Does Toast need Rosetta

Question

Hi,
I'm really struggling w/my new iMac and creating dvds from old vhs tapes. I've printed the iDVD manual from the Apple site but it's so superficial. For example, it doesn't tell me if I can choose a theme that has "drop zones" and leave the drop zones empty (I like the theme but don't want to try to figure out drop zones--or what to put in them!). When I left them empty, the map feature flagged those menus as errors--so I was afraid to burn! I guess I have 2 related questions:
1) If I download Toast, do I also need to buy Rosetta?
2) Would I be using Toast instead of either iMovie or iDVD (the Roxio site says it works seamlessly w/iLife) or do I pass files back and forth?
Thanks for any help.

Answer 1

Hi,
I'm really struggling w/my new iMac and creating dvds
from old vhs tapes. I've printed the iDVD manual
from the Apple site but it's so superficial. For
example, it doesn't tell me if I can choose a theme
that has "drop zones" and leave the drop zones empty
(I like the theme but don't want to try to figure out
drop zones--or what to put in them!). When I left
them empty, the map feature flagged those menus as
errors--so I was afraid to burn!
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of iDVD. I live very close to the Apple Store and could sit in on one of their iDVD classes but bought Toast 7 instead. BTW, I have taken their "Final Cut Pro" class and their 'iMovie" class which are really more like demonstrations but you can ask questions and get some solid answers.
I guess I have 2
related questions:
1) If I download Toast, do I also need to buy
Rosetta?
Nope. Rosetta is included in OSX and you won't even know it is there. You just install Toast in your applications folder, drag the Toast icon to your dashboard so you have it handy and start it up!
2) Would I be using Toast instead of either iMovie or
iDVD (the Roxio site says it works seamlessly
w/iLife) or do I pass files back and forth?
Thanks for any help.
iMovie lets you edit previously made movie or combine smaller movies together and save them as one larger separate movie. You then burn that movie to DVD using iDVD or Toast 7.0.2.
Your saved projects can be in .MOV or other file formats and you can use the large number of themes in Toast if you want to. In Toast you don't have to use a theme at all.
I have a ton of VHS training movies I must edit and burn to DVD and I use EyeTV 200 which is a little box that connects to your iMac via firewire and to your VCR with the standard 3 RCA plugs (red/white/yellow - there are also svideo and digital connections). You don't need a powersource for the EyeTV box. I assume it works along the lines of the Canabus (sp?) product you use.
I start the video using the VCR remote and edit as I review the film. I can remove extraneous stuff easy enough. Each stop and start creates a new segment. I then pull all the segements together in iMovie, edit more if need be, then save as one Quicktime movie (.mov).
Next I fire up Toast and drag the .mov file into the DVD making portion. Select a theme and burn away.
I also have a LaCie Slim 24X DVDRW/CDRW connected to the iMac via USB. It will only burn at 2X under Rosetta (Roxio will be releasing an upgrade of Toast in Universal Binary form, soon they say). I usually use the LaCie to burn the one-hour movies (Toast finds it just fine) to cut down on the wear and tear of my SuperDrive. I learned this from using other OSs and machines where I burned out the DVDRom very quickly and now I use two. I use the LaCie for the grunt work and the Superdrive for the important work.
That's how I do it. You CAN use Toast to burn a DVD without using a Theme and I do that often enough. You can set it to just start the movie when the DVD is inserted or place a 'start' button on the first frame once inserted.
Hope this info helps. I remember how confused I was when I first started and now I just wish the whole process was faster!
Hudson
20" Intel iMac fully loaded Mac OS X (10.4.5)
20" Intel iMac fully loaded   Mac OS X (10.4.5)