MPEG2 editing in Toast 8

[Seb]

Hi,

 

I am currently using Toast 7, and many editing features that are possible with divx videos are disabled when working with an mpeg2 video (you can't crop the video for example).

 

Is it now possible to edit an mpeg2 file before burning it with Toast 8 ?

 

By the way, is it possible to download the user manual of Toast 8, I have not found it on the roxio support site yet.

 

Thanks a lot,

 

Sebastien.

[joebob]

use MPEG Streamclip for editing.

 

tsantee,

A basic question I have not yet been able to figure out in the few weeks of starting to learn about video is what tool is best (includes being cheap < $75) for video (I guess that mostly means for me MPEG-2) editing on a Mac. For example, I've recently been learning to transfer shows off of TiVo over home network to Mac for archiving. I have a lot of Saturday Night Lives from which I only want a few minutes here and there for future comic relief when life is too stressful.

 

I have seen many references to MPEG Streamclip, but mainly thought of it as a conversion tool. Is it (plus I guess the $20 quicktime component from Apple) a good general purpose tool for video editing? What is the next most expensive commercial app for use on a Mac? iMovie only understands DV (and it keeps trimmed portions of clips for future restoration). I don't understand yet whether the much more expensive video applications from Apple are also DV-only but guess they are.

 

Should I be spending more time reading http://www.videohelp.com/ ? I'm starting to think it is a good resource for video newbies like me. Of course, for the SNL archiving, perhaps the best thing from a time efficiency standpoint is to spend $200 on a DVD recorder connected to the TiVo.

 

Thanks for your experience!

[sjkrox]

EyeTV has a built-in MPEG cutter but I think that only works with EyeTV recordings.

Yep, EyeTV editing is limited to its own recordings.

 

I haven't found anything better than MPEG Streamclip for "low-budget" MPEG-2 editing on OS X.

[tsantee]

tsantee,

A basic question I have not yet been able to figure out in the few weeks of starting to learn about video is what tool is best (includes being cheap < $75) for video (I guess that mostly means for me MPEG-2) editing on a Mac.

 

Applications that do MPEG2 editing are limited to just cutting out segments. There is no way to rearrange them or add to them. I like to think of video editing as being more than just cutting. For full editing, then, you'd have to convert the MPEG 2 to MPEG 4 or DV for use in iMovie or other video editing application.

 

For basic cutting I think MPEG Streamclip is pretty amazing especially since it is free (exclusive of needing Apple's QuickTime MPEG 2 Playback Component). EyeTV has a built-in MPEG cutter but I think that only works with EyeTV recordings. Pixela's CaptyMPEGEdit EX does frame-accurate MPEG editing (the only app I know that does this) but can be pretty temperamental about what MPEGs it accepts. Pixela also makes PixeVRF browser than can cut MPEGs from VR-mode DVDs recorded on standalone recorders. Cinematize is nice for extracting selected clips from VIDEO_TS folders.

 

So Streamclip probably meets your needs as well as anything. One suggestion, it's a good idea to use the Go to Keyframe command in the Edit menu to make sure your markers are at keyframes for cuts.

[tsantee]

Toast cannot edit MPEG 2 video. What I do in this case is use MPEG Streamclip for editing. If Toast has extracted an MPEG 2 video and written it to the Roxio Converted Items folder you can open that file with Streamclip, do your cuts and trims, and export a new MPEG 2 that can be dragged to Toast.

 

The Toast User Guide is the manual and is part of the Toast download. Mount the download disc image file and you should see the guide. Also, the guide is very similar to the content of Toast Help. There is no other manual. However, there also are some articles on the Toast Support page, such as ones explaining the new audio CD options.

[Seb]

Thank you very much tsantee for these information.

 

I already use MPEG Streamclip, but it would be great to be able to make some editing directly in Toast (and since it's possible to do it with other formats I don't quite understand why it's not possible for mpeg2 (licencing or technical problem ?))

 

About the user guide, I was asking where to find Toast 8 manual/user guide because I do not have Toast 8 yet and I think that being able to read the manual before buying the product would be great to get answers for this kind of questions.

 

Thanks again for your answer,

 

Sebastien.

[tsantee]

Thank you very much tsantee for these information.

 

I already use MPEG Streamclip, but it would be great to be able to make some editing directly in Toast (and since it's possible to do it with other formats I don't quite understand why it's not possible for mpeg2 (licencing or technical problem ?))

I don't know why MPEG trimming isn't available but there is no noticeable change to handling MPEG 2 video files in Toast 8 compared to Toast 7 other than you now have the option to specify which audio track you want to keep when multiple audio tracks are present.

About the user guide, I was asking where to find Toast 8 manual/user guide because I do not have Toast 8 yet and I think that being able to read the manual before buying the product would be great to get answers for this kind of questions.

Good point. I often do that when researching products to buy. Since Sonic does allow for refunds of purchases for a short time, you could buy a Toast 8 download to read the manual and get a refund if Toast 8 doesn't seem worth the upgrade to you. What you won't get from the manual is how well the new user interface works. I'm particularly fond of the new Media Browser and its file preview button.