Toast 11 Announced: Redesigned Toolkit

I saw this on MacWorld and Tuaw.com this morning.
Seems like Roxio is trying to keep it Revelation,
and in the face of Apple shying away
from installing blu-ray optical drives in their machines
(opting to follow M$ into "the cloud"), they are bundling more
software with the PRO version to try and get it to sell.

On the surface:
I would like to see the new engine in action on building DVDs,
and if it works like they say, being able to convert flv video to DVD
( without having to dumb it down to DV Stream format first)
would be worth the price.

I  also would like to have another alternative to VisualHub 
in converting to iDevices.
VisualHub is my go to app for that, but with Lion looming on the horizon,
VisualHub may or may not work under Lion.
So Toast 11 may be a nice alternative to that.

I also like that (*FINALLY*) Roxio will be giving us the ability
to burn to multiple disc drives, from one project, making repetitive burns a snap.
Now, if it also will allow sequential multiple disc burning for
spanning of large data
( being able to span to two discs, and have each burner set to queue
one after the other to burn) THAT would be something!

I'll probably plunk down for the Standard version as always to
see how it performs. Now, just got to wait for Amazon pricing
to appear....( Toast's high price and rebate bait and switch is crap).

Being Helpful: New Post to videohelp.com

In the interests of keeping this blog alive,
I've decided that I will start cross posting my answers I post
to the othe site I frequently contribute to, the wonderful
videohelp.com. Hopefully, this will keep my posting ratio
up, and energize me to write a bit a more.

here is my latest entry where I help a poster with a question
on how to get PDF Data onto an authored DVD he made in DVD Studio Pro 4:

My problem is:
I've authored a DVD in DVD Studio Pro, the size is 9GB, I then burnt this to a single layer
DVD with Toast 10 using fit to DVD compression,
the client now wants me to add a few PDF's to the disc, so that when they open the disc 
from the desktop they can access the PDF's,
I've tried adding the PDF's to the Disc's root folder, so they sit alongside the 
AUDIO & VIDEO_TS folders, then dragging the folder to 
Toast's Data tab >DVD-ROM and making a disc image from this,
I then mounted the image and used Toast's Copy tab > Image file 
(with Fit to DVD compression) to burn to a single layer DVD,
problem is the burnt disc does not include the PDF's when i open up the mounted disc
on the desktop, I understand that if my DVD came in at under 4GB I could just add
the content and burn, but I don't know of any apps outside of Toast that will 
re-compress to fit,
Any ideas?

I have DVD Studio Pro 4, Toast 10, Burn, LiquidCD and DVD2OneX
OS X 10.5.8

My answer in its entirety:

Toast will throw out the DATA folders when doing the Fit to Recompression.
This has been a long standing "bug" since the days of Toast 8
(i'm sure I've posted about this before, but I haven't had my morning cup of joe)

The trick is to do this in the following order. You use for the compression DVD2ONEX,
becasue on the recompression step, it is easier.
You then use Toast just for the burning to Disc:

(using DVD2ONEX)

1. Open DVD2ONEX

2. Select the 9GB Authored DVD from DVDSP4, select it's Video_TS folder

3. Set recompression to Custom, input 4220 in the size field
Select all appropriate audio, subs, etc.
Click and set Output as "File Set", not "image" or "Burn".
Click "OK" to re-author/compress.

4. When done, perform a "Get Info" on the newly created Authored DVD.
It should be about 4.12 GBs. ( if not, then there is an errant file ( either audio,
or video on a sub menu, or perhaps an "extra" of video that didn't re-compress correctly.
You may have to go back to DVSDSP to fix that)
Now, with that checked, Open the newly created Authored DVD.

5. Add Data folder of PDFs ( make sure they do not exceed 1.1GB in total data, if so, go to Acrobat Professional,
and recreate the PDFs, using its Compress PDF feature) to the newly created Authored DVD.
Close the folder. Check size using Get Info.

If it doesn't exceed 4.33GB you are good to go.

6. Open Toast, select DATA, select DVD-Rom (UDF) and drag and drop newly created Authored DVD w/data folder to window.
Click Burn. Insert Blank, click Ok. 

link to original post.

When To Let Go: or How Do You Know When Your Mac Is Getting Too Long In The Tooth?

So today for the third time this week, I'm frustrated

by my Mac.

