encore quandry

[Michael Grenadier]

so I've got a big job supervising the restoration of a documentary from the 80's including dvd and blu-ray authoring.  I had the workflow figured out 3 months ago when I bid the job using encore 6...  well adobe pulled the plug on that.  I have a license for CS5.5 for the mac so I can run encore 5.1 but it's been wonky on a 2012 macbook pro and a 2017 macbookpro both running mojave.  I downloaded the trial of TMPGEnc Authoring Works 6 (I also have a decent windows machine) and frankly find the interface a nightmare...    I'd be happy to work my way thru the manual, if I could find one.  I've emailed the company and hopefully will hear something, but wondering if anyone has any insights for me on whether I can get encore 5.1 to work (I could probably install an earlier OS on the 2012 macbookpro - I've got a alternate boot ssd with high sierra ready to go) or if TMPGEnc Authoring Works 6 is workable or if there's another solid alternative out there.  And gotta say I'm pretty good at figuring this sort of thing out.  I did pretty complicated dvd projects in dvdsp and felt comfortable in the encore interface.   

thanks as always.

[Andy 1968]

You and I are both ACP. We may not be the majority but  many Adobe users still need to burn DVDs and Blu-ray discs. DVD and Blu-ray authoring gets more posts than anything else on these forums. You would think that even if people did not post about creating DVD and Blu-ray discs Adobe would have made a replacement for Encore because Adobe should think of the older users and offer a replacement ASAP. I admit we are a minoriy but how hard can it be to create something like Encore? The Premiere Pro/Encore combination gave Premiere Pro an advantage over Avid, FCP, Resolve etc. 

[Averdahl]

Since TMPGEnc Authoring Works 6 (TAW) is template based it is nightmare until one discovers how to do own templates, then things start to fall into place. I use TAW for most of my work today since it, IMHO, totally outperforms Encore when it comes to usability and since the subtitle engine in TAW are superiour to Encore´s. No more jagged edges... *hint, hint*

When adding submenues and/or pop-up menues Encore outperforms TAW if you need many buttons on the submenu/pop-up menu, but for DVD´s/BD´s with just a main menu TAW is my preferred app today. But yes, it took some time to get used to it but once i did the time it takes from start to finish dropped comparing to Encore.

[Ann Bens]

I tried TMPG Works for a month: the templates were a nightmare at first. But finally figured it out.

Have not found a way to make one's own buttons or thumbnails.

Dont think there is a real manual.

Still use Encore but might be forced to buy TMPG when W11 takes over.

And Andy stop moaning about a replacement: ain't going to happen.

[Averdahl]

Hit F1 in TAW will take you to a site with all you need: TMPGEnc Authoring Works 6 Help

It is possible to make custom buttons and thumbnails but i gave up as well and simplified everything instead and make better backgrounds today than i did before.

[Ann Bens]

You will have to teach me how to do that some day.

[Michael Grenadier]

Thanks everybody.  Seems like a nightmare and unfortunately the client's expectations were formed with dvdsp...

Ann, what version of encore are you using and what platform/os?  I have a license for cs5.5 for the mac so that seems usable although as I said somewhat wonky in mojave...  Unfortunately my serial number does not work for windows...

and encore 6 requires a cs6 serial number now afaik...  I may land up resorting to scenarist if I can do all the authoring within a month...    Will do some testing with a high sierra boot to see if Encore seems more stable...  Any advice will be appreciated...  Anyone have any experience with Toast?  I always used to use toast for burning dvd's...   but really need to be able to design menus in photoshop.  Can probably get the client to use prefab rollover states like circles or underlines...

[Ann Bens]

Encore CS6 on W10.

One advantage of TMPG Works is, it does not re-encode DVD/BD files from Premiere.

[John T Smith]

You may already know about the difficulty installing on the HS operating system

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/install-creative-suite-mac-os-sierra.html

[Michael Grenadier]

no problem doing the installation on highsierra and mojave but behavior not great.  very slow import of m4v 23.976 video file and very slow opening a saved project with the m4v file already imported.  and occasional encore crashes.   So looking like snowleopard is the recommended OS according to this

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/system-requirements-master-collection.html

Will either clear enough space on my 500gig startup drive on my 2012 macbookpro to repartition and install snowleopard or boot from an external ssd.   Make sense?  

thanks

[John T Smith]

I'm on Windows (Win10 as free upgrade from Win8.1 with Encore CS6 already installed) so I have very little Mac information, only a few saved links to previous discussions... I only know that Microsoft seems to do a lot better job of supporting 'old' programs than Apple

[Michael Grenadier]

thanks John.  I figured out how to install older OS's on the mac...  Apple doesn't make it simple.