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All reviews for Adobe Encore
| 39 reviews, Showing 1 to 39 reviews |
I have been using encore to make DVDs with custom menus for many years. When it works it works ok. It is difficult to create custom video buttons, and difficult to format text with drop shadow (either you use the built-in template or make your own).
The worst thing about this software is it is buggy. Sometimes it crashes, sometimes it become very sluggish. When saving a project it sometimes save useless resources, making the project unnecessarily large.
Right now I'm trying to find an alternative to encore.
The worst thing about this software is it is buggy. Sometimes it crashes, sometimes it become very sluggish. When saving a project it sometimes save useless resources, making the project unnecessarily large.
Right now I'm trying to find an alternative to encore.
Review by videdit on
Oct 19, 2013 Version: CS4
OS: Windows 7 Ease of use: 5/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 2/10
Overall: 2/10
Note that the updated information for "CC" (Creative Cloud) or 7.0 is not correct. There is no "Encore" in the new CC - Cloud subscribers can install Encore from CS6. There is no dynamic link, Encore will not see further development, and it will not be supported other than Windows 7 and OSX 10.6.8 and 10.7. There was no functioning trial for CS6, which installs with Premiere CS6.
http://www.adobe.com/products/encore/faq.html
http://www.adobe.com/products/encore/faq.html
Review by VideoStan on
Jun 20, 2013 Version: CS6
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 6/10
Overall: 7/10
Bugs,bugs,bugs. I have created around 20 DVDs with custom menus and playing options. Encore has very nice user interface, can do almost anything but has a lots of bugs. If you work on one DVD and then load project for second it will get stuck. Sometimes you can restart program but sometimes you have to restart windows. Audio can disappear without reason and "Media Cache" files which are used to sync audio can be 2/3 of original MPG file that will be transferred to DVD without re-encoding.
If you are a masochist, this is a must use.
If you are a masochist, this is a must use.
Review by kizapet on
Oct 17, 2010 Version: CS5
OS: Windows 7 Ease of use: 3/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 3/10
Overall: 4/10
Subtitling with Encore is not an easy task. I find working with Subtitle Workshop 4 much better but I need Encore's features as well. The problem is that although Subtitle Workshop Can output .txt subtitle file compatible to Encore, it can't be imported. Found the cure (!) guys please check my tutorial at
Review by krama on
Oct 14, 2010 Version: 5.0.0.508
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 6/10
Value for money: 4/10
Overall: 6/10
IF this software functioned the way Adobe claims it should, it would be heaven, but it is instead HELL! Just spend a few minutes searching Google for such phrases as "Blu-ray Error: "fatal error", Code: "6", Note: "Play item OUT time must be later than IN time" or visit Creative Cow forums and read the anguished cries of people trying to get ONE good Blu-ray authoring project out of this software, and you'll stay away! Those who claim that the people who are dissing Encore are probably Adobe employees! If you work in Standard Def and or do very short, simple Blu-ray projects and are willing to totally wipe and reinstall this software every 3 months, YOU MIGHT find it worthwhile, but others find themselves staring at bizarre, undeciperable error messages at 2AM with a deadline breathing down their necks and a company that REFUSES to acknowledge problems with their software. Avoid, stay away, you'll be sorry! I ditched this junkware and bought the plain, utilitiarian Sonic DVDit Pro HD which, while it won't win any beauty contests and is a bit clunky, it WORKS and it works predictably! Do your research and I think you'll find this is software to avoid.
Review by kinohead on
Dec 4, 2009 Version: 3.0.1.008
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 2/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
I put a lot of work in learninng everything about this program and I learned. I started with the first version. I have a dedicated computer with 4 GB of memory - just for video software and I couldn't finish 1 DVD. It might work for 1 title with one menu but not much more and in the end the program will still take for ever to build a DVD or stop and give an error. Lots of bugs, lots of problems. Requires enormous resources and wastes lots of GB of harddrive. It has some good features - but even if it would work they are still limited to only the standards. This program is not worth more than 15 dollars. If you can get it at this price go for it :-) Otherwise most likely the worst price per value authoring program you can get.
Review by 422j3 on
Dec 30, 2006 Version: 2
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 2/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
Its functionallity is great, but it is unworkable on a system older than a year...
I started using encore with version 1, then used 1.5, and because I was experiencing problems again, updated to 1.5.1.
And again problems => 2.0.
