Firecoder Blu advice please

7 replies [Last post]
JAC
Offline
Joined: Aug 28 2001

Have any others used the Firecoder Blu card by Canopus/Grass Valley, and would you recommend it?

I shoot HDV, I edit with Edius 5 and produce discs in Encore CS4.

I am now moving to Blu Ray and need to speed up H.264 encoding. I produce long form videos of events, typically 2 - 3 hour duration.

* How compatible are the files produced by Firecoder Blu? (in Encore, on Blu Ray players)
* Can I adjust the bitrate to best fit a program to disc?
* Does it export from the Edius timeline?

Many thanks
JAC

col lamb
Offline
Joined: Jan 2 2010

I would suggest that rather than spend money on a Firecoder you spend your cash on updating your PC.

I use Edius 6 and Premiere CS5.5 and Blu-ray encoding on my PC is very fast with either programme but I prefer Premiere for encoding.

Encoding is even faster on the overclocked Sandy Bridge CPU's with quicksync enabled

GV do seem to be very slow in issuing updates for their cards and on the GV forum there have been many posts asking about said updates for various cards they manufacturer.

If you have a trawl through their forum you will quickly see what I mean.

You will also see PC specifications that work well with E6

If you post on the GV forum do mind what you say as their moderators get upset very easily and delete posts if their is even the slightest hint that there are problems with their systems/software

Col Lamb Lancashire UK ASUS P6X58D-E MOBO, 3.3GHz hex core i7 CPU, 12GB RAM, nVidia GTX580 GPU, W7 64bit, 500Gb boot, 1Tb RAID (Mirror) Store, 500Gb RAID (stripped), Edius 6.05, CS 5.5

Tony7
Offline
Joined: Mar 21 2001

I dont have firecoder blu but have to agree with col lamb.
If anything, update your PC for quicksync.

Am about to build a PC myself with quicksync enabled.

Tony.
Asrock Z68 Extreme7 --i7-2700K --Edius Pro7--HDStorm+ --16GB Kingston HyperX--GTX 560Ti--AX850 PSU--MxM PCI-e Reader--Win8.1 Pro 64bit

harlequin
harlequin's picture
Offline
Joined: Aug 16 2000
JAC wrote:
Have any others used the Firecoder Blu card by Canopus/Grass Valley, and would you recommend it?

I shoot HDV, I edit with Edius 5 and produce discs in Encore CS4.

I am now moving to Blu Ray and need to speed up H.264 encoding. I produce long form videos of events, typically 2 - 3 hour duration.

* How compatible are the files produced by Firecoder Blu? (in Encore, on Blu Ray players)
* Can I adjust the bitrate to best fit a program to disc?
* Does it export from the Edius timeline?

Many thanks
JAC

Start @ http://forum.grassvalley.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24201

See if that answers the question for you.

Gary MacKenzie

sepulce@hotmail.com ( an account only used for forum messages )

Thinkserver TS140 , 750ti Graphics card  & LG 27" uws led backlight , Edius 8

Humax Foxsat HD Pvr / Humax Fox T2 dvbt

Tony7
Offline
Joined: Mar 21 2001

I tend to use this method when making a Bluray

http://www.videoproductions.com.au/html/blu-ray-export.html

Tony.
Asrock Z68 Extreme7 --i7-2700K --Edius Pro7--HDStorm+ --16GB Kingston HyperX--GTX 560Ti--AX850 PSU--MxM PCI-e Reader--Win8.1 Pro 64bit

col lamb
Offline
Joined: Jan 2 2010

Guys

TAKE NOTE

The link that Tony has given to Anton's website is a gem

I have been following his posts on the GV forum for the last 2 years and would rather take his advice than any offered by GV staff

He has quite a few other tips on using Edius and so a more thorough look is warranted for Edius users

Col Lamb Lancashire UK ASUS P6X58D-E MOBO, 3.3GHz hex core i7 CPU, 12GB RAM, nVidia GTX580 GPU, W7 64bit, 500Gb boot, 1Tb RAID (Mirror) Store, 500Gb RAID (stripped), Edius 6.05, CS 5.5

Tony7
Offline
Joined: Mar 21 2001

Anton def A is the man :) Always very helpful. ..Always.

Tony.
Asrock Z68 Extreme7 --i7-2700K --Edius Pro7--HDStorm+ --16GB Kingston HyperX--GTX 560Ti--AX850 PSU--MxM PCI-e Reader--Win8.1 Pro 64bit

JAC
Offline
Joined: Aug 28 2001

These H.264 encoding performance comparison charts on the DVC website have given me further food for thought, on which route to go for fast Blu Ray encoding. The conclusion on this page seems to be Edius 6 using QuickSync is fastest.

http://www.dvc.uk.com/acatalog/Edius_quicksync.html