Attention Final Cut Editors... Adobe Encore CS4 is the Only Blu-ray Disc Authoring Software for the Mac. This Workflow Report from Adobe shows you how to Create MPEG-2 Output Files for Blu-ray Discs with Adobe Encore in an Apple Final Cut Studio Workflow

As high definition (HD) has become the new standard for video, and Blu-ray Disc has won the high-definition format war for storing HD content, it's more important than ever to be able to author professional-quality Blu-ray discs. Included with Adobe Premiere® Pro CS4 and Adobe Creative Suite® 4 Production Premium software, Adobe Encore® CS4 software makes output to a wide range of industry-standard media formats, including Blu-ray Disc, easy and efficient.

Use the same Encore interface and features to author and deliver commercial-quality titles on both standard-definition DVD and high-definition Blu-ray Disc. Or author a high-definition Blu-ray Disc project and, with one click, create a finished standard-definition DVD project. Encore simplifies production and preserves control over interactivity and output. Instead of doing manual scripting, visually drag and drop assets to create your DVD and Blu-ray Disc navigation with the visual flowchart. Design full-featured interfaces by using robust text tools, high-definition royalty-free menu templates and art, and automated menu generation.

With Adobe Encore CS4, professional editors using Apple Final Cut Studio can quickly and easily create high-definition Blu-ray discs from their Macintosh platforms. Included as part of Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and Adobe CS4 Production Premium, Encore offers a streamlined, cost-effective method to author an interactive disc project once and export it as a Blu-ray Disc, DVD, or to the web via a SWF file. Editors will also enjoy Encore’s familiar user interface and integrated, intelligent workflow with other Adobe applications like Photoshop and After Effects.

Learn how Encore CS4 — now available for Mac OS — can enhance your workflow by outputting to Blu-ray discs, even if you're working with Apple's Final Cut Studio or Avid's professional editing tools.

This workflow guide explains how editors using Apple Compressor can create Blu-ray output files in only six steps using Encore.

Types of MPEG-2 stream
There are three common Mpeg-2 stream types that are used to deliver MPEG-2 encoded video in Compressor:

• Elementary streams: These streams contain only one Mpeg-2 content and no audio.
• Transport streams: These streams can contain several Mpeg-2 content channels and associated audio.
• Program streams: These streams contain only one Mpeg-2 content channel and its associated audio.

Elementary streams are required if you intend to use your MPEG-2 encoded video as a Encore asset.

Quick and Easy Workflow
The following workflow shows you the easiest way to create Mpeg-2 Elementary streams.

Step 1: Add source media files to Compressor
1. Double-click the Compressor icon in the Applications folder.

2. Drag source files from the Finder or the desktop to the Batch window.

New job is created for source file you dragged to the batch.

Step 2: Assign Video Settings to Jobs
1. Choose the setting for your source media file jobs in the following way: Drag setting from Apple->Formats->MPEG-2->Elementary Stream under the "Settings" tab to the job in the batch window.

Step 3: Make Your MPEG-2 Settings
The MPEG-2 pane opens with the default Video Format tab.

Stream Usage pop-up menu allows you to choose how you intend to use the MPEG-2 stream.

Choose Blu-ray option in Stream Usage pop-up menu

Choose appropriate output video file format in Video Format tab.

Step 4: Assign Audio settings to jobs
The above steps show you the fastest way to assign video setting to a job. Once you have assigned video setting, now you need to assign audio setting to generate audio stream for Blu-ray.

To assign audio setting:

Drag setting from Apple->Formats->Audio->Dolby Digital Professional (Auto) under the “Settings” tab.

Configure AC-3 audio settings:
Choose Generic AC-3 setting in Target System Pop-up menu in the Audio settings tab.

Step 5: Submit the batch
Your batch is ready to be submitted. Click the Submit button to submit your batch.

Step 6: Burn Blu-ray with Encore
To make it easier to use the output files created by these presets in Encore, create a destination that ensures the video and audio output files have the same name, only with different file extensions. The output files can be imported into Encore and burn to Blu-ray without any re-transcoding.