Adobe Encore DVD 1.5

by Adobe

Product Features

• New Styles palette makes applying styles to your DVD menu easy -- just drag-and-drop
• Enhanced Library palette - Organize your own text layers, vector shapes, background layers, and layer sets; custom library sets for buttons, images, and menu templates, with a click
• Verify your project at any point of production - Encore checks navigation, bit rates, and subtitles for problems any time you need it done
• QuickTime support for a broader choice of import options
• Work without interruption as source files are transcoded in the background

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00021XI4M
• Item model number: 22030023
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 23, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,343 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 software takes professional DVD authoring to a new level of creativity. Import and convert source files automatically to MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital audio. Create and edit menus in Adobe Photoshop format using a flexible interface and a comprehensive set of menu design tools. Output your project to all recordable DVD formats for a wide degree of playback compatibility.

Streamlined DVD workflow

• Integrated transcoding: let Adobe Encore automatically convert your AVI and QuickTime source files to MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital audio, or manually adjust settings to optimize your DVD compression.
• QuickTime file support: take advantage of a broader choice of import options with new support for QuickTime.
• Custom workspaces: Configure window arrangements for specific tasks and then save them for future use. Use preset window arrangements to quickly reset windows for specific jobs such as timeline editing or menu creation.
• DV preview of menus: see your menus on an external video monitor, eliminating the need to create a DVD in order to check your menu designs for video compatibility.
• Wide degree of playback compatibility: produce consistent, high-quality results and output to all recordable DVD formats for a wide degree of playback compatibility.

Creative DVD authoring

• Enhanced library palette: Organize individual text layers, vector shapes, background layers, and layer sets--in addition to buttons, images, and menu templates--in the enhanced library palette. Even create your own custom library sets.
• Styles palette: Easily apply styles to your DVD project menus using the new styles palette. Use the supplied styles or create your own by simply dragging them from the menu editor.
• Menu editor enhancements: take advantage of full support for Adobe Photoshop CS guides to ensure precise layout and alignment of items in the menu editor.
• User operations control: disable or enable the viewer's remote-control operations in specific sections of a DVD--for example, to ensure display of mandatory content such as copyright notices.
• Square and non-square pixel support: Check the shape and alignment of items by identifying and viewing square and non-square pixels. Full support for Photoshop CS, including the ability to view non-square pixels, further enhances your workflow.

Unparalleled Adobe integration

• Native Photoshop menus: Import native Photoshop CS files or create menus in PSD format directly within Adobe Encore. buttons, text, and images are stored as layers and layer sets so you can edit them later in Photoshop.
• Adobe Photoshop CS integration: Edit menus in Photoshop CS and see your changes immediately in Adobe Encore. Experience full support for Photoshop CS, including nested layer sets and non-square pixels.
• Enhanced marker support: experience a stronger integrated workflow--Adobe Encore now creates chapter points from markers in AVI and MPEG-2 files created in Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 and After Effects 6.5 software.
• Enhanced After Effects integration: send a PSD menu directly to After Effects for animation, export your animation from After Effects to Adobe Encore as a movie file, and then add it to your menu background for a stunning motion menu.
• Edit original command: Send content originally created in Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects back to those applications for further editing. Once the content is updated, the changes will automatically appear in Adobe Encore.

Product Description

Encore DVD 1.5 makes DVD authoring more streamlined. This set of high-quality, professional DVD apps will take you to a new level of professional creativity. With its flexible interface and full-featured menu design tools, you'll create DVD masterworks in no time. Import and convert source files to MPEG-2 or Dolby Digital, or output your project to other DVD formats, for maximum playback compatibility. Stronger marker support creates chapter points from markers in AVI and MPEG-2 files created in Premiere and After Effects Full integration with Photoshop CS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Encore Compliments Other Adobe Products, December 10, 2005

By 

D-MAG.org Reviewer (Lexington, KY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 (CD-ROM)

I was pleased to receive my copy of Adobe Encore DVD. After having experience with some of the other Adobe products like Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, After Effects and Premiere Pro, I wanted to see how it stacked up. I was also very interested in the level of integration between the other products and Encore.

With products from other companies, combining the power and capabilities of Photoshop CS and other Adobe products with their products provided to be a hassle some of the time, especially since their programs couldn't read PSD format or maintain the layers. I was looking forward to the smooth integration of Photoshop CS, video and audio files. I was not disappointed.

I was able to easily bring in my files from Photoshop CS. What's more, I was able to maintain the layers too! In many other programs, I've had to flatten my Photoshop CS files and convert them to another format. This was OK, but once the file got into the other program, it wasn't easy to work with..

