[Neil Wilkes]

Don’t panic – yet!
Is this an actual build attempt, or just a transcode?
If it’s a build attempt, try reading this
https://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/329502.html

You are logged in as administrator, yes? not a limited user?

[Neil Wilkes]

Good News.
Motto – ALWAYS run a project check before building a disc.
That would have picked this up immediately, as you should have got an error telling you there was too much in the project for the size of DVD selected. At least – this is what happens to me when I forget to make that change!!

[Neil Wilkes]

What version of Encore are you using?
1.01 does not support writing to DL discs
1.5.1 will write to DVD+R DL, so will 2.0

DLT = Digital Linear Tape, and it is the preferred format for sending masters to replication facilities. It is also mandatory to use these if Copy Protection is required on the final disc, as copy protection cannot be applied to written media (despite what some companies claim to the contrary).
You need to use 2 DLT’s as the usage is one tape per layer (Layer 0 goes to tape 1, and layer 1 goes to tape 2). The best tapes to use are Type III or Type III XT – these are 10/20 or 15/30Gb devices and the cheapest options as well as the most widely used. All replication facilities can read these tapes (also known as DLT2000 as well).
There are other variants. DLT4000 & DLT8000. Each step up gets larger in capacity & more expensive as well. Plus despite what we are told, DLT is not as backwards compatible as it might be, and not all facilities can read the 8000 or the 4000 types. And it’s a waste of resources as you will be writing 4.38Gb to a tape that can hold up to 80Gb.

[Neil Wilkes]

That’s not full!!
You will be fine, trust me on this. Encore’s automatic setting will be just perfect around 999/1000 times.
The only time you can hit trouble is when you are very full – with the spare space on the disc measured in 3 figures or less (8.2 or 8.3 Gb out of the 8.54, for example) and even then only ewhen there are long periods with no chapter point that Encore can use as a layer break placement when there is just a single long timeline. With multiple timelines, you will be fine.
The reality is that you will only find out for sure when you write a disc. Encore 1.5.1 and 2.0 will write to DVD+R DL discs. If you are running 1.5 then there is a free update to 1.5.1 that adds DL support. If you are running 1.01 then you will have to write to a folder or an image & burn with a third partytool such as IMGBurn.
Play it back & watch carefully for the break. If it appears in the middlee of a section, then there is an issue. Chances are extremely good that with under 8Gb and with multiple timelines, you are going to be fine.

[Neil Wilkes]

But to be absolutely certain of no corruption, before you close out go to Edit/Preferences and then to the Audio/Video out section, and clean the media cache database.
If you’re feeling truly paranoid, delete it.
Encore will rebuild next time you open the saved project.

Be careful with your layer breaks.

[Neil Wilkes]

Or, of course, you can use WMV-HD as part of the ROM content.
For proper HD DVD authoring, it’s $50,000 sheets for SCenarist HD DVD, plus an additional $60,000 for the CineVision encoder & spec checking tool.
Add to this another $50,000 for Scenarist SD, but the generous folks at Sonic will do you the bundle for only $150,000.

Forget anyone who tells you that Ulead or DVDSP will do what you want – they won’t.

[Neil Wilkes]

AVI settings.
You have 2 choices here.
DV AVI or uncompressed.
I would use DV AVI personally, and let Encore handle transcoding to MPEG-2 automatically.
Are you running Premiere Pro 1.5.1 or 2.0? (This is actually quite important)

[Neil Wilkes]

Things are about to get a little easier – and at the same time a lot more complicated I’m afraid.
Your broker has said the replication company will accept Dual Layer DVD+R DL discs.
This makes it easier, but be aware that if the project is maxed out and very full, you will have a potential layer break problem because of the way these formats work.
DVD+R DL can carry a maximum of 2086192 sectors per layer,
DVD-R DL can carry a maximum of 2085856 sectors per layer.
Each sector will be a block of data from your project. So, as you can see, +R DL can actually fit more onto Layer 0 than -R. This will only be an issue if the project is absolutely stuffed to capacity though.
Next thing has to be – does your burner actually support DL writing? If it is a dell, the odds are very high it will be okay with DVD+R DL format.
If you google for a freeware tool called IMGBurn, and install this, you can interrogate your burner’s capabilities. This will tell you.
More good news: EncoreDVD will write directly to a DVD+R DL disc, and all you do is set the project to the DVD9 8.54Gb size, leave the layer break set to automatic, and Encore will do everything else.

Now for the complications.
You can indeed write the DL data to 2 DVD-R or DVD+R discs. Trouble is, Encore will not do this for you. The only application I know of that will do this is GEAR Professional Mastering Edition. This is because you will have to create a set of DDP images on your HDD first, and then write Layer o and Layer 1 contents – DDPID, CONTROL.DAT & IMAGE.DAT to 2 separate discs, and GPME is the only application I know of that can turn a project into DDP images for you. This would involve writing a folder from Encore, opening the folder in GPME, calculating the layer break & then writing the whole thing to a DDP image on your HDD. Calculating Layer Breaks manually is a bewildering task at first, but it does get easier.

DLT.
DLT Type III or type III XT is simply a version of DLT. The machines are sometimes known as DLT2000 as well, and I recommend them because
A – they can be found very cheap these days reconditioned
B – the tapes are (relatively) cheap
C – all replication facilities can read these, but with newer DLT4000 or DLT8000 there may be complications – and of course the tapes are brutally expensive as DLT8000 is often up to 50Gb in size. A bit of a waste when you think you only use 4.4Gb of it in a DVD layer!

In the first instance, try it with DVD+R DL. As long as your burner will do this.
Make absolutely certain your firmware is at the most recent, never use anything otyher than Verbatim discs, and always burn as slowly as possible – written discs have greatly reduced reflectivity compared to pressed ones, and dual layer even more so. Plus errors get expensive with this media.
I hope it all goes well – please let us all know?

[Neil Wilkes]

DVD9 is a dual layer disc.
Whilst some replication copmpanies will accept these as masters on DVD-R DL, or even DVD+R DL, this is not recommended. Check with your replication company though.
As a general rule, these are usually done to DLT tape, one tape per layer.
You need a DLT Type III or type III XT machine (newer ones are a waste of money. Tapes are more expensive & you still need one tape per layer regardless of capacity.)
Additionally, not all replication facilities can read these newer ones but type III XT is pretty well universally acceptable.

If your burner can write a DL disc, then you can do this to DVD+R DL right out of Encore directly. Be aware these discs are expensive, and you should only buy Verbatim Data Life Plus. And there is no guarantee your player will read them either.

Then you will have all the fun of the layer break setting. With DVD+R, this is handled bt splitting the data equally across both layers. But, when the disc goes to replication, this is not the right way to do things & the layer break must be calculated properly.

[Neil Wilkes]

Let Encore handle it unless you know exactly how to encode an MPEG-2 file for DVD-Video.
AVI is just an acronym for Audio Video Interleave, and there are as many variations on this as grains of sand on a beach.
What I would recommend is exporting from Premiere Pro as a DV AVI – around 13Gb/hour – and letting Encore handle the MPEG-2 encoding in Automatic mode.

Your description of “Strobing” could well be – if it is what I think it is – a problem caused by a mismatched field order.
What was the source of your file? Was it captured from DV cam?
What settings did you use to export from Premiere?