How come I can encode a finished project (which averages about 45-50 minutes of video) directly from the timeline with Adobe encoder with the settings at 2 pass VBR at the highest quality (i.e at level 5) with the min,max and target bitrates all set at 9.00 MP) in about 2 hours however it takes approx double that to burn it directly to dvd or to create an iso image? IMHO that's pretty slow!How long should a 45 minute project take to burn a dvd?

How does the PP 2 encoding engine directly compared to some other mainstream commerical programs or stand-alone encoding programs quality and speedwise?Anybody use both?

Also,from your experience and observation is there much difference in quality between 1 and 2 passes with VBR?Quality is very important to me.How much quality is gained for the extra time spent and sacrificed between 1 and 2 passes?Is that difference noticeable and significant?
Is VBR or CBR better and why?

Why can I encode a project with Adobe's media encoder at very high settings (at the fullest possible quality,9's across the board) BUT when using the encoder to burn directly to dvd it shuts me off (gives me an error message that the rate is "too high") with the bitrates set higher than around 8.3-8.4?Que Pasa?

Can one create a custom dvd menu using your own choices for background,background music,font,font color,size of font,etc?or are you stuck with the rather limited selection stock templates/presets that they give you from the pull down menu?Where can I find other templates,possible?Can anyone point me out to a source?

Is there a way I can normalize the audio of the whole timeline at the same time?How is that done?

Is it advisable to pick PCM or MPEG audio when encoding a project?Does it make a difference/what do you do to create a playable dvd with audio?If I don't specifically select MPEG audio but leave it as the default PCM audio will I get audio on the resulting dvd?

After waiting over 2 hours into a burn and encode to dvd process,I got an error message right at the beginning stages of the 2nd pass which stated(MPL Loader... whatever that is):"The DLL inf32.dll can not be loaded.OS reports:The specified module could not be found."How can I successfully rectify this shortfall and burn a project to dvd?After that message the encoding stopped,it ceased to do anything and I was forced to hit cancel which wiped out the whole time spent on this particular burn.I uninstalled,then reinstalled the entire program and still can't find this DLL.What do I do now?Does this mean its curtains and I can't burn directly to a dvd anymore from the timeline?

Lastly,how much would/should a Intel duo core processor speed up the rendering,encoding and burning processed as directly compared to a Pentium 4 which is what I'm using now?What are you guys using for processors with this app and what has been your results timewise?Thinking of getting a new computer in the coming months.

Please help me get jumpstarted.

Thanks in advance.
Bruce