Writing At 1x On My Superdrive?

[brettmb]

I just upgraded to a 2Ghz Duo Core 2 iMac. There is no reason why my Superdrive is only writing at 1x from ready-to-use DVD MPG 2 files. I copied a disc the other day and only got as fast as 4x with the same discs. I'm not doing anything different than I was on my old system. What good is Toast if I can just make a disk image and burn it normally at a faster rate?

 

What's the deal?

[brettmb]

So I saved the disc as an image and burnt it from that, and for some reason, Toast saved it as a blueray disc, but I didn't realize this until I tried to playback the disc. Why would it even try to do that without a blueray drive? What is going on with this software?

 

On a more positive note, I got 5x burn speeds out of burning from an image.

[brettmb]

OK. Toast is just broken. It kept defaulting to blueray no matter what I did before I clicked the burn button. Why on earth would it try to make blueray discs out of DVDs? Then when I finally got it to stay on DVD mode, it kept crashing. This really is intolerable. Now it's multiplexing on my Duo Core 2 slower than it does on my G4.

 

Deleted my preferences and tried again, and it keeps crashing while it's multiplexing.

[tsantee]

OK. Toast is just broken. It kept defaulting to blueray no matter what I did before I clicked the burn button. Why on earth would it try to make blueray discs out of DVDs? Then when I finally got it to stay on DVD mode, it kept crashing. This really is intolerable. Now it's multiplexing on my Duo Core 2 slower than it does on my G4.

 

Deleted my preferences and tried again, and it keeps crashing while it's multiplexing.

Let's start at the beginning. Make sure the Roxio Converted Items folder is empty. Tell me more about your source MPEG 2 file (what created it?) and how you added it to Toast. You can turn off the Blu-Ray and HD DVD options in Toast preferences.

[brettmb]

Let's start at the beginning. Make sure the Roxio Converted Items folder is empty. Tell me more about your source MPEG 2 file (what created it?) and how you added it to Toast. You can turn off the Blu-Ray and HD DVD options in Toast preferences.

I tried it again, but it just crashed when multiplexing as before. It is a 16:9 DVD format file created with ffmpegX. The same format I have used with Toast 9 on my G4 10.4.9 machine for ages. It just will not work on my Intel 10.5.3 machine. I had to go back to my G4 machine. Either it does not like 10.5 or it does not like Intel machines.

[brettmb]

To the people in charge at Roxio, your support staff is pathetic. This is the response I got. Didn't ask any further questions or provide any useful advice, even though I provided a link to this thread.

 

"Just because your burner can burn up to 8x it does not mean that your buffer can feed the data stream to the burner at that speed."

 

Obviously, now that you have my money, you could care less, but don't think you're getting any more of my money. It's bad enough that you charge practically full price to upgrade to the latest version - your upgrades prices are the same as the prices found in stores.

 

You're horrible company that blames its customers for every problem rather than making decent software.

[John at Roxio]

I am sorry you had a bad experience. I'll get with the rep that provided you with that answer and I'll do some coaching. We have an update scheduled for release soon and I have a feeling that it will help with this problem. Keep your eye out for the update and let me know how this same process goes after the update is completed.

 

Side point: Out of curiosity, how are you determining the write speed? Is it from the display during the burn process or are you calculating based on the time it takes to burn?

[brettmb]

I'm looking at the current and average write speeds on the display, plus time remaining is always faster than it really is.

 

I installed Apple's Quicktime 7.5 update today. Instead of crashing, Toast quit the multiplexing operation and displayed an error: "Couldn't complete the last command because of a Mac OS Error. Result Code = -18768". This was for a DVD containing three movies.

 

I then tried the same with a single movie, and it crashed during multiplexing, but it got through this movie when doing the three.

[brettmb]

Has there been a fix to this multiplexing issue or am I simply out the money I paid?

[brettmb]

Over 20 days and still no response?

