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 By
Dale Farris, Vice President
Golden Triangle PC Club
October 2004
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.
Adobe has added quite a few features to Encore 1.5 that have enhanced the
user experience, especially those who are familiar with Adobe's other
digital video applications. Encore 1.5 takes advantage of its Photoshop
Engine and provides a lot of the functionality previously obtainable by
going to Photoshop, and builds it into Encore 1.5.
The capability to further refine in Photoshop, if necessary, is still
prevalent within the application. The addition of guides only makes the
design process easier.
Organizational features such as the Library and Styles Palette will help
you keep track of assets that you use all the time. QuickTime is finally
supported in this release and it is an intelligent implementation. The
Check Project feature has been greatly enhanced as well, reducing, if not
eliminating, the chance that there may be issues with your project before
you commit to a burn session.
A lot of nice touches have been added to this 1.5 release and the upgrade
cost of $99 is very reasonable, considering what you get for the price.
The QuickTime support alone is worth it.
Top New Features
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 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.
Check Project
Verify your project at any time during production. Adobe Encore checks
navigation, bit rates, and subtitles for problems and presents the results
in a sortable list.
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.
QuickTime file support
Take advantage of a broader choice of import options with new support for
QuickTime.
Background transcoding
Carry on working without interruption while source files are transcoded in
the background.
Menu Editor enhancements
Take advantage of full support for Photoshop CS guides to ensure precise
layout and alignment of items in the Menu Editor.
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.
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.
Feature-Rich Application
Adobe Encore DVD takes DVD authoring to a new level of creativity and
efficiency. Through its flexible interface and unparalleled integration
with Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Photoshop CS, and Adobe AfterEffects, Adobe
Encore DVD gives professional videographers, DVD authors, and independent
producers the power to create sophisticated multi-language DVDs with
interactive menus and multiple audio and subtitle tracks.
With Adobe Encore DVD, you can produce consistent, high-quality results,
and output to all recordable DVD formats for a wide degree of playback
compatibility. Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 offers new tools to increase your
productivity. You will find enhanced integration with other Adobe video
editing products, making the use of those applications in creating your
DVD project even easier. Performance enhancements and workflow
improvements within Adobe Encore DVD help guarantee it remains your best
choice for DVD creation and production.
Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 offers:
Creative DVD Authoring—With the comprehensive set of layout tools in Adobe
Encore DVD, you have complete control over your DVD’s design and
navigation. Adobe-standard interface elements make Adobe Encore DVD easy
to learn and powerful to use. Authoring tool enhancements in version 1.5
include better organization of menu design elements, the ability to design
and store styles, guides for precise menu layout, and greater control over
building the navigation of your DVD project.
Streamlined DVD Workflow—Adobe Encore DVD is designed to simplify DVD
production while still giving you complete control over your work. It
offers new ways to customize and optimize the user interface to suit the
way you work. Now it is easier than ever to monitor and troubleshoot
potential errors while you build your DVD production. And Adobe Encore DVD
1.5 can import QuickTime® files, giving you greater source file
flexibility.
Unparalleled Adobe Integration—Integration among the applications in the
latest generation of Adobe video-editing soware is better than ever,
delivering a more streamlined workflow for greater productivity. You will
find new ways to leverage the power of Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe Premiere
Pro, and Adobe Aer Effects to achieve stunning final results from Adobe
Encore DVD. is document introduces key new features.
Creative DVD Authoring
Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 includes powerful new features and enhancements for
use in DVD creation, and with these features you’ll find familiar
interface elements from other Adobe products. The enhanced Library palette
speeds menu production, offering the ability to store more types of
menu-design elements, and allowing you greater flexibility in organizing
them. Similar to the way the Library palette allows you to store and
organize menu content, the new Styles palette allows you to store and
organize layer effects. Menu creation is also made easier with added
support for Photoshop guides. New options for controlling user operations
enable you to determine how viewers can interact with your DVD
productions.
Enhanced Library palette
The Library palette in Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 can be used to organize text
layers, vector shapes, background layers, and layer sets, in addition to
the buttons, images, and menu templates previously supported. Buttons,
menus, and layer sets support the standard for nested layers introduced in
Adobe Photoshop CS. The enhanced palette also introduces Library sets, a
convenient way to organize your menu templates. A set can contain a mix of
buttons, menus, images, backgrounds, text, shapes, and layer sets. You can
create library sets for different types of projects, customers, or
situations, and then assign your commonly used design elements to them.
The Library sets you create are always available in the Library palette.
User Operations Control
Control user interactions for the DVDs you create. When you create new
menus and buttons in the Menu Editor, Encore DVD will use the default menu
and button you have designated for the library set that is currently
displayed.
