Avid Express Pro Adobe Encore DVD Users

[Valerie Shoaps]

Hi,

I’m not sure I follow you. You’re not really “converting” to QT from Avid. It’s the native format. Also, I’m pretty sure that Encore 1.5 imports QT. If that’s all the story, then your render setting from Avid must be off. What format is your original material to begin with?

[James Mulvena]

Valerie..Thanks so much for getting back to me…We are going from ” Discreet Edit” for the past six years to Avid….I know it will eventually get easier. We are having a diificult time with Encore DVD. I need to know how to take a project into Encore (settings) and burn a clean DVD. (footage is clean). I have also tried to import DVCam footage into Avid and then Encore. My footage and graphics are pixelated.

We are doing “trials with several things….My footage will look great but audio will sound like Minnie Mouse..or audio is great but footage looks milky……

I hope when I get it right…I’ll remember what I did!!!!

Thanks

[David Braswell]

The digitizing, editing, exporting workflow of nonlinear editors offers numerous opportunities to mishandle footage and settings. From your general description it’s hard to tell what’s breaking. Assuming your footage has been digitized successfully into the Avid (meaning it looks and sounds fine playing from a sequence timeline), your export to Encore workflow should be similar to this.

1-Edit your program and render ALL effects.
2-Duplicate the sequence. The remaining steps need to be completed on a duplicate so you can re-edit if you have to.
3-Set IN and OUT points that include the amount of black you’d like on the head and tail of the program.
4-Mixdown all video layers to a single video track, and mixdown all audio layers to a single pair of tracks.
5-Delete all remaining tracks. At this point you should have 2 audio tracks and 1 video track. Delete any filler in front of and after your mixed-down sequence.
6-Select the entire sequence IN to OUT and highlight all three tracks.
7-Export your sequence as a QT reference file (native dimensions as far as I remember, 16bit, 48k audio).
8-Import the reference mov into Encore (MUST BE VERSION 1.5 at least) where it will prompt you for transcode settings immediately. I’ve had good results using a constant bit rate, 7Mbs setting. You may have to customise one to get the resuilts you want.

This is what works for me. Hope it helps.

[Dennis Kutchera]

This is an excellent summary. Another alternative that I often do is output to tape and then capture it in the DVD App or with Windows Movie maker. This is if the app is unhappy with Quicktime. The reason to do either of these work flows is to avoid multiple resolutions on the Avid sequence because it will confuse the heck out of quicktime when you make a qt reference. Everything is going to be at one resolution when you mix down. It also avoids possible clip reference errors.

Dennis

[James Mulvena]

Thank you for bringing this to my attention….I hadn’t been back to this site….I will go through all these steps tommorow
and get back to you hopefully with a success story. I completed the project I was having trouble with on Discreet Edit and had someone else burn the DVD only because it was Crunch time. I’ve got to solve this issue. Thank you so much for your input. It is greatly appreciated.