Export Options

[BruceP]

Looking at the help file I am told there are many options to export a video. The ones I need are for iMovie and iDVD. There are no options for these when I am exporting a Tivo video.

 

Any help here would be great.

[tsantee]

Could elaborate here, please? I have a number of home movie VHS and Beta tapes which I have been converting to DVD. Prior to Toast 8, I recorded them to Tivo, burned the dvd on my Tivo and then extracted the data into imovie. Before Tivo, I converted them with my Formac. Am I losing resolution through the Tivo? Is there a better way?

Yes you are losing some quality using the Tivo instead of the Formac because of the multiple re-encodings of the video. By the way, with the Formac I recommend using Vidi instead of the Formac's software for capture.

 

With the Formac you are capturing directly to the DV format that iMovie can read. With Tivo you are recording to MPEG 2 which iMovie cannot read which must be converted to DV or MPEG 4 before importing to iMovie. You don't say what you're using for that conversion.

 

Expounding on freshburn's post. After importing the TiVo video to the Toast Video window (with DVD Video as the format), choose Save as Disc Image from the File menu rather than clicking the burn button. You also might first want to go to the Custom Encoder window and choose Never next to Re-encoding. When the disc image is finished it can be mounted by Toast. You then can use the DVD setting in the Media Browser to import titles from the DVD a new Toast Video window (select New Project from the File menu). Once those titles are extracted you'll have the full list of export options such as exporting to DV or MPEG 4 for use in iMovie.

 

There is no reason to use iMovie at all if you are only doing basic cutting and trimming of the video. Once you have extracted the video from the mounted disc image with Toast, you can edit those extracted MPEGs (they are in the Roxio Converted Items folder) with MPEG Streamclip. After saving the edited MPEGs you can again create a New Project in Toast, drag in the edited MPEGs and burn a new DVD. This eliminates any re-encoding of the video.

[freshburn]

Notice the little red message at the in the export options. It says something like Tivo limits the resolution to 320x240. That's the reason. Tivo will not allow the files to be exported to a larger size, so DV can't be used.

 

You could save as a DVD disc image, then use the Toast media browser to extract the tracks and convert to DV though.

[mindshift]

Yes you are losing some quality using the Tivo instead of the Formac because of the multiple re-encodings of the video. By the way, with the Formac I recommend using Vidi instead of the Formac's software for capture.

 

With the Formac you are capturing directly to the DV format that iMovie can read. With Tivo you are recording to MPEG 2 which iMovie cannot read which must be converted to DV or MPEG 4 before importing to iMovie. You don't say what you're using for that conversion.

 

Expounding on freshburn's post. After importing the TiVo video to the Toast Video window (with DVD Video as the format), choose Save as Disc Image from the File menu rather than clicking the burn button. You also might first want to go to the Custom Encoder window and choose Never next to Re-encoding. When the disc image is finished it can be mounted by Toast. You then can use the DVD setting in the Media Browser to import titles from the DVD a new Toast Video window (select New Project from the File menu). Once those titles are extracted you'll have the full list of export options such as exporting to DV or MPEG 4 for use in iMovie.

 

There is no reason to use iMovie at all if you are only doing basic cutting and trimming of the video. Once you have extracted the video from the mounted disc image with Toast, you can edit those extracted MPEGs (they are in the Roxio Converted Items folder) with MPEG Streamclip. After saving the edited MPEGs you can again create a New Project in Toast, drag in the edited MPEGs and burn a new DVD. This eliminates any re-encoding of the video.

 

tsantee

 

I followed your suggestion above one time with success and each time since then, when I open the extracted MPEG streamclip plays audio and the video stumbles on the first few frames and then stops. Any ideas? I have the MPEG2 add in for Quicktime and have also tried reinstalling it. My frustration is building since Toast 8 is my leap from the PC line of MyDVD. And I record many shows to DVD.

 

Thanks for any help!

[dhartlieb]

Looking at the help file I am told there are many options to export a video. The ones I need are for iMovie and iDVD. There are no options for these when I am exporting a Tivo video.

 

Try using the widget "NowPlaying" version 2.5 to transfer your files from TiVo to Mac. This latest version has the provision to incorporate the tivodecode binary. Instructions are right on the widget. You get a .mpg file when the transfer is done. Drag this .mpg into Toast's video panel. Now check the export formats for many more options like, DV, QuickTime movie, Windows Media, as well as a bunch of audio only formats. The burn to DVD process is the same as with the Tivo Transfer .tivo files, namely, turn the reencode off. The quality is the same for both the .tivo and the .mpg methods.

Note: The widget does not give you a transfer queue, just one file at a time.

http://www.dashboardwidgets.com/showcase/details.php?wid=281

[vtmartha]

You could save as a DVD disc image

 

Could elaborate here, please? I have a number of home movie VHS and Beta tapes which I have been converting to DVD. Prior to Toast 8, I recorded them to Tivo, burned the dvd on my Tivo and then extracted the data into imovie. Before Tivo, I converted them with my Formac. Am I losing resolution through the Tivo? Is there a better way?

[vtmartha]

This has been most interesting. I went through the process suggested by tsantee - twice, the disc unmounted when I restarted after installing an add on to Quiktime which I had successfully avoided purchasing in the past. That worked great except I'll need to keep some notes handy. Some things are less than obvious when you are unfamiliar with the options.

 

Then I find dhartlieb's post about the widget. So I installed that. It is really neat - except I am completely lost when it comes to incorporating the tivodecode binary. I tried but it didn't seem to work but I am a complete neophyte at this sort of thing. I'd love to know how to do this if it can be put into words.

 

Thanks.