Today, it's a new annoying thing:  It is dog

slow, acting more like a 10/100 base T connected

machine than the Gigabit ethernet  equipped machine I

know it to be.

Monday, it was the fact that it produced a KP due to

the fact that I tried to push it to do more than it

was capable of it seems:  Burning a DVD in Toast,

 while converting a Video-TS to a DIVX encoded  .avi

file in VisualHub, while copying a folder of digital

files over from server ( a workhorse that is the

2009Mac Mini ).

Right in the middle of 1/3 to a half of everything, 

the KP comes up. I force shut it down & reboot.  I

check iStat Pro and sure enough, the Processor  is at

126C, which in a Dual MDD 1ghz Power Mac,  aka

"Windtunnel" or as it is known in the house, "Eve") is

disatrous.

And last Friday, ahhhh...let's just say that for

whatever wierd reason, one of the  power cables to one

of my 500Gb HDs decided to come undone. (the wires

seperated from the plug) And wouldn't you know it, but

it was my main FCP scratch disc,  a 500GB WD Internal

HD.

Now I admit, the plug was a little worn from having

upgrading the machine  so much over the last three

years:  I've swapped that drive bay out first with a

250gb, then a 300gb, and then finally a 500GB drive,

each time as prices fell on ( what was then standard)

a big drive.

But to completely come undone, the wires literally

pulling themselves out of the plug.... now I have seen

it all!!

But, looking a little deeper inward, I realize what my

true frustration is with my Mac.. not that it is long

in the tooth, and despite ( somewhat) working, it is

the fact that  I have pushed this machine farther than

I have ever pushed one of my macs, and that in

reality, I'm more mad at myself for not replacing it

sooner, letting it go.

I tend to run my electronics into the ground. For

almost 8 years,  I kept my 2nd gen iPod 10Gb around,

as an example,  pushing it with more and more music

playlists, HD use, and in the end, using it as a music

player / external  pocket FW drive. 

Had it not been in my pocket that day I dove into a

pool to save  my floundering oldest from drowning, it

would still be in use today,  and not replaced with a

5th gen 30GB iPod Classic, that,  as I type this, is 4

years old.

My computers are no different: my first mac, a

Performa 460, I kept in service for almost 7 years, I

followed that with  a PowerMac 7100/80, that through

peripheal upgrades  ( an external CD-RW burner that

burned at max 1x,  and a 500MB external HD that I paid

$200 bucks for....),  I kept going for 8 years, until

the Dual 1 MDD Powermac.

So for the most part, I like to keep upgrading my

Macs  at about every 7 years or so, before they

totally wear out. I knew that when I purchased this

one refurbed through the  Apple Store in 2003, I knew

the clock had been set then.

So now, I limp along with the MDD, and one or two

things will eventually happen:  I'll either get off my

duff,  and replace the machine, and move along with a

new mac for another 7 to 8 years, or go another year

fighting the ups and downs  of the MDD, as in this

economy, I'm trying to do my part of  "more with less"

even though it may kill my production output.

I do like the look of last year's i7 model in the 

Refurbished Mac section of the Apple.com website.... 

I think that will be my machine of choice for the next

few years...consolidating much of my clutter  from my

desk, if not to mention just from my computer alone.

For what it's worth as an aside, I highly reccommend

buying your "new" mac  from store.apple.com, under the

refurbished  section ( aka "special deals" section).

Not only do you save as much as $400  on a the cost of

a new mac, but each machine  is certifed to work, and

AppleCare can be bought for the machine  to extend the

warranty on the machine and avoid any hassles.  Once I

learned about how to purchase Macs this way ( with my

Dual 1 MDD), I've been hooked. Both my MDD and  my

wife's iBook G4 were bought this way, and both have

been  solid, stable machies that have been problem

free ( with the exception now of my MDD). For the cost

savings, you can't beat it, and aside from not having

the pretty retail box,  the machine you get performs

just as well as  the retail counterpart.

Interesting Toast Titanium Article

How to get your Camcorder video into Toast to burn
Archive DVDs, or to use directly as a media
browser to get your footage onto your mac.

Toast Titanium Tutorial: Importing video from your Camcorder.

it's a pretty quick and dirty way to get
your video off the camcorder, and
quickly to a DVD to view on the TV,
among other things.