Sometimes I needed to update or reinstall because of software bugs, but I experienced also alot of system problems with it.
If you don't use your PC for anything else, then encore will stay working (I suppose), but I had too much trouble with it over the years, and am now looking for another tool.
Encore can do great things, if it would keep working.
I don't use it that much, but I can't imagine having so much problems with for example ms office after not using it a few months...
So my advice: stay away from it and invest your time in learning a more stable tool.
I started using encore with version 1, then used 1.5, and because I was experiencing problems again, updated to 1.5.1.
And again problems => 2.0.
Sometimes I needed to update or reinstall because of software bugs, but I experienced also alot of system problems with it.
If you don't use your PC for anything else, then encore will stay working (I suppose), but I had too much trouble with it over the years, and am now looking for another tool.
Encore can do great things, if it would keep working.
I don't use it that much, but I can't imagine having so much problems with for example ms office after not using it a few months...
So my advice: stay away from it and invest your time in learning a more stable tool.
Review by yepitsme on
Dec 24, 2006 Version: 2.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 5/10
Overall: 1/10
I've been using Encore since its 1.5 version. That one was very buggy & 1.5.1 wasn't an excellent update. There was a guy saying that he has made a lot of projects (something like 70... he thinks thats a lot.. good for him) I've created AT LEAST 450 projects and to be brief, a lot ended up in coasters. Now I've bought the 2.0 version, I realized Adobe resist to admit that their subtitle format is the worst ever done. In 1.5/1.5.1 subs were the most weak part of it(changing a sub of character format took up to 1 min!). Now that lag is gone... but at a price: if you want to get some italics anywhere, Encore changes THE WHOLE STREAM to italics, even if you just select it for one or two subs. They preview correctly, but when burnt, the DVD will show ONLY ITALICS. Shame on this matter for the so called "Encore Creation Group".
Another bothering nd very confusing detail: When burning I was expecting to se again like in ol 1.5.x version, this kind of info: estimated time: (hh:mm:ss) progress: xx.xx MB/GB of xx.xxGB
Now.... what you really get is something like (and this is literally): 2.5234EX + 3EB completed... WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN??? Someone thought a DVD builder would die to know WHAT BLOCK CELL or DISK SEGMENT is Encore burning at every second? I doubt it. I want to know the data size of my project not the cell numbers!
Dont get me wrong, these are very disturbing things in such a great software, i still believe it is, but I just wanted to point out that software new versions are supposed to enhance the product... and this is not one of those cases.
Another bothering nd very confusing detail: When burning I was expecting to se again like in ol 1.5.x version, this kind of info: estimated time: (hh:mm:ss) progress: xx.xx MB/GB of xx.xxGB
Now.... what you really get is something like (and this is literally): 2.5234EX + 3EB completed... WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN??? Someone thought a DVD builder would die to know WHAT BLOCK CELL or DISK SEGMENT is Encore burning at every second? I doubt it. I want to know the data size of my project not the cell numbers!
Dont get me wrong, these are very disturbing things in such a great software, i still believe it is, but I just wanted to point out that software new versions are supposed to enhance the product... and this is not one of those cases.
Review by edward77 on
Apr 1, 2006 Version: 2.0.0.48678
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 6/10
Overall: 8/10
WILL NOT WORK PROPERLY WITH AMD PROCESSORS!! Have a high-end Athlon 64 FX-55 and Encore 2.0 will not work with it. Goes out to lunch after about 10 clicks. Tried buying a whole new drive and putting nothing but XP and Encore on it - then called Adobe. Encore is "not tested or supported on AMD processors". If you have an AMD processor, keep moving (hence the low oevrall rating).
By the way, 1.5 was a dog, but at least worked on this machine.
By the way, 1.5 was a dog, but at least worked on this machine.
Review by doncaruana on
Feb 4, 2006 Version: 2.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 5/10
Overall: 2/10
When I first used it (an older version) I was deeply disapointed with this program. I just gave the newer version a try (the trial version) only for the AC3 capability. I used to encode my audio to AC3 using BeSweet, and I had some issues with the DVDs (not fully compatible, bugs). Well, I had a very nice surprise.
It seams that Adobe first comes with a "1.0" version to test the "waters," than a more stable, more complex, more capable "1.5" version, and only than the "pro" versions. Still, as with InDesigh and Premiere Pro, version 1.5 for Encore is a good, "usefull" one.
