Adobe Encore spontaneously switching from 16:9 to 4:3 during Build

[Jaeson Jrakman]

You know, I’m not sure the Premiere option will work for me either because I don’t really know what to do with all the files it creates.

One interesting note, in Encore when I click on the .mp4, it shows the dimensions as 854 x 480. But when I click on the timeline that that .mp4 is in, it shows the dimensions as being 720 x 480.

When I click on the preview, it seems to play fine without the added pillar boxes that appear when the DVD is burned.

[Jaeson Jrakman]

Back in After Effects, I chose QuickTime, but no Cineform option is available. There’s something called Cinepak.

And I don’t see DNxHD anywhere. But there is an MXF OP1a as a format option.

[Jaeson Jrakman]

It looks like this guy was having a similar problem, but I’m not sure what he did. I’m having a difficult time understand what he’s written:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1453516

[Jeff Pulera]

As I wrote yesterday after you said your apps were all CS6, those do not natively offer Cineform or DNxHD like CC does, however you can manually download and install other codecs onto your machine, (see my post).

When you export MPEG-2 DVD, you will get multiple files, but the only TWO that you need for Encore are the .m2v video and .wav audio and just disregard the rest, you don’t need them. The beauty of this method is that the video is “DVD ready” and should not get transcoded. The .wav audio by default will be converted to Dolby Digital AC-3 without you doing anything. Once you hit BUILD it goes quickly since only the audio gets converted. I can BUILD a 2-hour DVD project to a ready-to-burn .iso file in like 2 minutes flat!

In Encore, select Import as Timeline and then multi-select the .m2v and .wav files and that’s it, proceed with authoring.

I’ve been using Encore for many years, making both 4:3 and 16:9 DVDs and I’ve never had it confuse the two, and I do NOT ever do any manual setup of Encore. I start a New Project in Encore, and import my .m2v video and it just KNOWS whether it is 4:3 or 16:9, never gives me any grief in that regard and I don’t mess with any settings. Just works.

Just whatever you do, don’t import .mp4 files into Encore, just not a good workflow even if it may have worked in the past, just trust me on this, you are compression the video twice, losing time and quality.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jaeson Jrakman]

You sure did. I get home from work a bit late, so sometimes I’m a bit tired when reading posts. I see where you wrote that now.

I’ve read other folks talk about using the .m2v and .wav, but I don’t really know how to use them together in encore.

I mentioned that I’ve imported .mp4 (which I won’t do anymore as per your recommendation) but I’ve also imported .mov’s (should I be importing those?). It’s worked for me in the past because the file takes care of itself. I’m not sure how to marry the video and audio in Encore with two separate files.

You instructions here make it sound pretty simple, so I’ll give it a shot with importing the two separate files into Encore as you describe.

I’m guessing the .m2v and .wav exported out of After Effects are just as good as the same files exported out of Premiere? I prefer the workflow of After Effects over Premiere very much.

I haven’t done any manual set up either, with regard to aspect ratio. So far, it has known what aspect ratio the footage is, and automatically selects it. This is the first time I’ve run into this problem.

Anyway, thanks again for your patience and sticking with me. I’ll let you know how your suggestion goes for me.

[Jaeson Jrakman]

Okay, so I got the codec and installed it.

I’m now rendering out the DNxHD from After Effects as you suggest. It’s giving me a 5.5 render time for a 1:11:59 length footage of 854 x 480. Does that sound right? I selected 100% quality. Should I have selected less?

Anyway, I’m going to let this render overnight.

[Jaeson Jrakman]

*5.5 hour render time.

[Jeff Pulera]

5.5 hours sounds extreme, but I don’t know :

A) what your computer hardware is like
B) what kind of footage you are working with
C) what effects might be applied

Also, it is unusual to export as 854×480 for DVD, as DV NTSC widescreen is 720×480 with a 1.2 Pixel Aspect Ratio. Encore especially is expecting 720×480 whether using 4:3 video (0.9 PAR) or 16:9 (1.2 PAR). I don’t know what will happen if you throw 854×480 at it, never tried.

I should add that yes, if exporting for online or computer viewing, then you want to use square pixels (1.0) and you would/could use the 854×480 for widescreen video. But not recommended in a DVD workflow which uses 720×480 only.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jeff Pulera]

I’d missed this reply from you – “using the .m2v and .wav, but I don’t really know how to use them together in encore. ”

You can use Import as Asset, and individually import .m2v and .wav files, and then simply drag each to the same timeline. Or use Import as Timeline and grab both together, ends up the same, either way is fine.

The two file thing is preferred because as I mentioned earlier, then Encore does not need to transcode the video. When you give Encore a single file with audio and video – even if it is MPEG-2 format – Encore first needs to demux (de-multiplex) or separate the audio from the video, which means both of them will then need to be transcoded back into the proper formats as required by the official DVD specification. So why not just give it the correct assets it wants in the first place?

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Jaeson Jrakman]

A) Don’t have the info off hand, but I can post it later when I get home
B) I am working with an .mp4, using After Effects to turn it into a DNxHD. I suppose I could probably just use media encoder?
C) no effects. Just a single straight .mp4 file.

Maybe I’ll change the aspect ratio to 720 from 854 and re-render it tonight.

Should I keep the quality setting of the DNxHD QT codec in After Effects at 100% or lower it some when I render?