Thanks.

I can't seem find DVDAP as a stand alone. It is always bundled with Vegas.

Nor can I find and documentation listing DDP output to disc.

I will keep on searching.

Correct -- I believe the PRO version is only bundled with Vegas Pro at this time.

But you can buy the full package (Vegas Pro + DVDA Pro) for a fraction of the cost of Scenarist :) Bonus -- you get a pretty darn good editing package (imho)

Regards,
George

Adobe Encore first play.
 

Hello everyone,

I am starting to wonder whether there is really a good dvd authoring program out there other then encore.

What i was looking to do is having an animation first play then it conclude to the menu without any black/blank screens appearing. Is there a way to transition from first play to menu without minor pauses or black screens inbetween?

I am using windows.

thanks

encore is an excellent dvd authoring program it's ability is most utilized as part of the adobe cs3 production suite. if you create your intro in after efffects it will seamlessly integrate into encore and will not have any delay.

however you should be able to create your intro in encore. have the opening sequence end with the very last frame(s) the same as your menu selection.

the end action of you intro will be the main menu. since the last frame of the intro is the same as the main menu it should be seamless. this is somewhat
dependent on the dvd player, some handle the transition better than others, most recent plyaers will work fine.

note: when previewing the intro/menu transition in encore it will always have a delay, the delay will not be in the final disc.

you can always build your project to a folder on your hard drive and then view the dvd in a software program such as nero showtime or powerdvd
to verify the project is correct before burning to a dvd.

hope this helps

Kalulu,

If your animation and the menu are two separate items, then there will always be some sort of pause as the player changes to the menu. The length of this pause will vary depending on the player.

What you might consider for the first play, is to have your animation continue on to the menu. That is, to include the menu screen in your animation. Then when you have had the menu screen up for 30 seconds, or whatever, that you then transition to a different asset that is just the menu screen itself. Set that asset up to be the main menu that you would come back to after playing video clips. The animation would truly remain a "first play" item only.

Hope this helps. Have fun!

Rob

Encore: HDV to SD DVD-keeping it 30i
 

I've shot and edited a 2:15 car racing project. It was shot HDV 30i and I want to output the video in SD at 30i because the action looks better, to my eyes at least, with interlaced footage rather than progressive.

What would be the correct Encore settings to output SD 30i? I've tried setting the fields option to lower to conform to SD and the fields come out reversed yielding jittery video especially on source footage slowed by 50%. Since it takes 8 hours to render the project, I thought I'd ask if upper fields first would work.

Also, I left the "deinterlace" box on the output tab un-ticked. Anyone know how that may or may not help me preserve the interlacing on the footage?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I'm afraid no setting will give you the desired results; read around this forum, importing HDV directly into Encore for the purpose of burning an SD DVD is the best thing you can do for a low quality, full of artifacts video.

Try resizing to DV in Virtualdub, or create a new SD project in Premiere (I assume that's what you use for editing) and import your HDV footage into that. Export as mpeg2 and import that into Encore (no more encoding in Encore).

There are other alternative workflows.

Ervin... I'm wondering if this is more a PP question than an Encore question.

I guess I didn't make myself clear on my workflow, which is not unusual. Edit in HD. Export from PP using the "Export to Encore" function which yields an mpeg2 video file which Encore doesn't need to transcode and a wav file that it does.

I have to edit in an HDV project as portions need to be output in HD.

My problem is that I don't want a progressive DVD. Interlaced should give me better slow motion sequences, of which there are a few. However, I don't know how or where to make the conversion from HDV with upper fields first to SD which needs lower first. PP or Encore? A little in both? It's a black art I don't quite grok.

Both Premiere and Encore use the same transcoding engine, so it should not make a difference - and both should change the field order automatically for you. But do not be surprised if the quality of your DVD will be unsatisfactory... read around this forum.

You need a different workflow.

Ervin... I appreciate the comments but some direction would help. I can't edit in SD/DV as I also need to output to HD. Would outputting to DV from the HDV timeline work better? It might be worth the extra 6-8 hours of rendering time for the quality.

I'll be glad to adopt a different workflow. Any suggestions?

Tripp , for PPro

1) Reverse your field order of the clip on the timeline - R Click ,Field options -
reverse field dominance. The export or encode.

2) Study the following link for methods on downrezz -http://dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=70792&highlight=tmpgenc

Hope this helps.


Windy - Cape town.

Herman... thanks for the good info. I'll try reversing fields as a test although this could get a little spikey for my normal projects that are about 2hrs long.

I also reviewed the link. Someday I'll have to sit down and figure out this frame serving thing. It seems to solve a lot of problems.

Adobe Encore Motion Menu and Buttons
 

I have recently edited and now want to author a DVD from my Kauai trip that I shot in 16:9. I am using Adobe Premiere and Adobe Encore. I have heard from many different sources that a 16:9 project can only contain 18 different links. Since I have a lot of footage I will be using a Dual Layered DVD (8.5GB) instead of that standard 4.7GB. I was just wondering if you could have more links with a dual layered DVD or can you sub link two menus, because I believe I am going to need more than 18 links or (buttons), because I also have pictures that are in the form of sideshows that I will be adding to the menu as well. I am just wondering if there is any way to get more than 18 links for 16:9 project in Adobe Encore. Let's say I have 2 links on the first menu, a video link, and a picture link, the video link goes to another menu with 6 links or so, and the picture link goes to a menu with around 15 links, this is possible correct, each new page is considered a new menu which can house 18 links correct? Or am I confused?

Never heard of an 18-link (or button) limitation, either 16:9 or 4:3. Are you sure you aren't referring to the number of levels you can have in your menus?

I know I've done 16:9 DVD's with much more than 18 total buttons in Encore CS3.

Martin

I think maybe it is 18 links per menu, or level? How many levels can you have I wonder?