P.S. I used to play around with few DVD authoring programs at different stages in my "life," and until recently, DVD-lab was my choise. (Adobe Encore DVD, DVD-lab, DVD Maestro, neoDVD, Sonic DVDit SE/PE, Sonic MyDVD, Sonic Scenarist)
It seams that Adobe first comes with a "1.0" version to test the "waters," than a more stable, more complex, more capable "1.5" version, and only than the "pro" versions. Still, as with InDesigh and Premiere Pro, version 1.5 for Encore is a good, "usefull" one.
P.S. I used to play around with few DVD authoring programs at different stages in my "life," and until recently, DVD-lab was my choise. (Adobe Encore DVD, DVD-lab, DVD Maestro, neoDVD, Sonic DVDit SE/PE, Sonic MyDVD, Sonic Scenarist)
Review by fvd72 on
Aug 29, 2005 Version: 1.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
I really liked this authoring program until I noticed it only supports video resolutions of 720 and 704 x 480 and 576 now I'd have to say it's kind of useless. If you can live with being limited to only those resolutions though, it's definitely worth a look.
Review by bondiablo on
Jul 6, 2005 Version: 1.5.1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 5/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 3/10
Overall: 6/10
People who complained about crashes and other bugs have to maintained their computers better. If you don't tune your machine right it will get back to you and you will blame every thing around but never yourself. I've accomplished dozens of complicated projects and not even ONE gave me problem! And I used most of the features Encore can offer. Video encoding is fast and accurate, audio encoding is as good as it can get (but I mostly use Vegas for 5.1 surround audio). Animated buttons - just perfect, chapters - can't be easier, menus - motion and stills - beautiful and many other features which I utilize are just right! I've done many professionally looking DVDs that people can't believe it was done at home. Very good application.
Review by nick13 on
May 6, 2005 Version: 1.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
This software is very good to make DVDs. If you don't know what you are doing you are wasting your time, we can make a lot of things, it's all customized, i have spent a few hours to learn how to work with it and i have learned enough to make my DVDs, i'm really happy with this software. To me it's a lot better than TMPGEnc DVD Author(it's a lot easy to work).
Review by windstar on
Jan 3, 2005 Version: 1.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
One comment.......using this software along with Premiere and DVD WorkShop for certain projects I only had great results. In 2004 I worked on approx 25 projects about 2Hrs in length for each one and never had an issue like system crash or coasters. On the other hand.....almost every program coming from Europe like Pinnacle, Magix, DVD Lab etc turned out to be pure JUNK. I am surprised people still buy that crap. I actually had reps from those companies admitting to me that there is not a lot they can do since European companies don't give a squat about US consumers. The only explanation is that people either use that stuff for very short projects or they only use a few basic features and they don't run into any troubles otherwise is beyond me why they spend their money on that usless stuff.
Review by ccseic on
Jan 3, 2005 Version: 1.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
Please note that Adobe Encore runs only on Windows XP. If you are a die-hard Windows 2000 user, Adobe Encore is totally useless.
Review by recluce on
Nov 30, 2004 Version: 1.5
OS: Win2K Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
Underwhelmed for several reasons:
1) Very slow transcoding. Rung dual Xeon 2.8ghz w. 2gis ram, avg. cpu use on transcode is no more than %28 - no acceptable.
2) Poor default configs with menus - this has been discussed - the basics should be defuault (like Ulead) wtih customization as user choice
3) Unstable. Since November 1st I (along with scorse of others) have been getting 'non specific' errors when encoding ac3.
4) disc image should adhere to standards for disc burning software like Nero
5) Edit function on timeline need to be refined, including trims, chapter inserts, chapter icons, etc...
6) Photoshop is a great tool for menu creation, but a better variety of templates would be nice - find the basics to be pretty boring considering all the great skinners and graphic artis out there....
that's it for now, but the lists gets longer every time I use it - not a good sign.
cheers
jt
1) Very slow transcoding. Rung dual Xeon 2.8ghz w. 2gis ram, avg. cpu use on transcode is no more than %28 - no acceptable.
2) Poor default configs with menus - this has been discussed - the basics should be defuault (like Ulead) wtih customization as user choice
3) Unstable. Since November 1st I (along with scorse of others) have been getting 'non specific' errors when encoding ac3.
4) disc image should adhere to standards for disc burning software like Nero
5) Edit function on timeline need to be refined, including trims, chapter inserts, chapter icons, etc...
