High Definition camcorders have become reliable and affordable. Many videographers are now motivated to take the necessary steps and upgrade their equipment to High Definition capability.

Casablanca has been able to edit HD for a while now. Using Bogart SE, you can even edit and view high definition footage in real time.

However, it has been an issue creating a finished film in full resolution for use with other systems, for example to watch the result in its full glory in your living room. Merely PC systems and the Playstation 3 have been able to playback Casablanca HD films. Blu-ray players (and the already obsolete HD-DVD player standard) were only used for playing commercial `Hollywood´ discs. Some even reject self-burned discs altogether.

This has changed over the last months. The so-called `AVCHD´ format has been established. Today, most Blu-ray players can play this format from both, self-burned DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Magazines have started including playback compatibility in their reviews, so that you can be sure before you buy.

MacroSystem Digital Video AG has obtained an (AVCHD) license already - and implementing this technology has begun. Now, the first AVCHD compatible version of the DVD creation package `Arabesk´ is available.

DVD Arabesk now supports AVCHD/HD video in its original resolution and burns the result to Blu-ray disc or DVD.

If you wish to create such a medium, it is important to note some things: To create a disc in the AVCHD format, you must first set the Arabesk target format to AVCHD. You should also change the reference medium to Blu-ray, DVD or DVD DL. Due to its low capacity, choosing CD is not an option.
Once you switch to the destination format, all previously added films will be deleted. You will therefore lose any previously created DVD projects.
Mixing films of different formats is not possible, so you can't add SD (Standard Definition) DV films to your AVCHD disc. Similarly, choosing the `DVD-Video´ format does not allow you to add HD films at higher resolutions (HD). The film will be rendered down to standard resolution (SD) in any case.

When choosing AVCHD as the target format, there are only a few possible medium settings given. Creating menus for AVCHD playback is currently not possible, the same goes for multi angle features (`Add multi angle film´).
If you wish to add multiple HD films to the medium, you can use your playback device's film-selection function to select films (if available). Generating a menu in order to choose films is currently not supported by Arabesk. The final rendering process prior to burning the disc is not required as every HD project is already rendered and prepared when first selected.

Note: If you wish to burn to a DVD medium, please note that burning AVCHD files to DVD is indeed possible. However, playback of DVDs with AVCHD files will most likely only work on some Blu-ray or DVD players. In some cases, it may result in jerky playback and similar. AVCHD footage requires a higher data-rate than is possible using the DVD format.

Pure DVD players will mostly not play AVCHD discs at all. Playback of AVCHD DVDs is therefore not fully guaranteed and depends on the equipment you use.

The burned medium is primarily suitable for Blu-ray players or the Playstation 3.

If you burn a Blu-ray disc (BD-R), you can avoid such problems and also use the full capacity to create full-length films. BD-R media is also a lot faster and larger than DVD-R discs.

Note: If you are using an older generation Blu-ray player, make sure to check for so-called `Firmware´ updates. This is a new operating software for your device. In many cases, the manufacturer posts information about new firmware updates in their web page. You may even be able to download the new version for the web site. With a new firmware, many older devices can become compatible with the AVCHD standard too.

In order to create AVCHD-Blu-ray/DVD discs the Arabesk 4.2 software requires 1GB of RAM memory.

Arabesk 4 webpage...