I hear Encore sucks, is this true?

I'm just curious but what advanced coding am I missing out on here? I really like the program but also burn pretty simple dvd's which it does a great job at for me.
 
iDVD!! ahaha, just kidding...But seriously, I have no idea either. I would love to find out what the big studios are using. Especially for those really elaborate menus and what-not.
 
Yeah, I'd also be interested to find out what DVD software people are using. In particular, what professional software is out there? (I don't want to use any preset, template dvd software) I'm talking about full out, custom made motion menus, etc. I currently use Encore, but haven't played around with it too much, just curious as to what other options are out there.
 
DVD Studio Pro here, but I have heard GOOD things about Encore.


Once you start getting into the upper end ($200-$400) DVD authoring software it's the actual DVD spec that is limiting, the software will do much of the same things, just in a different way.

Perhaps by coding Egproductions meant variables and setting GPRMs...?

Keep in mind that custom motion menus are created outside out the authoring program (like in AE) and just brought in and linked.
 
holymexicobatman said:
I would love to find out what the big studios are using. Especially for those really elaborate menus and what-not.
Click to expand...

Sonic DVD Creator
Sonic Scenarist
Sony Pictures Entertainment Blu-Print (for Blu-Ray Authoring)
Matsushita MEI Authoring Tool

All of them is in a price range between a Hummer and a House.

Frank

P.S. ...and if you think Encore sucks, the Sado-Maso interface of Scenarist is somewhere between torture and your worst nightmare.
 
Sony DVD Architect Pro 4.5 is pretty mad for doing cool shite in the DVD world. Haven't really played with it much yet but from what I'm seen it's got lots of sweetness to offer. Especially when you collaborate with Sony Vegas Pro 8. I have for a long time been a Adobe fan using Premiere and Encore, I still like the software but I must say I'm a big fan of this Sony software!
Cheers :)
 
I've had much experience using the new CS3 encore as a teacher in my classroom. I have found that on both mac and PCs encore has some inherent problems. The program loads very slow ( on dual core computers). It also responds very slow in preview mode. It lacks the ability to preview a motion menu without rendering it first. The preview also does not display certain functions like button selections and button Icons that will show up on the DVD. I have run into several errors while transcoding especially with adobes built in templates that lead to software errors. The templates are difficult to preview and load very slowly. Also it is virtually impossible to just drop in a movie file and burn a DVD simple and easy for those rush jobs. Plan on spending a lot of time trying to get this program to work properly.

On the bright side encore does have some amazing features. Like the ability to export your DVD project as a flash website, and a neat button that sends any menu directly into photoshop for retouching and customization.

I prefer DVD studio pro over Encore, and to burn that real quick emergency DVD I have found that popcorn for macs is wonderful.
 
Hi all,

Encore generally either works perfectly or not so well. For the Windows folks, it can really be hit and miss.

Early versions, pre-CS3 were plagued with driver mismatches.

My CS3 version has worked fine, but since it's the first version that has worked for me, I'm sort of waiting for the shoe to drop.

Damning with faint praise...
 
For burning a quick and dirty DVD I found it easy to hit the "send to Encore" button in Premiere and walk away for a coffe and a cigarette or two. When I come back the timeline is burned to a DVD.

Frank
 
In my expierence, I've found that already having your files transcoded (Mpeg2, and AC3) makes Encore alot easier to work with.

It can be buggy, but the Blu-Ray encoding features are a plus, even if they still act like DVD menus (No Javascript programming). So essientally You can have two sets of transcodes, say a 1080P and a 720x480 and still have two identical looking discs in one program.
 
Yeah I'll agree that transcoding with something like TMPG before bringing it into Encore makes life easy. Gives me a tad bit more sharpness too.
 
We've found that Encore generally works pretty well, but there are a number of annoying bugs in it.

Just yesterday we had a project that for no apparent reason stopped dead after the first-play. Rebuilt the project, force-re-encoded the first play clip, deleted and rebuilt that part of the project and still no go. Re-output the AVI and then re-encoded it and the problem went away.

We've also had problems with very large projects. We just completed one with about 40 menus and submenus and a ton of different, short clips (it was a preview DVD.) Encore simply would not build it, and a couple of times, it trashed the .ncor project file unrecoverably just as we were completing the build of the project. Tried it on different machines, tried rebuilding the project multiple times, and still no success. When we talked to the project manager for Encore at Macworld, he essentially acknolwedged that there were some issues with it but didn't have any real suggestions.

We finally rebuilt that project on Studio Pro and it worked perfectly.

Encore has a few features that are nice, but Studio Pro is far more flexible and, so far, seems a lot more stable.
 
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