6) Photoshop is a great tool for menu creation, but a better variety of templates would be nice - find the basics to be pretty boring considering all the great skinners and graphic artis out there....
that's it for now, but the lists gets longer every time I use it - not a good sign.
cheers
jt
Review by John A Tissavary on
Nov 28, 2004 Version: encore 1.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 3/10
Functionality: 4/10
Value for money: 3/10
Overall: 3/10
As kerberus posted in another comment concerning Encore, it is extremely buggy when it comes to subtitle editing. Recovery files saved after crash warning are useless. I lost days of work, on a 90-minute film one track subtitle. Again and again experienced the same problem. After checking out Adobe's users forum I discovered this is a widespread bug, affecting people with high-end specs, (1.5 ram, etc). Adobe should get its act together.
Review by ImpactHorse on
Nov 22, 2004 Version: 1.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 5/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 2/10
Best Authoring tool out there!!!!
Review by oldtown on
Sep 18, 2004 Version: 1.5
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 10/10
The beta version had many issues but the final version works just fine. If you want to create your own custom menus and buttons I would use encore because it works in harmony with photoshop. The only minor improvement I could wish for is dockable palletes in a DVD Meastro style. Otherwise I would say this product is outstanding for a 1.0 newbie dvd authorer. If you are a DVD programming code geek stick with Scenerist and all its complexity.
Review by muppet meat on
Jul 10, 2004 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
By far, the best DVD authoring tool for "home professionals". Don´t listen to the people who says that the prog crashes and ruins DVDs...all PCs are different and working under different conditions. Encore will do everything you ask for (even subtitles...the first tool to import subs the right way, no hassle). Just log to http://www.tvedten.com/subtitleconverter/ for real time sub2encore conversion. (this link is posted on the official adobe forum).
If you own a copy of Adobe Photoshop, you´ll be ready to design your own pro menus. Just learn the commands so Encore recognizes the layers as instances, and voilá...
The only con is it´s high price. But it´s nothing new...Adobe prices are allways unreachable for us poor individuals.
If you plan to be a pro dvd designer...go to college. If you wanna make commercial-like DVDs at home for your pleasure, get Encore.
If you own a copy of Adobe Photoshop, you´ll be ready to design your own pro menus. Just learn the commands so Encore recognizes the layers as instances, and voilá...
The only con is it´s high price. But it´s nothing new...Adobe prices are allways unreachable for us poor individuals.
If you plan to be a pro dvd designer...go to college. If you wanna make commercial-like DVDs at home for your pleasure, get Encore.
Review by haznut on
Apr 16, 2004 Version: 1.0.1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Difficult interface, poor help file (this is intended for professionals - why do I need the basics), no automatic tool to split chapters, would not import chapter files, support for subtitles is extremely poor - they don't give you many options to import from, no sup or srt files can be used and when I saved to an "Adobe Encore DVD" subtitle file (*.txt) using Subtitle workshop: guess what, it came with so many errors that I had to delete 98% of the subtitles. Finally it accepted the first 3 minutes of the movie and started to work on the subtitles just enough for it to figure out that it misses some converter. Doesn't really know what to do with a VOB or IFO file.
Anyhow, I guess you can still buy it for 208$ so it might have some value compared to other programs.
Anyhow, I guess you can still buy it for 208$ so it might have some value compared to other programs.
Review by 422j3 on
Feb 21, 2004 Version: 1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 3/10
Value for money: 2/10
Overall: 2/10
Very pleased with this tool. My only reservation is the price. Far too expensive for the average home user. Not as easy to learn as lot of other authoring apps on the market but it repays the effort with its feature richness and the quality of its in-built encoders.
The mainconcept mpeg2 encoder works like a charm. It needs to have the right file sizes (which you can easily fix avisynth scripts for with FitCD) but otherwise encodes all input files quickly and at good quality with lots of options to play with (vbr multipass possible). This means that aside from one quick detour to FitCD this app is practically all you need to make good looking DVD's. The encoders in other authoring apps are simply too slow or too clumsy to be usable. The speed of encore's amkes it a one-stop-shop. I
The mainconcept mpeg2 encoder works like a charm. It needs to have the right file sizes (which you can easily fix avisynth scripts for with FitCD) but otherwise encodes all input files quickly and at good quality with lots of options to play with (vbr multipass possible). This means that aside from one quick detour to FitCD this app is practically all you need to make good looking DVD's. The encoders in other authoring apps are simply too slow or too clumsy to be usable. The speed of encore's amkes it a one-stop-shop. I
Review by gerner on
Jan 24, 2004 Version: 1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 7/10
Overall: 9/10
I openly admit I haven't used enough DVD authoring tools to make fair comparisons. Nevertheless, this program is best for those who want to go beyond the restrictions of other programs and desire more control over the outcome of their project.
