Trying to author my first BRD's...?'s

[Jerry]

I do the H264 encoding in PC3 as well (with Mark's presets) and it works well in Encore CS3 without re-encoding.

Your one of the lucky ones.

[planetweckesser]

1. Keep in mind that menus used in Encore CS3 are created by Photoshop.
If you are familiar with photoshop CS3, you can do anything that you want.
If you think that those menus in DVDITPROHD are complex, you are in for a
big shock.
2. I only use PP if I have to. I usually will opt for AE instead.

All I can say is that Encore runs circles around DVDITPROHD. I am going to be doing a new rebuild here shortly, DVDITPROHD will not be one of the programs to be loaded. It served it's purpose. Nothing more, nothing less.
I look at DVDITPROHD as a very confusing and troubled entry level program.

Aside from investing in PPro Production Premium to the tune of $ 1,700 (I have never used PPro, After Effects, or Photoshop [well I do have Photoshop elements on my computer]) how is the learning curve to be able to author say a basic menu in CS3 with motion background, motion thumbnails, perhaps moving text.

It is not that I am lazy but there only so many hours in the day and since I am an "obsessed hobbyist" with a full-time Cardiology practice and 3 young kids to take care of it doesn't leave me much time to spend hours and hours learning layers and the other complex things I have heard about in Photoshop menus and applying them to a CS3 Encore authoring project. That is why I have stuck with DVDit ProHD despite it's shortcomings I do like the idea of setting up a project with simultaneous output for blu-ray, DVD, etc. Any advice would be appreciated (except perhaps - "you are a hobbyist not a professional - you don't belong on this forum) LOL.

[Jerry]

Aside from investing in PPro Production Premium to the tune of $ 1,700 (I have never used PPro, After Effects, or Photoshop [well I do have Photoshop elements on my computer]) how is the learning curve to be able to author say a basic menu in CS3 with motion background, motion thumbnails, perhaps moving text.

It is not that I am lazy but there only so many hours in the day and since I am an "obsessed hobbyist" with a full-time Cardiology practice and 3 young kids to take care of it doesn't leave me much time to spend hours and hours learning layers and the other complex things I have heard about in Photoshop menus and applying them to a CS3 Encore authoring project. That is why I have stuck with DVDit ProHD despite it's shortcomings I do like the idea of setting up a project with simultaneous output for blu-ray, DVD, etc. Any advice would be appreciated (except perhaps - "you are a hobbyist not a professional - you don't belong on this forum) LOL.

Being a 'hobbyist' is not a disease. If you are not familiar with Adobe Products
it will have a steep learning curve. The key is once you learn one, you can pick up the others pretty quickly. This excludes After Effects. That has a very steep learning curve.
That stated, you can do the same as with DVDITPROHD in CS3. It is drag and drop. It does not open up with a graphical interface. You have to read some of the manual, or even download the tutorials from Adobe....they are free!
http://www.adobe.com/products/tips/encoredvd.html
Just to keep this on topic, you can use Procoder 3 to create your standard DVD mpegs and import them into Encore.
Encore comes with libraries with menus that you can customize in Encore or Photoshop.You can also download the 2.0 version as a trial and practice on standard DVD. The interface and actions are pretty much the same since v1 thru CS3.
I can direct you to help, I just can't teach you how to use it.