Toast 7

[badtz]

on the new dvd rip feature in toast ...

can you now determine which audio tracks you want to take out?

will popcorn be non-existent now?

[terryj]

Popcorn is now integrated, so yes it will cease as a standalone I believe.

[Frobozz]

on the new dvd rip feature in toast ...

can you now determine which audio tracks you want to take out?

It's the same as with Popcorn. I'd like these features to be enhanced in the future because the ability to choose the "primary" sound track would be nice. However, a video DVD cannot have only a DTS sound track, so that never will be an option.

will popcorn be non-existent now?

Because Toast 7 requires QuickTime 7 I expect Popcorn will remain available for Mac users who can't or haven't upgraded QT. Roxio still sells Toast 5 for users who don't have OS X so it seems unlikely they will retire Popcorn.

[willrob]

Thanks for the heads up on the Widget. At first the menu item was grayed out. To get access to it, one needs to record something—a second or two of silence is all. Then the Widget can be installed.

[terryj]

Unless Sonic plans to force everyone to upgrade,
which would seem very likely if they stop development
on Popcorn and leave it at its current verion,
like Toast 5.21 for OS9 users.

So while they may continue to sell it, You won't have
upgraded features like say, Compression features
in Toast 7, or support for nay new copy protection
schemes Sony may dream up, they most likely would
be intergrated into Toast 7.

[Frobozz]

terryj, you may be right as to Sonic's plans for Popcorn. But remember that a few months ago several posts on this site feared the death of Toast when Sonic bought Roxio. Popcorn is only at version 1.0.3. My guess is there will be more.

[rotuts]

Willrob

you mentioned anyone could get the download $70 deal, by registering as a new customer first without a product number.

as my product number is in another state and I won't be back for several months Id like to do it your way.

but I couldn't see how to do that on the site.

will you be willing to post details on this method? can I then download the 7 from a friends computer that has DSL?

thanks for your help

rotut

[willrob]

When I did it, it offered a fast log in if you enter your username and password. But it wouldn't recognize mine. So I signed in as a new user (not a new customer, but a new user of the Rioxio site: the form is on the same page as the log-in that didn't work). Then once registered, I was able to proceed to checkout, paid with VISA and then was taken to a page where I could download the pdf of the rebate and download the application.

I was also sent an e-mail with links to this page. I did not have to download it right then; I had twelve months to download it, in fact, but only that version—not any updates that might come along. So you could download it on a friend's DSL, but the web page link will be sent to your e-mail address; so don't purchase it from his computer.

Once installed, I was asked if I wanted to register it on the Roxio web site. This time, my original username and password worked (and it wouldn't let me use the new one which has the same e-mail address). So the place you might get hung up is on the registering, since you don't have the ifo. But you don't need to register right away—and will only need tyo in case there is an update (bug fix?) that you will need to download.

If you're patient, it sounds like the buycom deal is ten dollars chaper, and you get an insall CD and a manual, and can register from scratch.

[rotuts]

Will

Im going to to the buy com and use their credit card once for an additional 30 $ off soon its going to be free!

rotut

[willrob]

>>The new disc info reads Media ID and has a link to Videohelp.com. Lots of cools stuff.<<

I can't find any info on Media Code nor the link to Videohelp.com. Not that i need the latter. The Disc info tells me a bit more than Toast 6 did, but not the media code.

[macuser25]

you can use the toast 7 media browser to extract individual titles and/or chapters and then burn that to divx disc or export to your hard drive in divx format.

the media browser will scan through any VIDEO_TS folder on your desktop or in your movies folder.

regarding sonic's plans for popcorn... my guess is they have plans to rev it as well at some point and keep it going...

some people only want to do the dvd compression/copy and only want to spend $50 ($30 at Amazon right now)... those people will buy Popcorn... others want to a full CD and DVD burning package... those people will be ok with spending $100 and buying Toast.

[rotuts]

Will

im unclear on what your last post is about re Disk Info. is this the disk info on toast 7?

Im waiting an email reply from buy.com as im reluctant to give my SS # over the internet for the CCard.

can't find an 800 # for them.

but $30 off a one time purchase is a must!

rotut

[willrob]

Yes, I was refering to the Disc Info within Toast 7. I've discovered it only seems to cough up the media code and the link to VideoHelp with certain media.

[rotuts]

Media code referes to the info on the dvd discs that you can get with the app DVD media inspector?

not the code of the app itself?

rotut

[Spoffo]

I've uncovered one step backward in Toast 7, albeit a relatively obscure one.

In Toast 6, I could drag an m2v file into the video window, click "save as disk image", and it would quickly mutplex the video with its associated AIFF into an image of a complete VIDEO_TS. The progress bar would say "encoding", but it would only take a few minutes for an hour's video, so it was clearly only re-muxing existing MPEG.

With Toast 7, the same set-up leads to the program REALLY encoding. i.e. it's a much MUCH slower (and unnecessary) process.

Based on one of the posts abpve, it just occurred to me that this may be because I haven't upgraded to Quicktime 7. (I'm still using Panther, and I'm resisting having to pay Apple another $30 for yet another upgrade to QT pro.)

