Quality deteriorates when I cut a DVD with Encore

[video169]

Quality deteriorates for me using Encore to make a DVD after editing in Premiere Pro CS4 on my PC running XP Pro. I use Panasonic HMC-40 and HMC-70 cameras (AVCHD). I have been working with the native MTS files in Premiere (but I have recently switched to running the files through Cineform NeoScene first to covert them to 24p AVI files, although I have not tried to export them to DVD yet.) I Export from Premiere to MPEG2 files, Preset 1440 X 1080i 29.97 High Quality, and the files play sharp. But when I use Encore to make a DVD from these files, the DVD plays back with a lot less quality that when I play the MPEG2 files on my computer.

Should I be exporting from Premiere to a format other than MPEG2? I tried MPEG2-DVD, NTSC Widescreen High Quality, but it split the audio into a separate file, and I did not know how to handle split video and audio. Another Export option I have in Premiere now is to export as CineForm AVI files, although I have not tried it yet. My Encore Build settings are: Format: DVD; Output: DVD Disc; Source – Create Using: Current Project.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

[poisondeathray]

Were you comparing the 1440x1080i MPEG2 files exported from Premiere to the DVD ? Regular DVD-video is SD 720x480, it's supposed to look a lot worse. How does the DVD look when played back on the computer?

If you have a blu-ray player you could make an AVCHD disc, and play HD material. Encore doesn't support AVCHD on DVD media, but you could use multiavchd to do this.

Split files are fine. Just import them and place them on the timeline

You can improve the quality a little by avoiding all the generation losses. Each time you re-encode with a lossy format, you lose a bit of quality. You could dynamically link Premiere with Encore for example. There are instructions in the help manual. This way you can fit the disc and optimize the bitrate, instead of guessing what to use with Premiere export

You shouldn't export MPEG2 from Premiere, unless you know it will not be transcoded by Encore (ie. re-encoded, and generation loss). Encore will indicate this (whether or not it's compliant and will be transcoded or not) in the asset panel, beside the file name.

[nic2k4]

Can't you use the dynamic link function in Premiere to open the video in Encore, as described here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QreNByo8u00

Then edit the MTS file in Premiere, link to Encore and ouput in DVD format.