What can I do when Encore fails to encode during build?

Question

I got the message that my project failed to encode during build, so I went to the Project window and tried to encode it manually. It still came back as failing to encode.
I am afraid I have a corrupt file in PP that is blocking the process.
How can I fix this?
Stressed Jim

Answer 1

Hey Bill: Please indulge me with some back ground information for full details.
I got fed up with my project. It was my first project to do. I had to learn everything from how to use a camera, lighting, capturing, editing in PP, (started with PP2.0 and 1 partitioned HHD. I have since updated my computer to 3 internal SATA HHD's with 2 external HHD's. Harm was intent on that. Went from 1GB of ram to 8GB; Xp to Vista to Win7. A new GTX260 video card. I plan on going to 12GB ram and new motherboard and a quad processor. I may need to get another VC that is recommended with my new MB?)
I am saying all this because the same project had to be redone when I updated a lot of this stuff. It was a mess trying to work with the original 2.0 project in XP and then 3.0 in Vista and then in 4.0 in Win7. So I had to start over several times. In all it has been over 2 years with many, I mean many problems. I even got a new camera along the way. You guys were very instrumental in helping me get through a lot of my problems. Most all due to my lack of knowledge about computers in general. There is also a lot to PP. I was so happy when I learned how to cut and ripple delete with 3 steps instead of 4. I have even learned a few shortcuts that makes titling a lot easier. YEA for me.
Needless to say my project was a mess. I did not know about first building a folder for all related sequences. They were all over in Explorer. I had 14 music clips and they were not in a folder; just as an example. You can imagine the mess I had created. My last debacle was to do some house cleaning. (I have a love hate relationship with the Delete butttom.) So I backed up everything on my D: to E: & H:. I then proceeded to delete all the stuff on D: thinking I could just move the project I was working on back to into D: and free up a lot of GB's. (As if that was how you created a seperate workspace from storage and backup.)  It was taking 5-6 minutes to open my project. I was also crashing a lot in Encore; that was my main concern. I had read where crashes were not good on a HD? But what do I know?
This is where I was when I sent you this forum. (Oh, by the way, I was able to successfully burn some DVD's before I did the housecleaning. They have 1 misspleed word and 1 button in Encore menus does not link where I want it to go, but I can live with these minor issues. It is a struggle, but I am working threw it. I put the smiley face, but it does concern me, I am wanting this DVD to be correct. I did not say perfect. I have learned the difference between a silk purse and a sow's ear.
Anyway, like I said, I got fed up not being able to burn a DVD, so I deleted everything having to do with my project except for the raw camera footage, EFX's, and music clips. I just learned by exploring in Explorer I could do that, so every time I started over in the past I had to recapture all my 5 hours of footage. (I used a Canon HV20 camcorder and it is great for my needs.) I found out somehow I had deleted some of the raw footage during my recent house cleaning; however and I can only guess, that is why I could not get Encore to burn a DVD by failing to encode. (But who cares nowww....with a distance closed eye smile.)
Becasue for now, all I have on my 3 HHD's are raw footage in 6 separate folders, as well as my EFX's and music clips in designated folders. That is all that is on my 3 video HHD's, 3 little ol' folders. I now want to start over and do it right this time. This is what I need to know:
1. How to use 1 HHD for a workspace and the others for storage and backup without messing up my project. Someone mentioned using Project Manager??
2. I also need to know how to use folders effectively to keep my project organized.
When I burnt my HD project on a Standard DVD going from PP to Encore using Dynamic link, the video turned out great. I can see my finger prints like HD; all the close ups are super clear when watched on a HD TV; except where the camera work was lacking. The face shots at a distance of 4-5 feet are not quite (said with a small huh, drawn out 'q' and face twisted to the right and downward, with a drawn up lip) "huh not q....uite" as sharp as one would have hoped, but way plenty good for an instructional DVD. (Harm doesn't like to hear that.) grrrr... I considered converting HD to SD, but in all, I am very pleased with the outcome of my project using Encore to Burn my HD project to a SD DVD disk.
I have an Epson Artisan 50 ink-jet label printer using JVC VD-R47HPS25 disks which works well together. My next purchase is a 1-3 DVD/CD Duplicator/copier with Copyright protection. All I need is the money. LOL Wife is even OK with it.
Now that you know my life's video history and where I have progressed, or regressed, not sure which, if you know of any good links to help with my 2 concerns, please give me a shout.
Jim
Is that detailed enought?