thanks guys
 

I'm going to try that out tonight. I knew there was no reason that they'd make one of its functions worse.

Premiere 6 also had the audio mixer. I do agree Premiere Pro has more audio capabilities and features than previous versions. Personally, though, when I have to make adjustments to the audio level I prefer to use the pen tool and keyframes, as I feel I can be more precise than using the audio mixer.

No. Then again, I've had a couple big projects before the 1.5.1 update that took quite awhile to load.

3rd party mpeg encoder
 

Does anyone know if I can use a third party avi to mpeg encoder for PP and Encore? If I export an avi file out of Premiere and convert it to mpeg and put it into Encore will it be the same as if I had used the Adobe encoder or will it have a different reaction?

Yes, you can use third party encoders to make your MPEG-2 files and then import them into Encore DVD. People do it all the time. Encore DVD doesn't care what you use to make your MPEG-2 files, as long as they meet DVD specs (bitrate isn't to high, etc).

Also, if you use Canopus ProCoder, which has an encoding plugin for Premiere Pro, then you wouldn't have to go through the process of exporting an avi and then running it through the encoder. You could encode directly from within Premiere Pro using the ProCoder engine.

Something to consider...
 

One thing you would lose by using a third party encoding tool instead of exporting an MPEG-2 file from Premiere Pro using the Adobe Encoder is the ability to set DVD chapter marks in the Premiere timeline that are then imported into Encore DVD. This probably isn't such a big deal for shorter projects, but for longer movies it is definitely a nice feature.

I don't know if the ProCoder Premiere Pro plugin can recognize and export Premiere's timeline marks as chapter marks.

Thanks, Chris. My projects are getting larger by the day.

Great to know. Thanks for the quick responses, it's great to have a place to go with so much information floating around.

Ed,

Can this crash recording approach be made to work on HD material via firewire?

My problem is that even though I have rendered the timeline, taking 2.5 hours in this particular case, when I export to tape the rendering starts all over again from the beginning.

Gordon

How to export 16x9 grabs from Premiere Pro?
 

I simply cannot export grabs in widescreen format. They always end up as 4:3.

What is the trick?

Tell the setup portion what size you want. If you want to edit in Photoshop, then 720X480 is correct, but using a Pixel Aspect Ratio of 1.2

If you want to edit in just about any other program, you will want to use square pixels and use a size of 864X480

If you want some smaller size for a web page, then try something like 480X270

Premiere Pro 1.5 vs JVC HD Capture Util
 

I was testing out the Sony Premium Tapes in the JVC camcorder to see if it actually made any difference (btw no, it didnt).

I found that Premiere's rendering of the video is much sharper and cleaner than a straight capture from JVC HD capture util. I thought that the HD capture util provides the raw-est form in m2t? Am I just imagining things and what Im really looking at is a softened image? I just tried it tonight and can't really tell as its dark.

5.1 Surround Sound Problems
 

I have a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy II 5.1 Surround Sound card on my motherboard that worked flawlessly with Vegas but with Premiere Pro 1.5 sound only comes out of the two front speakers. Funny thing: When I first loaded Premiere Pro 1.5 on my comp the sound played fine on all surround speakers. Now suddenly it only works on the front two speakers. I have the sound card configured properly in my preferences dialog box. Is there a tweak or some sort of additional setting I need to make in order to hear the sound come out of all surround speakers?

Oh, and the card is ocnfigured correctly through Windows XP.

After Effects plug ins
 

I have After Effects 6.5 pro, I was thinking about getting Magic Bullet but I was wondering is this a seperate program or does plug in just mean that it adds to what is in AE? I know that that's what plug ins are but I did not know if that is all this program does. Also, does anyone have MB and think it's worth getting?

Yes, the Magic Bullet Suite for After Effects is a plugin - actually a collection of 18 plugins. I've never used Magic Bullet, so I can't speak from experience. However, I think the usefulness of Magic Bullet depends on what you want to do. Are you just interested in the "film treatments" looks (i.e, the library of 55 looks inspired by such films as The Matrix, Traffic, Three Kings, Amelie, and Saving Private Ryan)? I've heard that you can recreate these looks yourself by using standard color correction tools. But if you want to add 24p motion artifacts, and use some of the other tools in the suite that may have features not included in After Effects, then Magic Bullet could well be a good investment for you. Just beware of the render times. I have a feeling you're going to be waiting a very long time to see the results of the Magic Bullet plugins.