[Cin] Audio Visual Application plain Format (BD-R/RE AV) for home video on Blu-ray discs

[Terje J. Hanssen]

Back in 2016/2017 I rendered a 1080i hdv.m2t clip to BDAV, burned it on 
a standard BD-RE disc and then could playback it as a 16:9 Blu-ray video 
in a Samsung Ultra Blu-ray player. 
https://lists.cinelerra-cv.org/pipermail/cinelerra/2017q1/005830.html

What I wonder is if also the following features are possible in Cin-GG 
(bdwrite and/or tsMuxer, ffmpeg tools):

According to sources below:

1) The BD-R/RE AV specification accept video captured by an HDV 
camcorder. HDV streams are already MPEG-2 format so they do not have to 
be re-encoded to create the partial transport stream and can be directly 
transferred for recording.

2) In addition to digital broadcasts, BD-R/RE AV incorporates a 
Self-Encoded Stream Format (SESF) for recording SD analog broadcasts and 
other material. With SESF, the source video signal is encoded in MPEG-2 
(MP at ML) format and multiplexed with its audio (MPEG-1 Layer 2, LPCM, 
Dolby Digital AC-3), teletex information (PAL option only) and Tip data 
(video aspect ratio, copy control, coding, etc.) to again create a 
partial transport stream (see tables).

Recording of analog SDTV broadcast and direct DV input in BDAV, is 
described in the BD-RE_Part3_V2.1_WhitePaper July 2010, page 1, 2, 10-15
http://www.blu-raydisc.com/Assets/Downloadablefile/BD-RE_Part3_V2.1_WhitePaper-18192.pdf


About BDAV from various background sources:
======================================
BDAV refers to either the transport stream format used for all Blu-ray 
content, or the plain format intended for home video with no interactivity.
BDAV could mean Blu-ray Disc Audio-Visual MPEG-2 Transport Stream or .m2ts

The BDAV Container format is based on the standard MPEG-2 TS (transport 
stream) Both Blu-ray and HD DVD use transport streams, compared to DVD's 
program streams, to store video, audio, and other streams. This allows 
multiple video programs to be stored in the same file so they can be 
played back simultaneously, giving a Picture In Picture effect.

The BDAV container with filename extension .MTS or .m2ts is also used in 
AVCHD format, which is a high definition digital video camera recorder 
format. AVCHD is a simpler form of the Blu-ray Disc standard with just 
one video encoding algorithm and two audio encodings. The BDAV container 
format used on AVCHD equipment is more restricted and can contain only 
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video compression and Dolby Digital (AC-3) audio 
compression or uncompressed LPCM audio.

The BDAV container format used on Blu-ray Discs can contain one of the 
three mandatory supported video compression formats H.262/MPEG-2 Part 
2,  H.264/MPEG-4 AVC or SMPTE VC-1[15] and audio compression formats 
such as Dolby Digital, DTS or uncompressed Linear PCM. Optionally 
supported audio formats are Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD High Resolution 
Audio, DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD.


The BDAV container is also used in the BDAV (Blu-ray Disc Audio/Visual) 
disc format, the consumer-oriented alternative to the BDMV discs. BDAV 
disc format is used on BD-RE and BD-R discs for audio/video recording

The BDAV disc format is the consumer oriented alternative to the BDMV 
discs made by professional Authoring houses for movie releases.
BDAV - a plain' format that is intended for home video with no 
interactivity. A BDAV disc is basically video on a disc. Content on a 
BDAV disc is playable on a Blu-ray Disc player from beginning to end.  .

BDAV was designed in part to provide compatibility between AVCHD digital 
camcorders and Blu-ray players. It's comparable to the DVD formats used 
for standalone DVD recorders, DVD+VR and DVD-VR because it's designed 
primarily for authoring simple Video/Audio content with no menus.


What is the BD-R/RE AV format?
==========================
http://www.hughsnews.ca/faqs/authoritative-blu-ray-disc-bd-faq/4-physical-logical-and-application-specifications#4.5

BD-R/RE Audio Visual (BD-R/RE AV) is an application format designed to 
record and play back full quality high (HD) and standard (SD) definition 
digital television broadcasts on BD-R (recordable) and BD-RE 
(rewritable). It can also be used to capture SD material from analog 
sources and direct transfers from HDV camcorders. Typically, up to 2 
hours of HD material can be stored on a 25 GB single-layer (SL) disc or 
12 hours of VHS-quality SD material (double that on dual-layer discs). A 
basic framework for navigating the recorded material as well as 
destructive and non-destructive editing is also provided. Occasionally, 
BD-R/RE AV is incorrectly identified as BD-AV or BDAV.

In addition to digital broadcasts, BD-R/RE AV incorporates a 
Self-Encoded Stream Format (SESF) for recording SD analog broadcasts and 
other material. With SESF, the source video signal is encoded in MPEG-2 
(MP at ML) format and multiplexed with its audio (MPEG-1 Layer 2, LPCM, 
Dolby Digital AC-3), teletex information (PAL option only) and Tip data 
(video aspect ratio, copy control, coding, etc.) to again create a 
partial transport stream (see tables).

BD-R/RE AV also accepts material captured by an HDV camcorder. HDV 
streams are already MPEG-2 format so they do not have to be re-encoded 
to create the partial transport stream and can be directly transferred 
for recording by using a standard IEEE 1394 (FireWire/i.LINK) interface.

BD-R/RE AV employs a two layer (Clip and PlayList) organizational 
structure to manage captured audio and video. The Clip Layer is 
concealed from the user and contains the partial transport streams 
(stored as clip AV stream files) as well as an equal number of clip 
information files, each consisting of descriptive details (type, 
sequence, program and timing) directly corresponding to each stream. The 
combination of each AV stream and associated information file is called 
a clip.

The Playlist Layer allows the user to view, edit and stitch together 
clips through a system of playlists (stored as playlist files). A 
playlist can be either real or virtual and contains one or more 
playitems, each consisting of a set of start and end pointers to define 
a range of playback time within a clip.

When each clip is initially recorded a matching real playlist 
(containing a playitem delimiting the clip’s entire playback time) is 
automatically generated. Real playlists can also be divided or combined 
by the user and deleting an entire real playlist or segment will erase 
the associated clip or clip portion from the disc.

In contrast, a virtual playlist is always created by the user and 
contains playitems that point to segments of real playlists. Thus, 
changes made to a virtual playlist do not affect the original clips so 
multiple real playlists can be segmented and grouped in any order to 
form continuous playback sequences. Seamless connection is possible by 
creating and referencing an optional bridge clip inserted at the edit 
point between two clips. Virtual playlists also enable audio dubbing to 
add sound to a clip after it has been recorded. Here, a playitem points 
to the real playlist of one clip (main path) and a subplayitem to the 
real playlist of a second clip (sub path). Video from the main path can 
then be played simultaneously with audio from the sub path.

Other BD-R/RE AV features include thumbnails (display images 
representing the disc and playlists), marks (bookmarks for jumping to 
specific clip locations, resuming from a location after stopping 
playback, etc.), naming (assigning titles to discs and playlists), write 
protection (to prevent modifying or deleting playlists), password 
protection (PIN required to initiate playback) and others.

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Terje J. H