Mac Workflow: Create a Blu-Ray disc with Roxio Toast 10 Titanium Pro

Tutorial: Page (1) of 1 - 07/22/09

Mac Workflow: Create a Blu-Ray disc with Roxio Toast 10 Titanium Pro Using the OWC Mercury Pro BD burner By Heath McKnight

It's very easy to create a basic Blu-ray Disc (BD) on a Mac with Roxio Toast 10 Titanium Pro and OWC's Mercury Pro BD/DVD/CD Burner. Last time, I explained how to do this with Adobe Encore CS4 and Apple Final Cut Pro 6 (FCP) with great results (read the article here). This time we'll use Toast 10 Titanium Pro.

Toast 10 Titanium Pro
Once you've installed and launched Toast 10 Titanium Pro (which I'll call Toast 10 from here on out), select the Movie icon on the upper left-hand side, then select BDMV Folder. In your Media Browser window, select the folder and find where your HD movie (QuickTime) sits. As you add any assets to the window, you can switch to other folders, like Music, Photos, etc.

There aren't a lot of menu template options here, like you'd find in DVD Studio Pro 4.x or Adobe Encore CS4, but they're present if you'd like to use them. You can also create a BD that starts upon insertion into a player (no menu), or you can add some special features if you'd like. It's very simple to do so, and that's what I did. Under options, check mark "Auto-play disc on insert."

Encode Within Toast 10 Titanium Pro
Drag your HD movie over to Toast 10 and you can either let the encoder work automatically, or set it to a custom encode. For automatic, choose good for movies without a lot of movement or motion; better for your average movie with average amounts of movement or motion; and best for movies with a lot of movement or motion.

Custom Settings

Click Custom and a menu drops down and you can set up how it will encode. You can choose MPEG-2 (mostly for DVD) or MPEG-4 AVC (for Blu-ray); adjust your average and max bit rate (I like 8.0 for average and 9.0 to 10.0 for maximum); motion estimation should be set by how much movement or motion is in your movie; and audio you can select Dolby Digital or PCM. I like Dolby Digital myself.

Burn
Insert your BD-RE (re-writable Blu-ray Disc) into the Mercury Pro BD burner, and get ready to burn. I recommend a re-writable to make sure everything comes out okay. If it doesn't playback well, you can always erase the disc and start over. Hit burn in Toast 10 and once it's done, check it out on a BD player.

Other World Computing Mercury Pro BD/DVD/CD-R/-RW/-RE
This is the second time I worked with the OWC Mercury Pro BD/DVD/CD Burner, and I really enjoy OWC's products. This particular drive supports FireWire 400 and 800, USB 2.0, and eSATA connections, hence the "Quad-Interface" name. There's also a built-in fan to keep it from overheating.

Newer models can burn BDs up to 8x, and some are even bundled with Toast 10 Titanium Pro. Prices start at an affordable $299 and I really recommend OWC's burners!

Conclusion
Using Toast 10 Titanium Pro and the OWC Mercury Pro burner to create Blu-ray Discs is a great solution for Mac users. Visit www.roxio.com and www.macsales.com for more information.

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Heath McKnight is a filmmaker and author who recently co-produced the feature film DECEMBER, along with directing, producing and co-writing the feature film 9:04 AM. He was also a contributor to VASST's best-selling book, "The FullHD." You can find out more about Heath at his website at www.mpsdigital.com. and can be contacted at hmcknight@gmail.com