My workflow for Blu-Ray and DVD from Premiere to Encore has had to change since the demise of the Dynamic Link (due to the lack of an Encore CC).
In many ways this has turned out to be a good thing.
My typical project is an opera performance captured on a high-end consumer camcorder (Sony HDR-CX550V) which records an AVCHD folder full of clips. I edit the project in Premiere, adding titles, chapter marks, dissolves etc. I have started to make two-camera projects as well.
I was distraught when I discovered that the link between Premiere and Encore no longer worked in Premiere CC, but soon discovered a great deal of power and flexibility in setting the file sizes by varying the target bit rate and making other changes (such as changing the default PCM sound to Dolby Digital which takes up a lot less space).
I have discovered a curious anomaly, though, with my Blu-Ray transfers. I understand that the preferred file for Encore to ingest as Blu-Ray would be the h.264 Blu-Ray but have discovered that it takes several hours to transcode...and once I'm done, Encore wants to transcode it all over again...another significant time period wasted. An opera such as MAGIC FLUTE, which the company played in 2 hours 51 minutes (without intermissions, etc.) took FIVE hours to transcode to h.264 Blu-Ray and then Encore listed it as a file to transcode (another 2 hours or so).
Along with the added time, the process requires so many multiple transcodes I can't imagine some quality is not lost.
I decided to experiment with the MPEG-2 Blu-Ray setting and found that while it made larger files (still controllable by setting the bit rate...it wants to choose 30 but since the CAMERA can't provide a file with more than 21, setting the target bit rate at 20 makes the video just about fit, with auudio set as Dolby Digital).
The encode time for the above file is just above 1 1/2 hours. Encore ultimately takes some time to index the file (maybe 20 minutes) but puts a "don't transcode" marker on it so no further transcode is done. However, it comes up with a message complaining that the metadata is corrupt and recommending that I delete the .XMPSES file (but will lose my chapter markings). I delete the file, re-import the .m2v file...the chapter markings come in just fine. Is there a reason AME has to make this .XMPSES file in a way that Encore has something to complain about?
Also...is there a reason AME can't output an h.264 file that doesn't have to be re-processed by Encore? I understand .m4v is more advanced and efficient...but if creating one is such a more difficult, time-consuming process and I get a more-than-acceptable result with the .m2v Blu-Ray file, is there any logical reason why I should still consider the "preferred" h.264 encoding?
