Toast 9 & Tivo / Audio Still Out Of Sync

[fooferah]

Hi all,

 

I'm still having issues with the audio being out of sync with the video using Tivo Transfer and Toast.

 

System and video information are as follows:

 

MacBook 2.2ghz

2GB RAM

OS 10.5.5

Toast 9.0.2

 

Video: 720p 59.94

 

I have tested this on the a PC and the audio plays perfectly in sync, including burning to a DVD. On the mac, however, the same .Tivo file is not in sync.

 

I've emailed Roxio support directly, but in the response, they recommended that I use CD Spin Doctor to sync the audio. Seems a bit odd and not quite on topic.

 

Anyone out there have this issue and, hopefully, solved it?

 

 

Thanks.

[dgavin]

Same problem here. I transferred an hour-long Tivo file to my MacBook (I cannot believe that it took almost an hour !) After marking off all of the commercials I noticed that the total time for the file was reduced to 43 minutes so I assumed that the commercials were all suppressed. After burning a DVD I found that the unwanted video stuff was gone, but that the audio track was not been altered at all... I bought this program specifically because TiVo recommended it and from perusing the forums it certainly seems that the Mac version is a severely neglected product. For it to be this bad after a recent upgrade is pathetic! Does anyone know of a work-around or some other software that can transfer programs from a tivo faster than real-time and can actually edit and burn DVDs properly ?

[fooferah]

Sorry to hear you're having the same issue. I've emailed support multiple times now and haven't heard anything substantial back.

[iHoo]

Yeah, I too have had this problem. I...too... have been emailing trying to get some help with this issue and have heard nothing helpful from roxio. I have gotten some canned answers, such as what appears to be a 'form letter' telling me that the problem is likely due to having other applications open while converting video. That's BS. I have an extra older mac that I use for my time/processor-intensive activities and there are no applications open when I am using tivo transfer or toast.

 

Anyway, what I HAVE noticed, is that some programs convert fine (audio/video in sync), and some do not. The ones that don't, at least so far, seem to be having issues with the frame rate. On a couple of programs that I pull off the tivo with Tivo Transfer, the file says when I move it over to Toast that it is 60 fps (59.9 something), and when i try to Toast it, it tells me it is encoding it at 25. And it continues to say '25' despite me changing from PAL to the other one (nstc?) in preferences. when I convert to an m4v file, the audio is horrifically out of sync, but seems to worsen the farther along in the program you go.

 

I am far from an expert, or even a knowledgeable beginner, in terms of frame rates and video conversion etc. But It seems to me that if it is an issue with frame rate, that conceivably this would explain why the asynchrony is worse at the end than the beginning.

 

Other programs have come over from Tivo at 29.9whatever fps, and toast encodes them at 29.whatever, and they seem to be fine.

 

Has anyone else noticed this?

 

 

 

[fooferah]

Hi iHoo,

 

I figured it was probably an issue with 60fps media. And it looks like you've confirmed it. Thanks.

 

FYI, the video you had technically runs at 59.94fps. And in broadcast, 59.94 always runs at 720p.

 

I had tried encoding a few minutes of a movie from HBO and it encoded fine. Those run at 1080i29.97.

 

NTSC video doesn't run at a full 30 or 60, due to, I believe, some issue with the 60hz cycle and the way that NTSC stores the chroma and luma information (color and light). To "fix" that, the NTSC or SMPTE gods created something called Drop Frame timecode. PAL doesn't have this problem (and it runs in 50hz native) because it does a better job storing with the color and light. Sorry for the rant, but hopefully that'll give you a little extra knowledge as to why frame rates run in .94 or .97!

 

A question to everybody: has anyone found a way to transfer footage off the Tivo at a faster rate that what we're getting? Currently, it takes 8GB (1.5 hrs @ 720p59.94) of footage about 1.5 hours just to transfer. Add the encode/burn time on top of that and you're looking at an additional 2 to 3 hours. Total time to encode a 1.5 hour show = 4.5 hours. Almost not worth it!

 

 

The Video Guru,

 

Fooferah

[ingrid]

I can't figure out how to even cut out commercials from a TiVo transfer, or set the start or end. Obviously this isn't successful for you right now with the audio, but how are you getting Toast to save your edits on the start/end and where are you going to add the track marks to delete the commercials? Those options aren't appearing and/or saving when I go to burn.

 

Thanks!

 

Same problem here. I transferred an hour-long Tivo file to my MacBook (I cannot believe that it took almost an hour !) After marking off all of the commercials I noticed that the total time for the file was reduced to 43 minutes so I assumed that the commercials were all suppressed. After burning a DVD I found that the unwanted video stuff was gone, but that the audio track was not been altered at all... I bought this program specifically because TiVo recommended it and from perusing the forums it certainly seems that the Mac version is a severely neglected product. For it to be this bad after a recent upgrade is pathetic! Does anyone know of a work-around or some other software that can transfer programs from a tivo faster than real-time and can actually edit and burn DVDs properly ?

[ingrid]

OK, I figured out how to remove the video clips by pressing delete after setting the markers apart around commercials. But now I have the same problem as you in that the audio doesn't get removed, so is out of sync.

 

Anyone? News from Roxio?

[fooferah]

No word yet. Every time I respond to their reply I get nothing, so I have to start a new ticket. Just started a new one today.