Jeff Bellune
Forum Replies Created
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David,
You cannot make a DDP 2.0 image on DVD-R for a mastering house using *only* Encore. As far as Encore is concerned (in its documentation and on Adobe’s web site), your only option is DLT. That is as true today as when Encore was released.
To do what you are proposing to do (write a DDP 2.0 image to DVD-R) requires an additional $400 software package and an additional freeware package.
Although a road map exists to get a DDP image whose content is a project authored with Encore on to a DVD-R, the map has significant financial and technological obstacles that go along for the ride.
In your case, I respectfully recommend that you make a decision. Now. Buy GEAR Pro Mastering Edition or don’t. Figure out where to get and how to use IFOEdit or don’t. Try your old DLT or don’t. Buy a new DLT or don’t. Do what you have to do to make your deadline. Arguing semantics over whether a poster or an application’s documentation meant “is it possible at all?” or “is it possible using just Encore?” is a pointless waste of time for you now. Save it for the water cooler after the project is out the door.
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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The issue for the OP was not that it couldn’t be done at all, the issue was that it couldn’t be done with Encore.
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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Do you have an override set for the Play All button on the menu? If so, remove it.
While you’re at it, make sure every single override in your project is set to “Not Set” – buttons, menus, timelines and disc. You don’t need them. Someday you might, but not today.
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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The extra chapter at the end of each timeline lets you skip from one timeline to the next using the DVD remote control. In previous versions of Encore, you had to add this chapter yourself. If the author placed it incorrectly, bad things could happen. Encore 2.0 has relieved the author of this weighty responsibility.
Whether skipping or playing back, with or without the added last chapter, there will always be a pause between timelines. It is unavoidable because of how the DVD specification requires a disc to be programmed.
The length of this pause varies from player to player, and it is almost always worse in Encore’s preview than on the finished disc.
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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[ADHMooVee] “I did what you said as far as deleting the end actions but I kind of got loss in the “chapter playlists” suggestions. Could you elaborate a little on how I can do this for each chapter?”
Create a new chapter playlist, then add a single chapter to the new playlist. Set the end action of the new chapter playlist to return to a menu. Do this for each chapter for which you want to make individual playback possible.
In my book, I describe almost the opposite method, which assumes a natural break between chapters, as you would usually have for a performance video. That method uses chapter end actions to get the audience back to the menu after each chapter, and uses a single chapter playlist with all of the chapters added sequentially as a Play All function. The reason you need natural breaks in the program content is because giving each chapter an end action introduces a slight pause between chapters. If completely seamless playback from start to finish is required, then this method won’t work for you.
Thanks for the props on my book. Wes’ book is much more technically-oriented than mine, and he goes into greater depth than I do as he covers various technical aspects of DVD authoring. His book is very thorough, and it will give you a good foundation on which to build your knowledge of why things work the way they do in the DVD world. My book is oriented towards “do this to get that” in Encore, with an understanding that you’ll just have to trust me on why some things have to be done certain ways when making a DVD. [Flash Eddie Murphy smile here]
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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Buy better media.
Once the new media is inserted into the drive, see what speeds Encore offers. If it’s still only 1x or 2x then, yes, try 1x. If it’s higher, try a speed that is roughly half the max.
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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It seems that the player is having trouble reading the media. Do you have a software DVD player that you can use to test the disc?
What brand of blank media are you using? Stay away from Memorex, Fuji, Sony and any that you find in the bargain bin at the local store. I recommend Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim.
I would also try slowing down your burn speed. For example, if your burner supports 16x burning, and your blank media is rated at 16x, then try burning a disc at 8x.
Buy an RW disc for testing, if you don’t have one. No coasters that way.
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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What happens when you first insert the disc?
Also, please be aware that the “TopMenu” button *should* take you to the first menu (your old first play). It’s designed to go back and forth between a menu and your current playback position in the timeline, not between 2 timelines.
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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For fancier games, you need an authoring package that gives you access to the system navigation commands and the GPRMs. The GPRMs can store information on lots of things, including what parts of the disc have been seen and what the score of a game is.
DVD-Lab Pro can do a lot of this kind of stuff, and multi-thousand dollar authoring packages like Sonic Scenarist can do anything you want. Encore doesn’t yet give you the ability to directly access or modify the GPRMs, SPRMs or System Navigation commands. Those parts of a DVD are accessed through Encore’s interface, which is known as an “abstraction layer”. Although Encore is a powerful program, you cannot yet do everything with Encore that you could if you were allowed to program the DVD yourself.
Keep in mind, though, that would require a knowledge of the DVD specification that is well beyond most authors. You’d also have to be a pretty competent computer programmer.
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0
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What DVD players have you tried (both software and hardware)? Try it on more than one if you can.
If it plays OK on some but not on others, then you may be dealing with players that don’t like to have a menu as first play. In that case, add a timeline to the project with about 5 seconds of silent, black video and set that as first play. Then link the end action of the timeline to the menu.
-Jeff
The Focal Easy Guide to Adobe Encore DVD 2.0