The program itself is fairly simple once you get used to how the tools work. A wealth of tutorials exist on the internet, so reading is definately a requirement if you want to make the most out of the program. (Even the help file is not completely as bad as others make it out. With its guidance I was able to customize where the menu highlight goes depending on with direction you press).
You have full control over customizing buttons, providing you have a copy of Adobe Photoshop. The Adobe website gives a great tutorial on how to make layer sets that Encore interprets (it even shows you how to make a box as a placeholder for a video preview).
The program, however, has some serious bugs - inconvienient at best and destructive at worst. I've had to make a whole series of different save files because it doesn't take much for the project to get completely corrupted. The patch released last month may address some of these problems but I haven't fully tested the improvements yet.
Nevertheless, I've gotten a few DVDs burnt successfully with this program. Any shortcomings, I'm humbled to admit, is completely due to my error (or lack of understanding of a certain feature) and not due to any glitches.
$600 is bit steep for those who just want to throw a few clips on a DVD with no need for a slick presentation (the software that came with the burner, if any, would be fine in that case). But for those who want something to show off this may be the program of choice, but it may be wise to wait for the next release since this one needs a bit of tweaking.
The program itself is fairly simple once you get used to how the tools work. A wealth of tutorials exist on the internet, so reading is definately a requirement if you want to make the most out of the program. (Even the help file is not completely as bad as others make it out. With its guidance I was able to customize where the menu highlight goes depending on with direction you press).
You have full control over customizing buttons, providing you have a copy of Adobe Photoshop. The Adobe website gives a great tutorial on how to make layer sets that Encore interprets (it even shows you how to make a box as a placeholder for a video preview).
The program, however, has some serious bugs - inconvienient at best and destructive at worst. I've had to make a whole series of different save files because it doesn't take much for the project to get completely corrupted. The patch released last month may address some of these problems but I haven't fully tested the improvements yet.
Nevertheless, I've gotten a few DVDs burnt successfully with this program. Any shortcomings, I'm humbled to admit, is completely due to my error (or lack of understanding of a certain feature) and not due to any glitches.
$600 is bit steep for those who just want to throw a few clips on a DVD with no need for a slick presentation (the software that came with the burner, if any, would be fine in that case). But for those who want something to show off this may be the program of choice, but it may be wise to wait for the next release since this one needs a bit of tweaking.
Review by davemmr on
Jan 12, 2004 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 6/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 4/10
Overall: 6/10
I'm using it for some time now and I must say, it's the best yet. Only the subtitle feature is slow and buggy but overall pretty good. For the subtitle part (you can import subtitles aswell as typing it in a monitor window) i've programmed a conversion tool, very easy to use. It converts a format created by someone else his tool to create subs from scratch and it converst the subrib (srt) format aswell, I'm even willing to add more formats if requested, see my site www.home.zonnet.nl/nice.cover, offcourse it's free !!
Review by alexjonk on
Jan 5, 2004 Version: 1.01
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
If you want to build advanced menus, this is not the tool for you. Using its basic interface is like trying to type with ski gloves. It's not as bad as being restricted to a template, the photoshop import/export option is an excellent tool (When it works) but I can't recommend buying it... If the burner you bought came with free software, you're probably better off using that, unless you've got the $600 to throw away...
Review by seefx on
Dec 30, 2003 Version: 1.01
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 4/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 4/10
The compatability with Premiere, After Effects, and Photoshop make this authoring app a great choice for Adobe users. I had crashes at first with questionably encoded assets (ex-DivX files and the like) but the latest update from Adobe seems to have solved them. The interface was pretty easy to figure out; it only took me one project to figure out many of the features. The motion thumbnail creation was also a very handy feature so I don't have to assemble chapter menus in After Effects anymore. I purchased it with the Adobe Video Collection Pro which came with Premiere Pro, After Effects 6 Pro, Photoshop 7, and Audition which also came with a small tutorial DVD which helped me learn many of the new features of these programs. If you're getting into advanced digital video production I'd highly recommend this bundle of software (and a copy of TMPGEnc).
