Are people still using Encore?

[David Barnett]

Thanks all. So with TMPGenc do you edit your project then export it as mpeg/h264 then create the menu and burn the disc using it?

I'm just not sure I like that "extra step". It sounds petty, and maybe timewise it burns the disc quicker since it's already encoded. I just like things streamlined though, as with adobe you just edited Premiere then sent the file to Encore right away and it worked off of that.

I should get it out, a trial version to check into it and its workflow.

[Noa Put]

I use edius and export a hqavi file and import that in tmpgenc because that's a lot easier to handle in tmpgenc and very fast to scroll and choose your chapter markers, I have timed it some months ago when I got my new pc and if I have a 1 hour 1080p project with 28mbs avchd files on it (with no effects) I got the following results on a I7 4790k cpu.

From Edius rendering out to a hqavi file: 10 minutes.
from tmpgenc rendering out to a blu-ray ready file: 21 minutes.

I use a spursengine card to accelerate my blu-ray renders and it only works with tmpgenc so my rending time is hardly a issue anymore and certainly not a bottleneck in my workflow, when I am rendering blu-ray files out in tmpgenc my CPU is only about 20% active so I can just continue editing another project.

[Ann Bens]

Originally Posted by Billy Horton

You should look at TMPGenc Authoring Works 5 TMPGEnc - Products: TMPGEnc Authoring Works 5. I've been using it for years and I wouldn't use anything else after having tried a few others many years ago, Encore included.

I frameserve from Premiere to TMPGEnc then bring the files into Encore.

[Robert Young]

What is the advantage of TMPGEnc vs. Adobe Media Encoder for producing BR and DVD compliant files for Encore (or other authoring/burning apps)??
I've always exported my PPro timelines to AME for transcode to BR/DVD and have had excellent results.

[Ann Bens]

I did a comparison some years ago and found that AME gave good results.
TMPGenc gave just a little bit better picture. (less artifacts)
I have stayed with TMPGenc ever since.
Maybe I need to do a comparison again with the latest builds.

[Robert Young]

Originally Posted by Robert Young

I've always exported my PPro timelines to AME for transcode to BR/DVD and have had excellent results.

Actually, I should have said that it's just in recent recent years I've used AME for BD/DVD encoding.
I used to use mostly Procoder (Canopus/Grass Valley), and occasionally TMPGenc frameserving for DVD production. They were definitely superior to AME at that time.
But at some point- I'm thinking around the time that Blu Ray replaced DVD- it looked to me that AME had finally caught up to the best standards.
If you do a fresh comparison, let us know what you think.

[Ann Bens]

Will do.
Btw I now only frameserve for BD, dont do dvd anymore.
The advanced frameserver still works even in the latest build

[Steven Digges]

Adobe Encore is yet another example of Adobe bailing out on a good program before they should. It was simple, powerful, and an overall great program. I still use it when I need to author a disk.

I read the official Adobe statement on why it was discontinued. The gist of it was that it is an online world now and no one should be burning disks anymore. Tell that to all of the wedding shooters on this forum. They may wish they could deliver only digital files, but the client base demands DVDs. Noa or others can correct me if I'm wrong but I think it is even a much higher ratio of SD DVDs over BR. No one seems to know why BR did not catch on the way it should have but American living rooms are still full of SD DVD players hooked up to HD TVs. Some of us embrace new technologies rapidly. For the masses, it is a big world, not everyone wants to buy something new like a BR player when the DVD deck they have is "good enough". VHS to DVD was a dramatic improvement in picture quality for the average consumer. Not to mention the advantages of a optical disk over a tape. I think the jump from DVD to BR was not enough for consumers to run out and buy a new deck. My point in this is that if you deliver to individuals instead of the business community (as I do) You still need Encore for both DVD and BR.

Adobe bailed on Encore but consumers did not get rid of their DVD players yet. Technology changes rapidly but when a standard is integrated into homes around the world a total evolution is a slow process. As video content producers we still need a good authoring platform. In my opinion Adobe quit supporting Encore to soon.

Kind Regards,

Steve

[Noa Put]

I have been using encore up to cs3 and it was unique in it's ability to interact with photoshop and after effects so it's possibilities where almost limited by your own imagination. It was however very buggy which was the main reason I left it behind and switched to tmpgenc authoringworks and eventhough this program lacks the creative possibilities from encore it was like night and day when it came to stability, I have yet to experience one single crash with that program building dvd's and blu-rays.

In my experience blu-ray never catched on but dvd is still the most requested format for either weddings or theater performances, usb stick delivery (with a mp4 file) on the other hand is catching on fast but even then people continue ask for extra dvd copies.

It will take a long time before dvd will fade away completely, maybe Adobe didn't want to waste any resources on a product they thought has no future, Adobe can also afford to make such a decision just like they can with their subscription model.

If I just look how much the way we watch tv has changed in a relatively short period, people watch content on their smartphones, laptops and especially tablets, even last year I saw guests watching a football match on a tablet at a wedding. it's clear that dvd will eventually have no place in this new way how we will access any kind of media so in that sense I can understand why Adobe left encore behind.

I still expect that it will take many years before dvd's will not be requested anymore, people will hold on to their player just because they have so many dvd's at home with personal or cinema films, and even if they have a blu-ray player they can still access their dvd's.

[Donald McPherson]

Reading the posts above. No one is asking for anything new in Encore (except stability) to burn disks. But if digital downloads and USB sticks are the way forward I wish Adobe would come up with something similar for this new delivery. I mean how hard would it be to port something like Encore to USB stick?

[Noa Put]

Taky from la color pros already is selling his own modified usb stick to give you a dvd like menu interface when plugging a usbstick into a tv but I agree that it should be possible to integrate such a feature into a NLE when exporting.

[Robert Young]

Regarding Adobe's discontinuation of Encore:
My understanding is that Adobe was leasing some of the core technology for Encore from a third party.
Around the time Encore CS6 was released, that third party company was purchased and the relevant technology was discontinued for competitive reasons.
This left Adobe with no legal means to carry on with the existing Encore product.
I suppose they could have redeveloped a new version of Encore from the ground up, but obviously, they passed on that.