Encore Q's

[momoffduty]

Building a test Dvd that is 5 min. long with 4 chapters & a 20 pic slideshow.

1. How to shorten the audio for the slideshow? Have about 20 pics and the audio is 2x longer than needed.

2. Have tried the all the various ways to link items to the menus. Seems like the workflow panel is the easiest. Looks like an electrical schematic...same concept? Like to hear any navigation tips, which ones you find work best, what steps you take to double check things, etc.

3. The slideshow can only be added as a menu item? Is there a way to make a slideshow and add to timeline and then it would then be set with marker as a chapter?

4. My workflow in the past has been to burn (transcode?) to a folder and then burn the disc in Nero later. In Encore, which option is better ...folder or image?

5. In PE3 if you had say 24 tracks with lots of effects, the project burned faster if you saved it as a DV-AVI and made a new project and burned from that. Does the same principal hold true with PrPro if you had many sequences added to a timeline making the burn slower...so would be best to save as a DV-AVI and make a new project?

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Cheryl,
I do all of my slideshows in Premiere Elements, save as DV-AVI and import into Encore as a Asset and make a timeline for it.
Then I add chapters, create playlists and point the menu buttons to the playlists, this is much easier to navigate and create.
I am going to do a tutorial in using Playlists in Encore as soon as I can get back to it.

You can shorten the song using Audacity, I think that is the easiest way, or in Premiere or Premiere Elements.

I always burn using Encore DVD now, no need for Nero or other programs anymore

I hope that helps answer some of your questions at least.

[Rockdoc]

Thanks, Chuck. I am interested in the info too (of course). I am sure I will be posting here as soon as I get to this part of my project.

[momoffduty]

Thanks Chuck. Noticed that the slideshow capabilities in Encore are limited and would make those in Pro. There is a way to match the duration to the song length, but not vice versa. Was trying to see what it can or can not do.

As for the rest, will research more. Thanks!

[momoffduty]

If you are taking requests for tutorial content: would like to see the chapter index feature, editing the menu..adding chapters, frames, buttons..any navigation tips & check list before burning.

Finished the test DVD and am sure there are faster ways to accomplish things than the way I do them. BTW there is an Easter Egg in Encore(probably already know this) Also a way to make one in your project. Interesting feature.

From what I can see so far on the slideshow, there is a feature to add random pans & zooms, add subtitles to the pics, transitions. Using the slideshow in Encore would be good if you wanted to add a few pics to the project. For the more elaborate slideshow then PrePro or PE3 would be better. Still nice option to include. It is listed as a menu item, but you could duplicate a button and change the routing number to be the next chapter in sequence on the sub menu.

[Rockdoc]

Me too, Me too! I haven't had much of a chance to play with it yet, but soon, hopefully. Any and all tutorials, particularly those Cheryl mentioned, are very welcome.

[Chuck Engels]

Just to get you started there are quite a few tutorials out there already;

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/designcent ... core%20DVD
http://www.graspr.com/videos/Use-Encore ... r-your-DVD
http://library.creativecow.net/tutorials/adobeencoredvd

And you can also do a free trial of Lynda.com or Total Training and watch some of theirs as well

[momoffduty]

Posted too soon . Finished the DVD process: timeline, menus, slidshow, did the check in the build tab and everything fine. Tried to burn to folder and disc and kept getting the PGC error. Read adobe forums and creative cow, tried the suggestions by transcoding in PrPro to MPEG2 and still the same thing. Made a another test Encore project with just a simple menu & sub menu with the mpeg2 file and still the same thing. Thought taking out the slideshow and the psd files would help. Made sure there weren't any spaces in the file names, etc. The error gave a time as the end of the timeline.

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Cheryl,
Sorry you have having problems with Encore

I always use AVI files in Encore, export DV-AVI from Premiere Pro or Elements and then import those as assets into Encore.
I have never used Mpeg files, even in Encore, and I have never had a problem burning DVDs.

Could also be that you need to update your burner firmware, these are much newer programs that require the most recent firmware support.

That's a start anyway.

[jackfalbey]

Right below the "Build" button on the Build screen is a "Check Project" button that will check your project for errors. It seems like it always catches something for me to go back and fix.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

The 'Check Project' button is really useful as Encore warns you if you try to burn a project that contains errors.
The Preview function is also useful for checking disc navigation before the DVD burn.
I always burn to re-writable media so that I can carry out a final check on a DVD player before burning the 'production' DVD - less coasters that way.

[momoffduty]

Thanks for the tips! I did use the check project in the build tab and no items found. At first thought this feature did not work, so went back and purposely unlinked an item to make it an orphan and it then was caught in the check project window.

Will try saving the project as a DV-AVI file and take out the chapter markers in PrPro just in case.

Now, how do I update burner firmware...never have done that before so will have to water the instructions down.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Burner software/driver updating is quite straightforward. Use the internet to go to your DVD manufacturers website, locate your product and check for the latest driver version, download it and install (it is normally self executing). Bingo.

[momoffduty]

Thanks John for the info.

Another question:

Saved the project as a DV-AVI, brought into encore. Linking everything up just like the other test project minus the slideshow. When I check the project in the build tab, get this message:

"End action will not execute because of end action on the final chapter point."

This is referring to the timeline. On the main menu, have the "play all" linked to the timeline. The end action is linked back to the main menu.

Have the Main menu linked to the submenu. The "select chapters" button linked to the sub menu. Each of the 3 chapters are linked to the correct button with the end link to the next chapter. The last chapter has an end point link to the main menu default.

When backed and checked the first test dvd project with the slideshow and everything is the same, except that chapter 3 is linked to the menu item(slideshow) and the slideshow's end is linked back to the main menu. And the timeline is linked from the play all to the timeline to the slideshow to the main menu. This project when checked has no items (problems) listed.

Any ideas? Thanks.

[momoffduty]

Found the 'end action....' error and fixed. http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/145/857906

Thought I was in business with the DV-AVI as the timeline. No, got the PGC error again and said there was a problem about halfway thru the timeline. Not sure what else I can try.


Did update the firmware. Tried to burn to a folder, so must be a transcoding error?