I’ve exported the PP sequence to .m2v and .ac3 and imported those into Encore. The Audio Conforming progress bar still gets only a quarter of the way across then stops. There is no sound. The ac3 file plays fine in VC Player (great for handling all sorts of audio files).
So it is not just a dynamic link problem. As a workaround to a dynamic link problem, you can export from PR with Encore chapter markers, but not with the problems you have.
Did you use the MPEG2-DVD (rather than MPEG2 only) export settings?
What is the source footage and the PR sequence settings? Even though it plays in VLC, I'm guessing it is something in the file.
If I pass a fully functional, perfectly audible movie created in one piece of Adobe software (PP) to another (Encore) then it’s surely not unreasonable to expect that movie to play in both pieces of software without problems.
Yes, but... The authorcore of Encore is Sonic. Also, the conforming is where this fouls up. Even though it is coming from PR, Encore checks it for suitability.
If you create a brand new project, and bring it in, what happens? What are your Encore project settins for audio? (Even though that shouldn't matter.)
I would use one of these to look at the exported file:
Gspot: http://gspot.headbands.com/
Media Info: http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en/Download/