Styles palette
Just as the Library palette allows you to easily store and retrieve
Photoshop layers and layer sets for creating menus, the new Styles palette
allows you to store and retrieve Photoshop layer effects such as shadows,
glows, and bevels that you can apply to your menus. Using the Styles
palette, you can quickly change the appearance of an element in a menu.
Adobe Encore DVD comes with a set of predefined styles, but you can also
easily add more styles by dragging them from the Menu Editor, or by
creating them in Adobe Photoshop CS and importing them into Adobe Encore
DVD. Use the new Styles palette to store and quickly apply styles to
shapes, text, and images in your DVD menus. Define Style sets for easier
organization, just as in the enhanced Library palette.
The enhanced Library palette in Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 offers the ability to
store more types of assets and to organize them into Library sets, such as
the “Wedding” set of buttons, backgrounds, and shapes shown here, making
it easier to find exactly the assets you need.
Menu creation and editing is made easier with new guides display options.
The Snap To setting makes alignment of menu elements fast and accurate.
Also, you can lock, add, or clear guides easily, as needed. The interface
for guides is the same as that used in Adobe Photoshop CS, and any guides
you apply will appear when that same file is opened in either Adobe Encore
DVD or Photoshop CS.
User operations control
This new set of options gives you complete and specific control over which
remote control functions are available to a viewer at any point in your
DVD. This is especially useful for mandatory display content, such as
copyright notices. For menu operations, set permissions for Stop, Title,
Resume, Arrow and Enter keys, and Change Presentation Mode. For timeline
operations, set permissions for Play Chapter Point, Title, Menu, Change
Audio Tracks, Change Subtitle Tracks, and Change Presentation Mode. On a
global basis for your DVD, set permissions for Play Timeline, Play
Chapter, Change Presentation Mode, and Chapter Search.
Streamlined DVD Workflow
Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 simplifies the DVD production process in several new
ways. Now you can preview the finished appearance of your menus as you
edit them. QuickTime has been added to the wide variety of source file
formats that are quickly converted to MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital
audio. The integrated transcoding in Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 occurs in the
background, so your workflow is never interrupted. The convenient new
workspaces feature allows you to configure window arrangements that best
fit particular project types. The new Check Project feature can be used at
any point in the process to quickly and clearly identify problems in your
DVD project’s structure.
DV preview of menus
Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 allows you to preview your menus on an external video
monitor, eliminating the need to burn you DVD project to disc in order to
check your menu designs for video compatibility. Menus will display in
their finished form (guides, safe areas, and button routing are not
shown).
QuickTime file support
Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 adds QuickTime to its wide range of audio and video
import formats. Import QuickTime video files and convert them to MPEG-2
for use in your project, or bring in audio-only QuickTime files and
transcode them to Dolby Digital audio for your DVD.
Background transcoding
Carry on working without interruption while source files are transcoded in
the background. Adobe Encore DVD can automatically convert source files to
MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital audio so you can begin working with your
project immediately. Display guides in the Menu Editor window for precise
layout of your menu’s assets.
Custom workspaces
Adobe Encore DVD now lets you create and save custom window layouts as
named workspaces. Configure window arrangements for specific tasks, and
then save them for future use. Adobe Encore DVD comes with preset
arrangements that let you quickly reset the windows for specific jobs such
as timeline editing or menu creation. Use or customize these, or create
your own for other project needs. Saving a workspace preserves the
location of all windows and palettes, including playhead location and zoom
levels.
Project checking
This new feature in Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 allows you to check your project
for problems at any time. Check Project identifies navigation, bit-rate,
and subtitle problems, and then presents the results in a sortable list.
In Adobe Encore DVD 1.0, you could quickly check for problem links or
orphaned menus and timelines using the Check Links function.
Check Project greatly expands that capability, making the following
checks:
• Button Links—Checks for links that are broken or not set
• End Action—Identifies End Action property links that are broken or not
set, or timeline End Action properties that are set to Stop
• Overrides—Finds override property links that are broken or not set
• First Play—Checks whether the project’s First Play property is broken or
not set
• Title Remote—Checks whether the project’s Title Remote property is
broken or not set
• Menu Remote—Locates broken or missing links in the timeline Menu Remote
property
• Orphans—Finds orphaned menus, timelines, and playlists
• Button Overlap—Searches for buttons that overlap. Overlapping buttons
may lead to browsing errors by making it difficult for users to highlight
their selection
• Total Size of Menus—Calculates combined total size of all menus. Adobe
Encore will warn you if the total exceeds the DVD-standard 1 GB limit
• Disc Capacity—Warns if the project size is larger than the capacity of
the chosen disk media
• Timeline Bit Rate Too High—Checks timelines for bit rates that exceed
the DVD-legal limit of 9 Mbps
• Chapters and Trims—Searches for timelines in which chapter and trim
locations were adjusted due to transcoding
• Subtitle Text Overflow—Checks for subtitle text that has gone off screen
because it overflowed the text boundary.
