Toast 8 with TIVO

[willrob]

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/11427

[terryj]

also here:
Roxio announces Toast Titanium 8

Pluses seen thus far:

•New! Create your own Directors Cut choose the individual DVD movies, audio and languages you want, while maximizing available disc space and video quality.

•Improved! Compress and copy1 an entire 9 GB dual-layer DVD video to a standard 4.7 GB recordable DVD disc. ( Popcorn bump?)

•New! Set your own custom background images, number of buttons and button highlight color for your DVD menus.

minuses ( for some)
8)

Minimum System Requirements:

Macintosh computer with a PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5, or Intel processor
CD, DVD or Blu-ray recordable drive
Mac OS X v10.4.8 or higher
300 MB of free disk space to install
Up to 15 GB of temporary free disk space during usage
QuickTime 7.1.3 or higher

[willrob]

Best price I've seen so far for upgrading (thanks to macintouch reader)

On top of the $20 Roxio upgrade rebate, buy.com has an additional $20 rebate for Toast 8 (good from January 8-12) brings price down to $37.99

http://www.buy.com/prod/roxio_toast_8_titanium/q/loc/14982/203869000.html

[sjk]

And you may be able to knock off another $10 ordering with Google checkout, although there was no price difference when preprocessing my order with an existing Google account and I haven't tried again with a newly created one.

[willrob]

I've gotten the Google Check Out discount a few times before xmas, but I noticed today it said for first time orders only. But if it is your first time using Google, you will gt another $10 off.

[broaddd]

From a cursory examination, encoding avis to VIDEO_TS format still takes forever compared to the alternatives. It took 10 hours on a dual-core 2ghz/2gb to encode 3.5 hours of avi at Toast's "automatic/best(fast)" setting. This must be some new definition of the word 'fast' I haven't encountered before. And the results are still inferior (in terms of compression artifacts) to ffmpegx which does it faster, smaller and for free.

It also retains some annoying features:
- it will not recognise compliant MPEG-2 files produced by Ffmpegx as video files, and treats them as a single-song playlist, which last worked properly in Toast 7.01;
- it will not always set the button-image in DVD menus correctly;

And it has some new annoying features:
- animated graphics on the screen;
- dumbed down progress meter for avi->dvd (and probably other) processes.

Of course, it appears to have some nice features, particularly if they prove to work properly

[terryj]

From a cursory examination, encoding avis to VIDEO_TS format still takes forever compared to the alternatives. It took 10 hours on a dual-core 2ghz/2gb to encode 3.5 hours of avi at Toast's "automatic/best(fast)" setting. This must be some new definition of the word 'fast' I haven't encountered before. And the results are still inferior (in terms of compression artifacts) to ffmpegx which does it faster, smaller and for free.

Ummm...free if your a PIRATE...
ffmpegx has always cost $15 US.

we wouldn't want people to think you don't support Major, now do we...? :P

[sjk]

Beware!

If you use (or have used) Google Checkout to save $10 on Toast 8 from buy.com you probably won't be able to use the $20 buy.com rebate coupon, based on this after-the-fact bullet item in the order confirmation I received:

- Buy.com coupons are not valid with Google Checkout. Only promotions offered by Google can be combined with this payment method.

That sure wasn't obvious (while at least skimming through any "fine print" I noticed) before or when placing the order last night, which I couldn't successfully cancel although I'd immediately sent the request to Google Checkout. I mailed buy.com an explanation this morning after discovering the order had already been processed and haven't gotten an acknowledgment yet, just a message saying the order has shipped.

I can't remember having a worse on-line shopping experience even though the consequences are minor, especially with the overly complicated two-ring circus of ordering and contacting.

[SERBIAN]

Well Im finally dropping on Toast...First, every single major version is full of unfinished things /read bugs/ and this "circus", as sjk well puted, with rebates, coupons and whole upgrading s**t is too much for me...For god sake, how much is the upgrade finally???

Good luck Sonic...There are alternatives which costs less $$ and nerves and doing the same job very good...

Shame..It was a very nice app once...But I guess everlasting hunger for $$ and corporate b***s**t ruined it...

just my 2 cents...

[broaddd]

Ummm...free if your a PIRATE...
ffmpegx has always cost $15 US.

Oh yeah, I think I paid for mine when it was a donation-only model? Anyhoo, it only says you 'should' pay, but sure, people who use it for more than evaluation should pay up

Back on topic, there seems no reason why this should be toast 7.3, rather than Toast 8. It's only the other components (disc catalog, disc cover) that are significant enhancements...

[chikanakan]

Last time I used MPEG2Works it was pretty buggy and unfinished too.

[macuser25]

Well Im finally dropping on ToastFor god sake, how much is the upgrade finally???

Hey... calm down on your rant for a second and just click on Upgrade Center from Roxio's home page, follow the option for Toast 7, and you'll see it's a $59 upgrade version - instant $40 off - checks for prior verison of Toast.

