Planning your DVD??

[Rudyard]

I am making a 'best of' or 'highlights' type DVD from my Rugby League collection. I have posted a little in the forums about making my menus and converting files but now I am getting to the stage when I have to think about actually piecing the thing together.

Would those of you who are experienced please give me a guide if im going in the right direction. This is how im thinking at the moment:
(Adboe Premier Pro, Encore DVD builder)

1. I have converted my files and have a stack of MPEG's and AVI's.

2. I created a file in premier i wanted for my menu background which has fire burning over a still picture with some music in the background. I will import that as a menu into Encore and that will be my main menu.

3. I will import all my files into Encore DVD and then create timelines of the different segements and add some music to each timeline. In the timeline I will adjust the duration of each clip as necessary. (Should all this be done in Encore??)

4. I will then have several timelines with the different parts of the DVD (big tackles, great tries etc). I then have to create menu buttons in Encore that link to each timeline?

5. I then transcode everything and burn what should be a great disc!

So I guess all I need premier for is if I want to add effects like the fire for my menu to a clip otherwise the whole project is pretty much done in Encore. Is that right?

Is this how you go about planning your DVD's??

[daamon]

Hi Rudyard,

I don't know Encore DVD Builder, so some of the following may be wrong. but here's my take on it, and how I'd do it:

1. Do all your editing in Premiere. This is the main feature, motion backgrounds, adding sound. The lot. Each item (known as an "asset") will have it's own separate file - so different files for menus, intro sequences, the main feature(s) etc.

2. All clips, motion menus etc. need to be in MPEG2 for DVDs. (Unless, of course, Encore encodes - but I'd rather use a dedicated encoder to get to MPEG2).

3. Use something like Photoshop to create your buttons (I'm not to hot on this bit either, but I'll lshare what I know / belive). Creating the button with different layers will allow the authoring tool to activate the different layers depending on what the user (watching the DVD) does.

e.g. One layer will be the button image. Another could be the colour it changes to when highlighted (semi-transparent usually) etc. I think these should be saved as file.PSD, but I'm not sure.

These buttons, too, are assets.

It might be that Encore can create buttons, are it has a set of defaults. Don't know... In which case, you can skip designing your own buttons.

4. Bring all the assets into the authoring tool, arrange as desired, create menus and sub-menus linking to the appropriate clips and then author and burn.

I hope that helps some. Sorry if there are any inaccuracies... Good luck.

[Rudyard]

Thanks again mate. Encore relies on Photoshop for its buttons so I will use that.

As for the encoding and editing, when I do it in Premier it encodes it to a file. But in encore before you burn you have to transcode everything.

Am I doubling up?? and whats the difference between transcode and encode or are they the same??

[daamon]

Hi Rudyard,

No problem.

Encode = Use a codec (set of instructions) to change formats. E.g. encode from DV AVI to MPEG2.

Transcode = Reformatting the content, without changing the source. E.g. Transcoding high bitrate MPEG2 (like in commercial DVDs) to a lower bitrate MPEG2 (so it fits on a single layer DVD). DVDShrink "transcodes".

There are good explanations in the glossary (link, top left). The two are sometimes used to mean the same thing. Confusing and, technically, incorrect.

As for whether you're doubling up or not - I don't know Encore and so don't know what it's doing or why it's doing it. It might be that the MPEG files you're providing it aren't DVD compliant in some way.

Provide details on settings used when encoding in Premiere (presumably to MPEG2) - this might shed some light on things.

Have a look around the forums at www.wrigleyvideo.com/videotutorial - there might be something in there...

Sorry I couldn't help more...

[Rudyard]

Dont say sorry, thanks for explaining the transcode - encode differenc I just assumed it was the same thing just a different term.

And that link is fantastic. Since I am using adobe stuff that is pure gold in terms of a learning resource.

As I said earlier thanks again for helping me out in the threads Ive posted lately, appreciated and helping me a lot.

[daamon]

Dont say sorry, thanks for explaining the transcode - encode differenc I just assumed it was the same thing just a different term.

No problem.

And that link is fantastic. Since I am using adobe stuff that is pure gold in terms of a learning resource.

Tell me about it... I've found it useful a number of times...

As I said earlier thanks again for helping me out in the threads Ive posted lately, appreciated and helping me a lot.

Pleasure. Any time.

[guns1inger]

Transcoding is NOT always a good thing. If you can, try to encode your assets to the correct bitrate to begin with, then there is not reason to transcode and risk quality issues. You are always better off getting it right the first time.

[Rudyard]

guns1inger,

When I am in premier making my feature, how would I ensure the bitrate is correct so that Encore wont transcode it?

[daamon]

From the timeline, you can tell how long the running time is. Plug this into the VideoHelp Bitrate Calculator and it'll give you a bitrate (you also need to know what the bitrate for the audio is - it's 1,536kbps if it's WAV or uncompressed).

Then (this is where I'm gonna have to be vague coz I don't know Premiere Pro) set the video bitrate as close to, but not over, the bitrate that you get from the calculator.