Bluray Authoring with Adobe Encore

[jrodefeld]

I am trying to author a bluray with Adobe Encore CS5 but I am having two very serious problems with my project. Could someone here help me with this?

1. I import my assets which consist of an h264 video clip and three AC3 audio streams. The h264 file is a 1080p video at the progressive resolution of 23.976. However, the program ALWAYS transcodes the video even though it should already be bluray compliant. I can't select "Don't Transcode". This transcoding leads to a huge drop in video quality. This video was ripped from another bluray. I extracted the MKV file from that bluray folder and demuxed it. That is all. There is no reason that this video should not be bluray compliant. I just want to pass through the video file untouched. Could you help me with this?

2. My other problem involves subtitles. I import my subtitles into encore, but when I go to encode it gives me an error message saying that the subtitles are too close. What does that mean and how can I fix it? I don't want to manually have to change the subtitles one by one. Is there some program that will make the subtitles Encore-compliant?


I would really appreciate some help with these above problems. I am not interested in hearing that I should just use another program. I know there are limitations to Encore and bugs. I am interested in making this project work. I am using After Effects assets and Photoshop elements and I am following a guide that specifies that I use Encore. But if I can't resolve the above problems then it won't matter.

Please help me if you can.

[jrodefeld]

I'm bumping this thread because I am pretty desperate to find answers to the above questions. I have spent a considerable amount of time attempting to create a custom bluray with After Effects motion elements and so forth and I cannot do anything without resolving the two problems I have mentioned.

Doesn't anyone here have any suggestions? I would really appreciate it.

[vcd4ever]

the program ALWAYS transcodes the video even though it should already be bluray compliant

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=154533

when I go to encode it gives me an error message saying that the subtitles are too close

http://forums.adobe.com/message/3036106?tstart=0

Vcd4ever.

[Cornucopia]

I am trying to author a bluray with Adobe Encore CS5 but I am having two very serious problems with my project. Could someone here help me with this?

1. I import my assets which consist of an h264 video clip and three AC3 audio streams. The h264 file is a 1080p video at the progressive resolution of 23.976. However, the program ALWAYS transcodes the video even though it should already be bluray compliant. I can't select "Don't Transcode". This transcoding leads to a huge drop in video quality. This video was ripped from another bluray. I extracted the MKV file from that bluray folder and demuxed it. That is all. There is no reason that this video should not be bluray compliant. I just want to pass through the video file untouched. Could you help me with this?

2. My other problem involves subtitles. I import my subtitles into encore, but when I go to encode it gives me an error message saying that the subtitles are too close. What does that mean and how can I fix it? I don't want to manually have to change the subtitles one by one. Is there some program that will make the subtitles Encore-compliant?


I would really appreciate some help with these above problems. I am not interested in hearing that I should just use another program. I know there are limitations to Encore and bugs. I am interested in making this project work. I am using After Effects assets and Photoshop elements and I am following a guide that specifies that I use Encore. But if I can't resolve the above problems then it won't matter.

Please help me if you can.

Couple of things:

The "I extracted from an MKV" part tells me that I may NOT be identical from the BD original. Go back to the original and use AnyDVD and demux straight from the M2TS files. THEN you know they're compliant.

How are you choosing/setting your project properties?

When you say you're using AE assets, what are those specs? Those certainly aren't direct from a BD.

You could start with a few dummy/test projects where you just load 1 asset, put it unedited directly onto the timeline, and have it run as a 1st play, movie only. After you've done this SEPARATELY with each asset (doing a full build/compile to disc image), then move on to having multiple assets, then to menus, then to playlists.
At least, it'll help you know which area is giving you problems.

Scott

[turk690]

I also have Premiere Pro and Encore CS5 side by side. I start AVCHD-template projects with Premiere, then use the built-in AME to encode with H.264 blu-ray presets. The sources are mainly AVCHD taken with Sony CX550, Canon HG20, and some downloaded *.m4v HD clips. The clips (each sequence in Premiere) are never more than 10 minutes long each, and I need to make a legit video BD-R with a basic menu with buttons for each clip and a play all button (to play the whole lot in sequence). I can say I'm successful about 80% of the time.

My observations:
1. You would think that, since clips were encoded by AME (with the appropriate H.264 blu-ray templates) from Premiere, Encore would graciously accept them as blu-ray compliant. This is where my 80% comes from: of about 10 clips on average, Encore would accept 8, immediately tagging them as "Don't Transcode". Encore insists on re-encoding the 2, with, as jrodefeld has noted, a marked drop in quality (at ANY bitrate).
2. I initially found out, on going back to Premiere and re-encoding the 2 and lowering the bitrates (if the average/max was 20/25mb/s, I made it 15/20mb/s) and re-submitting to Encore, it may or may not insist on encoding again. On occasion, I DIDN'T change the bitrates and re-encoded them, and, lo and behold, Encore now accepts them (immediately tagging them "Don't Transcode")!!! (????) And on one occasion, frustrated because Encore still insists on re-encoding the 15/20mb/s clip, I went back to the Premiere timeline, encoded with 18/22 just to see. Encore accepted it!! (??????)
3. I use the bitrate calculator in dvd-hq.info to get an idea of bitrates I should apply. I normally encode all stereo audio to 256kb/s AC3, and 1920x1080 59.95i clips to H.264, ave/max 20/25mb/s, main 4.1. (templates in AME). In Encore, I put the project max bitrate to 40mb/s total, so it's NOT as if I'm hitting some maximum bitrate here with the clips fresh off AME.
4. Encore has no problems with clips encoded with MPEG2 blu-ray preset in AME. Well and good, except that clips encoded with any MPEG2 BD preset have higher bitrates and are 50 to 100% larger in file size compared with encoding with H.264 presets. We all know that.

From the above, I can see that it's not a bitrate issue, since Encore NEVER attempted to re-encode ANY of the clips I gave it that were encoded with MPEG2 blu-ray preset, ave/max 25/30mb/s, which is higher than any of those that I did with H.264. And merely going back and again re-encoding a sequence in Premiere using the same H.264 blu-ray preset without changing anything may or may NOT make Encore accept it the second time around. Encore's unpredictability with H.264-encoded clips (ironically made with its AME partner) makes me approach a blu-ray project with crossed fingers every time. On Adobe forums and elsewhere, everyone seems fixated on bitrate as a root of the problem, but that's not obvious from a wretched clip that was encoded with ave/ max 9/11mb/s (AME's "long form" blu-ray preset), so what exactly is it?
Is the problem with Encore, or with AME, or both? I'm going to check out pegasys. I'd like to have CCE HDe lite (having used CCE basic very successfully before), but it's hard to tell from their site where I can buy it, let alone know if it costs an arm and a leg (I get the impression CCE prefers not to cater to "little people"). It would've also been great if mediachance put out a blu-ray counterpart of their DVD-lab PRO2.
I'd love to show three *.m4v clips encoded from the same sequence in Premiere; one is ave/max 20/25mb/s, another is 15/20, and the last one is 18/22mb/s, but at more than 300mB filesize each, I don't know how to, or where to post for everyone to see. Encore accepts only the last one without re-encoding; it insists on re-encoding the other 2. Go figure.