Can Disk Utility burn a Blu-ray ISO file?

Question

Level 2

367 points

Can Disk Utility burn a Blu-ray ISO file?

This is a simple question to pose: assuming only the best of media and burner hardware (so that problems with those don't come into play), can Disk Utility reliably burn ISO images that represent a Blu-ray disk, complete with chapters and whatever else is contained on a Blu-ray disk?

Background

I'll be using Adobe Premiere to generate videos for burning to Blu-ray disk. There seems to be several ways for me to do that, and most of them seem to have problems:

1. From the completed Premiere project, I can jump into Adobe Encore and burn from there. But… many comments on the Adobe forum suggest that route may be problematic. No burn-speed control for instance. The Encore forum is full of people who don't use Encore's burning abilities, but instead use Toast or the PC equivalent.

2. Use Toast. I've just received a special offer form Other World Computing to buy Toast 11 Pro for $49. But… I've been put off buying Toast because of many poor reviews on Amazon. A handful of poor reviews I could ignore, but there are dozens.

3. Use Encore to generate an ISO image of my completed Blu-ray, then use Disk Utility to burn that ISO. But… there are websites in the internet jungle telling me I need to download their product to be able to burn Blu-ray ISO images on a Mac. On the other hand, there are reputable websites (here and here) that explain how to use Disk Utility to burn Blu-ray ISOs.

Basically, I'm confused. It seems to me that Encore > ISO > Disk Utility is the way to go, but I would like confirmation from Apple users that this route will work and is reliable. If not, maybe I should be buying Toast before the special runs out on 30 April.

Posted on Apr 27, 2013 7:56 AM

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Answer 1

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

Apr 27, 2013 8:58 AM in response to Guy Burns

No. If you must have BluRay you will need Toast.

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Answer 2

Kurt Lang

Level 9

58,152 points

Apr 27, 2013 11:24 AM in response to Guy Burns

Toast Titanium 11 Pro gets a lot of bad reviews because Roxio piled it on with shovelware, most of it useless in my opinion.

I use Toast Titanium 11 (the standard version) and have no trouble with it at all. No matter which one you buy, you have to purchase the Blu-ray video plug-in separately. Otherwise, it only burns data disk Blu-ray. Roxio's site says that the Pro version comes with the video plug-in. Don't believe it. It used to. If you check the comparison chart, both versions require you purchase it separately.

$60 is the best price I see for the standard version. I'm pretty sure you can still use the $20 rebate Roxio offers, so the end price is $40. Then you turn around and spend that $20 for the required video plug-in.

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Answer 3

Guy Burns Author

Level 2

367 points

Apr 27, 2013 7:41 PM in response to Guy Burns

First, I duplicated one of the links in my original post. The correct links are (1) and (2).

Thanks for the replies, but they haven't cleared up my confusion.

On the last page of the first link, lifted from the California Institute of the Arts website, clear instructions are given for using Disk Utility to burn a Blu-ray ISO.
Right at the bottom of the second link, lifted from the Drexel University website, similar instructions are given for using Disk Utility to burn a Blu-ray ISO.

Are both instructions incorrect in their basic assumption? When their students go to video lab to burn a Blu-ray, do the students find it can't be done?

This is really confusing. Toast gets very poor reviews, yet I've never had a problem with Toast 9. Two tertiary education sites tell me how to burn a Blu-ray with Disk Utility, but I've just received two responses which tell me it can't be done. I'm intrigued.

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Answer 4

Kurt Lang

Level 9

58,152 points

Apr 28, 2013 12:04 PM in response to Guy Burns

Pretty much anything you can purchase gets good and bad reviews. It's also a known business fact that people who have a good experience with a product are far less likely to be vocal than someone who has a bad experience. An old business maxim is, "A person who likes your service might tell one other person about you. A person who doesn't like your service will tell as many people who will listen."

Toast 11, in my opinion, is a much better and more stable product than version 10. As I noted, I've had zero problems with it. I use it to burn every commonly used disk type it supports.

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Answer 5

Guy Burns Author

Level 2

367 points

May 6, 2013 9:43 PM in response to Guy Burns

I missed the deadline for buying the special on Toast – luckily. For me, Toast is now toast when it comes to burning Blu-rays. On my first attempt, exporting from Premiere to Encore, generating an ISO, then burning that from Disk Utility, I was able to select various burn speeds and away it went. A perfect disk.

So, anyone on a Mac with Encore doesn't need Toast to burn a Blu-ray.

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Answer 6

Jul 29, 2013 7:23 PM in response to Guy Burns

Wow! Just learning to use AME and Encore and it's been a hellish time. Good to know. Thanks!

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Answer 7

Apr 30, 2015 3:37 PM in response to Klaus1

I know it's been more than 2 years since the last reply but I am posting for the benefit of people with similar questions who have been searching the web and have been pointed to this page.

I authored a Blu-ray movie disc image (.img file type) using Compressor 4.2, it's 22.5 GB, and I have just successfully burned a Blu-ray movie using Disk Utility on an iMac running Yosemité with an external Blu-ray burner drive. By "successfully", I mean the burned disc played flawlessly, menus and all, on a stand-alone BD player, not a BD player app on a PC.

So yes, Virginia, you can burn a BD disc image using the Mac's Disk Utility app.

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Answer 8

Jun 18, 2015 6:01 PM in response to Aardivark

If I may ask, how did you burn that via using Disk Utility?

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Answer 9

Guy Burns Author

Level 2

367 points

Jun 18, 2015 6:28 PM in response to MacvideoHD

Burning an image that is in Blu-ray format, such as an iso file, should be straight forward: open Disk Utility, click on Burn, select the image, and away you go.

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Answer 10

Jun 19, 2015 1:47 PM in response to Guy Burns

I wished it were that straight forward, at least in my experience it hasn't been. I can burn to bluray via compressor and having the action burn to bluray to my external bluray burner, that works. However, I cannot burn to bluray from a created disc image from compressor using disk utitlity. It begins to write the image, and goes all the way to finishing the burn, but in the end it prompts saying the disc burner isn't available or has been disconnected, which it isn't. The disc burner is seen in disk utility as well.

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Answer 11

Feb 10, 2016 10:11 AM in response to MacvideoHD

I have successfully used a Blu ray Image File(ISO) made by Encore and Macs Disc utility to burn addition copies. I have an external portable Blu ray burner attached. I did have to use compressor or AME for thisoperation. Matter of fact I had compressed the files using Squeeze. My disc image file size was the same as the initial build size.

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Answer 12

guyzyz

Level 1

4 points

May 28, 2017 6:02 AM in response to MacvideoHD

I have heard that some BluRays need to have their power supply plugged in. Not just USB. Give it a go :-)

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