Tech Tip Tuesday: Learn to Calculate Bitrate

Since this has come up alot in the last few weeks,
I've decided to devote this Tech Tip Tuesday
(and by default, as I didn't post a Mac App Monday
yesterday) on a helpful app that is being highly
recommended by yours truly of late,
the BitRate Calculator by Maury McCown.

More often than not, people have a few of their favorite videos
from the internet (where they get them I shall not name)
and they want to get them onto DVD.
However, they may be limited in having one or two apps
that can do this task (usually iMovie and iDVD or if
they are savvy, Toast Titanium).

The question always asked of me is:
"How do I get (x number of) videos onto a DVD?"
And the answer is pretty simple,
because a standard blank DVD
is limited to 4 hours of video ( in VHS like quality)
or 2 hours of video ( in Really good quality).

You have to add up the total amount of RUNTIME,
the total length of of all your videos in relation
to the amount of time it would take to watch them
all in one sitting, and then figure out how to get the encoding
to meet your needs.

In the following example, I using a recently posted
question over at the Mac Forums at Videohelp.com,
which I answered to demonstrate:

"You [the person asking the question] have 7 avi files,
each at about 1 hour long.
Let say for argument's sake they clock right in at say 50mins.
You need to get these onto [a standard] DVD.

iDVD only knows to encode to fill up a DVD at 2hours encoding
(worst quality) or fill it up at Best Resolution ( Highest Quality).
Toast, on the other hand works off of runtime in default.
so If you drag and drop two episodes on to the window and click
to encode, then congrats, it will do its job and put those two
onto disc using default settings.

To use Toast to get more onto a disc, you have to first figure out
how to adjust Toast to do what you want. I will use Toast 10 as
an example, but this works in any version from 7 on up.

First, get the Bitrate Calculator.
Next, figure out quality vs quantity. In other words, how
much quality can you afford to lose to get your video onto a disc?
for me, with each episode at about 1 hour, I shoot for 4 episodes
per disc.

so using the Bitrate calc, I figure out the following :




4hrs00mins15seconds, with a defualt audio of 192kbps, gives you
a set encoding rate of 2.3mbps low end.

Launch Toast.
With Toast Open, select the Video Tab, select the DVD Tab.
At lower left, where the "Options" window resides, click "More."
When the "More" window comes up, select the "Encoding" Tab,
and enter in your information by doing the following:




You set the encoding to Custom, you set the slider
to closest to 2.3mbps,
( in this case 2.5mbps) and set the high end to 5.0mbps.
Set the audio to 192kbps.

Click Ok, and then drag and drop your files
into the main window.
Click burn to author and burn to DVD.
Repeat as necessary. "

With the option of a BitRate Calculator, you
can be flexible in figuring out what you
want your video quality to be.

For the best quality while squeezing
the most videos onto a disc,
a better option than Toast,
would be to use a Mpeg-2 Encoder
that does (VBR) Variable Bit Rate Encoding.
Such as Apple's Compressor or
DVD Studio Pro, which uses Compressor
to build it's DVDs. Sorenson also makes
a VBR encoder as well.

Staying Relevant When Your Product Isn’t

Today Roxio, makers of the long stalwart app for the Mac,
Toast Titanium, announced a new version that would incorporate
Blu-Ray Authoring Capabilities; Streaming Video Capture
(think burning your favorite Youtube clips to a Highlight DVD);
A new interface that includes an NLE that looks like an older
version of iMovie; the ability to capture Streaming Audio
to burn to CDS; and four new “Pro “ version apps for Soundtracks,
Photo Editing, Sound Conversion / Cleanup, and creating HD Photo SlideShows.

What’s really telling about this upgrade is that Roxio felt it
was necessary to add more items that...well, somewhat relate
to burning CDs and DVDs, but aren’t much comparison to
tools that already exist on the Mac, all in an effort to keep their
product relevant to today’s marketplace.

What would have simply been wrong with offering a Burning
Application for the Macintosh, that:
*Has all the latest current drivers for every model of DVD
& CD drive ever made?
*Has A Templates Customizer that enables you to author
decent looking Menus for your DVDs and Slideshows?
*Can handle input of any file type, audio or video, without
having to buy third party add-ons or plugins?
Integrates well with EXISTING Products, and doesn’t
try to compete with them?

To me, that would be what Roxio needs to focus and deliver on,
and with that it would stay relevant for Mac users.