Review by RallyNavvie on
Dec 21, 2003 Version: 1.0.1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 10/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9/10
I really enjoy using Encore. I fumbled through DVDit pe, constant bunk projects. DVDit was basic, and a hassle for me. I used it to make my first dvd and had a ton of problems and had a finished product that was functional but boring due to limitations. I my second dvd, a double dvd of 2 documentaries was easy to create. I made the dvd in 2 days from start to finish including animated menu 'inbetweens' custom menus and motion graphics in a breeze due to tight integration with After Effects, Premiere and photoshop. The program did not crash at all, and my first burn was a success. I'm starting my 3rd project now and I'm thrilled with the possibilities of using this "more functional" program. I haven't much else to compare it with other than DVDit! and Pinnacle Studio 8.0, but so far, I love it.
Review by th3b33 on
Dec 1, 2003 Version: 1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 7/10
Overall: 9/10
This software is for professional use! You get full control over anything! If you want to make a DVD in 5 minutes, don't use this!
Review by houlejonathan on
Nov 28, 2003 Version: 1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 8/10
Functionality: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
I have Encore installed on my system with 2.0 GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM, 10+ GB HDD free space, which meets Adobe's spec. The features of Encore actually are superb BUT Encore so far has been disappointing me deeply. When I worked with subtitle, I had to restart Encore after 20-30 minutes because it got soooo slow that after I press a key I have to wait more than 5 seconds for it to appear on the screen. So I saved my project, restarted Encore, opened my project again, and as I opened the timeline, it said "Out of Memory" or "File err, DVD error 19013" and I can't open my timeline again. I even started to backup my work by saving it with different names but the error kept coming. So after I saved my project, I became insecure as I don't know if I can open it again. Today is my third day working with Encore and the farthest I can do with it after 3 days is doing subtitle up to 23 minutes of my 2 hour movie after countless restarting my project (from scratch!) becoz Encore kept damaging my save files and a few minutes ago, I just opened my project and got "Out of Memory" error again which means that my project file is once again rendered malfunction by Encore just after I saved it, and I think that's final. I am quitting Encore. It sure is the buggiest piece of crap I have ever seen from Adobe! :( Definitely stay away from it if you do subtitle!
Review by kerberus on
Nov 25, 2003 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 1/10
Functionality: 1/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
I've used Encore to author a few complicated project, motion menus, animations, multiple chapters, menu with video and audio, etc. It's one of the best authoring tools available today. It does everything properly, fast, and accurate. I didn't find any bugs. Ok, may be there are some, which I may encounter in the near future, but for the first release of this program, it is an Adobe quality, very good software.
Review by tamasdragon on
Oct 29, 2003 Version: 1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 9/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 10/10
What a dissappointment
The only way to use this program at present is to save your build every few minutes and when you close the program
duplicate the project and work on the copied project (please hide the backups so they don't get corrupted)
Bizarre unpecified errors crop up everytime I build a poject on this BETA quality release..
Despite support for an amazing array of features, this program's Dolby 5.1 ability times out and you need to pay up to continuue to use AC3 features of the program
I only hope they fix all the bugs or its DVD Architect for me
The only way to use this program at present is to save your build every few minutes and when you close the program
duplicate the project and work on the copied project (please hide the backups so they don't get corrupted)
Bizarre unpecified errors crop up everytime I build a poject on this BETA quality release..
Despite support for an amazing array of features, this program's Dolby 5.1 ability times out and you need to pay up to continuue to use AC3 features of the program
I only hope they fix all the bugs or its DVD Architect for me
Review by dcsos on
Oct 25, 2003 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 3/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 5/10
Overall: 4/10
Is it a fake or something? Ok, after some experiences, it's easy to handle. But this prog is total full of bugs. If you want to create a motion chapter menu, you can only render the chapters which are under 60 minutes in movi. Means, if you have a chapter at 71 minutes Encore will crash at encoding. With subtitles, you have the same problem. After founding the real import size for subtitle images and editing the subtitle script for this, it will take several hours to encode the dvd with your subs. When you've imported the subs, don't start preview anymore. It will take a few hours until you get a review screen. It seems that Encore had crashed, but after 3 or 4 hours (it's depending, how much subtitle-parts you have) you get your ""great"" result. After this "very fast" processing time, you can burn your favourite. But do it with a DVD+-RW cause at my test, the movie starts first and not my main-menu which I've decided to start first. Ok. Maybe the next version of Encore will be great, cause it's easy to understand and to handle. But this version is definitely no selling product (with a price over 500$), not even good for a demo or freeware. It's almost an complete buggy alpha version. Don't buy it.