Unparalleled Adobe Integration
Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 tightly integrates with other Adobe products in your
workflow. Nested layers and non-square pixel content in the new Photoshop
CS file format are fully supported. Markers in Adobe Premiere Pro and
Adobe AfterEffects easily become chapter points in Adobe Encore DVD.
Import video elements from Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 or Adobe AfterEffects
6.5 using drag-and-drop.
Easily send Encore DVD menus to AfterEffects 6.5 to create animated motion
menus—once you’ve created your animation, export your movie file and add
it to the menu background for a stunning motion menu.
Photoshop CS integration
Adobe Encore DVD 1.5 fully supports Photoshop CS, including nested layer
sets and non-square pixels. This compatibility further enhances your menu
production workflow. Choose File > Check Project to display this dialog
and quickly identify problems at any time as you design and build your
DVD.
Take advantage of the powerful nested layer sets feature in Photoshop CS
to organize menu and button layers for import into Adobe Encore DVD. When
you import a Photoshop file as a menu, Adobe Encore DVD will recognize
buttons nested inside layer sets. If you use Encore naming conventions in
Photoshop CS, Adobe Encore DVD will also recognize buttons with subpicture
or thumbnail layer sets nested inside of them. Or, simply use the Object >
Convert to Buttons command in the Adobe Encore DVD Layers palette to
convert any nested layer sets to buttons.
Adobe Encore DVD displays nested layer sets in the Layers palette, just as
in Adobe Photoshop CS. Adobe Encore DVD also works with non-square pixel
content that may be found in files from Adobe Photoshop CS. Previous
versions of Encore DVD supported non-square pixel display for video only.
That support now extends to Photoshop files, whether used as video slides
or as menu assets.
Enhanced marker support
Adobe Encore DVD recognizes markers created in Adobe AfterEffects 6.5 and
Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5, giving you the option to convert these markers in
AVI or MPEG-2 files to chapter points in your DVD project. This feature
can save production time, and guarantees that chapter points exactly match
the locations intended.
Enhanced After Effects integration
In Adobe Encore DVD 1.5, you can send a menu in the Photoshop file format
directly to Adobe AfterEffects 6.5 for animation. Once you’ve added
animation in AfterEffects and exported it as a movie file, import the
movie back into Adobe Encore DVD and add it to your menu background for a
stunning motion menu.
Price
$549 retail price
$ 99 upgrade price
(Must have a serial number, and you will need a licensed version of Encore
DVD 1.0)
Note that Adobe Encore DVD is part of
the larger Adobe Video Collection Professional suite that includes, in
addition to Encore DVD, Premier Pro 1.5, AfterEffects 6.5 Professional,
Audition 1.5, and Photoshop CS. This super suite lists
for $1,499 for the professional edition and $999 for the standard edition.
System Configuration Requirements
P-III 800MHz or faster processor
(Pentium 4, multiprocessor recommended)
Windows XP Pro, Home
256MB RAM (512MB or more recommended)
1GB free hard disk space for installation
5GB additional hard disk space recommended for extra content
10GB or larger hard disk or disk array recommended for ongoing work
1,280 x 1,024 32-bit color video display adapter with 16MB VRAM or more
Dual monitors recommended
DVD-ROM drive
Stereo sound card
QuickTime 6.5 software recommended
About Adobe
Adobe helps people and businesses communicate better through its
world-leading digital imaging, design, and document technology platforms
for consumers, creative professionals, and enterprises. Adobe’s
platform-driven approach is focused on providing more complete and
innovative solutions for each of its customer segments than ever before.
With its digital imaging and digital video software products, including
gold-standard Photoshop software and a comprehensive professional digital
video platform, Adobe is helping customers edit, manage and share digital
images and video with the highest quality results. Adobe delivers the
leading platform for the future of design and publishing, giving creative
professionals everything they need to create and publish content to print
and the Web faster, more easily, and more efficiently. And the Adobe
Intelligent Document Platform enables organizations to connect employees,
customers, and partners with information through the use of Adobe’s PDF
file format—the de facto standard for secure electronic document exchange.
Founded in 1982, Adobe today is one of the world's largest software
companies, generating annual revenues exceeding US$1.2 billion. More than
3,700 employees across the world share Adobe's commitment to helping
people communicate better. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Adobe is
traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol ADBE.
Contact
Adobe Systems, Incorporated
Corporate Headquarters
345 Park Avenue
San Jose, California 95110-2704
408-536-6000
800-833-6687
FAX 408-537-6000
Order Online at
Adobe Corporation
www.adobe.com/store/main.jhtml
You can also order from other retailers or online vendors.
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Adobe Encore DVD 1.5