[Brodd Nesset]

For anyone looking up this older thread, or searching that topic, here’s an update:
The external Firewore drive seems to be the culprit, definetly. This does NOT mean that I recommend against useng such storage devices in general. My setup might be a little ‘special’, as the drive is routed through my external soundcard first. This is from M-Audio and performs great by the way, but: there have been some whining from the Windows camp that their units while performing flawlessly on the Mac, sometimes have ‘issues’ on Windows. Indeed I have had to reinstall the driver for it a couple of times, when it has mysteriously ‘disappeared’ from my config. This slight unstability might or might not play a role for the harddisk next in the chain (the soundcard will not work if I flip the row). Nevertheless this is still a mystery, because the external harddisk always boots with the same drive-letter, and it’s always available from Explorer. Still sometimes Encore loads previous projects from it completely transparent, other times it claims to miss some files which indeed are where they should be(!), and on top of it this strange behavior of sometimes re-transcoding discs from the bottom for each disc copy I make … oh dear. Nothing is concistent, but when I move every file in a project over to an internal disk, there’s never a problem with Encore.

[Brodd Nesset]

Such DVDs you describe can be made in Macromedia Director (coincidentally I’m a forum host in the Director forum @ the Cow). It will indee create the .exe-file, and combine most types of files you can think of; including DVD-type movie-files (only available from Director MX2004). Many instructional DVDs intended for computer playback, with live linking to websites etc., are made with Director.

[Brodd Nesset]

…Thanks for the suggestions guys. I’m in another timezone, and will try your suggestion (setting up a little test-project) friday.

It makes sense that Encore needs to do a re-transcode when the project changes in file-size. However I’m only correcting spelling mistakes in a couple of menus, and how much difference could that make? Well, I’ll be back with the results in some hours.

[Brodd Nesset]

[I also posted this further up, by accident]

The external disk is Firewire, I don’t use other devices (add/remove) except this one, but anyway how could that matter? The already transcoded files are on the internal disk, as is the Project file.

The files all read as Transcoded in the project window. Still Encore deletes them all and starts from the top when I make a new disc. Go figure.

I’m pretty certain I use ‘Automatic’ for Transcode settings (there is no check-sign outside anyting in that sub-menu). However when I go to preferences for Edit Transcode setting, I get PAL 2 MBPS, which seems reasonable for what I want & get.

[Brodd Nesset]

The external disk is Firewire, I don’t use other devices (add/remove) except this one, but anyway how could that matter? The already transcoded files are on the internal disk, as is the Project file.

The files all read as Transcoded in the project window. Still Encore deletes them all and starts from the top when I make a new disc. Go figure.

I’m pretty certain I use ‘Automatic’ for Transcode settings (there is no check-sign outside anyting in that sub-menu). However when I go to preferences for Edit Transcode setting, I get PAL 2 MBPS, which seems reasonable for what I want & get.

[Brodd Nesset]

Thanks for replies guys. I’m in the middle of a re-render right now – groan… This could make a difference or not:
– I do NOT use ‘Save as’ for my edited project, only a simple ‘save’
– The DV files are on an external disk, while the transcodes are built on the internal disk – side by side with the Project file.

BTW I opt to use DV-files out of Premiere since the total length pushes the limit for what I can fit onto a disc, and Encore is so convenient in shoehorning it in automatically. Still it should not owerwrite its own files (transdodes) when they are perfectly OK already.

[Brodd Nesset]

I use v1.5

What happens is: my project is assembled out of ca. 40 DV-files. Upon transcoding, a folder for each file is created, and in each there is one MPEG2-file, amongst a few other files. A main folder with the name of the project is wrapped around it all. Even when I do minute changes to the menus only, and save the project under the same name, the contents in the main folder is deleted immediately when I select ‘Create Disc’. I can see this in Windows Explorer, and it happens every time. 4.2 Gb of perfect and already rendered files is not ‘good enough’ for Encore?!?!?

The same happens if I change say one of the forty DV-files; adjusts its length for instance.

[Brodd Nesset]

I had to buy the codec to able to even see it in MediaPlayer. Perhaps you have an older version MP, or your XP is pre sp2 or even pre sp1?
Quality is great, but editing is sluggish on my system (pretty fast CPU).

[Brodd Nesset]

Thanks! This will save me from taking the wrong route and do a lot of unnecessarry work. I will reconcider just how imperative it is to have that auto jump-back function. As for the other things, I will only have around 35-40 timelines on each of the three DVDs in the package, but that means I just hit the roof on one or two of them when it comes to the number of buttons. Darn! I meant only one color for ‘not viewed’, one color for ‘viewed’ and one for ‘latest view’; just three in all. Guess I’ll figure that out.

[Brodd Nesset]

Thanks for the tip Adam, and belive it or not; I mostly agree with everyone!
– My argument that c4d should mimic Illustrator is only relevant where the two have identical toolsets, of course; i.e. when doing 2D drawing. I still belive it would be practical if it did.
– I am aware that c4d in some areas actually surpasses Illustrator ‘in its own field’ so to speak.

I should probably get a plugin or two. But it sounds stupid… for this task!?!?!