RIP, Adobe Encore; and How to Install and Use Encore CS6 with Adobe Premiere Pro CC
Adobe has end-of-lifed Adobe Encore, which is bad news if you need to burn DVDs or Blu-ray Discs or build Flash DVDs. This article will discuss how to install Encore if you're a CC subscriber and don't have Encore CS6 already installed on your computer; the terms and implications of Encore's end-of-life status; and how to work around the lack of Dynamic Link transfers from Premiere Pro CC to Encore CS6.
So, there I was, starting to run some tests on a brand new HP Z820 with 12/24 core E5-2697 v2 CPUs, one of the fastest workstations on the planet. I had installed Premiere Pro CC on the computer and started looking for Encore to run some Blu-Ray Disc encoding tests. Nowhere to be found on the computer. So I figured I would download the app from the Adobe Creative Cloud site, but Encore was missing there, as well.
A quick Google search led to the realization that Adobe had “end-of-lifed” Encore, which has significant implications to many event producers. I also learned that while Encore CS6 can work with Premiere Pro CC, there is no Dynamic Link transfer from PP CC to Encore CS6; you have to output your timelines separately and input them into Encore CS6. In this article, I’ll discuss how to install Encore if you’re a CC subscriber and don’t have Encore CS6 already installed on your computer, the terms and implications of Encore’s end-of-life status, and how to work around the lack of Dynamic Link transfers from Premiere Pro CC to Encore CS6.
How to Get Adobe Encore CS6 from Your Creative Cloud Subscription
Probably the most pressing problem for many CC subscribers is how to get Encore CS6 installed if you no longer have installation files for Premiere Pro CS6, which installed Encore and Adobe Media Encoder as well as Premiere Pro. The simple answer is that you download Premiere Pro CS6 from the Creative Cloud (Figure 1, below), install it, and then uninstall Premiere Pro CS6 if desired. Remember, you have access to all CS6 applications as part of your CC subscription, so downloading CS6 apps should not be a problem.
Figure 1. CC subscribers can access all CS6 applications. Click on the image to see it at full size.
What Does End of Life Mean?
Pulling from the Adobe FAQ, end-of-life means that the “Encore CS6 version will be the final release of this product.” Adobe makes their motivation clear: “The trend in the video and broadcast industry is moving away from physical media distribution. The future is in cloud and streaming content. Therefore we are focusing more on products that deliver to streaming services.” As a site dedicated to online video production, we can’t argue with that assessment; and given that Apple stopped developing DVD Studio Pro with the 4.0 release in 2005, it’s hard to take issue with Adobe’s decision.
Regarding future updates to Encore, Adobe states, “Encore CS6 is supported on Microsoft® Windows® 7 with Service Pack 1 (64 bit) and Mac OS X v10.6.8 or v10.7. Please note that Encore CS6 support for future operating system updates or new hardware platforms will not be provided.” So, there will be no more improvements, and sometime in the future, an OS update will break Encore and Adobe won’t fix it.
Where does that leave us? Well, sometime, down the road, you’ll need to choose another DVD/Blu-ray authoring program to serve your clients who demand physical media deliverables. But not today, so I’ll leave the discussion of which authoring program is best for another day. For those needing help in the short term, Sony Creative Software, with multiple DVD and Blu-ray options, is a good place to start.
What Happened to Dynamic Link?
In addition to the absence of a CC version of Encore, the ability to send a sequence from Premiere Pro CC to Encore CS6 via Dynamic Link is gone (Figure 2, below). The reason is that Adobe updated Dynamic Link in Premiere CC to make it work more efficiently with other CC apps; since Encore CS6 doesn’t support this level of Dynamic Link, there can’t be Dynamic Link transfers to Encore from any CC app.
Figure 2. Dynamic Link from Premiere Pro CC to Encore CS6 is gone.
If you attempt to back-door the process, and try to import a Premiere Pro CC sequence from within Encore CS6, the import will stall and the sequences won’t appear (Figure 3, below). You won’t get an error message; the import will just hang as shown in Figure 3. For the sake of clarity, I’ll note that both Dynamic Link from Premiere Pro CS6 to Encore CS6 works fine, and you can still import a sequence from a Premiere Pro CS6 project in Encore CS6.
The only alternative for Premiere Pro CC optical disc producers is to export your content from Premiere Pro CC/Adobe Media Encoder as a separate file and import those into Encore. As before, all chapter markers inserted in Premiere Pro CC will appear in Encore CS6.
Figure 3. You can’t import a sequence from a Premiere Pro CC project into Encore either.
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