Your Stormwatch2k
P.S.: I'm sorry for my bad english!
Your Stormwatch2k
P.S.: I'm sorry for my bad english!
Review by Stormwatch2k on
Sep 23, 2003 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 1/10
Overall: 1/10
I'm not sure what to think. It's not your typical Adobe-quality program. It has bugs. It's difficult to use. Not my favorite. I'll continue to use ReelDVD and DVDit! PE for now.
The XP-only aspect bothered me at first, but XP can look and feel like 2K if you make it. I added 256MB of RAM just to be safe, though.
I'm neutral on this one. Not really for or against it.
The XP-only aspect bothered me at first, but XP can look and feel like 2K if you make it. I added 256MB of RAM just to be safe, though.
I'm neutral on this one. Not really for or against it.
Review by lordsmurf on
Sep 21, 2003 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 6/10
Functionality: 8/10
Value for money: 5/10
Overall: 5/10
I have to agree with JubFutz... This program stinks!! I have been looking forward to the release of Encore and am sorely disappointed. The first thing you will notice about Encore is the messy work environment you must navigate through. It uses the same type of non-docking "tool" windows that Photoshop uses, which is very cumbersome for DVD production, as every window contains info or assets that you must constantly work with. There is no organized work flow like DVD Workshop, where you can go through logical steps to build your disc. Many functions, such as end actions, must be set manually, rather than Encore setting up common links (ie: return to root menu when done playing title). I discovered this after rendering out the whole compilation to my hardrive, only to find out the compilation quit after the first play title!!!
Stability problems, considering the long beta testing time for this product, reared it's ugly head after only about 30 minutes of use. I had encore give me an error after right clicking over the Menu I was working on. It gave me an option to save my work before closing, but I found when I reloaded Encore, the project was now corrupt and I had to start all over again anyway.
This program, while it boasts all the DVD bells and whistles, just doesn't live up to the Adobe standard we have come to know with Photoshop, etc.
VideoGeek
Stability problems, considering the long beta testing time for this product, reared it's ugly head after only about 30 minutes of use. I had encore give me an error after right clicking over the Menu I was working on. It gave me an option to save my work before closing, but I found when I reloaded Encore, the project was now corrupt and I had to start all over again anyway.
This program, while it boasts all the DVD bells and whistles, just doesn't live up to the Adobe standard we have come to know with Photoshop, etc.
VideoGeek
Review by VideoGeek on
Sep 15, 2003 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 5/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 4/10
Overall: 5/10
When I first opened the program, I thought it was great. Then I had a deadline to meet and thought, what the heck, I'll give it a try because it was going to take too long to use Scenarist or ReelDVD to meet my deadline.
This program is the pits if you don't have the Adobe family of video products (I do and it still stinks). The linking is automated and takes some time to figure out how to over-ride the settings. The help file is lacking. If you try to edit the PSD files that come eith the program, you find that it assigns the layers a property you can not assign in Photoshop.
The menus are fuzzy at best and anything authored with Encore looks awfull on HDTVs.
There is always a first chapter point that the program inserts for you and you can not make it go away (I think this is a program bug because I kept getting an error message when i tried to modify the first chapter point).
It has no import chapter points unless you use Premiere to add markers on the time line--this is just annoying because I edit my videos with Vegas. Not being able to import chapter points in the traditional manner is a big disapointment and not a pro tool at all.
Scrubing the preview time line just plain stinks. I have a dual PV with a gig of SDRAM and it constantly went out of sync.
It also allowed buttons to overlap which plays fine on a computer but forget it on a set-top player. Strange feature--why would you ever want to allow a button to overlap?
If you want to make simple dvds of your family videos, then it will work for you but then why spend the money when DVDit will do basically the same thing for less.
Forget about complex menu systems and navigation (I can't even figure out how to assign a default chapter menu for set-top players). Now I could be missing something in the manual but it shouldn't be that hard.
Overall-Not for the pro and too expensive for the novice.
This program is the pits if you don't have the Adobe family of video products (I do and it still stinks). The linking is automated and takes some time to figure out how to over-ride the settings. The help file is lacking. If you try to edit the PSD files that come eith the program, you find that it assigns the layers a property you can not assign in Photoshop.
