replacement for Encore

[leond26637011]

  Since adobe Quinn quit encore I have been looking four a replacement for our DVD menu editing and building. Can someone suggest a replacement, I really need it ASAP

[Title edited for question clarity and future forum search... Mod]

[Ann Bens]

Ahhhhh took ik the wrong way....

[Andy 1968]

Maybe it would cost to much money to create something as complex as Encore but we need a DVD/4K Blu-ray authoring solution. DVD and Blu-ray authoring gets mentioned in the FCPX forums, Edius forums, Premiere Pro forums, Avid forums etc. There has to be money to be made from an inexpensive DVD/Blu-ray solution. I say bundle it with Premiere Pro but make FCPX, Edius and Avid users pay for it.

[neil wilkes]

@Andy (and everyone)

The myth that it would cost too much to develop is utter nonsense.

As I keep saying, the original AuthorCore is almost certainly up for licensing again now that Scenarist LLC own their tools again, having bought back after  the disastrous corporate sellout from Sonic Solutions to Rovi, who IMO had only bought Sonic in order to close them down as Rovi's main market is streaming on Demand (or the SOD model as I like to call it).

The biggest problem for starting from scratch as a developer is the cost of being a licensed developer, and without being a licensed developer you cannot create BDCMF replication masters and you cannot sell BD-R in any form as Blu-ray, because according to Sony (who own the format) it is non compliant product. 

So the answer is to license an authorcore, just as Adobe did with Encore.

I hear the comments about the insane metrics and agree completely that anybody who bases serious decisions based on what an algorithm tells them should be decreed clinically insane, as no algorithm is better than the assumptions used & the programmers who wrote it. And all too often these things are done specifically to output a desired answer as opposed to what is reality.

The whole world has gone mad

[neil wilkes]

How do I actually get quotes these days? Call me a dumb newbie, but I cannot see how to do it when it used to be right there in plain sight. sighs. It's a hard life, being a luddite these days.

Which seamlessly branching off there back on thread, but I am sorry to say to Ann above that in all seriousness, going to 4K Blu-ray would be an utter waste of development money as the physical 'Ultra HD Blu-ray' media is falling flat almost as quickly as Blu-ray 3D did (guys, the clue there was always the glasses - any media that uses trick glasses is not going to do well commercially), Ultra HD (aka 4K) - anyone who has not already gone down that path probably won't bother and as the accountants will tell you any production you put out on 4K also requires a separate, independent one at 'regular' 1080p True HD - remember this? The one the studios touted as 'the bestest evah', and the self-same format that is exponentially more expensive to produce than DVD ever was even at it's most pretentious easter-egg laden worst all the way back to late last century. Sorry peeps, I am in whimsical mood here but please bear wiith me - there is a point, and I will (eventually) get to it.

Ahem.

Now where was I? Oh yes - the delicious irony of DVD still refusing to go away mainly because the Blu-ray market has not grown in the same manner that DVD did and I cannot but help wonder if this is yet another cost cutting exercise forced onto programme & content makers for economic reasons when cutting down the quality of your filming would seem to be at cross-purposes with what you are doing! Nonetheless, after accountants up & down the industry had got rid of all the wonderful 35 & 70mm cameras, the editing machines, their maintenance & the skill needed to keep them working in favour of shooting 'directly to NTSC Digital' so there is a whole period of probably close to 20 years where all that exists now are NTSC Video files, probably stored as mp4 (which is indeed, sad to say, lossy).

DVD costs a fraction of what it costs on Blu-ray, and you can double that again if you want a 4k version.

You can start with a 1920x1080/24fps HD mastered video file nowadays and drop that to DVD whilst keeping the progressive flags. Any modern upscaling player will have no difficulty outputting such a DVD and it can look great - a trick Hollywood has known for decades now.

Adobe really should get back to Encore - I wager they still have not even approached Scenarist LLC about re-licensing the old Authorcore, which is full spec if anybody coded it ON in the GUI.

It's not HD or Blu-ray, but at the factory costs for Blu you are probably better off on Vimeo or similar, creating your own MP4 for that, and selling DVD done as well as you can make them at pennies a copy.

[Peru Bob]

"How do I actually get quotes these days? "

I do it manually by copying and pasting into a reply.  I then add Bold, Italic, quotation marks, and color.

[John T Smith]

Just out of curiosity, I searched and found https://www.scenarist.com/

Lots of good verbage about what the program(s) will do... but NO prices

When I click their purchase link, it goes to a form to send information to then be contacted by a reseller

That may work for other people, but I'm not interested in that kind of product where the vendor can't just post links to places to buy

[Ann Bens]

Dont think you want to know the price.

[Nancy OShea]

Just out of curiosity, I searched and found https://www.scenarist.com/

Lots of good verbage about what the program(s) will do... but NO prices

By @John T Smith

===========

From Google AI:

Scenarist, which is now offered as a subscription service called Scenarist Live, starts at $99/month for Scenarist SD and is billed annually. The subscription model is roughly half the cost of a traditional permanent license. For more advanced features like Scenarist UHD, the cost can be significantly higher, potentially reaching $700-800/month or more, depending on the specific features and needs. There may also be additional licensing fees for manufacturing and authoring masters, potentially adding several thousand dollars per year. 

