If you haven't seriously considered Adobe Encore DVD in a while, it's time to take another look. The most recent update has catapulted Encore DVD 2.0 to the top of the sub-$1,000 Windows class of DVD authoring programs, and presents a legitimate challenge to Apple's DVD Studio Pro.

In this article, we'll walk through the stages of a typical authoring project, pointing out new features, strengths, and significant product weaknesses. The project is a concert DVD for the jazz group Potluck Trio. I edited the four-camera shoot in Premiere Pro, inserting chapter points on the timeline and outputting 16:9 DV-AVI files for import into Encore DVD.

First, here are some commercial details: Encore DVD is included in the Adobe Production Studio Premium version only, which retails for $1,699. Encore is also sold separately for $349, with an upgrade price from any previous version of $149.

The first time you run Encore 2.0, you'll be struck by the utility and logic behind the updated interface, which shifts from floating panels to tabbed, dockable palettes. Adobe also modified function-specific workspaces to simplify common activities like menu design and timeline editing. Though all products in Adobe Production Studio received similar upgrades, Encore clearly benefited the most. Adobe converted what has been a consistent negative into a strong positive.

Let's start the Potluck Trio project by importing our content. I've always liked Encore's ability to import video and Photoshop files as named timelines and menus, respectively. It sounds silly, but with products like Sonic Solutions' DVDit, you import your content, convert it to timelines and menus, and then name it, taking three steps to handle what Encore does in one.

In Encore DVD 2.0, you can add multiple video files to the same timeline (as in DVD Studio Pro), eliminating the small playback delay that can occur when jumping from timeline to timeline during playback. I tested this by adding the video from the second set to the timeline containing the video of the first set. Though set two pasted successfully, the chapter points embedded in the video disappeared. Adobe confirmed that this is a known bug, exacerbated by the fact that Encore doesn't show waveforms in the audio track, making it almost impossible to find the beginnings and ends of songs.

Fortunately, the upgrades to Encore's play-list function are more likable. Specifically, Adobe added the ability to enter and exit on a chapter point. Here's an illustration of why this is so important.

During the concert, Potluck Trio played nine songs, six of which (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 9) were original. To highlight their original music, I created a button that played only these songs.

In the new version of Encore, I can create a playlist simply by adding the chapter points for the target songs. During playback, after playing songs one and two, the DVD will arrive at the chapter point for song three, then jump to the chapter point for song four. In essence, it exited at the chapter point for song three, which previous versions couldn't do.

The only way to create the same result in version 1.5 is to produce each song separately, insert it into a unique timeline, then string the timelines together with a playlist. This means lots more editing and slight breaks between songs during playback. The only other sub-$1,000 authoring tool with the ability to exit at a chapter point is DVD Studio Pro; neither Sonic DVDit or Ulead DVD Workshop will do it.

In another parity move with DVD Studio Pro, Adobe added a slideshow tool with functions such as the ability to insert transitions between images, match slideshow duration to music, and randomly insert pan and zoom effects. You can also configure the slideshow to require manual advancing, a nice feature. Be sure to edit your images before importing them into Encore, however, since there are no red-eye removal or rotation features, which are common among consumer DVD authoring tools. Also surprisingly, you can't send images to Photoshop for editing like you can with menus.

Once you import your assets, it's time to design your menus. One frustration with previous versions of Encore has been the paucity of templates, which are useful for quick and dirty projects and to generate ideas. In version 2.0, Adobe has added hundreds of high-quality templates in categories like corporate, education, sports, and technology.

I started by perusing the entertainment categories. I found 10 templates, but only one wide-screen template, which didn't fit Potluck's cool jazz. Given how many producers will be downsampling HDV to SD 16:9 DVDs, I expected more widescreen choices. On a positive note, all templates have both title and submenu pages, and Encore can now automatically create and link submenus for all chapter points in your video files. This is a great time saver.

You can also create your own menu templates with customizable image Replacement Layers, another time-saver for those producing repetitive projects. These aren't as flexible as DVD Studio Pro's Drop Zones, which can contain both still images and video, but they're a nice plus.

As with previous versions, you can send your menus back and forth to Photoshop to supplement Encore's menu design tools. In version 1.5, Adobe added group alignment and distribution tools, but Encore still lacks the ability to center an object horizontally or vertically, a grid function, and DVD Studio Pro's elegant realtime visual alignment aids.

With version 2, Adobe has added the Dynamic Link feature, which lets you input unrendered After Effects projects into Encore, also with round-trip editing. Unfortunately, you can't import unrendered Premiere Pro projects into Encore, which can interpose a lengthy rendering cycle between editing and authoring.

In fact, that sound you hear in the background is a dual Xeon Dell Precision workstation rendering my final video in Premiere Pro so I can import it into Encore. Though DVD Studio Pro can't import Final Cut Pro projects, it can input QuickTime reference files, which accomplishes pretty much the same thing. I hope Adobe puts the ability to load unrendered Premiere Pro timelines high on the feature list for the next version.

Of course, Encore can handle both audio and video menus, the latter of which you can create within the program by dragging a video file into the menu, or in After Effects. You can set a menu to loop or timeout, control the end action, and, if you really want to irritate your viewers, animate your thumbnail images.

Once you've completed your menus and content, it's time to start linking. Encore has always offered several options here. You can use the handy pickwick, which you drag from the button properties window to the target asset or chapter point, or you can drag an asset or chapter point directly onto the target button, which is equally visual.

In version 2.0, Adobe has added a flowchart view, which visually represents all menus and content, and provides another interface for linking menus to menus and other content. I wish Encore DVD 2.0 had a view that showed which buttons are linked to which content. Other than that, Encore's linking feature set is wonderful.

Besides, if you don't link a button, Encore will let you know during error checking. This is another best-in-class feature that identifies 14 different types of errors, from disc capacity to button overlap, and provides specific directions to resolve them.

I do wish Adobe would make more intelligent assumptions during design, such as assuming that you want to return to the originating menu when a video stops playing, which is the default for most projects. Instead, Encore leaves the End Action field blank, then identifies this as a problem during error checking, forcing you to change it manually.

I also like Adobe's preview function, primarily because of the prominent Execute End Action button that most competing applications don't have. When you're testing a project with lots of custom end actions (as in, what happens when the video finishes or the menu times out), it's nice to have a button in charge of that function. Other programs let you get there with a combination of anonymous clicks, guaranteeing a trip to the manual and a certain level of apprehension as to whether it works.

Overall in this release, Adobe took sharp aim at Encore's deficits and successfully resolved most of them. Throughout the import, design, linking, error checking, and preview functions, Encore is very well-featured, relatively simple to use, and extraordinarily well integrated with other Adobe content development products.