I have just started using Encore Cs3.. where I had been quite familiar with Encore 1.5. I have set up my project, and I have two questions:

1. Although Premiere and Encore are linked, I exported my sequence as a non transcoded timeline, because I wanted Encore to calculate the transcoding requirements to maximize quality and utilize the available disc space. I used to do this in the previous version of Encore. However, by doing it that way, it means I didn't get to export it "to Encore" from Premiere, and when I didn't do it that way, it didn't keep my chapter markers (even though I told it to). Is there a way to send directly to Encore, maintain the chapter markers, and have Encore calculate the transcoding to utilize available disc space? I say this because I made a test disc out of Premiere to Encore that wasn't an authored DVD with a menu, and it was much smaller on the disc than the same project, authored with one menu. I know it was Encore doing the transcoding both times, but I'm not sure why there was such a difference in disc space used.

Here is my biggest issue:

2. I have only one timeline, with the end action set to take it back to the menu. I have set three buttons: Play all, Play Act One, and Play Act Two. When I test any of those buttons, the end action just takes it back to the beginning of the timeline. Then, if I push end action again.... it goes to the menu. Why is that happening?

Thanks for your help-

LTK

Am I correct in saying that the one timeline has both Act one and Act two in it? Then you must have figured out a way to get chapter points into the timeline (perhaps put them in after importing into Encore).

If that's the case, then what I've been doing is (after making sure no end actions except the timeline are set and no overrides set), I just make separate chapter playlists for each chapter and then set the end action of each chapter playlist to return to the menu you want, perhaps to the appropriate next button.
Link each Act button to the appropriate chapter playlist.
Link the Play all button to the timeline itself.
Is that close to helping?
John Rich

Thanks for your response!

Yes, I think that is helping. This is literally my first foray into Encore CS3... and Encore 5.1 wouldn't do any sort of "chapter playlist". It sounds like I need to investigate that.

What I had done so far was to set the start point of each button to a chapter marker I had made... but that still leaves them dependant on the timeline for the end action. I'm thinking I need to figure out how to make a playlist. There is only one timeline, with 12 chapter markers in it.

I am still having the odd problem of the end action on the whole clip, however. I've set the timeline end action to go back to the menu. When I test it, the first time I click "end action", the clip just goes back to the beginning. Then, if I click it again, then it goes to the menu. So, I have to click "end action" twice to get it to perform correctly. Any ideas?

LTK

Well, I found a solution. Instead of having "Play All" refer to the timeline, I actually made three chapter playlists. One for Play all, one for Act One, and one for Act Two. "Play all" continued to malfunction until I set the end action for the last chapter to go to the menu. I don't understand why that was necessary, if the end action for the whole timeline was set to go to the menu, but doing this fixed the problem.

Am I missing something here?

I'm not exactly sure what causes the timeline problem, but frequently this kind of problem is related to an "override" being set somewhere in the project either chapter or timeline.
Also, I don't set anything in the chapters, but use the "end action" of the chapter playlist to return to the main menu.

I'd check each of those to see if any overrides are set and turn them off if present. Then try again.

John