14 replies to this topic

[Light Productions]

I recently upgraded to OSX Lion on a Mac Pro.  Toast 10, which worked fine on Leopard, would crash on open every time in Lion, so we upgraded to Toast 11.  I installed it and it crashed upon open, but after restarting the computer, everything worked fine.  I burned 1 blu-ray data disc with no problems. A couple of days later I tried to burn another data disc and it crashes after I click "burn" every time now, regardless of what kind of disc I am trying to burn.

[tsantee]

Toast has a conflict with Xvid Codecs in the Root>Library>QuickTime folder. I'd start by looking there. Drag out of the folder (no need to put in trash) any non-Apple codec (or component, as they are called in the folder). See if Toast will launch okay. You get to that library by double-clicking on the startup hard drive's icon in the Finder. There also is a QuickTime folder in the System Library but it should only have Apple codecs in it.

You also may need to trash the Toast plist and prefs files from your User>Library>Preferences folder. You get to that Library by holding down the option key when selecting the Go menu in the Finder.

[Dr. Pepper 6044]

Hello,

I'm a long time Windows user with Roxio Creator 2011.

Am planning on a new iMac purchase and plan to use Toast11.

Do you see any issues like the one described here?

Thanks. Bill

[Dr. Pepper 6044]

Another question.

I don't know if I should make a new thread or not. Here goes.

I'm planning to purchase the base iMac with 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with 6MB on-chip shared L3 cache;
4g RAM; 500g 7200 hdd; AMD Radeon HD 6750 with 512 of GDDR5. Plan to use an existing 1t usb hdd.

Do you see any issues with doing the general capture, convert, burn with this basic unit? Would I benefit from an upgrade? I read in the promo on Toast11 Titanium that something works with NVIDIA Cuda... Would I miss that in an iMac which only uses Radeon?

Also, There is no audio/video inputs on the iMac. Do I need a caputre device like I use in Creator? The promo advertizes captureing, etc. but doesn't mention that an additional device is required. I could ask the sales people about this, but they are in too big a hurry to place an order.

Thanks again in advance for your input.

Bill

[tsantee]

Dr. Pepper 6044, on 23 February 2012 - 09:12 PM, said:

Another question.

I don't know if I should make a new thread or not. Here goes.

I'm planning to purchase the base iMac with 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with 6MB on-chip shared L3 cache;
4g RAM; 500g 7200 hdd; AMD Radeon HD 6750 with 512 of GDDR5. Plan to use an existing 1t usb hdd.

Do you see any issues with doing the general capture, convert, burn with this basic unit? Would I benefit from an upgrade? I read in the promo on Toast11 Titanium that something works with NVIDIA Cuda... Would I miss that in an iMac which only uses Radeon?

Also, There is no audio/video inputs on the iMac. Do I need a caputre device like I use in Creator? The promo advertizes captureing, etc. but doesn't mention that an additional device is required. I could ask the sales people about this, but they are in too big a hurry to place an order.

Thanks again in advance for your input.

Bill

There shouldn't be any problems running Toast 11 on your new iMac. Roxio is also working on a Toast 11 update that should make it even better with Lion and future Mac OS versions.

You'll want more RAM. Otherworld Computing (www.macsales.com) is a very good online source for Mac RAM and other extras.

I don't have a Mac that supports Cuda so I don't know how much that speeds things up. If you plan this to be a video processing work horse then it may make sense to you to go buy the fastest machine. But it isn't a priority for me.

I don't know what kind of video you're trying to import to the iMac. It has a Firewire connection that, with and adapter, will import video from a DV camera or DV converter box. It has USB inputs that will work with some other converters and various EyeTV units. It has an audio input for direct audio capture. If you have a USB video capture box for the PC there is a good chance it will not work with a Mac, however.

Roxio sells the Easy VHS to DVD for Mac, El Gato sells the EyeTVs and BlackMagic sells the BlackMagic Video Recorder. All are USB video capture devices for Macs. There may be others but those are the ones I have.

[Dr. Pepper 6044]

Thanks for the quick reply and words of confidence.

We will probably make the purchase in 2-3 weeks. When do you expect the Toast11 update?

I am not surprised at your suggestion for more RAM. I'm very comfortable with opening a tower and adding ram there at the market prices. I'm not interested in opening up an iMac. $200 is a lot for 4 gigs these days. We'll go ahead and add it to the initial order.

Do you have an opinion about the Radeon HD5750M vs the HD5770M?

If you haven't missed Cuda, I probably won't either. NVIDIA isn't an option on iMac anyway.

We acquire mpeg2 etc. from FTA satellite and locally generated video cameras. We also want to be able to capture Youtube clips and archive/replay/burn these.

