Length Of Tivo Files Not Correct When Transferred To Itunes

[michelleh45]

Hi --

 

I'm new to Toast, which I just purchased and am using on my Mac. I transferred a lot of 1 hour programs from my TiVo to my Mac and that seemed to go just fine. However, when I try to convert them to play on my iPad, the file in iTunes is significantly shorter than 1 hour. Am I doing something wrong? Is there some setting I should change so that the entire 1 hour video gets transferred?

 

I looked through the forums and saw some mentions of this, but I wasn't sure I saw a good resolution. Can the whole 1 hour program not be copied over? Is there some time limit or something?

 

Any help in relatively straightforward language would be greatly appreciated. I'm not a Mac novice, but do not do a lot with video editing and conversion so simpler explanations would be most appreciated.

 

Thanks, Michelle

[tsantee]

It's been awhile since this issue was discussed in the forum, so I need more information to determine if I have a easy resolution. Which version of Toast 11 are your using? The latest is Toast 11.1 (1072). Are you doing any editing of the video in Toast before exporting? Is this HD video or SD video captured by TiVo Transfer? Are you using the Toast Media Browser to access the transferred videos?

 

There is no time limit. What you did should have worked but Toast has its bugs and I've figured workarounds for most of them.

[michelleh45]

Thanks for offering to help. I just purchased Toast 11 last night, so I'm assuming it's the latest version. I am NOT editing the video at all. Just trying to get the HD video straight from my TiVo then convert it to be used in iTunes. Last night, it looked like it got the entire hour-long program from my TiVo, but shortened it when it converted, but this morning I tried another file and it did not even get the entire program from the TiVo. Instead of an hour-long show, it only captured 15 minutes or so. And yes, I am using the Toast Media browser to find the files from my TiVo. I'm pretty much following the directions as laid out in the help files.

 

Can the program not handle HD video? I ensured that my computer would not go to sleep in my system preferences so it should have enough time to transfer over the entire file. The internet connection in my home is pretty good and the Mac is going through an ethernet connection, not wireless, so I would hope that transfer speed is not a problem.

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions. It's very frustrating that there is really no technical support for this program from Roxio, at least none I could get access to, so I appreciate your willingness to help.

 

Michelle

[michelleh45]

The only other thing I can add is that even though my Mac is connected by Ethernet, my TiVo is actually on a wireless connection. Would that make a difference?

[tsantee]

I started doing a test and at first it didn't go well. TiVo Transfer claimed it transferred the entire 1-hour program but Roxio Video Player and Toast both claimed it was only 45 seconds in length. So I trashed that one and restarted my Mac. I transferred a different 1-hour program and it shows the correct length in both Roxio Video Player and Toast. Now I need to do the conversion to see what happens next.

 

As for HD programs, you probably noticed that TiVo programs get down-sized to standard definition when exported. There are a couple workarounds for this. One is to get the Toast Blu-ray plugin and save as a disc image of a Blu-ray video disc. Then choose the Image File setting in the Toast Convert window and select the disc image you just saved. Toast will now convert it as a high-resolution video.

 

I'll let you know what I find out about the length of the converted transfer.

[tsantee]

I completed the test and Toast converted the entire 1-hour HD TiVo transfer. Do a software update check to make sure you have Toast 11.1 (1072) and not 11.1 (1067). Restart your Mac before starting your next TiVo transfer. Click Play after the video is transferred to see if the Roxio Video Player is recognizing the entire video. After adding the video to Toast look at how Toast describes the video. Does it say it is the correct length? If all these are correct it should convert the entire video.

[michelleh45]

I appreciate the fact that you are trying to help. I checked my version of Toast and is it the 11.1 (1072) version. I tried again last night to get a 1-hour video from my Tivo and have it transfer to my computer. This time, the entire program didn't transfer -- only 21 minutes. I don't know what is going wrong and honestly at this point, I'm so frustrated with this I'm just going to ask for a refund. This hassle is just not worth it to me.

 

Thanks again for trying to help, though.

[michelleh45]

Oh, and I did restart my Mac before trying another transfer and I made sure that the Mac didn't sleep while the transfer was happening (using system preferences, I changed the energy preferences so it would never sleep the computer). So I don't think that was it either. I cannot figure this out and don't want to bother anymore. Thanks.