[Andrew Smith]

Hi!

I have a clunky but successful way of getting round this… perhaps just for my particular workflow.

The key thing, seemingly, is not to interfere with the layering in the Photoshop file. It’s okay to work on an existing layer; but not if one creates a new layer. Indeed, even merging this with an existing layer (and, if necessary, renaming the merged layer with the old name) doesn’t appear to work. I presume it re-writes the file’s structural coding.

If I really do need to replace content on an existing layer (but need/want a new layer to do this), I create a new layer with the new content, clear the existing layer (all or in part), and CLONE from the new layer to the existing one. Then, I delete the new layer. Critically, I don’t save until finished. That way – I presume – the structural code in Photoshop isn’t changed and Premiere is happy.

As I said, it’s a bit clunky… but it’s a work-round that I have found invaluable.

[Andrew Smith]

Hi Jeff!

I apologise for the confusion. The program, TMPGEnc Authoring Works 5, creates a .taw5 file from which it forms the DVD image.

As I’m sure you felt, the compression turned out to be nonsense. It was just some buggy issue. Their (very good) support said that the video clips needed re-encoding. However, this didn’t fill me with confidence, so I did the project again.

From a functional pov, I think it’s an excellent piece of software with remarkable features (I use Encore, too), but it needs a little bit of work to be done on it. I guess we can say much the same about most programs…

Best wishes, Andrew.

[Andrew Smith]

I’ve solved the first problem and will share it here because it might help others who face similar issues.

In one of the tracks, there was just one clip. I then created a title image in Photoshop and added it to the track. That was when adding that small image file made a 1.3 GB increase in DVD requirement!

After a good night’s sleep, I investigated and noted that the clip had a resolution of 352 x 288. The added title image, however, was 720 x 576. [I was making quite a few of them for the project… and the other clips in other tracks were all 720 x 576.] I had presumed!… always a big mistake!

It would appear that adding the 720 title caused the 352 clip to upscale (i.e. presumably to match)… hence the huge, overall jump in TAW5 file size.

I redid the title image for this track at 352 x 288. Replaced the 720 one with the 352 one. No jump, this time… it just added a few KB, as you’d expect.

The answer (and this may apply to other DVD creation software) is that a track will upscale to whatever is the highest resolution clip/image.

HOWEVER, I still cannot fathom out why adding files (.m2v) makes the overall TAW5 file much smaller. I’ve managed to prepare a 7 hour DVD of 720 x 576 res which takes up 5% of a single-sided DVD! Bonkers!