Blu-ray Authoring for mac

Well it's 2016 and everyone wants a blu-ray for their final product. I am aware that Toast by Roxio offers blu-ray authoring, but I hear you can't change the background with your own image or use texts as selection buttons in the menu. Does anyone know of any blu-ray authoring software that will allow you to do this? I guess I got spoiled with my old AVID DVD by Sonic. I can make a motion menu or use my own still picture in the menu as a backdrop and add then add texts as assigned buttons, but it seems no other software can do this. I ask because Avid by Sonic is outdated and now has no support. Any help on finding software that will do this will be appreciated. Thanks!

Travis Wine wrote: Well it's 2016 and everyone wants a blu-ray …

hmmm? No Mac has a disk-drive, not to mention a BR-burner; nobody in my connections owns a standalone BRplayer ... ok, Playstations .. but who watches movies in the kiddies room? :lol:

Travis Wine wrote: ....I am aware that Toast by Roxio offers blu-ray authoring, but I hear you can't change the background with your own image or use texts as selection buttons in the menu. ..

hmm, listen to Roxio...
help.roxio.com/toast/v14/main/en/user-guide/toast-14.pdf

pg35 ... dnd background pics to customize menus, customize buttons etc ....

Karsten why did you even bother responding?

Travis, YES you can author Blu-rays on a Mac, but the process is not as easy as it should be. You will need Adobe Encore and having Toast helps as well. I'll get to why Toast helps in a bit. First off, Encore is an excellent authoring app. It doesn't create so-called "true" Blu-rays that are pieced together with Java all over the place, but instead creates a Blu-ray that is authored and works like a DVD and that goes for the menus as well. The discs will play on every Blu-ray player.

Here's the thing... Adobe doesn't make Encore any more, which sucks. The companies out there like Apple and Adobe really REALLY do not want us to make physical media any more, despite there being tons of demand still. Hell I made thousands just last year selling a single Blu-ray I authored on the Mac with Encore. But what do we know? Apple and Adobe know best. HOWEVER you can still get Encore if you don't already have it. Here's the crappy part: You'll need Adobe CC (the big one with all the apps included). After you have that, you'll need to download CS6 which they let you do for backwards compatibility reasons. Download CS6 and install only Encore. Delete the rest. Make sure it's the latest version of the app (mine is 6.0.0.492).

Next important thing you'll need is Compressor from Apple. Amazingly they actually let you encode Blu-ray AVCs instead of completely banning you from anything to do with authoring for them. Compressor makes GREAT encodings. Encore can encode for you but trust me Compressor is much much better. Don't let Encore transcode your files!

OK, your Blu-ray is authored and ready to burn (great news, you don't have to worry about layer breaks!) Don't burn it with Encore. Encore sucks at burning and it will make Blu-rays that are not playable on many devices. Burn with Toast as slowly as your drive will let you. These discs will play on the majority of players and are also a suitable master for replication or duplication.

Good luck!

Great answer Redifer. I deliver content every day in a wide range of formats from AS-11 to discs. I'm still burning DVD's and Blu-Rays for clients on a very regular basis! ( I'm still even laying off to tape!!)

You can also make quick blu-rays with a simple menu straight from compressor for client review or for sending to festivals, etc. This is also in the FCPX share menu but I've had more success doing it from compressor. You're stuck with Apple's menu setup (can change background and add a logo) but I use these all the time. Doesn't work if you need to author specific menus, though.