Pretty straightforward and worked fine for me.

[SERBIAN]

Last time I used MPEG2Works it was pretty buggy and unfinished too.

hehehehehehe...Nice one...Im glad you are comparing my little shareware with one commercial product, although I do not agree with you...Anyway, Im very sorry if I offended someone on personal level with my above post...That was not my intention at all...I was just telling my thoughts about one app which was /in my opinion/ or still is the standard on a Mac platform for a long time...

From now on I will not post any comments about Toast again...

Hey... calm down on your rant for a second...

Above is not ranting...If you wanna see ranting navigate to Toast listing on Macupdate and Versiontracker and you'll see what the ranting is...

[terryj]

Hey... calm down on your rant for a second...

Above is not ranting...If you wanna see ranting navigate to Toast listing on Macupdate and Versiontracker and you'll see what the ranting is...

Seriban, you have as much right to post how craptacular Toast can be as do these guys:
Toast 8 Sucks, just read the posts

[Frobozz]

I tried out nearly every feature in Toast 8 and they all worked for me. I don't use ffmpegX so I don't know about importing those files, but I have imported from my standalone DVD recorder and EyeTV. I like the new options to alter the default DVD menus.

I can't find anything in Toast 8 to complain about. The new Media Browser is a big improvement, too.

[chikanakan]

Seriban, you have as much right to post how craptacular Toast can be as do these guys:
Toast 8 Sucks, just read the posts

Well, if I read the help forum for ffmepgx, I would say it sucks too.

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewforum.php?f=35

In fact, if you read any help forum for software you will find people with problems. That is what the help forums are for, fixing problem.

[terryj]

Seriban, you have as much right to post how craptacular Toast can be as do these guys:
Toast 8 Sucks, just read the posts

Well, if I read the help forum for ffmepgx, I would say it sucks too.

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewforum.php?f=35

In fact, if you read any help forum for software you will find people with problems. That is what the help forums are for, fixing problem.

those of us who help on a regular basis
and have over 1000 postings know what help forums are....We aren't on that subject.
We are on a person's general right to say, what they like or don't like and
their right to post said feelings and not have them called as "rants."

Seriban brought valid concerns, not just "Toast sucks dude."
THAT"S A RANT IMHO.
You brought up your concerns that, IYHO, Mpeg2works is
unfinished and "pretty buggy" , as it operates on your system.

My point; he has a right to post his feelings, just as you do, and
not be told he is "ranting" like a madman.

[willrob]

RE: Google Check Out

The Google Check out is deducted from the price of the item before it's charged to your credit card. The rebate(s) need to be mailed in after the product arrives. Using Google Check Out does not prevent yo from using the By.com rebates, nor a Roxio rebate. Prior to xmas, I bought at least four items from Buy.com with the Google Check out [ one being a Belkin iPod FM broadcaster for a car's cigarette lighter for 1 cent] , and one of the rebates has arrived already. I'm not sure why slk thinks both deductions can't apply; they can.

The only limitation to the process is the order can't be tracked the way a normalBuy.com ordr can—the order doesn't even show up in your account. And of course, with all Buy.com "Specials" you can't return the item unless it arrives dead. and then can only be exchanged for another. But that has nothing to do with Google.

Ultimately I think Google is just trying to get some of PayPal's business.

[sjk]

Using Google Check Out does not prevent yo from using the By.com rebates, nor a Roxio rebate.

Foo! Thanks for the feedback that helped my notice I quoted the wrong part of of the Google Checkout confirmation bullet, which was:

- Buy.com coupons are not valid with Google Checkout. Only promotions offered by Google can be combined with this payment method.

Fixed in my original post.

I interpreted "Buy.com coupons are not valid with Google Checkout" to mean you can't use the buy.com Toast 8 rebate with a GC order; the Roxio rebate is unaffected.

I've since received this information from buy.com rebates team:

Please be assured that your mail in rebate is not affected if you purchase your order through Google Checkout. Please continue to submit your rebate as usual.

Does that mean the buy.com "mail in rebate" is excluded from "Buy.com coupons" referred to in the original GC message?

They've sure made this clear as mud.

[willrob]

Both rebates and the Google check out apply to your final price—which is the price quoted in the order screen. Buy.com posts the two rebates on the ordr page, and the price there is what you are paying after the rebates. If you then choose Google check out, you get an immediate $10 deducted from the credit card charge, before the rebates. I admit they have not made this process easy to understand. But it does work.

[sjk]

Bottom line: If both $20 rebates are honored I'll be satisfied with the final price.

[willrob]

My Toast order arrived yesterday and just now as I started filling out the two rebates, I noticed that the upgrade rebate requires proof of ownership of a retail version—photocopy of manual, disk or box. I was worried at first, since I upgraded to Toast 7 via the download. But the rebate only says a previous retail version, so I think my Toast 6 disk/manual will do.