish that wasn't the case, too.  Unless I want to use a DVD+R DL, I have to shrink my DVD-9's to rewritable DVD-5's in order to play them so I don't put as much wear and tear on my original discs.  If it would work, I could just ISO a DVD-9 DVD-Video and burn that to a BD-RE to play it on my PS3.  However, I have tested this, too, with a DVD-5 DVD-Video ISO and it doesn't play on the PS3 either.   Another reason to hate Sony.  Cheap quality products and stupid decision making are their norm.

 

 

Yes, it's essentially the wrong kind of disc as far as I know.  My tests have revealed this is most likely the case and the PS3 does display the media type that is inserted, which backs up my theory and my test results.  And I have tested, as I said, trying to burn a DVD-5 DVD-Video ISO to BD-RE and get it to play on the PS3; it doesn't.

 

 

As far as a I know, Sony basically created the finalized standard for Blu-Ray players.  So, I'd guess if the PS3, a Sony product, behaves this way, all Blu-Ray players would behave the same way.  However, I don't know this for sure.

 

 

There is software that will convert Blu-Ray to DVD-Video.  VSOSoft makes a piece of software that does this.  Slysoft's CloneBD should eventually add support for that function but I don't think it does yet.  If Slysoft's did, I think you can get a 30 day free trial of CloneBD.  VSO's will work during its trial, but they will watermark the output so it's essentially a non-starter unless you want to pay for it.  But, why would you want to for a one time task?

 

 

I think there is a software, but I don't know what it is, that will convert Blu-Ray folder contents to container files like AVI.  Then, you can convert the AVI to DVD with a variety of free software.  You could try searching for that and try that to convert to DVD.