How is everyone making DVD's in Premiere Pro without Encore?

[Flex Media LLC]

Hey Folks,

It's been more than a little while since I've edited video. I'm doing a project for Veterans for out church in Premire Pro. About 20 years ago, I would send it to media encoder then Encore. I have Creative Cloud but no Encore. How do you do it theses days?

Thanks,

Art

[@mj · Accepted solution]

Hi @Flex Media LLC ,

The last version of Encore was CS6.

You can no longer istall it from the CC Desktop App.

Here is a link to older versions if you bought from Adobe directly.

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/downloaded-older-app.html

Should that not work, you will need to look at another application. Pinnacle Studio is an option if you can't download Premiere Pro CS6. (Encore is a part of that install).

Good luck

mj

[Flex Media LLC]

Thanks for replying. I searched this forum right after I posted and found this answer. I was hoping something changed.

Thank you!

Art

[Ann Bens]

IMO one of the best authoring software: windows only.

TMPGEnc Authoring Works 6 - The Ultimate DVD / Blu-ray / AVCHD Authoring Tool - Pegasys Inc.

[Andy 1968]

A lot of us had Encore for several years and now Adobe took it away for legal reasons. Adobe has to know we need a replacement. I don't need Adobe Rush but I do need Adobe Encore. 

[Averdahl · Accepted solution]

I don't need Adobe Rush but I do need Adobe Encore. 

You can still get it:

Go to ProDesignTools - Adobe CS6 Trial Downloads: Direct Links and download Premiere Pro CS6 (File 1+File2). Double click on PremierePro_6_LS7.exe and follow the instructions. During install you will be promted to give a serial number but you should choose to install it as a Trial. Installing it as a Trial is important.

Since you install it as a Trial it will activate the license via Creative Cloud when you launch Encore CS6.

All files are legit.

[Randune23]

It took me a little scrolling to get to the bottom to find the Premiere Pro links.  It seems to be installing just like you have mentioned above.  The funny thing is once it does install Encore it may take me awhile to remember just how to use the software.  I mean it has been quite a few years since I've played around in Encore.

Thanks for all your help and especially John T Smith for sending me the link to this post.

Randy

[Randune23]

Quick question...where are all the templates for menus and such that usually came with Encore???

It's like it didn't install any of the Encore libraries?

Randy

[Averdahl]

No templates were installed with Encore CS6, but they are aviable here: Adobe CS6 Extra Content

You want to download Premiere Pro / Encore CS6 Extra Content. I never install them so i cannot guide you further but several other users here can.

[Randune23]

Oh it was super simple to do (although it did take me a few moments to work through the install).  All you do was to click on File 1 and File 2 to get them to download.  Once the BOTH have downloaded, click on the first file and it will begin the process.  Once they are both downloaded, go to where they downloaded to (I downloaded mine to my desktop).  Locate the Adobe CS6 file folder, double click on it, double click on the Premiere Pro Family Content installers folder, then double click on the Adobe Encore CS6 Functional Content folder, and then double click on Set-up.exe.  Once the dialog box comes up, click on Adobe Encore CS6 Library and click install.  If you had Encore open, you will need to close for them to load.  Restart Encore and the few templates are listed under the library.  It's not much but it will get you started.

Randy

[Randune23]

I was able to download Encore following the instructions listed above (and it didn't ask me for a serial number), and I was able to install the templates as well. 

However, even after building the project in Encore I remembered a couple of things that I didn't like about Encore.  It took FOREVER to burn the DVD and the quality was sub-par. 

I ended up downloading the Peagus software that someone mentioned and was so excited that it didn't do any kind of watermark on the final DVD. And the best thing is it didn't take any any of the quality away from the final product. 

id recommend that software. I didn't check how much it costs but I did see it was a one time cost and not another stupid subscription or a monthly fee. LOL

Randy

[Averdahl]

It took FOREVER to burn the DVD and the quality was sub-par. 

That indicates that you may have brought in footage that needed transcoding and maybe used PAL footage in a NTSC project or vice versa. That will indeed give you sub-par quality since the footage will be converted from PAL to NTSC of vice versa. When burning, let Encore create an ISO file and use a third party software to burn since the burn engine in Encore has some issues.

Having said that, i do indeed agree that TMPGEnc Authoring Works 6 from Pegasys nine out of ten times outperforms Encore for my needs. The subtitle engine in TAW6 is fantastic compared to Encores. Butter smooth text and no jagged edges anymore. The only thing i miss is more precise control over menues, such as adding Pop-up menues with all 32 buttons. But once one has created a menu template it is lightning fast and easy to use. I used TAW6 yesterday to create a Blu-ray disc.

[Randune23]

Nope, rendered from PP in HD and quality of video was great when I brought it into Encore.  But when I rendered out, not good at all.  More like a waste of the hours it took to finally create the DVD.  And No, I didn't (nor would I ever) use PAL.  I've had numerous people on many different chat sites tell me to create the ISO file and use (yet another) 3rd party software to actually burn the disk.  I would honestly like to have a program that can actually do it all.

