Recommendations on Encore Replacement

[david dt41184977]

Without any warning whatsoever, Adobe pulled the rug out from under me and removed my access to Encore.  I have a dance recital I've built assets for... menus in Photoshop, mpeg files in encoder with chapters... that is due this week, and I have no idea where to turn. 

I've tried to google DVD/Bluray authoring softwares, and I just can't find enough info on any other programs to know what to purchase.  Is there anyone in this community that has had success with another authoring software?  Any help or recommendations will be most appreciated, as talking with 5 reps at Adobe over 3 hours provided me with nothing more than a "Sorry, sucks to be you!"

[Michael Grenadier]

but if you had encore installed it should still work.  I have it installed and it still launches...   

[david dt41184977]

It was working back in June with the last project I built.  I opened it today, and it required a license code of which I dont have, as I've been using it through CC.  I reached out to support, and after being passed around for 3 hours, they eventually told me I was SOL because the only license I have is CC, which no longer supports use of Encore.  I dont know what changed from June to now that caused my app to require a unique license.

[Ann Bens]

Adobe pulled the plug on CS6 (not sure) in may 2019.

If you bought CS6 some years ago then you can use the licence code (as I did) otherwise there is no way to get it up and running again.

Good alternatieve imo is:

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

[fleecepack]

That's Windows only.

[Averdahl]

I opened it today, and it required a license code of which I dont have, as I've been using it through CC.

Encore do launch for me and i have it licensed through CC. A long shot to solve your issue may be to log out from the CC app, restart the computer and log in again. Try to launch Encore after that.

[Ann Bens]

I had the same message as David: it would not launch and asked for a code. So I licend with my CS6 MC serial number. As for Pr cs6 that is still running.

[Averdahl]

I had the same message as David: it would not launch and asked for a code. So I licend with my CS6 MC serial number. As for Pr cs6 that is still running.

Interesting! Maybe my license for Encore will time out within a couple of days/weeks. Very good to know that you could license it with your MC serial. I may not be that lucky since i installed Encore using the Premiere Pro CS6 installer and not the Procudtion Premium CS6 installer.

[Stan Jones]

> i installed Encore using the Premiere Pro CS6 installer and not the Procudtion Premium CS6 installer.

I don't think I was ever prompted for the serial number, but when the CC option for Encore was removed, my install of CS6 Production remained as licensed. Maybe I installed it way back using the license number? Are you sure you don't have a license?

Stan

[Andy 1968]

Blu-ray/DVD authoring gets mentioned in Premiere Pro forums, FCPX forums, Avid forums, Edius forums etc. If Adobe made a DVD/Blu-ray authoring program that integrated with Premiere Pro but could also work as a stand alone sofware program they could make some money.  Not ony have I had clients that wanted a 4K UHD Blu-ray discs but I have wanted to create some for personal use. We don't need anything as complex as Encore although Encore rocked!

[John T Smith]

I have also seen this one mentioned https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/dvd-architect/

[Averdahl]

I am re-directed to https://www.vegascreativesoftware.com/us/ when i click that link. It seems like DVD Architect is gone as well. 

[Media Editor]

Cyberlink Power2 Go13 has a free version good for a number of days.  If you are creating a Blu-ray disc, the program will accept H.264 videos without reincoding.  You can put an H.264 video on a DVD and  it will be HD quality.  However, you can only put about 25 minutes on the DVD.  It will only play on a Blu-ray player.

[Corgirosie]

Unfortunately Power2Go is only for PCs.  I need something compatible with my Mac.  I'm not trying to do anything crazy.  I created a tribute video in iMovie to my brother who passed last year and I simply want to burn it to blu-ray with a menu but can't find anything that works.  It's over an hour long so I want people to be able to skip to different sections easily

[Michael Grenadier]

Have you tried Rovio toast?

[Richard van den Boogaard]

Here's my suggestion: a possible solution might be to forego the option of offering DVD/BluRay altogether and instead go for video files on a portable USB drive? Most modern TVs will play them... especially if encoded as MP4 h.264 files.

[Michael Grenadier]

I think we can all blame Steve Jobs...  He started eliminating optical drives from Mac's way back....  But the fact is that fewer and fewer people are buying optical media and the demographic skews... old....   You might also consider using a service like Vimeo for posting videos.  I've had a great many issues managing vimeo distribution and their support has been spotty to say the least.   But for straight posting of videos for viewing/review it is rock solid with a variety of ways to limit your audience with passwords, requiring links, allowing or disabling embedding of the vimeo player and downloading, etc.  

[Averdahl]

You are right, but sometimes one want to have menues for the viewer, sometimes pop-up menues, chapters for the video and that´s impossible to get on an USB drive inserted into a TV. The next problem is that if you have five files and start to playback the first the rest of the files auto starts. Sometimes that is not what one desire.

I can view files from my Blu-ray player as well but has noticed that sometimes the Blu-ray player don´t interpret the correct frame rate in the file, and sometimes the TV fails as well. Different TV demands different encodings, so throwing an mp4 to TV set A may playback fine while the very same file has issues in TV set B, different colors, etc, etc. I have seen that before and once it happened when a new version of Premiere Pro came out, so small changes in the encoder can have large consequences. So making let´s say 200 mp4 files and then discover that when you buy a new TV you have to re-encode to being able to fit the TV´s specifications is not a hit. (.mp4 is just a wrapper afer all.)

I have seen issues with 1080p50 files as well were the Blu-ray player plays them back from the USB stick retaining the fluid motion while putting the USB in the TV skip 25 frames/second and displays the same footage stuttery. That was an .mp4 wrapper as well.

One of the beauties with Blu-ray is that it is standardized making the creator, me, knowing that it will look and playback correctly in any Blu-ray player on any TV set. But i do realize that discs are history, but most of the times they still have an important place today.

[Michael Grenadier]

all good points.  But as fewer and fewer people have blu-ray players (or dvd players for that matter) it becomes less and less useful.   I spent years working with macromedia director producing interactive programming.   that's all gone.  I spent years developing pretty sophisticated dvdvideos using apple dvdsp.  That's all gone (for the most part - I think maybe I can still boot it on one of my older macs).   Did a few blu-rays but never had to do anything too complicated.   Don't think I've burned one in the last year..