FIRECODER Blu is an H.264/MPEG2 compatible hardware transcoder board which provides high speed encoding of video files for use in Blu-ray authoring.

High Performance and High Quality Hardware Assisted Encoding

FIRECODER helps meet the demand for creation of Blu-ray media by providing up to 4-5x faster than real-time encode of Blu-ray files.

A single PCI Express x1 form factor board, FIRECODER Blu provides accelerated encoding of Blu-ray compatible video sourced from any number of video applications including our own EDIUS non-linear editing software. Output may be directly to a Blu-ray disc or to a Blu-ray compatible file for additional authoring. Additionally, FIRECODER Blu transcodes between AVCHD and HDV compatible MPEG2 formats. It supports 1080i and 720p as well as native 24p Blu-ray.

Included FIRECODER WRITER software provides basic Blu-ray and DVD authoring tools including creation of titles and chapters from Canopus HQ (avi), HDV(m2t) and MPEG2 PS (mpg, m2p) source files.

Top Reasons to Buy FIRECODER Blu

FIRECODER Blu is an H.264/MPEG-2 hardware transcoder board that provides high-speed encoding of video files for use in DVD and Blu-ray disc production, as well as superior up-conversion for SD and HD video.

1. Time is money—speed up your Blu-ray disc production Writable Blu-ray discs are now available and • getting more and more affordable. It is the perfect medium for storing high definition (HD) video. • FIRECODER Blu accelerates the transcoding of AVI files to H.264, the file format best suited for Blu-ray video. • With FIRECODER Blu, you can dramatically shorten the time it takes to transcode an AVI video file into H.264—about 2 times faster than real-time, compared with 20 times longer with a software encoder, even on a dual-core PC.

2. Time is money—speed up your DVD production • FIRECODER Blu accelerates the transcoding of AVI files to MPEG-2, the file format used for DVD-Video. • With FIRECODER Blu, you can transcode to MPEG-2 even faster than to H.264—up to 5 times faster than real-time. This means that an hour of video would take approximately 10 minutes to transcode.

3. Versatile—works with any Windows-based NLE files • The included FIRECODER WRITER utility software provides basic Blu-ray and DVD authoring tools from any HDV (m2t) and MPEG-2 PS (mpg, m2p) source files. • You can write directly to DVD or Blu-ray Disc (dual-layer discs are supported). • You can create titles and chapters; the chapters can be at intervals or points. • You can make discs with multiple titles, or single titles with multiple clips. • Of course, FIRECODER Blu also supports Canopus® HQ (AVI) files created by Grass Valley™ EDIUS® nonlinear editing software. With the latest version of the AVCHD converter (v3.0), the decoding from AVCHD to HQ is accelerated, and multiple FIRECODER Blu cards are also supported.

4. More productive—frees up your PC to continue editing • Not only is FIRECODER Blu much, much faster than software-based encoders, it doesn’t tie up CPU power. • You can continue editing while FIRECODER Blu transcodes in the background!

5. It’s also a high-quality up/down-converter • FIRECODER Blu can also up-convert SD (720x480) and HD video (1280x720 & 1440x1080) to full HD (1920x1080) resolution. • It uses Ultra High Definition technology – developed in Japan – for upconversion, ensuring that the upconverted video remains crisp and sharp, and not “fuzzy” like many other upconverters. • FIRECODER Blu can also downconvert from HD to SD.

6. It’s advanced—takes advantage of “Cell” technology • FIRECODER Blu incorporates Toshiba’s SpursEngine processor, which is based on the Cell CPU used in the Sony PlayStation3. • Cell architecture has been developed by Toshiba, Sony, and IBM to provide power-efficient and cost-effective high performance.

Key Features •Transcodes AVCHD to MPEG-2 (transport stream and program stream) and MPEG-2 to H.254 (transport stream) •2 times faster than real-time encoding of HD Blu-ray compatible video •4-5 times faster than real-time encoding of SD Blu-ray compatible video •Direct writing to Blu-ray disc or output to file for additional authoring •Supports 1080i and 720p as well as native 24p Blu-ray •Up- and down-conversion of SD and HD sources •Included FIRECODER WRITER software provides basic Blu-ray and DVD authoring tools including creation of titles and chapters from Canopus DV, Canopus HQ (avi), HDV (m2t) and MPEG-2 PS (mpg, m2p) source files •Encodes or transcodes files created by Grass Valley EDIUS nonlinear editing software (not included) or other applications

Features:

Input formats:
Canopus HQ
MPEG2 TS
MPEG2 PS (HDV Compatible)
H.264 (AVCHD Compatible)

Output formats (files):
H.264(M2TS)
MPEG2 PS
MPEG2 TS (HDV)

Output formats (direct to disc):
BD-R/BD-RE: H.264
MPEG4AVC DVD: MPEG2

Specifications
Bus Interface
PCI Express Rev. 1.1 x1 lane

Input Formats (FIRECODER WRITER)
Canopus DV
Canopus HQ
H.264 (AVCHD compatible)
MPEG-2 transport stream (TS)
MPEG-2 program stream (PS) (HDV Compatible)

Output Formats (FIRECODER WRITER)
BD-R/BD-RE writing: H.264, MPEG-4 AVC

DVD writing: MPEG-2
File output: H.264 (MPEG-2 TS), MPEG-2 PS, MPEG-2 TS (HDV)

Power Requirements
+12V: 1.75A, +3.3V: 0.15A

Physical Dimensions
111.15 x 167.65 mm (4.375 x 6.600 in.) (HxW)

Regulatory Compliance
CE, FCC CLASS B, C-Tick

Package Contents:
PCI Express x1 encoder card
FIRECODER WRITER software