Could you post a screenshot of your navigation and highlight where the disc freezes. I don't think this is related to the VBR 2 Pass encoding.

-Ramesh.

>until these issues are addressed...somehow

Send all your details to Adobe via https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

The other step is to build to a folder and play with a software player. That eliminates burn/disk issues. But many software players do not emulate as well as Encore's preview (which has its issues). But finding that a problem is present in one method and not another can help troubleshoot.

CaptainJack1024 wrote:

 

I haven't gotten mine down to a minimum reproducible error yet...

I found a lower end where I don't get an error, although it's not a sustainable solution. I created a PP project with a single AVCHD clip at 2;30 (2.5 seconds) in 1080p at 59.94 frames. I used dynamic link to export to Encore, where I created a blu-ray project with one default format timeline, and put the clip in there. I added one default content, BR resolution menu, deleted all but one button, and linked the button to the clip. I was able to make an ISO successfully, burn the ISO to a BR disk, and play the disk back in both the same computer and a separate, set top player. So, there's a lower bound. I've got an upper bound that is a lot more complex that does cause failure. There were three differences with the project that failed; custom menu edited in Photoshop, more clips (about 45) of about an hour total duration, and a mixture of 1080i 29.97 and 1080p 59.94 clips. I'm going to try to get it to fail with a single kind of clip, and see if it's merely the size of the project (I'm allocataing about 12 GB of RAM, but I could go a little higher if need be). Hopefully, I can get it to fail reliable in a way that leads to a solution.

I always use Encore with PP projects and create an ISO first, which is an important part of my workflow; I'll keep testing it that way. Most of the failures I've had have been in the ISO write, which is nice in that I don't have a stack of blue frisbees lying around.

Problems with skipping during playback, audio dropout, etc. are most likely caused by the following:

1) You are using poor quality Blu-ray media. Do not use the cheapest discs you can find, they are NOT all created equal. Best brands are Falcon Media Pro, Sony, and Verbatim. Do not use those cheap vinpower digital, memorex, rosewill, or other no-name brands.

2) You are burning at too fast of a speed. Although the disc and drive may claim to support really fast burn speeds, even the best drives can only reliably burn at 4x on the best media. Just to be safe, you should burn at 2x.

3) The dynamic linking of timelines from Premiere to Encore has never worked flawlessly. Often times there are video glitches or audio glitches with this process, which is NOT reliable. For the most reliable output, you should be encoding directly from Premiere to H.264 Blu-ray. Use a bitrate calculator to determine the bitrate.

4) You have used too high of a bitrate to encode your video. Even though the Blu-ray format supports a maximum of 40 mbps for video, you should never encode higher than 30 mbps for BD-R. Burned media has lower reflectivity than pressed (replicated) discs, as well as a higher error rate, which means it cannot sustain the same bitrate as replicated discs during playback. I recommend keeping the target bitrate around 25 mbps with a max of 29 or so if you have the disc capacity to support it.

5) Poor quality burner. Just like the discs, not all burners perform equally. Poor quality burners can often have weak lasers, thus not properly burning the data to the disc (visibly noticable with light and dark waves in the burned data). I recommend latest model Pioneer burners, and you must frequently check the burned surfaces to make sure the drive is not going bad, and the laser is not becoming weak.

So, make sure you encode directly from Premiere (or in media encoder from an HD master file), use an appropriate bitrate below 30 mbps, burn at a slow speed of 2x, using premium quality discs, on a good quality burner, and you should have excellent quality builds every time without any skipping issues (we always do).

Very strange Matthew. Here is how you can troubleshoot the source of the problem...

If the final burned disc freezes at a certain point, try mounting the iso image to a drive (using Virtual CloneDrive) and playback with a software Blu-ray player (I recommend Total Media Theatre 5 for spec level accuracy). This step should always be done before burning a disc as a quality control measure. If the mounted image does not experience problems, the problem could be with your burner or media. If the mounted image freezes, try playing the encoded video file in a new Encore project or Premiere. If the encoded file plays through that area without issues, then you know the problem is with Encore and how it is programming the disc. If you went through those steps and determined it is definitely an Encore problem, then let us know and we can suggest some things to try.

Jon Geddes

http://www.precomposed.com

Lots of effects, color grading, and noise reduction is normal, and will not cause the issue. What's possible is that the encoded file has an abnormally high bitrate spike at that exact moment, which your computer can playback without issues, but a burned disc has issues playing it back on a hardware Blu-ray player. This is rare as Encore scans the file to make sure the bitrate is spec compliant before building... but I suppose it's possible. If a software Blu-ray player plays it back without issues, I would look into using a different burner or analyzing the bitrate at that moment in the video. DGAVCIndex is a free application that will analyze the mpeg4 stream. I know this sounds like a lot of work, but when you are under the gun from a frustrated client, sometimes you just have to do what is necessary to get to the bottom of the issue. You can also send the project to us for authoring, as we know all the tricks of the trade with Encore, and will make sure it gets done correctly with very fast turnaround.

Jon Geddes

http://www.precomposed.com

I recommend Pioneer brand Blu-ray writers. They have worked pretty consistently so far for us. The current model is BDR-208, without the BDXL support.

If you would like to discuss sending the project to us, please contact me via email. You can find the contact information on our website www.precomposed.com