Adobe Encore DVD

To be fair though, Encore provides more interactivity than other products in its price bracket, and Adobe has made an effort to provide extra navigational features. These include the override option, which can provide a different end action for a video clip. So, for example, Button A will play a clip that returns to the Menu, while Button B will play the same clip, but it then jumps to another clip instead.

Otherwise, Encore provides just about everything you need to output a basic commercial disc. This includes support for still and moving menus, multiple audio and subtitle tracks, Dolby Digital Stereo and 5.1 audio, 4:3/16:9 aspect ratios, dual-layer discs, ROM content, DLT drives, CSS (digital) and Macrovision (analog) copy protection and region encoding.

Encore has the same professional feel and quality of Adobe's other products, and it's certainly easy to use and packed to the seams with professional features. As far as PCs go, it's by far the best in its price league, but unfortunately it isn't only competing in the PC world. Apple's DVD Studio Pro 2, for example, has been seriously rebuilt by the creators of Spruce Maestro. Many of its earlier bugs have been ironed out and it can now take advantage of GPRM and SPRM through scripting. If Adobe had entered the fray a few years earlier with this price and feature set, everybody would be raving about it. As it is, Adobe has to play some serious catch-up with Apple, although Encore is the only way to go if you've got a PC.

Author: Paul Dawson