Re: Trying to make a DVD with Encore trial version

There are at least four ways to create a timeline in Encore 2.0:

File > New > Timeline
Click the "Create a New Item" button in the Project panel, then select "Timeline"
Ctrl+T to create a new timeline
Choose Timeline > New Timeline

From there, you drag your video clip into the timeline (you can also preselect the asset, then choose the above options to automatically add it to a new timeline).

There are also four ways set a timeline to First Play:

If it is the first object created in the project (objects are timelines, menus, and playlists), it is automatically set to First Play
If not, select the timeline, then choose File > Set as First Play
Or, select the timeline, right-click, then choose Set as First Play
Or go to the Disc panel, look at the Properties panel, then click in the First Play field and choose the timeline you want to be First Play

Read as much of the Help as you can, check out the tutorials at Adobe Studio (on the Adobe website), and the Adobe Encore DVD User to User Forum has an FAQ and Tutorials section that should help you out with the basics.