Encore is able to work with almost all of the major video formats (AVI, MPEG4) and audio formats. Even the files I brought in from After Effects and Premiere converted. The markers that I set in After Effects and Premiere Pro convert to chapter marks in Encore. Once my video was loaded into Encore, I could edit the file in either of the original programs and then re-render. Probably one of the coolest things was that Encore updated the asset automatically after editing in the original program. No more moving the file back and forth with converting and re-converting.

I was able to navigate the menus and timelines in Encore since I was familiar with After Effects and Premiere Pro. However, even the newest user should be able to work with this program with a minimal learning curve.

The Encore interface uses a tab styled format, just like that of Adobe's other design products. This enables you to dock windows together or drag out a specific tab for more individual control. What's more is that there are great tutorials that come with the product which lead you through the creation of your DVD step by step. These tutorials are one of the main reasons the learning curve is reduced, plus the interface is easy to read and use.

ncore comes with pre-built templates for menus or you can use your own from Photoshop CS. You can even export the pre-built templates to Photoshop CS if you would like to modify them. All of the DVD menus are Photoshop PSD files. The program comes with 37 menu and object templates that provide extensive text creation capabilities as well as image-sizing and positioning controls, all of which are similar to Photoshop layers. Encore does have menu alignment and some other basic controls. However, serious designers will probably want to leave that work to the program which does it best, Photoshop CS. Once the masterpiece is created, just import it into Encore and Voila! Grab the popcorn and the remote!

Probably the most awesome feature of Encore is that you can preview your menu live. You are able to view it just like it will appear once committed to the DVD. This is a full preview with motion and sound. There's nothing worse than spending the time to put together and burn a DVD only to find out that there is something wrong with the menu.

Encore DVD fills a neat niche in the Windows XP market. With it's pricing points set at a consumer level, almost anyone can acquire this product. It is easy to use and within one hour you'll be creating your own fantastic DVD menus and firing up your Digital Camcorder to go grab some more video to play with!

In summary, Encore DVD is a great product. However, to fully maximize all of the features and capabilities of the program, be sure that your computer meets and exceeds the minimum hardware requirements and that you have Windows XP installed. It is also extremely helpful if you own any of Adobe's other products which easily compliment and integrate with Encore DVD like Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, After Effects and Premiere Pro.

Loren Elks, Group Manager
D-MAG.org

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No problems with Encore - once I figured out how to use it., November 11, 2005

By 

Brandon (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 (CD-ROM)

Encore, as with Premiere and other high end consumer products, has a very high learning curve. There are no Windows "wizards" to help you out or guide you. I make professional grade DVD's with this ranging anywhere from 3 minutes to 2 hours. I only use Encores transcoding because nothing else that I've tried comes close to the quality and audio/video sync that Encore provides. One of the beautiful things about Encore is that it can see how much video you have and provide the best possible bit rate to get the content down to 4.7GB. The important thing is not to transcode until everything is done and you are ready to burn otherwise you may run out of space as other reviewers have noted. You also have the power to manually imput what the bitrate will be if you need that kind of control.

I have also been able to author DVD's with 5 Menu's and 9 Timelines, including motion menu's, motion buttons, "play-all override", and Menu Audio tracks. I can also create multiple audio options for each video to provide multiple languages, or maybe instead of the narration, I just want to hear a musical soundtrack behind the pictures/video which can be selected at a menu.

It also has the power of Adobe Photoshop behind the menu to create your layering.

That being said, I can create a DVD menuing system to look exactly like most any movie I rent from blockbuster, however that type of power requires a very complex interface. I did not dock any stars for the complex interface because if you make it easier, you are just going to take away fuctionality. It's the nature of the beast. So if you want to make professional looking DVD from your edited video, this is a very good product. Just make sure you purchase the tutorial, become very familiar with google and the help function, and oh yeah...it would be best if you bought Adobe Photoshop as well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Needs good hardware to work as it should., April 17, 2005

By 

S Smyth (Belfast, Co Antrim United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 (CD-ROM)

Yet again, Adobe have made available a professional product at consumer prices. The only problem is that consumer class PCs are not up to the task. Anyone using a PC for any video production is recommended to enhance their hardware by installing a couple of IDE or SATA hard drives in a RAID array, as a primary media drive, and also install another hard drive to export their DVD productions onto. A gig or two gig of good quality RAM is also recommended, as is the use of Windows XP Pro with all drives and partitions formatted as NTFS.

In addition, be sure to frequently defrag the media drives, and delete any unneeded files, as this will also help with production quality, and avoid your drives filling up too soon :-)

As to Encore itself, it has everything reasonably required to make sophisticated DVDs - often too sophisticated - and is compatible with other Adobe authoring applications.