Question Still Image Setting for Video/still image Blu-ray disc rendering.

Hi There,

I just completed a new Vegas Pro 20.0 video/slideshow project.  I uploaded HD video from my Sony HD camcorder and high-resolution digital photos from my Nikon camera into this project.  I also added some additional stock video clips in between my Sony video clips.

There are a few still images at the beginning of the project, then a series of ten (10) Sony video clips and five (5) stock video clips, then a slideshow with around 600 Nikon digital photo still images.

I authored and rendered/burnt a Blu-ray disc just fine, with no problems at all.  I then rendered a separate stand-alone MP4 video file, again with no problems at all.

I played the Blu-ray disc on my Sony 4K UHD upscale Blu-ray players and all of the video clips looked fantastic, as well as all of the still photo images.
But when I played the same exact disc on my other Sony 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player, the video clips looked OK but all of the still images looks a bit odd.  Many of the inside shots appeared too bright. 
And many of the outside shots taken against a blue sky had a horizontal strip of the regular blue sky at the top of the photo, but the lower half of the sky was a faint green color. 

When I viewed the stand-alone MP4 video file on my TV using my Roku, the video clips and all of the photo images looked fine.  When I played the same MP4 file on my iPad, my PC, and my iPhone, the video clips and all of the photo images still looked fine.

Attached is a screenshot of my project properties. 

Below are the details of my Sony video clips, the stock video clips, and my Nikon photos image files: 

The Sony video clips were all shot with my Sony HD camcorder when selecting a sample MP4 File (.mp4) file the Details tab on my computer shows:
Video:
Frame width:  3840
Frame height:  2160
Data rate:  54662kbps
Total bitrate:  56180kbps
Frame rate:  29.97 frames/second

After uploading the Sony video clips into my project, the Video Event Media tab shows Stream properties:
Format:  XAVC-S
Attributes: 3840x2160x24, 00:12:19;07
Frame Rate:  greyed out at 29.970 (NTSC)
Field order: None (progressive scan)
Pixel aspect ratio:  1.0000 (Square)
Alpha channel:  None

When selecting a sample stock video clip MP4 File (.mp4) file the Details tab on my computer shows:
Video:
Frame width:  896
Frame height:  504
Data rate:  952kbps
Total bitrate:  1016kbps
Frame rate:  29.99 frames/second

After uploading the stock video clips into my project, the Video Event Media tab shows Stream properties:
Format:  AVC
Attributes: 896x504x32, 01:06:21;26
Frame Rate:  greyed out at 29.970 (NTSC)
Field order: None (progressive scan)
Pixel aspect ratio:  1.0000 (Square)
Alpha channel:  None

The still images were shot with my Nikon camera, when selecting a sample JPG photo file the Details tab on my computer shows:
Dimensions: 4928x3264
Width: 4928 pixels
Height:  3264 pixels
Horizontal resolution:  300 dpi 
Vertical resolution:  300 dpi
Bit depth:  24
Resolution unit:  2
Color representation:  sRGB

After uploading the images into my project, the Media tab shows Stream properties:
Format:  JPEG
Attributes: 2568x3824x24, 00:00:00;00
Frame Rate:  greyed out at 0.00
Field order: None (progressive scan)
Pixel aspect ratio:  1.0000 (Square)
Alpha channel:  None

Would anyone have any idea why one of my Sony Blu-ray players would display the photo still images just fine but my other Sony Blu-ray players would have a problem displaying these same still images?

Do I somehow have the wrong project settings for the photo still images that might cause this issue?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  I am under the gun to get the Blu-ray discs distributed to my family.  And I have one more almost identical video project that I need to work on after this first project is finished.

Thanks in advance for any help! 

Seeing everything plays okay except for on your second Sony player I would suspect that it's either faulty or there's something amiss in its settings.

Hi ericlnz,

Thank you for the reply very much. I think you are correct, it appears to be this one particular Sony Blu-ray player. I tried the same Blu-ray disc on a third Sony (3D) Blu-ray player I forgot I had in our guestroom and the video played without any issues and the still image qualities were perfect.

Submitting my original post with all of the media and project settings listed together has had a side benefit, in that it appears the way in which I uploaded all of the video clips and still images into the project seems to work very well.

Unless someone finds something I should still do to improve the authoring and rendering of a project like this.

Thanks again for your time and I hope you have a great day!

Hi PapaBlue
There are two things I would check.

1. Is the Firmware up to date on the Blu-ray player that is not playing disc correctly?
I also own two Sony 4K Blu-ray players. When I bought my UBP-X800 4K Sony player (my primary player), it took me a while to dial in the settings correctly, so that the image looked OK on my Samsung 4K TV. If you set some settings incorrectly, it actually makes the image look terrible.

Go into the player settings and press Software Update in top right corner - please note you will have to connect your player to the Internet to do this. Go into Network Settings to connect to Internet. If there is a Firmware update available, install it.

2. Next go into Screen Settings
Here are the settings I use, that could possibly alter colour output. I found that Auto settings worked best for a lot of settings.
Output Video Resolution = Auto
4K Upscale = Off (If your 4K TV already does upscaling itself, make sure upscaling in Sony player is OFF)
YCbCr/RGB (HDMI) = Auto
HDMI Deep Colour Output = Auto
Cinema Conversion Mode = Auto

If none of the above works, there is nothing more you can do.
A lot of online forums complain about Sony Firmware - they are often slow to fix problems and sometimes just ignore problems and never release firmware updates.
EXAMPLE: There is a BUG in my player that Sony never fixed, which makes me believe it may have been a hardware problem in the main control chip.
On my player, sometimes when you try to play a different 4K disc, it refuses to play. However, I discovered how to fix it myself.
Before you eject a disc you just finished playing, make sure to press the STOP button TWICE. This clears the temporary memory in player that remembers the discs you have played.
When you then play a new disc, it plays OK without getting stuck.

Regards
Derek

 

Hi Derek,

Thanks so very much for the detailed follow-up information regarding Sony 4K Blu-ray players:

1. Firmware / Software Updates The one in my living room is a UBP-X700 4K ULTRA HD Blu-ray Player, and I will definitely check for any updates.

2. Screen Settings.  I will also check these settings and adjust them as you recommend.

Sorry to hear about the BUG in your player.  But it's amazing to me how you could discover how to fix it yourself, that's quite commendable I think.

Thanks again for the great help, it is a great follow-up to the initial help that ericlnz posted for me (thank you again ericlnz).

Please have a great day!

P.S. I made a small donation for your time, it is much appreciated.