[brj]

I'm getting the same error "Couldn't Complete the last command because of a Mac OS Error: Result Code = -18768"

 

 

while trying to burn 10 TivoToGo transferred programs (~30min. each). It gets about 85% through. I've tried reducing number of videos with no luck - bought Toast 9 specifically for this function so would appreciate some help!

[firenhancer]

1. Make sure you are on Toast 9.0.2. If not update it

2. Do you experience the error with all TiVo files?

3. How about using one of non-Tivo files for a test?

[brj]

 

1. yes - running 9.0.2

2. no - successfully burned a single tivo show prior

3. don't have any other video to burn...really need this to work since it was the sole reason for purchasing toast 9 (burning multiple tivo shows to dvd)

 

thanks...

 

 

1. Make sure you are on Toast 9.0.2. If not update it

2. Do you experience the error with all TiVo files?

3. How about using one of non-Tivo files for a test?

 

[richard_briscoe]

I am sorry you had a bad experience. I'll get with the rep that provided you with that answer and I'll do some coaching. We have an update scheduled for release soon and I have a feeling that it will help with this problem. Keep your eye out for the update and let me know how this same process goes after the update is completed.

 

Side point: Out of curiosity, how are you determining the write speed? Is it from the display during the burn process or are you calculating based on the time it takes to burn?

 

John, I am not picking on you, but there is so much that is so wrong with Toast that it is difficult to give a short version of it. The short version is that it is not ready for prime time in Leopard. I find Toast 9 unusable with EyeTV files in Leopard.

 

Unfortunately, the original poster's experience with Roxio tech support is not uncommon. Any number of people, myself included, have had similar or worse experiences with Roxio tech support. Roxio's tech support has, perhaps, the worst reputation of any software vendor in the Mac community. It did not come by that reputation by happenstance.

 

Fundamental change is in order. To begin with, everyone at the company, including the owner, needs to be reminded that the reason they have jobs is because of customers who purchase the company's products. People do not simply invent problems for the purpose of annoying tech support. Customers do not appreciate being told things that are patently untrue.

 

There is substantial doubt that Roxio even has sufficiently current software to properly test Toast so as to be working with configurations similar to that of the customer and recommended by Roxio.

 

What is needed for Toast is not a "bug fix", but a complete rewrite. In my experience to date, Toast, in conjunction with EyeTV files using Leopard is the worst performing software it has been my misfortune to encounter. Roxio tech support has done absolutely nothing of value to resolve the problems and has consistently been...well, I hope you get the idea.

 

I keep a Tiger (OS 10.4.11) drive in which I am booted at the moment for the purpose of burning files as it is the best combination of things to actually successfully burn DVDs. Quite simply, that is not right.

 

All of that said, I do hope that the impending update provides some relief from the current problems. Any improvement at all would be most welcome.

 

Nevertheless, there are a lot of things that need changing.

 

You asked the original poster about how he was measuring the burn speed. Please allow me to ask the question "just how is Toast measuring the speed which it displays during a burn?" The displayed average burn speed of a multiplexed EyeTV file, during a "good burn", on my equipment is, typically, 3X or sometimes 4X. 2X (or less) is not that uncommon. This is my setup: DVR-115D burner (with updated firmware) using Verbatim 16X discs (which are actually rated at 18X, as is the burner) on a dual 1.42 GHz MDD with 2 GB RAM and a SATA hard drive. Burns from a disc image (.toast file), typically, are shown as a bit faster. The estimated time of the burn which Toast displays has never, ever, not in one single instance had any rational relationship to the actual elapsed time of the burn in my experience.

 

If the "speeds" which Toast displays are not real, why are they shown at all. Alternatively, why are they not realistic numbers? As one who is not inside the company, it seems pointless, indeed counterproductive, to display numbers which are not realistic.

 

To reiterate, my remarks are not directed at you personally. In my opinion, the company needs to improve both its product and customer support. In my experience, neither is very good at the present time.

 

Sincerely,

 

Richard

 

[Edit] Typo