toast 8 questions/thoughts

[nopc4me]

1. I can play/burn flac and shn audio files in Toast 8 but can't open/edit them in CD Spin Doctor. Why? I figured the new version of spin doctor would add this ability since Toast 7 could play/burn them.

 

2. Burning audio disc - The stupid "the first track must have a pause of two seconds. do you want me to fix that?" dialogue box still appears. Why? Do I have another choice? It wastes my time as most of my burning is cds of concerts. Why not show it to me with an option to never see that warning message again, or put in a preference to hide it completely or set the first track to 2 seconds without me knowing it and get on with the burning.

 

3. The minimizing of the burning window is very lame (white, writing "filename", boring!). I prefer the Toast 7 view during burning.

 

4. Burning audio disc - Why can't I click on "My CD" to name the disc I'm about to burn (like I can before burning a video disc)? I know I can name the audio CD after hitting the "more" button but ... why was this option to name the cd taken away in 8? I thought 7 should have "artist" on the same line as "my cd", on the main cd burning screen, for easier access to naming things. With 8 you've gone the opposite direction.

 

5. Burning DVD - If I want to make a DVD and I add items in the order of b.mpg, a.mpg and c.mpg, why does Toast put them in a.mpg, b.mpg and c.mpg order on the dvd? Shouldn't Toast put them in the order they were added/listed on the main burn screen? Maybe a preference setting?

 

6. Burning DVD - Why does Toast ignore the quicktime "scaled size" of a video and instead use the "normal size" when rendering/burning? For example, I had downloaded an athletic event and it's quicktime normal size was 512 x 416 but you could tell it was recorded at 512 x 288 (everyone was tall and skinny). Before my second burn attempt I opened the video in quicktime, apple-j, click the video part, changed the scaled size to 512 x 288 and save as, then drag new video into toast, burn, watch on tv, everyone was still tall and skinny (just like the first "virgin" burn I had done). For the third try, I exported the video from quicktime using the advance, option, size setting and created a new video (export took forever on my mac), drag to toast, burn, watch on tv, perfect. Both videos have the same scaled size 512 x 288 but the exported one, with the normal size of 512 X 288 looks right on the tv.

 

Thanks,

Greg

[nopc4me]

> CDSD is made for recording Analog. It only supports AIFF.

 

OK. I believe upgrading the program to edit digital records should be added to the future feature list.

 

> You can change it before you burn, then it won't show the dialog.

 

Hmmm, change it everytime I want to make a recording. Sounds like a preference setting is needed. Why not make the first track automatically 2 seconds and if anyone doesn't want that they can change it. I have to believe very few people use anything but 2 seconds for the first track.

 

> Bug

 

> Data or Video format. Data format doesn't support ordering. Video format burns them in the order I add them.

 

Try a Divx disc, I bet you change your answer to bug.

 

> DVD are 720x480 or 352x240. 512x288 is not DVD compliant and must be scaled.

 

Umm, thanks for the information but that doesn't have anything to do with my question. Toast 8 doesn't look at the quicktime scaled size property of a video. It only looks at the quicktime normal size when burning. Changing the scaled size property of a video in quicktime changes the playing size when watching the video on Mac (as it should) but after burning that video in toast the video looks the same as before the change of scaled size. If you change the normal size of a video then the resulting toast video is correctly sized.

[freshburn]

Divx disc are just data and order can't be changed.

[freshburn]

1. I can play/burn flac and shn audio files in Toast 8 but can't open/edit them in CD Spin Doctor. Why? I figured the new version of spin doctor would add this ability since Toast 7 could play/burn them.

 

CDSD is made for recording Analog. It only supports AIFF.

 

2. Burning audio disc - The stupid "the first track must have a pause of two seconds. do you want me to fix that?" dialogue box still appears. Why? Do I have another choice? It wastes my time as most of my burning is cds of concerts. Why not show it to me with an option to never see that warning message again, or put in a preference to hide it completely or set the first track to 2 seconds without me knowing it and get on with the burning.

 

You can change it before you burn, then it won't show the dialog.

 

4. Burning audio disc - Why can't I click on "My CD" to name the disc I'm about to burn (like I can before burning a video disc)? I know I can name the audio CD after hitting the "more" button but ... why was this option to name the cd taken away in 8? I thought 7 should have "artist" on the same line as "my cd", on the main cd burning screen, for easier access to naming things. With 8 you've gone the opposite direction.

 

Bug

 

5. Burning DVD - If I want to make a DVD and I add items in the order of b.mpg, a.mpg and c.mpg, why does Toast put them in a.mpg, b.mpg and c.mpg order on the dvd? Shouldn't Toast put them in the order they were added/listed on the main burn screen? Maybe a preference setting?

 

Data or Video format. Data format doesn't support ordering. Video format burns them in the order I add them.

 

6. Burning DVD - Why does Toast ignore the quicktime "scaled size" of a video and instead use the "normal size" when rendering/burning? For example, I had downloaded an athletic event and it's quicktime normal size was 512 x 416 but you could tell it was recorded at 512 x 288 (everyone was tall and skinny). Before my second burn attempt I opened the video in quicktime, apple-j, click the video part, changed the scaled size to 512 x 288 and save as, then drag new video into toast, burn, watch on tv, everyone was still tall and skinny (just like the first "virgin" burn I had done). For the third try, I exported the video from quicktime using the advance, option, size setting and created a new video (export took forever on my mac), drag to toast, burn, watch on tv, perfect. Both videos have the same scaled size 512 x 288 but the exported one, with the normal size of 512 X 288 looks right on the tv.

 

DVD are 720x480 or 352x240. 512x288 is not DVD compliant and must be scaled.

[yelocab]

Yes, I agree the 2-second-pause-warning about the first track is annoying and unneeded. I wish I could turn that warning off, or just not allow the first pause to be set less than 2-seconds (without a warning). I select all tracks and change the pause to zero. Just automatically set the first track back to 2 sec.

 

I agree the minimized burn window is a little 'lame', but it helps me quickly see, from across the room, what's happening.

 

My suggestions:

 

It would be nice if Toast recognized chapter markers in .m4a (or other bookmarkable files).

 

I record programs off the radio and have a script that adds chapter markers in them at every 10 min. mark. Then I burn them to audio-CD.

 

But to burn them, I normally have to add the to an iTunes playlist and burn them from there to get an audio-CD that is divided into 6 tracks. (QuickTime Player, I just discovered, also recognizes chapter markers in m4a files. But you can't burn from that.)

 

Perhaps, if not recognizing chapter markers, Toast would allow me to divide long audio into tracks, based on fixed time periods (every 10 min) or even add manual marks by time (e.g. if I know the show is roughly divided into 3 17-min sctions with a 3-minute bumper in between, I could set my chapters at 0, 17, 20, 37, 40 minute marks. Nothing fancy.

 

Yes, I have an iPod, but I don't want to add all those radio programs to my 4GB iPod and CDs are easier to listen to in my car on long car trips. Breaking up the show into tracks helps me navigate easier if I eject the CD or want to skip back/around. I don't want to do a lot of file editing (in SoundStudio, for example) because it's really not worth my time. Apple's Chapterizer does what I need.