Internal Software error PGC for encore CS3 !!! solved !!!

Question

Almost everybody here knows the next error:
PGC "timeline name" has an error at xx:xx:xx:xy internal software error : %0, line timeline name - PGCINFO: name= timeline name, ref=BPGC, time=xx:xx:xx:xy
Where the y in time stands for the length of the timeline minus 2 frames. The BPGC error can also be FPGC or DPGC dependant on how many menu's there are in the project.
It kept me awake for weeks and after reading this forum several times and comparing encore CS3 with encore 2.0 filenames I found the solution.
This Error is a bug in encore witch has nothing to do with blank filename spots and sonic coding or codecs or planning your workflow with a pencil but pure with the combination Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and Encore CS3.
This is what generates the problem:
In Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 you build project with video, sound and chapters. Then you export the project via the Media Encoder not Multplexed.
Premiere CS3 then creates the following files:
filename.M2V (video file mpg)
filename.AC3 (audio file ac3)
filename.M2V.XMPSES (an adobe file with preview info and chapter pointers)
filname.XMP (??)
It is the .M2V.XMPSES file witch creates the PGC error. If you use the MULTIPLEX DVD option then ADOBE will not create the .M2V.XMPSES file so there will not be an error. This trick mentioned by ADOBE and many others is just to go around the bug instead of solving it. Also with multiplex you have just one sound track. I use two sound tracks like 5.1 and a 2.0 track witch you can choose in a menu.
Some people say it is the blank spots. Also not true. They have probably just erased the blank spots of the M2V file and forgot the .M2V.XMPSES file.
When you just delete the .M2V.XMPSES file and then open the M2V and AC3 file in Encore as a new asset, make a timeline and menu's and the project will built and burn. Only if you delete this .M2V.XMPSES file Encore takes a longer time to import the M2V file and will be without the chapter points.
Almost everything else will work like menu with sound and even a movie background (use M2V files). Only the motion buttons in a menu still wont work unless you use a black background !?!. Haven't figured this out yet. Only solution for this is use Encore 2.0. In this older version also the motion buttons will work without error's (everything else also so why buy CS3??)
Here is what you must do create a DVD without errors:
-Create a project in Premiere Pro, even with chapters.
-Write down all chapter points (minutes:seconds:frames)
-Create two new unique maps in explorer for example D:DVD1 and D:DVD2
-Export in Premiere with Media Encoder without the Multiplex:DVD but with NON to the D:DVD1 map
-Copy from D:DVD1 only the M2V and AC3 files to D:DVD2
-Start up Encore DVD CS3 or 2.0
-Create a new unique project in Encore for example "DVD" and save this in the map D:DVD2\
-Then use Save-as (under file) and pinpoint to D:DVD2\dvd to be sure that all Encore's files are placed in this folder.
-Select M2V file and make new timeline.
-Make chapter points (you wrote down the points, did you?)
-Create menu's, even with sound (AC3) and movie background (M2V)
-Then render project if you have used a video for menu background
-Finally Built and burnnnnnn!!
-If you like to use motion buttons in a menu then use Encore 2.0
I have double checked my work flow and it really works. I have built a project and burned with success Then I deleted the timeline and the M2V file. Copied the .M2V.XMPSES file in the used folder. Re loaded the M2V file in encore (this time much faster! and with chapter points). Tried to built and burn and back was the error. Also this happened in in Encore 2.0!!
Hope that this will solve the PGC error once and for all !!!
Marcel W
system:
acer aspire AMD 64 3800+
2 GB
250 GB hard drive for system
750 GB hard drive for movie
software Adobe Encore 3.0.1.008, Premiere PRO 3.2.0, Photoshop CS3 10.0, All upgraded
NERO 7
No Internet

Answer 1

> Where the y in time stands for the length of the timeline minus 2 frames.
This can actually vary, and so far at least, I don't think we've seen a pattern as to type of pgc error based on how many frames from the end it reports.
> The BPGC error can also be FPGC or DPGC dependant on how many menu's there are in the project.
Number of menus is not relevant; the iteration of the first letter is more related to subsequent occurrences of the error. In my current tests it did not always update; they may have been too similar.
> This is what generates the problem...
Well, the problem does not occur every time you do what you describe, any more than it occurs every time spaces are left in the file names. What you have is, as some other suggestions, a workaround. Thats not bad, and I wonder if you are onto something as to what is contributing to the problem.
So, on to the interesting part whether the xmpses file, or at least what Encore is doing with it, is contributing something. I took an old test project that throws the PGC error and did some experiments.
Background. I am a user who does get the pgc errors regularly, but not always. Creative Suite Production Premium, with PPro CS3 3.2.0 (374) and Encore 3.0.1.008. Pentium 4 2.8GHz 2G RAM, XP SP3, Multiple drives, Nvidia GEforce4 MX440 i.e. an older system. I have lots of stuff loaded and running, including virus protection and firewall, so there are any number of potential conflicts. But I get no crashes, and only one problem other than the pgc. (PPro and Encore monitor windows do this diagonal thing I suspect the display card, but the drivers are up to date. Maxing and then back to fit fixes it.)
If you want to attempt to replicate my studies, here is a link to my problem clip and the first Encore project I describe.
http://www.videoandcomputer.com/test/pgc_test.htm
This project involves a very short AVI export from PPro CS3 - just over 8 seconds - called pgcbad_clip1.avi. Just to answer any question, the source is dv camera capture, and the source and avi export I use are dv avi type 2. There were no effects added on the timeline.
Test 1: Create a project in Encore CS3. Use the sunset menu and delete all the buttons except "play all." Import the avi as a timeline. Set the timeline end action as "return to last menu" and set the button link to the timeline. Auto transcode. (Project settings are 8mbps max and a3c.) Check project shows okay; there is never a problem with that. Build to a DVD folder in a new folder. This project throws the pgc error.
Test 2: Now create a new Encore project in a new folder. Use the same process, except import as timeline the m2v and a3c files from the first run. (I.e. if the clip is pgcbad_clip1.avi, in the test1 project folders, there is a folder called pgcbad_clip1.avi that has 6 files.) Note that in the folder they are imported from is an xmpses file from the first project's encore transcode. The build again fails with the pgc error - same frame, etc, but I really think the frame number doesn't matter.
Test 3: Now create another new Encore project in a new folder. Use same process, but before importing the m2v and a3c as timeline, delete the xmpses file. Drumroll...... Build succeeds!
Go figure.
This is not the repeatable bug option weve been looking for, but based on a clip that always fails, it does demonstrate the odd event of deleting the xmpses file as a workaround. I wonder if that will give adobe something to work with.
Can anyone else get my clip to work/not work in a straight project?
Test 4: Just to answer the question since the avi file fails here, will the elemental option succeed? I exported elemental m2v and wav from PPro, used the same project process, and transcoded the wav. That build also works! I have seen this work both ways. I have had projects where the elemental failed, and an avi export worked. I do believe the elemental options work more consistently. But my project that I completed yesterday used all avi exports, animated buttons in the submenu, - no pgc error.