Could someone with QT7 Check and see if this is the case? If not, it looks like i'm going to have to hang onto both versions of Toast for the forseeable future.

[willrob]

Yes, the real manufactuer of the disk, rather than the brand name. I first tried it with a DVD+R disk, but it didn't display the media code. But when I tried with a variety of DVD-R, the code was there (not what the code stands for) and if you click on more info it takes you to the media area of this site, with that media code selected.

[Frobozz]

I've uncovered one step backward in Toast 7, albeit a relatively obscure one.

In Toast 6, I could drag an m2v file into the video window, click "save as disk image", and it would quickly mutplex the video with its associated AIFF into an image of a complete VIDEO_TS. The progress bar would say "encoding", but it would only take a few minutes for an hour's video, so it was clearly only re-muxing existing MPEG.

With Toast 7, the same set-up leads to the program REALLY encoding. i.e. it's a much MUCH slower (and unnecessary) process.

Based on one of the posts abpve, it just occurred to me that this may be because I haven't upgraded to Quicktime 7. (I'm still using Panther, and I'm resisting having to pay Apple another $30 for yet another upgrade to QT pro.)

Could someone with QT7 Check and see if this is the case? If not, it looks like i'm going to have to hang onto both versions of Toast for the forseeable future.

In Toast 7 you will see "Multiplexing" when Toast is accepting the MPEG without re-encoding. You will see "Encoding" if for some reason Toast sees the MPEG as out of spec.

I don't think you want Toast 7 encoding an MPEG if you don't have QT 7 installed. The MPEG encoder is designed for use only with QT 7

[macuser25]

The new disc info dialog shows write speeds as well as the manufacturer ID - which links to these web pages for more info and reports about successful usage of the media - very handy to find out which brand is really which manufacturer under the hood (e.g., who does Apple really use to make their media).

The new recorder info dialog shows the complete MMC report for the recorder - a bit TOO much information for me - but pretty cool nonetheless.

The new encoder settings allow you to specifically choose to not encode preeexisting mpeg2 content - and it will then just multiplex it - unless of course it is blatantly out of spec, like 1080i content that has to be scaled down.

[chikanakan]

If Toast is re-encoding the files (which you can only tell by looking in the converted items folder to see what is really happening, most likely it is change the PCM audio to AC3 since that is the default), then just open the advanced encoder settings and set re-encoding to never. Toast should just multiplex the files (as long has they are not to problematic.) Toast has way more options then Toast 6 did so I suggest giving the settings a try.

Also, Toast is using the MainConcept MPEG encoder which is super fast and excellent quality. Much better than the Toast 6 encoder. I read when Apple was creating Compressor, their standard for quality was Main Concept.

[Spoffo]

Thanks. Setting re-encoding for "Never" solved it. That way it just re-muxes the m2v and AIFF files the way Toast 6 did.

I'm glad to hear that they're using such a good compressor, but I still don't understand why Toast 7 has such a strong bias toward re-encoding when set for "automatic." Correct me if I'm wrong, but even with the best encoder in the world, re-encoding video that is already in MPEG2 form can't possibly improve PQ and will always result in at least a small loss.

[chikanakan]

If you have it set to automatic, the audio is going to be Dolby. I think if you looked in the converted items folder when Toast says it is encoding it is converting the AIFF to AC3, but is not touching the video. If it is doing something to the video, it's because the bitrate is too high for the PCM after it's mutliplexed, but I don't think that's the case.

The reason it worked different in Toast 6 is because only AIFF could be used because there was no AC3 encoder, unless you had Jam. And even then, Toast it only passed the AC3 through.

[Case]

Also, Toast is using the MainConcept MPEG encoder

You got a source for that? 'Cause I can't find that info. Only a June 2004 press release “Sonic licenses MainConcept MPEG technology” on the MainConcept site.

[vwDavid]

If Toast is re-encoding the files (which you can only tell by looking in the converted items folder to see what is really happening, most likely it is change the PCM audio to AC3 since that is the default), then just open the advanced encoder settings and set re-encoding to never. Toast should just multiplex the files (as long has they are not to problematic.) Toast has way more options then Toast 6 did so I suggest giving the settings a try.

I've been doing a lot of experimenting trying to get toast to deal with my Video <read about that here.

Anyway, I recently had some success forcing toast 7 to remux only the m2v and m1a demuxes from mpeg streamclip, however, the last video from 6 very similar captures had the chipmunk audio/fast video snydrome on my standalone DVD. I'd really like to know how to fix that. Also, although these 30 minutes epidoes have the commercials clipped and are about 22 minutes long, toast 7 recognizes the demuxed m2v and m1a's as 30 minutes!

Any advice is appreciated.

[Frobozz]

Also, Toast is using the MainConcept MPEG encoder

You got a source for that? 'Cause I can't find that info. Only a June 2004 press release “Sonic licenses MainConcept MPEG technology” on the MainConcept site.

Here is an excerpt from an email I received from Roxio while I was beta testing Toast 7: "Toast now also has a new encoder. We are using the MainConcept codec which is much faster and has much better quality than Toast 6."