About video caputre devices: I have 2 of these from Roxio. They work ok. I'll buy another for iMac, I guess. I was just impressed with the promo information about capturing the same without mention of another adapter needed.

I don't need a 'workhorse', so I'm sure this will be ok. About the Firewire connection: Is it faster or otherwise desireable over usb? If so, I would like to include an adapter like you refer to to import video. Does Apple make one? Can I buy with the computer?

Thanks again.

Bill

Edited by Dr. Pepper 6044, 24 February 2012 - 02:10 PM.

[Dr. Pepper 6044]

Hi tsantee,

I browsed the reviews on the Roxio product and came away wary!

I am a fairly experienced Mac user running 10.7. I wanted to migrate home VCRs to DVD. Bought the Roxio Easy VHS to DVD product, after reading several reviews and checking that they had solved the OS 10.6 to 10.7 problem. About 6 hours later, my conclusion is: SAVE YOUR MONEY, THIS PRODUCT IS FAR FROM READY FOR SALE.


The above is from Amazon.

I'm leary!

ElGato's reviews weren't all rosy either.

:-)  Bill

Edited by Dr. Pepper 6044, 24 February 2012 - 02:52 PM.

[tsantee]

Dr. Pepper 6044, on 24 February 2012 - 02:52 PM, said:

I am not surprised at your suggestion for more RAM. I'm very comfortable with opening a tower and adding ram there at the market prices. I'm not interested in opening up an iMac. $200 is a lot for 4 gigs these days. We'll go ahead and add it to the initial order.

Apple made adding RAM to an iMac extremely easy. The advantage of having it included with the order from Apple is it is guaranteed along with the rest of the Mac. You save some money doing it yourself but get extra peace of mind by having Apple include it.

Quote

Do you have an opinion about the Radeon HD5750M vs the HD5770M?

No. It may make a difference playing World of Warcraft but for normal processes it probably doesn't matter in my opinion.

Quote

About the Firewire connection: Is it faster or otherwise desireable over usb? If so, I would like to include an adapter like you refer to to import video. Does Apple make one? Can I buy with the computer?

Firewire works with DV camcorders and DV capture devices such as those sold by Canopus. Otherwise everything is USB 2. The adapter I'm referring to is a Firewire 800 to 400 connector because DV devices have a Firewire 400 plug.

Quote

I browsed the reviews on the Roxio product and came away wary!

The Easy VHS to DVD for Mac as originally sold is decent at creating MPEG 2 video from analog sources. It has almost no customizing options. Also, MPEG 2 video is not a format usable by iMovie for editing. So it makes a quick video DVD but that format is pretty much a pain otherwise. Roxio recently (and unannounced) changed the capturing application with this device so that it now captures in either the Apple Intermediate Codec or h.264 MPEG 4. This is good for use in iMovie or uploading to YouTube but requires re-encoding to MPEG 2 (using Toast or Popcorn) to make a video DVD. I like the new software better but Roxio still describes the older software in the product description on their site. Several users have posted about using the new software in the Easy VHS to DVD for Mac forum. Roxio sent me a copy when I contacted them about it. Both the old MPEG 2-encoding app and the new app are working fine for me with OS 10.7.3. The old version (1.0.3) is available for download from Roxio's software updates page so you can have both. Choose the one you want depending on the encoding format you prefer.

Personally I'm most fond of the BlackMagic device which captures as h.264 MPEG 4, but it is more expensive. El Gato makes good stuff. I have an EyeTV Hybrid and a Turbo264 HD and they both do their functions well. El Gato is good at updating their software. The EyeTV Hybrid can capture analog video but at low quality. I believe El Gato still sells the EyeTV 250+ which can capture analog video in MPEG 2 format at high quality and has a different product for capturing analog video in h.264 format in high quality.

Or you can get a used DV camcorder with analog-to-digital passthrough to capture analog video in DV format via Firewire. My old Canon DV Z-series camcorder has this ability (but it requires the remote control to access so don't get a used one without the remote control).

As for when the next Toast 11 update will be available, I was told March but I'll be surprised if it happens next month. There is no reason to wait for that update before purchasing Toast 11.

Edited by tsantee, 25 February 2012 - 03:26 PM.

[Dr. Pepper 6044]

Hi,

Thanks for your extensive commentary.

We'll probably make our Apple purchase in the next couple weeks. I'll ask about adding my own extra 4gigs of ram.

My experience with Creator 2011 and Roxio video capture device has me willing to continue with the software. I wish I felt as good about the Toast11Titanium/Easy VHS to DVD for mac.

I'll stay around here on this forum leading up to the time to choose Roxio, etc.

Thanks, Bill

Edited by Dr. Pepper 6044, 25 February 2012 - 09:09 PM.

[Dr. Pepper 6044]

Hi tsantee,

Well... tomorrow is the day. I am going to pick up our new iMac. I haven't bought the new Toast 11 Titanium yet.

