How to avoid video file transcoding

Question

Hello,
This is something I have been struggling with for quite a while.  Perhaps you could help me with it.
I am using Photodex Producer to create slide shows from pictures and videos I take.  Then I get Producer to generate an HD mpeg2 video file (other formats are also available) with mpeg audio format.  Finally I feed such files into Encore 6 to create BD disks.  Producer allows for a few parameters to be set but I could not find a way to generate the mpeg2 video files so that I could avoid transcoding in Encore.  I looked at the Encore Help | Importing assets page and the recipe there seems to be simple but it does not work for me...  Perhaps it is too simple?  It does not seem to be enough to use mpeg2 video with mpeg audio and 23.976 fps.  Encore always insists on transcoding these files.
Here is an example of one such file (courtesy of mediainfo):
General
Complete name                            : D:\Local\Peter\mpeg2_23_custom.mpg
Format                                   : MPEG-PS
File size                                : 67.3 MiB
Duration                                 : 22s 22ms
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 25.6 Mbps
Writing library                          : Photodex mpeg encoder
Video
ID                                       : 224 (0xE0)
Format                                   : MPEG Video
Format version                           : Version 2
Format profile                           : Main@High
Format settings, BVOP                    : Yes
Format settings, Matrix                  : Default
Format settings, GOP                     : M=3, N=15
Duration                                 : 22s 22ms
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 25.0 Mbps
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
Standard                                 : PAL
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.503
Time code of first frame                 : 00:00:00:00
Time code source                         : Group of pictures header
Stream size                              : 65.3 MiB (97%)
Writing library                          : Photodex mpeg encoder
Color primaries                          : BT.601 PAL
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.470 System B, BT.470 System G
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.601
Audio
ID                                       : 192 (0xC0)
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 2
Duration                                 : 22s 8ms
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 224 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Delay relative to video                  : -42ms
Stream size                              : 602 KiB (1%)
Could you please help me with this?  What is it in this file that forces the need of transcoding in Encore. 
Thank you,
Peter

Answer 1

Stan and Jeff, thank you for your comments and help.
I finally found a way to produce a lossless .avi file from Producer.  In ver. 6 of Producer it is under "Publish->For Computers->Custom Video File".  In the window that pops up you select Format Type: Custom and Format Settings: Format: AVI-Uncompressed.  They allow you to set the resolution, frame rate and a few other things.  The resulting .avi files were about 10GB for each minute of video (1080p, 23.976 fps).
In this particular project I had 4 files each about 100GB in size.  A bit awkward to deal with, size-wise, but still manageable.  I imported these files into Encore (did not go through Premiere) and BD transcoded them using all the high quality options I could find.  The resulting BD is ok.  I think it is noticeably better than what I was getting when I generated mpeg2 files from Producer and then had them transcoded in Encore.  The main difference is less distortion in fast changing scenes.  I just noticed that in Producer there is a "high-quality" option that I did not see (I used "normal quality").  I'll try it next time (likely will give even bigger .avi files).
I like this new approach as it improves the quality of the final product.  I will likely use it as my new workflow.  Again, thank you for your help.  Please comment if you see anything that could be improved in this process.
I will mark this question as answered.  Well, the question was not really answered but the proposed workaround appears to work well.