Announcing the first free software Blu-ray encoder

“For many years it has been possible to make your own DVDs with
free software tools. Over the course of the past decade, DVD
creation evolved from the exclusive domain of the media publishing
companies to something basically anyone could do on their home
computer.

“But Blu-ray has yet to get that treatment. Despite the “format
war” between Blu-ray and HD DVD ending over two years ago, free
software has lagged behind. “Professional” tools for Blu-ray video
encoding can cost as much as $100,000 and are often utter garbage.
Here are two actual screenshots from real Blu-rays: I wish I was
making this up.

“But today, things change. Today we take the first step towards
a free software Blu-ray creation toolkit.

“Thanks to tireless work by Kieran Kunyha, Alex Giladi, Lamont
Alston, and the Doom9 crowd, x264 can now produce Blu-ray-compliant
video. Extra special thanks to The Criterion Collection for
sponsoring the final compliance test to confirm x264’s Blu-ray
compliance.”

Complete
Story