Please h*lp a new CS4 user – thanks in advance

[Ty Yachaina]

You have to use Encore to burn the DVD’s, yes. If “Export to Encore” is not working for you, you can always use Media Encoder to encode H264 files (or .mpg2, if you wont be burning to blue ray) then bring those files to a timeline in Encore.

Set your encore timeline to firstplay, and the propertys to loop, and you should have a looping DVD that you wont have to worry about the menus.

Encore can be funky some times, but if you try exporting out your footage as the correct file type, then bring it into encore. It should defiently work.

It does suck Adobe decided not to ship manuels, however, you can get help by going to the help tab in premeier, and looking up your issue.

Hopefully this helps

[Jon Barrie]

I am sorry to hear you are having these problems. I don’t think having a Mac or FCP would make your situation any easier. Both programs are professional and require training to learn about TV/DVD/HD/SD/DV specs and formats. FCP is just as technical and requires just as much education to use as Adpbe products.

PPro and Encore work very well together and is actually a very streamlined process to make an Authored DVD compared to other professional systems. Bottom line is this forum is for trouble shooting and not a replacement for taking a course or learning through the Teach yourself books out there.

Hiring an Adobe Educator will be money well spent. There is too much information required to understand basic editing and posts here won’t go into that length detail. There is help online and the instruction manuals are on line too. (Printing and shipping the weight is wasteful these days). F1 is the shortcut key to help in any Adobe Application.

From your workflow description you need to read up on NTSC PAL formats and staying in the same region format, capturing, HDV/DV workflows, basic editing in PPro. DVD formats (NTSC PAL), Authoring basics for DVD with Encore and Dynamic linking PPro to Encore. How to test the Author without burning discs, burning a final disc.

It sounds like a lot and it is when written up, even in point form without any details. Which is probably why no-one has helped you in the capacity you would have hoped. There is just too much ground to cover. Adobe have their own instructional books sold in book stores that will show you all this stuff I used them years ago to wrap my head around both PPro, After Effects and FCP workflows.

I hope I haven’t come across negatively to your situation, I do understand the frustration you are experiencing. I do hope I have given enough details showing how a simple thing like making a DVD is actually not simple to just do without the knowledge. Once the knowledge is there it is simple and a basic DVD can be put together in a matter of minutes.

– Respectfully Jon Barrie 🙂

Jon Barrie
aJBprods
http://www.jonbarrie.net
http://www.suiteskills.com

[Alan Lloyd]

Mac people always say that. It’s their answer to everything.

And still, a look at the FCP forum here reveals people having all sorts of grief themselves, so it’s not a panacea.

Capturing and trimming ought to go simply enough with the proper (HDV) presets, though the program does need a fair amount of CPU to handle the MPEG comressed video.

The advice given you on DVD creation in Encore is good, or you can set things to “stop” and the DVD will stop at the end.

I don’t use Encore for much because just about every DVD I create using CS4 (at a client’s place) is a single show with no chapters.

Have you explored the Encore forum for more help?

[Brian Louis]

[Richard Thornton] “So, where’s the “user manual”? for this thing?”
Goto this link it has a download for the user’s manual in the upper right corner, the left side has info and links to other things.
https://help.adobe.com/en_US/PremierePro/4.0/index.html

Here are video tutorials that will get you up to speed
https://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-premiere-pro-cs4/

For further info, tutorials, and help files on adobe products you can start with this URL and fan out into many directions
https://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/

[Richard Thornton]

Thank You very much for taking the time to reply, and especially for pointing out the link to the actual .pdf of the user’s guide. That’s a lot easier for me to refer to than the scattered help files from within the actual CS4 program(s), and it’s more of what I’m accustomed to in learning new hardware and software.
At 500+ pages, I can see why they wouldn’t send a print copy with the software. And, at that size, it trumps both the manuals for the Yamaha PM5D digital mixing console (360+ pages) and the Barco Encore Presentation System (230+ pages) that I’ve been through to learn successfully over the years. But, what I am still missing (and what those two other manufacturers do provide) is a comprehensive “quick start guide” (laminated, even). The tutorials are nice, and highlight specific features, but I’m still looking for a more straightforward HDV-to-DVD workflow procedure for quickly and easily getting the event DVDs to the customers.

[Richard Thornton]

Oh yeah – I now think most of my problems have been with the actual Encore portion of the CS4 package. Where is the (similar) .pdf file of the “Using Encore..” (or whatever) document that you pointed me to for CS4 previously? It seems to be even better hidden..

Thanks in advance –

[Richard Thornton]

Thanks for the prompt reply. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help. I’ve followed the steps as best I can (from your reply, and some of the others); but, I’m still missing something very basic – notwithstanding that I’m still missing a damn manual for Encore). I’ve set my chapter markers in my PP project window, then used the dynamic link to open it up in Encore. Now what?