Preparing files for DVD (Encore) using PrPro

[JayNewWeb]

I need to put a few simple videos onto DVD for prospects who don't have computers or whose attention I hope to gain by not having my videos at a link that gets lost in their Inbox.

I have PrPro 2017 and Encore (CS6).

What's the best way to organize these for a simple DVD in Encore with a simple menu to select the few given videos?

I read something about PrPro being able to export specifically for DVD, but I haven't looked into it yet. I figure it makes more sense to ask the broader question here.

In some cases, the videos to go on one DVD are not the same format at all. I do have a decent video converter (AVS) if needed. File formats, frame rates, and dimensions/resolution will vary.

It seems a sequence in PrPro should have videos that have the same frame rate, and that they can be different resolution/dimensions as long as I scale as needed (generally feeling safe to be scaling down, but not so much up), meaning I should use the AVS video converter as needed to match frame rates. Is that about right?

Thanks!

[Stan Jones · Accepted solution]

In PR, exporting or queing to Adobe Media Encoder, use the MPEG2-DVD format, and a preset to match your sequence. DVD = Standard Definition, so, for NTSC, it can only be 720x480. It can be 4:3 or 16:9. When going from HD to SD, be sure the set the crop (to the left in the Export dialog) as Scale to Fill.

Export each movie from a separate sequence. This makes menu creation/navigation easier. You can put different formats on a DVD, but not in a single Encore timeline. I recommend separate timelines anyway.

For each movie, you will get an m2v and a wav (and some other files - xmp, xmpses - that need to remain in the same folder as those files).

Open Encore and add a menu from the library. Doing this before adding the movies avoids a couple other issues. You can modify the menu later.

Import your movies "as timeline," and select the m2v and wav for that movie.

For each move, in the project panel, you will have the timeline, the video file, and the audio file.

In the project panel, under DVD transcode status, be sure the video file says "do not transcode." If it does not, ask us about your export settings in PR. The audio file will say "Untranscoded," and Encore will transcode it for you.

For each TIMELINE, select it and set its end point to "return to last menu."

Select a button on the menu and link it to one of your timelines.

Have the first button for a "play all."

Create a PLAYLIST (not a chapter playlist), and add all your timelines. Link the "play all" button to that timeline.

You can set the "first play" for Encore to start playing the "play all" or with the menu.

There is no "simple" DVD with a menu! lol.

[JayNewWeb]

Thanks for the help!

>> There is no "simple" DVD with a menu! lol. <<

(How come I don't see an easy way to quote from a post I'm replying to here?)

My challenge right now is that I'm hanging on by a thread with my business and have a ton of work to do to raise capital to survive, and this project of creating DVDs with menus only came up because a couple "possible" long-shot contacts to potential capital are older men with no computer and they asked for the videos portion of my presentation on DVD. The time I've already spent in the past week on this to the exclusion of almost everything else... and I haven't even begun to delve into what's posted above yet.

I did do a few DVDs with menus in Encore a few years ago (without exporting for DVD from Premiere -- I was using CS5 or CS6) but it will take time to remember what I did and now I've got a new workflow to learn. I used Photoshop for the menu background and I believe also the menu text back then.

I just need to put a few videos onto DVD (from different sources -- some are from customers as testimonials they recorded on their phone, some are from my using Snagit to record video on-screen, and some I created in-house with the Logitech webcam and software or with my Canon camcorder in 1080p24 that I usually put on a 720p24 timeline).

So...

I can just create a new sequence in PrPro for each video, let it reset the sequence specs to the video I'm placing on the timeline, export to DVD format as you said, and then just put each of those exports on a separate timeline in Encore and it will take care of the fact that they're different formats? That's what I understand you having said and that seems pretty cool if that is indeed the case.

I guess the main thing I need to watch for, then is the size? If I stay with 720p sequences in PrPro and make sure to handle scaling so it looks okay in the preview player, am I good?

Thank so much!

[SAFEHARBOR11]

If you have Windows 7 and need to make quick and easy DVDs, you could just use Windows DVD Maker - no learning curve! Encore can do some really nice stuff, but takes some time to learn.

To use Windows DVD, just export your videos as DV NTSC .avi files, then import those into the DVD software.

I can't say how or if the 24p clips would work, have only used 29.97 sources before.

Thanks

Jeff

[JayNewWeb]

Thanks!

I "think" that's what I used a couple weeks ago, and I "think" it took my mp4 (h.264) exports from Premiere just fine, which had various frame rates including 24 fps.

Of course, unless I'm missing something, this doesn't allow menus at all of any kind, though, correct? (I guess can always just use my efficient disc-labeling software and inkjet-printable discs and print clear "menus" saying the time mark at which the next video starts.)

[JayNewWeb]

What? It seems Windows DVD Maker does indeed provide a menu! I'm going to look into that now.!

Thanks!

[JayNewWeb]

Windows DVD Maker doesn't allow labeling scenes.

I've decided to go with Encore. A lot of it is coming back to me as I look through the program.

Once challenge I may have is that I already have mp4 exports from PrPro that I may not be able to readily recreate from the source. In that case, I need to either place them in Encore as they are and let Encore do the transcoding, or I need to import them back into PrPro and export them for DVD they way Stan said to do. Any suggestion which approach would be better?

Thanks again!

[Stan Jones]

From you description, I think you have this as one video. And the fastest compromise is not to provide for playing individual sections separately. Bring it into Encore as a timeline. You only need one button on the menu for the play all. Or no menu and the video as first play.

In Encore settings, set it to use AME for transcoding, and use "transcode now" to transcode.

See how it looks.

There can be a variety of issues, but it may work for what you need.

[SAFEHARBOR11]

My preference would be to supply Encore with DVD-compliant files. The video clips will end up as MPEG-2 on the DVD one way or the other, but by creating the MPEG-2 files yourself, you have some control of the process (choosing the encoding options). Also, some people have had issues when dropping different formats into Encore - the .mp4 clips may or may not be problematic, but why chance it?

Thanks

Jeff Pulera

Safe Harbor Computers

[JayNewWeb]

They're separate files. That's why I'm after a simple menu.

I did already manage to get them onto a DVD a couple weeks ago using AVS Video Editor and the accompanying Disc Creator, with no menu, after using that to make DVD-formatted _TS audio and video folders/files. I copied the disks with Nero to nrg files before sending them out, and it seems that temporarily I may have to just use that to burn dupes -- and use my SureThing disc labeling software, Canon MX922 inket printer, and JVC/TY inkjet-printable discs to print clear "menus" on the disc labels with time markers.

I've now used AVS Video Editor to convert the files to AVI at 29.97 with frame sizes matching their originals, but when I tried to put three of them onto a DVD with Windows DVD Maker with a simple menu they provide it hung at 3%. (I have a reasonably robust machine with an i7-4770, SSDs, 16 GB RAM, etc -- and it never complains about how much video processing I throw at it. Maybe the source files are too varied and converting to AVI at 29.97 wasn't enough.)

I guess the next step will be to import the mp4 files I already exported from PrPro back into PrPro in separate sequences and export to MPEG2-DVD and, well, figure out Encore -- which I'm making progress in doing. I went through a tutorial video, looked at my old notes, downloaded the menus library and picked a reasonably simple menu to work with, used Photoshop to remove the busy background...

I guess at that point I'll be going to the Encore forum if I need more guidance.

Thanks again for the help!

[John T Smith]

Somewhat dated now, but still a lot of good information to help learn Encore

CS5-thru-CC PPro/Encore tutorial list http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1448923 has lots of tutorial links to help learn

And, when you start to use Encore, ask those questions in Community: Encore |Adobe Community