The menus are fuzzy at best and anything authored with Encore looks awfull on HDTVs.
There is always a first chapter point that the program inserts for you and you can not make it go away (I think this is a program bug because I kept getting an error message when i tried to modify the first chapter point).
It has no import chapter points unless you use Premiere to add markers on the time line--this is just annoying because I edit my videos with Vegas. Not being able to import chapter points in the traditional manner is a big disapointment and not a pro tool at all.
Scrubing the preview time line just plain stinks. I have a dual PV with a gig of SDRAM and it constantly went out of sync.
It also allowed buttons to overlap which plays fine on a computer but forget it on a set-top player. Strange feature--why would you ever want to allow a button to overlap?
If you want to make simple dvds of your family videos, then it will work for you but then why spend the money when DVDit will do basically the same thing for less.
Forget about complex menu systems and navigation (I can't even figure out how to assign a default chapter menu for set-top players). Now I could be missing something in the manual but it shouldn't be that hard.
Overall-Not for the pro and too expensive for the novice.
Review by JoboFutz on
Sep 15, 2003 Version: 1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 4/10
Overall: 5/10
Does the same (or less) than all the other Author software.
Subtitles? Hmm it supports them, but in what format ???
You can do a text import, but there is no description of the structure of the text file.
Far to much money for this crap
In other words... It SUCKS
I stic with DVDMaestro and DVDLab
Subtitles? Hmm it supports them, but in what format ???
You can do a text import, but there is no description of the structure of the text file.
Far to much money for this crap
In other words... It SUCKS
I stic with DVDMaestro and DVDLab
Review by ericdevet on
Sep 15, 2003 Version: 1
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 4/10
Functionality: 4/10
Value for money: 2/10
Overall: 3/10
I forgot to mention another thing...It seems you need to have Photoshop for creating your own menu designs to get the most out of Encore, otherwise you'll have to use the samples which ship with it. A lot of the support threads and tutorials presuppose that you already have this ("...import you menu/button design from Photoshop...).
Sorry for the second post, but as I didn't already have Photoshop +_+ I was crestfallen to find this out, and want to warn other non-Photoshop users in advance.
(feels better to get that off my chest)
Sorry for the second post, but as I didn't already have Photoshop +_+ I was crestfallen to find this out, and want to warn other non-Photoshop users in advance.
(feels better to get that off my chest)
Review by SoupStain on
Sep 12, 2003 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 6/10
Overall: 6/10
A few gripes...
Only accepts full-screen DVD resolution video files (can't use half-D1 for example).
Could do with a flowchart-like representation of the project (like ReelDVD or DVDLab).
Interface may feel "intuitive" for people familiar with Adobe software, but for me it feels no more intuitive than other software.
Quite good support from Adobe & other users (see Adobe website). I liked the video tutorials which came with the software - makes up for the so-so manual.
Overall - a bit disappointing.
Only accepts full-screen DVD resolution video files (can't use half-D1 for example).
Could do with a flowchart-like representation of the project (like ReelDVD or DVDLab).
Interface may feel "intuitive" for people familiar with Adobe software, but for me it feels no more intuitive than other software.
Quite good support from Adobe & other users (see Adobe website). I liked the video tutorials which came with the software - makes up for the so-so manual.
Overall - a bit disappointing.
Review by SoupStain on
Sep 10, 2003 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 7/10
Value for money: 6/10
Overall: 7/10
This is the best authoring program I've used yet (and I've tried Sonic DVDit, Ulead DVD MovieFactory, DVD Maestro, and more). The tight integration with Photoshop is nice, and I can import the PSDs (with multiple layers) directly as a menu into Encore.
It is obvious that the program does need a little more work, not that it is buggy, but that it is lacking in certain areas (the help file is not very comprehensive, and some of the error dialogues use arcane DVD spec error codes and gibberish instead of good, plain 'ol english.
Overall, a good, easy to use authoring program for those that can flip the bill.
It is obvious that the program does need a little more work, not that it is buggy, but that it is lacking in certain areas (the help file is not very comprehensive, and some of the error dialogues use arcane DVD spec error codes and gibberish instead of good, plain 'ol english.
Overall, a good, easy to use authoring program for those that can flip the bill.
Review by phatnadz on
Aug 27, 2003 Version: 1.0
OS: WinXP Ease of use: 7/10
Functionality: 9/10
Value for money: 3/10
Overall: 8/10
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