Adobe Encore DVD Menu Creation « Videomaker Community Forums

old wrinkly
Member

I have several 8mm video tapes taken on my old analogue camera that I'm transferring to my new digital camcorder so I can get them onto my PC.

My long term aim is to produce some DVDs for the family.

As the final DVDs will consist of several tapes I'd like to have a menu that will allow the user to either play the DVD right through or go to specific scenes so they can pick which "old" tape to view. Much as you find on commercial movies.

Although MS Movie Maker is freely available it doesn't have the sort of option I want so I've been looking at alternatives.

Adobe Premier Pro and Adobe Encore DVD seem a good, but expensive combination. I used Adobe Premiere several years ago (back in the days of W95) so don't expect to have too many problems picking that up again.

Adobe Encore DVD is a different matter. From browsing through various sites I'm fairly sure that it does allow the sort of menus I want. However, I was hoping to read up in a bit more detail on the actual process before spending any money to see if I think I could achieve what I want.

I've also looked at DVD Menu Studio and DVD-Lab Pro but unless I've missed it I don't think either of these allows the creation of the sort of menus I want.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to some more detailed info on using Encore DVD the way I want or correct me with DVD Menu Studio/DVD-Lab Pro?

Thanks

Posted 7 years ago #
JD
Member

I use Encore DVD for everything that I burn. It may seem a little pricy for some but it's worth it. If you have used any adobe products, the learning curve is small as they all work the same. I do a lot of transfers from VHS to DVD and Encore will allow you to create any kind of menus that you wish. Once you learn how to use it, you can even put your own chapter markers on the timeline and it will connect those to the menu buttons that you create while building your menu screens. Plus, if you have Adobe After Effects, you can even do motion video menus. I have used Pinnacle Studio 9, and even tried Roxio's newest Easy CD/DVD creator. They are nice pieces of software but don't hold a candle to the individual creativity that Adobe Encore witll give you when it comes time to put it all together. Even a person just doing video as a hobby can put together a really professional video. You don't have to have Premiere Pro, as you can do your capturing with windows movie maker or Studio 9, etc. Encore will accept files as assets that are AVI files or MPEGs.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not endorsing Adobe at all. Software is a personal choice. But, I operate a recording studio and do a lot of music videos. I've learned over the years and finally built one computer in my studio that is used for nothing but video and it is loaded with nothing but Adobe software because it all integrates beautifully. Therefore, I swear by Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Encore DVD, Illustrator, After effects and the new Audition 1.5 for Audio editing and multi-tracking.

Posted 7 years ago #
old wrinkly
Member

Thanks jd

Since posting my question I've been doing quite a bit of browsing and it does seem that the way the Adobe products integrate is a real bonus. Plus as you say sticking to the same companies products makes the learning curve smaller, a real benefit at my age.

My initial thoughts after upgrading to XP were that Movie Maker was a good piece of software but, and I'm not knocking it, I now realise that it is limited in it's facilities which I suppose that's not surprising given that it's FREE.

Given the price of the Adobe products I now have to work out what I can afford and what my priorites are.

Thanks again for your input it's very helpful to have the views of more people who have "hands on" experience of software.

Posted 7 years ago #
Michael Autery
Member

I agree Adobe products are the way to go, I have created a couple hundred menus for use with Encore.

Let me know what you are trying to accomplish in a menu, maybe I can help

Michael

Posted 6 years ago #