Encore Cutting Off Last Few Seconds of Burn

Question

I created an avi file in Video Explosion Deluxe, which clocks in at 1:24:33.  I've verified by playing the file on Windows Media Player that it plays fine all the way through to the end.
I imported it to Encore (I have the 3.0 version) as the only component in this particular project, and burned to DVD, at 7 Mbps, at a speed of 4x, which was the lowest speed option available.
Everything is fine until almost the end.  It freezes at 1:24:28.
When I play the file in Encore to preview it before burning, it plays through to the end fine.  So it recognizes the whole file.
I tried multiple more burns, and they always freeze 4-6 seconds from the end.
I then took that video file and imported it to Premiere Pro and created a new AVI file of the same thing.  That behaves exactly the same when I burn to DVD with Encore.
I then started over and created the AVI file anew in Video Explosion Deluxe.  Same result when I burn it to DVD with Encore.
I then created it as an mpeg file with Video Explosion Deluxe.  Same result.
I then added a menu in Encore before burning.  (I usually don't bother with a menu if there's just the one item instead of separate chapters.)  Instead of freezing 4-6 seconds before the end, it plays to that point 4-6 seconds from the end and then reverts back to displaying the menu.
I then checked the last two DVDs I'd burned with Encore and realized that they too end 4-6 seconds before the end of the video file.  (I don't mean of that same project; I mean two different projects with different video files.  I just hadn't examined them closely enough when I burned them.)
I've experimented with just adding a few blank seconds to the end of the project in Video Explosion Deluxe or Premiere before creating the AVI file, but I haven't been able to make it come out right yet.  For instance, I added ten blank seconds (making it 1:24:43 long, of which I really only want the first 1:24:33), and the subsequent DVD I burned froze at the 1:24:30 mark.
It's possible through trial and error I'll eventually figure out some way of adding the right amount of blank material to get it to stop at the 1:24:33 mark or just after, but this is silly, especially since it's apparently doing this with every project now and I don't want to be stuck trying to time this workaround just right every time.
Why won't it simply burn the entire file?

Answer 1

Appreciate the responses.  On the rare occasions I've posted computer-related questions in online forums, they are nearly always greeted with silence, or the equivalent of "Read the manual and stop bothering us, newbie!"  So it's a pleasant surprise when people actually try to help.
I've come up with another convoluted workaround that seems like it's actually working.
I'm making an additional AVI file of the last few seconds of each of the movies on VED.
So let's say it's a 1:20:00 AVI file that plays fine all the way to the end, but mysteriously when then burned to DVD stops at about the 1:19:55 mark.
I now have that AVI file, plus a six second file that is a duplicate of the 1:19:54-1:20:00 stretch of the first file.
I import both to Encore and place the full file on the timeline.  I then chop off precisely the last six seconds of that, meaning it is now 1:19:54 long.  Then I take my other six second AVI file and place it immediately after that back-to-back on the timeline.  I watch that part in Encore before burning to make sure they fit together exactly--i.e., there's not a skip where a frame is missing or a frame is duplicated.
I've tried it on two, and both DVDs played through to the end as they're supposed to.
Evidently whatever screws up the last few seconds of the movies made with VED (which, by the way, never happened until the last couple days in all the years I've used VED) isn't affecting these little six or so second long AVI files I'm making to stick on the end.  Maybe it's only files above a certain size or something that it's embedding some kind of mystery flaw near the end.
I'll be using primarily Premiere for my projects moving forward, so if this is solely a VED issue, I should be fine after this work I happen to be doing now.
Now, specifically on Hunt's suggestions, I've checked the projects on VED, and the video and audio tracks end at precisely the same frame.
Especially if my convoluted workaround stops working, I can next try adding that second or so of only video to the project before creating the video and audio files.
Just in perusing the options in VED, I'm not sure though if it's possible to make a video-only or audio-only file as you describe doing with Premiere.  Is that (not "muxing") something that the more rudimentary video editing programs don't do?  I know with VED I can simply delete all the content on the video tracks, say, or turn them off, but I don't think that gives me an audio-only WAV file.  I believe it just means I'd end up with a conventional AVI file that happens to have a black screen as its video from start to finish.
So perhaps I could take the AVI file made with VED, place it on the Premiere timeline and there do the trick with the extra second of video.  However, whatever the flaw is seems to be in the VED created AVI files, so I think anything done in Premiere with such a file after the fact would be too late.