After reading many derogatory reviews of VHS to DVD from Roxio, I ordered the Elgato Video Capture Device  10020840 from Amazon.

If you really believe the VHStoDVD/ToastTitanium is a good combination, I will return the Elgato and buy both from Roxio.

In reading different places, I am kinda curious that maybe the Elgato device and the Apple video edit/burn software may work. (to refresh you), I capture standard def video/audio from fta satellite and locally recorded video, youtube etc. on line, no hd, and burn to dvd. I copy non protected dvd's.

What do you think? The guru's at Apple may also have suggestions.

Thanks again for your candid support.

Bill

[tsantee]

Dr. Pepper 6044, on 18 March 2012 - 05:42 PM, said:

Hi tsantee,

Well... tomorrow is the day. I am going to pick up our new iMac. I haven't bought the new Toast 11 Titanium yet.

After reading many derogatory reviews of VHS to DVD from Roxio, I ordered the Elgato Video Capture Device  10020840 from Amazon.

If you really believe the VHStoDVD/ToastTitanium is a good combination, I will return the Elgato and buy both from Roxio.

In reading different places, I am kinda curious that maybe the Elgato device and the Apple video edit/burn software may work. (to refresh you), I capture standard def video/audio from fta satellite and locally recorded video, youtube etc. on line, no hd, and burn to dvd. I copy non protected dvd's.

What do you think? The guru's at Apple may also have suggestions.

Thanks again for your candid support.

Bill

I think you'll be happy with the El Gato product.

[pat Carney]

There is free software that doesn't promise to do what your software does, but will do a nominal job of burning disks. Your software isn't valuable enough to me to spend this much time on it. I'd rather spend half this amount of time writing bad reviews of your software then burning disks with free software that does a nominal job.
I'd rather have "GEE WHIZ" software that does what it promises, but yours does not. I will be removing your software from my machine, since you have no idea how to make it work. I will download the free stuff and burn the disc I need to make my deadline.
I can waste no more time with this inferior product.
Please return my money.

[tsantee]

pat Carney, on 19 March 2012 - 08:38 AM, said:

There is free software that doesn't promise to do what your software does, but will do a nominal job of burning disks. Your software isn't valuable enough to me to spend this much time on it. I'd rather spend half this amount of time writing bad reviews of your software then burning disks with free software that does a nominal job.
I'd rather have "GEE WHIZ" software that does what it promises, but yours does not. I will be removing your software from my machine, since you have no idea how to make it work. I will download the free stuff and burn the disc I need to make my deadline.
I can waste no more time with this inferior product.
Please return my money.

You are not writing to Roxio when you post in these forums. You are writing to other Toast users. We don't have your money so can't refund it. Roxio does have a 30-day refund policy for software purchased directly from them. If you are having some trouble with Toast we welcome your describing the problem here so we can try to help find a solution. Make sure you're using the latest update from Roxio's software updates page.

[Dr. Pepper 6044]

Hi,

I certainly can relate to Mr. Carney's frustration. I've been there, done that with Roxio. The folks in India, Philipines or where ever, are a waste of time. Folks like you and Jim, etc. over on the PC side are very helpful!

tsantee, I appreciate your continued endorsement of the Elgato product. It should b delivered tomorrow.

My specific question remains: In order to capture and archive videos, I'm sure the Elgato device will do fine. ?? Will I be able to burn same to dvd with the basic iMac software, or do I need Toast? A side question is: Would the VHStoDVD from Roxio work better with Toast than the Elgato device?

I am typing on the new iMac now and am very happy with it!

Thanks again for your support!

Bill

[tsantee]

Dr. Pepper 6044, on 21 March 2012 - 11:48 AM, said:

Hi,

I certainly can relate to Mr. Carney's frustration. I've been there, done that with Roxio. The folks in India, Philipines or where ever, are a waste of time. Folks like you and Jim, etc. over on the PC side are very helpful!

tsantee, I appreciate your continued endorsement of the Elgato product. It should b delivered tomorrow.

My specific question remains: In order to capture and archive videos, I'm sure the Elgato device will do fine. ?? Will I be able to burn same to dvd with the basic iMac software, or do I need Toast? A side question is: Would the VHStoDVD from Roxio work better with Toast than the Elgato device?

I am typing on the new iMac now and am very happy with it!

Thanks again for your support!

Bill

You must use El Gato's application to do the video capture. It encodes in h.264 format which can be edited with iMovie or trimmed with El Gato's app. If you want to make a video DVD you can use Apple's iDVD or you can use Roxio's Popcorn or Toast. The h.264 format is excellent for playing on computers and on TVs through devices such as Apple TV or via a TV or Blu-ray player that supports streaming from a computer.