[Dave Friend]

[Brodd Nesset] “The DV files are on an external disk, while the transcodes are built on the internal disk – side by side with the Project file.”

Maybe it is the external drive? Have you used this drive on other projects without re-render issues? I don’t see why it would matter but you never know.

What does the Transcode Status column in the Project window indicate before you begin the disc build? Does Encore ‘see’ the files as Transcoded?

Dave

[Dave Friend]

[Joe Bowden] “you should never have to transcode it in that project again”

Agreed. That has been my experience. However, I haven’t used Encore to create a DVD with 40 or so timelines either.

[Joe Bowden] “this is regardless of whether Automatic or a transcoding preset is used.”

Maybe, maybe not. With the large number of assets that he is using I don’t find it impossible that the Automatic function is deciding that things need to be juggled to make the fit. I’m not saying that is the problem. Just an avenue to explore.

[Joe Bowden] “not work around it.”
You imply the creating mpeg instead of AVI files for use with encore is a work around. If that is your thinking, I beg to differ. Personally, I find it much more efficient to export mpeg from Premiere. Then I don’t have to wait first for the AVI export and then again for the mpeg encode. Secondly, I don’t have what can be rather large avi files taking up drive space. Thirdly, I can use the encoder of my choice instead of the Main Concept encoder employed by Encore. But hey, that

[Dave Friend]

Pete,

[Pierre-Luc] “I was talking about Mac Encoder MPEG Master Basic VBR”

Oh. Never mind. 🙂

[Pierre-Luc] “I think MPEG Master SDI is more appropriate”

Perhaps the MPEG Master DE would be closer still as the MPEG Master SDI does not encode Dolby stereo or pass through Dobly 5.1 – and you really should do the audio as Dolby.

[Pierre-Luc] “So to compare with Sonic SD-1000, did you ever see a quality difference that worth the price ?”

The SD-1000 is what, probably twice the price of the MPEG Master DE? No the quality difference is not worth the price. But if you are still thinking about going the Scenarist route you will probably find your work flow is a bit smoother sticking with Sonic products. Again it is probably not worth the price difference but should be considered.

Since we are talking about the Optibase Mac card you are now thinking of going the Studio Pro route?

Dave

[Dave Friend]

[Joe Bowden] “Transcode in Premiere or transcode in Encore…you have to wait somewhere.”
True but if you import an mpeg file into Encore the Transcode Status will be set to Don’t Transcode. Logically, Don’t Transcode does not apply to avi imports.

[Joe Bowden] “Encore does not need to re-transcode.”
And yet it is.

Brodd, does the project window show a Transcode Status of Transcoded prior to starting the build?

[Joe Bowden] “Something else is going wrong for Brodd.”

Perhaps it is the selection of Automatic for the transcode option? does it seem possible that, for some unknown reason, Encore is deciding that in order to fit the disc it has to transcode again?

Brood, are you using Automatic for the transcode setting?

Dave

[Dave Friend]

Pete,

I think that the SD-500 is more like Optibase Basic card. You have to move up to the Optibase Publisher option before you can compare with the SD-1000.

I suggest you carefully read the specifications for the Optibase 200S Basic. It lacks what could be some critical things. Look close and you will see that the Basic does not have balanced audio inputs or support for Dolby AC3 encoding. But the most important factor may be that the full D1 resolution is 704×480 (704×576 PAL) and not 720×480 as is typcally used for DVD. 720×486 is an option – at additional cost no doubt. In addition, VBR encoding is optional extra.

Hope this is useful.

Dave

[Dave Friend]

Brodd,

One small change in your work flow might help. I suggest that you not import AVI files into encore. Instead, encode your DV avi files to mpeg2 files and import these mpeg files into Encore. You can tell Encore not to transcode these files further. You will find DVD builds go a lot faster. Then the type of changes you describe will become trivial instead of an ordeal.

You have to manually do some bit budgeting before you encode to mpeg so you know that all the video will fit on the DVD. There are numerous online resources that will help you with that task.

Hope this helps.

Dave

[Dave Friend]

Chris,

The bulk eraser will probably be just fine but, IMO, it is an unnecessary step. Every DVD authoring application I have used (there are serveral) rewinds the tape to the head and over-writes the existing data. The DLT format was designed to do over-recording and it works very well. The lead-in header on the tape tells any application using the tape where the data is so there is no real chance of accidentally accessing old data left on the tape after the ‘current’ data.

If you want to erase for security reasons I’m not aware of any problems that the bulk eraser will create for DLT tapes. How effective it will be?

Hope this helps

Dave

[Dave Friend]

Hard for me to answer as I do not know what their work flow is and I do not have first hand experience with that approach. I suspect that you could expect results to be the same as giving them a DLT.

Dave

[Dave Friend]

Pete,

The best source for information may be your local Sonic reseller.

In the past Sonic has not made adding options or upgrading an inexpensive propositon. The market has gotten much more competitive so perhaps that has changed. A reseller will know.

Hope this helps.

Dave

[Dave Friend]

dog,

Because you use the word replication I assume you will be sending Disc Makers a DLT and they will be creating a stamping master. True? If so, then you can be reasonably assured that the disc will play on the widest possible array of machines. This assumes your disc is within the DVD spec’s max bitrate. Encore won’t let you make a disc that exceeds the spec bitrate so no worries.

If you are going to be sending a “master” disc that will be copied by duplication (which implies discs created by recording not by stamping) then you should probably keep the max video rate under 7Mb/s and be sure to use Dolby (ac3) and not PCM audio. Record this master on the best quality disc (DVD-R or DVD+R only) you can find and burn it at 1x.

Hope this helps.

Dave