Obviously, not aimed at the consumer market. Scenarist is headquartered near George "Star Wars" Lucas' place in Marin County. 

[Elwoodjblues1]

I was on that page 3 days ago. That's too expensive for me. 

[Nancy OShea]

Their target users are motion picture studios, not consumers & hobbyists.

[John T Smith]

I have the serial number CS6 so I can't verify the possible solution at the end of the message below, but it is claimed there that it is still possible to install Encore and use it via the Cloud, by following the exact instructions in the message from Averdahl... as always with old links, copy the download to an external device
https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro/how-is-everyone-making-dvd-s-in-premiere-pro-without-enc...

[Media Editor]

TMPGEnc Authoring Works 6 will not reincode videos for DVD and Blu-ray if you export the video from Premiere as MPEG2 DVD or H.264 Blu-ray.  The program only works on the PC.

[Elwoodjblues1]

I know this is an old topic, but I think it's still relevant. Physical media is not dead. Especially after streaming services become more and more expensive and take movies offline at whatever whim and there is no legal way to watch them again. This is a disaster for the customer and the producer behind the films. Physical media makes you independent!

I used to use Encore and have realized several projects with it. I'm currently trying to get back into DVD authoring and am testing various programs. None of them is as easy and intuitive to use as Encore. Please bring this program back!

[John T Smith]

If you used to use Encore why don't you just install it again?

CS6 will still allow you to activate... IF you have activations available

[Elwoodjblues1]

Because I can't find my copy of Encore anymore and it would be easier for editing if the program was integrated into the Adobe software package like it used to be.

[John T Smith]

The final Encore was part of Premiere Pro CS6 - earlier messages in this message thread say why Encore was stopped

[Elwoodjblues1]

i know.

[Nancy OShea]

Physical media is not dead.

By @Elwoodjblues1

=========

It might as well be. Modern home computers no longer come with standard disk bays for reading, much less writing to disks. An external DVD+RW drive costs a little under $100.  AFAIK, most Blu-Ray manufacturers have discontinued production. 

Once consumers learned about their lack of permanence for long-term storage, the desire for disks lost its allure. Assuming you still have access to players and burners, the disks themselves are getting scarcer to find. Eventually, media on disks will have to be transferred to other formats or risk being lost forever. 

CS6 is discontinued software from 2012. The last time I checked, about 2–3 years ago, these apps were still capable of creating DVDs.

• Roxio
• Magix DVD Architect
• CyberLink PowerDirector
• Nero Video
• DVD Flic
• DVDStyler
• Wondershare DVD Creator

Hope that helps.

[Elwoodjblues1]

Compared to the running time of films on streaming services, the lifespan of a DVD seems eternal. Many good films can no longer even be found on streaming providers. Whether Akira Kurosawa, John Woo or Dogma. Even current productions can disappear unexpectedly for tax-saving reasons, like the German series "Kohlrabenschwarze" on Paramount+ Of course, it depends on which country you live in. I'm not keen on VPN to get round that. It can also happen that films or series have to be reworked for streaming, like Supernatural, where they had to change the music. The series without real classic rock is the equivalent of Han shoot first for series freaks.

I have tested the programmes you mentioned to the greatest extent. I would also add Tmpgenc. My conclusion so far is that all these programmes are simply no good. They are either completely inflexible or unnecessarily complicated. I avoid Cyberlink, Nero and Magix on principle. In recent years I have only seen bad software from these companies or poor support.

That's why I would like to see Encore revitalised.

[Nancy OShea]

That's why I would like to see Encore revitalised.

By @Elwoodjblues1

=========

That will never happen. Sorry. Encore can't be resurrected from the dead. 

For what it's worth, I'm on a personal quest for "Colossus the Forbin Project," a 70s Sci-fi thriller about a supercomputer that runs amok.  Elon Musk allegedly had it pulled from distribution because it portrayed Artificial Intelligence unfavorably.  I'm hoping someone still has digital copies of "Colossus..." saved to a DVR or HD.

[R Neil Haugen]

It's best to leave politics out. Especially wild assumptions . 

The issues with streaming services pulling content from availability, even when customers paid extra for the specific content, has been an ongoing problem. THAT is definitely something to complain about.

[Nancy OShea]

Not politics. The fact remains that Colossus... has mysteriously & abruptly disappeared from ALL major streaming & VOD services. If you don't believe me, try searching for it. Chances are, you won't find it.  But if you do, please let me know.

[John T Smith]

>It's best to leave politics out

In a different forum the Employee forum Moderator has explicitly said politics is not allowed, and has removed some messages

[RobShultz]

I use Premiere Pro Elements. Not as robust as Encore but it does what I need it to do. It is also very intuitive.

[John T Smith]

The current version of PrElements will not create a DVD... I'm not sure, but I think that function was removed after version 2022... but could have been after version 2021