i have an external dvd burner attached to the computer, can i somehow use both DVD burners when burning dvd projects from encore?

What you can do is, use Encore to export to either ISO or Folder. Then use ImgBurn (free utility) to burn to DVD/BD. Encore is flaky anyway. I have been doing that to burn two DVDs at the same time launching two ImgBurn.

ImgBurn is a great utility. Ditching the bloated Nero long time ago

excellent idea!

ImgBurn is great. It will remind you if your DVD folder structure is wrong, or prompt you to pick the split point if you burn dual layer DVD.

For Bluray, I export to ISO in Encore, then use ImgBurn to burn the image. Works 100%.