The ONLY thing I found as a huge nuisance in TMPGEnc (can't they come up with an easier to remember name) was if you create a chapter in any of your videos it creates another stupid thumbnail on the main DVD menu.  So for a DVD that literally only had 10 separate videos, after logging all the chapter points I ended up with 5 pages of menus.  I love to utilize Chapters (like we do in Encore) WITHOUT having to create another thumbnail on the DVD menu.  I imagine it was some error I made on which format I chose, but I needed to just be done with this 2017 video so I could move onto 2018.

Thanks for the advice though...

Randy

PS Maybe Pegasys could actually make a YouTube instructional video that used an actual person's voice and not an AI like Alexa or Siri.  Pretty lame if you ask me.

[Ann Bens]

DVD is what it is: SD, Standard Definition which is way less then HD.

best is to play dvd with a BD player which most of the time will upscale the footage.

You dont render out as HD but use the DVD preset which will give you two files video and audio which are DVD compatible files and dont need to be re-rendered in Encore (prefered method).

The reason for burning an iso with say ImgBurn or CDBurnerXP is that you can check the iso for misstakes before burning to disk. Encore does not tell you is something went wrong.

[Averdahl]

Nope, rendered from PP in HD and quality of video was great when I brought it into Encore.

DVD is per definition standard definition (SD) so you should render out SD from Premiere Pro, not HD.

For example, if you render out HD and choose to use H.264 it will look good when you look at it. But, H.264 uses hard comprerssion and when you bring that into Encore it will be re-transcoded to SD but now as MPEG2 that is hard compressed as well. Even if you bring in a high quality codec into Encore, Premiere Pro do downscale the footage way better than Encore do.

If doing DVD, only bring in SD assets into Encore. Use the MPEG2-DVD as Format in the Export Settings dialog and pay attention to the Field Order. If you use interlaced HD it´s always Upper while Premiere Pro for some reason year 2020 still wants to export it to Lower though it will look like crap, so make sure to change that manually.

And, downscaling HD to SD will always degrade the footage and Adobe apps are not the best ones when it comes to scale down video.

This image is just an example, so make sure to use frame rate, etc that matches your source footage.

[Randune23]

Thanks for the file format suggestions.  I always thought H.264 was the best quality available in PP.  I will have to try that when I finish with my 2018 video.  2017 was already created in the Pegasys program and I was very happy with the results (even when I created the exported individual files in H.264).

I want the footage to be as clear and as high-quality as I can when I make the DVDs.  It seems pointless to shoot on an HD video camera and edit in PP for it only to look like VHS (not that bad but you get what I mean) when we are viewing the DVD on our Blu-Ray player.

Randy

[Ann Bens]

H.264 is better then mpeg2 but not when you want to make a dvd in Encore.

If you want to retain your HD quality make BD disks instead of DVD .

You already seem to have a BD-player.

Have not made DVD's in years, all BD now.

[Averdahl]

when we are viewing the DVD on our Blu-Ray player.

If that´s the case i would forget DVD and make Blu-ray discs instead. The difference in quality is massive. It is pointless to shoot with a HD camera if the aim is to make DVD. The HD quality take a serious hit when downscaling to SD.

BTW, all authored DVD's are MPEG2-only, even Hollywood titles. 🙂

[Randune23]

Thanks Averdahl and Ann for your help.  I was actually talking with my Dell support tech last week when DVDStyler wouldn't burn the DVD I thought it might be a Dell update issue.  But while I was updating to the latest BIOS, he told me that my Precision Workstation came with a Blu-Ray burner and I should just start burning my projects to BR.  But since I finally figured out how to burn my 2017 project to a 8 Gb DVD, I thought I was done with the 2017 project.  But now based on what you two have said, I should render my videos out in PP in MPEG2 format and then burn to a Blu-Ray.

Again, thanks for all your help through this process.  It's so nice to get great advice from smarter people than me.

Take care and have a Happy Thanksgiving (if you're from the States).

Randy

[Ann Bens]

Dont use mpeg2 for BD. H.264 BD preset is the way to go.

[Averdahl]

But now based on what you two have said, I should render my videos out in PP in MPEG2 format and then burn to a Blu-Ray.

Yes, try that and see the big difference. To complicate things more, this time you should export using the H.264 Blu-ray format. Use BD -R discs such as Verbatim BD -R when burning the discs. On my old Blu-ray player i can even place the .ISO file on an USB stick and watch everything as if it were a burned disc, menues included.

[alisonl17204042]

I tried as you suggested and installed Encore as a Trial version.  It is still asking me for a serial number.

Help!

Alison

[Averdahl]

There are a lot of tips and troubleshooting tips for this, here are two great links:

1. Creative Cloud apps don't require a serial number. Try the solutions below to fix this error.

2. When I open my Creative Cloud application it asks me for my serial number?

[alisonl17204042]

Even the Trial version of Encore still isn't working for me.  Could this be that Adobe has removed even that option?

It continues to ask for the serrial number.

[Averdahl]

Could this be that Adobe has removed even that option?

Did you read the links i posted earlier today and what did you try to do to solve the issue?