Adobe Encore Internal Software Error
 

Does anyone have any idea how to fix the internal software error I keep getting with Adobe Encore? I have a Dell Dimension 8400 with a 3.4 Ghz Pentium 4. I have tried a Philips SPD2413 and now a LG GSA-H55L DVD burner. I've upgraded my memory from 1Gb to 5Gb, and added a 1TB secondary drive to my 160Gb primary drive to help Adobe. The specific text of the error is

PGC "<projectname>" has an error at 00;26;51;28. internal software error: %0, line <projectname> - PGC Info: name = <projectname>, ref Bpgc, time 00:26:51:28

I was exporting from Adobe Premier Pro CS3 to Encore using the predefined NTSC - medium quality setting. I'm very frustrated with Adobe at this point and have resorted to exporting to AVI and using Nero to burn DVDs. I'm open to any suggestions you folks may have

Mary,

I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask this: is your Encore software genuine? Sometimes these errors are due to bad, pirate software.

If that is not the case you can try these:

1. Uninstall and re-install Encore and set up its preferences in the Edit tab.
2. The numbers you get is probably your final video's timecode. It seems at the certain point something's wrong with encoding. Don't use a bitrate higher than 8.000 and with this certain processor I'd suggest you also don't use variable bitrate but constant. Keep in mind that a video about 1 hour long can have a bitrate of 8000 but for a project 2 hours long, it can't be more than 6000, probably around 5500. As I mentioned to you on a previous post, try encoding on a different drive than the one that contains your system files and then burn to a DVD.

Also, it would be better if you used Premiere's Media Encoder to encode files and not do it from within Encore. It comes as a plug-in and you can buy it (I'm not sure about CS3 but you can check it out). Encore is mainly for DVD authoring and I wouldn't recommend that you use it to encode files.

My guess is you try to encode using VBR (variable bitrate). Try using CBR (constant bitrate). Your processor is rather "weak" to handle a two-pass encoding.

Finally, I'm also assuming that 5 GBs of RAM are way too much. That may also be the case with this piece of machine (by the way I'm assuming you're using XP PRO with all necessary service packs, right? And certainly not Vista, they are an enormous trouble-maker, at least for the moment). Try to stay with 2 GBs (max 4GBs) of RAM, I believe your system would work better.

That's what I do anyway and I think it produces the best results. I'm not a big Encore fan but I admit I'm not an expert at it.

This is interesting. I've never heard this before. Why would more RAM be worse? Unnecessary I get, but worse?

Well, I can't say it's a rule but in processors inferior than dual core, like the one that Mary has, it has often been observed that a great amount of RAM brings the exact opposite results than expected. The workflow is usually better with a max of 4GBs of RAM. In fact, I think it has to do with the motherboard and the socket, which in Mary's case is 478. If you notice a motherboard like that you'd probably see it has 4 slots, maybe 2 pairs of different color (dual channel). This means that when inserting 1GB in each, the system sees two and two as one at a time. For example, a pair of 1 GBs in two slots of the same color is handled as a single 2GB RAM. If Mary has 5GBs on even slots, it means that a pair can't be handled appropriately by the system. Besides, the order of the RAM chips is also important. Larger sizes are put first and smaller follow. In fact, I think only servers can handle and actually use RAM larger than 4GBs.

Thanks Theimis,
We started using Adobe's media encoder instead of encoding in Encore. It seems to work fine now!

It's all the real deal, we paid for the license.

i have CS3 and i have problems too, its way to unstable.