Toast or iDVD+

I have a project I inhereited that i need to use Toast to burn the dvds for a consistant look to prior dvd's that were burned in Toast. I was just wondering if anyone knows is the compression engine in Toast as "clean" as in iDVD? In other words, is there any loss in quality from using Toast instead of iDVD.

I first check whether the interlacing is present in the input and in the output as it should (I prefer interlaced output for it motion smoothness). Notice that a slow camcorder shutter speed will essentially produce progressive material (i.e. PAL 25 or NTSC 30 or slower shutter speed is progressive).
With .dv clips I use QT Player. I open the clip and turn on high quality playback:
You have to turn on high quality playback of the clip to see all quality (in QT 7 via Window/Show Movie Properties/Video Track/Visual Settings/High Quality -- do not enable Single Field or Deinterlace because they deinterlace playback). You can also set "QuickTime Player 7/Preferences.../General/Use high quality video setting when available" to make this the default.
With DVD/VOB/MPEG output clips I usually do not use QT Player beacuse it has a nasty feature to imitate 4:3 aspect ratio in MPEG files. This is bad in PAL because 720x576 is always sacled to 720x540, and this distorts interlacing because the image is vertically scaled (in NTSC it is horizontally scaled from 720x480 to 640x480 so this doesn't affect the interlacing appearance).
I could scale the MPEG display in QT Player but I use MPEG Streamclip which shows the VOB/MPEG as it should be after "show Full resolution" command is used (I don't now remember the exact name of that command).
When I get this far I check wheter the interlacing comb lines are evenly and "beautifully" displayed. Some encoding applications may distort interlacing and this is guaranteed to show in motion scenes when watched on a TV. Sometimes interlacing distortion is difficult to spot on a computer monitor but deinterlacing first the other and then the other field off (by copying a frame to GraphicConverter and deinterlacing it there) will usually reveal this.
Now, the interlacing might look OK on a computer monitor but some apps may put the fields into wrong order. This is difficult to spot on a computer monitor so I usually check this via a 50 Hz interlaced TV (the user must make sure that the DVD player isn't set for progressive playback etc...). Spotting wrong field dominance on such a TV is very easy because of the zigzag effect it produces.
Viewing the final output on a TV will best reveal interlacing problems but even then some users might have trouble seeing whether the material is interlaced or progressive to begin with... I have a 1 minute test clip that I'm VERY familiar with. It consists of smooth camcorder pans and I can readily tell if some issue in the workflow has made the material progressive because then the pans are not smooth but get that jerky progressive "film" look. But the existence of interlacing is readily seen on a computer monitor by those comb lines in moving scenes.
I hope this helped and didn't muddy the waters!

Similar Messages

MAC HANGS WHEN I WRITE DVD VIDEO USING TOAST OR IDVD

DEAR SIR,
I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MY SONY DVD .. EVERY TIME I TRY TO WRITE DVD VIDEO MY MAC HANGS WHEN TOAST ROXIO 10 STARTS TO LEAD OUT AFTER ENCODING THE VIDEO .. AND IT HANGS ALSO WITH IDVD AFTER ENCODING THE VIDEO .. AND I MUST RESTART MY MAC ...PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO FIX IT ??
Model: SONY DVD RW DRU-835A
Revision: SS02
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk2
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 1
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: No
Mac OS 9 Drivers: No
Partition Map Type: Unknown
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME
TAHA TALAAT
[email protected]

This is a user forum.
Caps is considered yelling, inappropriate, a left over from DOS, too. Oh, and it actually is HARDer to read.

Toast versus iDVD?

Hopefully a simple question from a newbie. I make a lot of digital video editing. Will be burning many slideshows/videos to DVD.
Why would I need/want Toast where I have iDVD and can burn DVDs on my iMac?
Thanks in advance!

.. for digital video editing and burning..
for editing Toast has nothing to offer.
for creating videoDVDs, iDVD offer MUCH more, concerning 'design'
but...:
Toast offers a manual burn speed-selection - which could increase compatibility.. .
Toast allows a workaround for converting DVD content into iM-editable..
Toast allows more than 2h per SL dvd-r
Toast allows creation of (S)VCD.. (whoever needs that antique format.. )
.. but, as said: Toast is much, much more then just a 'DVD maker' ... it is a multi-purpose tool, e.g. doing backups, doing copies, PLUS a huge 'audio' section... plus many kind of 'data disk' things, ...
for the average user, iLife is enough..
for additional tasks, invest 80$ ..

Result of idvd burned DVD is very poor (only windowsorigin files)

Hi folks,
I'm trying since some days to get a windows file (mpg) on to a DVD. After converting the file to the varoius formats like mpg, mp4, mov and dv I get always a very poor quality DVD. As I changed also the bitrate to 16000 bits/s nothing changed.
I'm wondering if there is a little trick on that?
My problem is that my VCR is windows based therefore I get the windows format and I have to convert them with FFMPEG. Also I had imported movies via my old Casette-VCR / Handycam and no problem Quality was 100%
I'm now very confused how I can solve the problem because from time to time I'd like to archive some recorded shows or movies.
Does anybody have an idea how to solve this? Any comment his highly appreciated

I am guessing the Windows MPG format is referring to Microsoft's DVR-MS format which is basically an MPEG2 in a different envelope. ffmpegx will convert DVR-MS on a Mac.
I recently processed some MPEG2 files using ffmpegx myself. I set it to pass the audio through without conversion and to convert the video to MPEG2 with the same resolution and bitrate as the original (which was 4350kbps). This seems to have produced excellent results when then burnt to a video DVD using Toast. Toast unlike iDVD can directly accept MPEG2 files (although not DVR-MS).
Prior to that I had occasion to want to convert two MPEG files to an iDVD project and iDVD will not directly accept MPEG1 or MPEG2 files. If I had merely converted them to MPEG4 or other typical format then I would loose a fair amount of quality. Instead I converted them to Pixlet format at high quality (more than really needed) which minimised the degradation that occurred. iDVD then imported those files happily. The Pixlet files while I was using them where 10 times as big as the originals!

Export 12gig iMovie to toast titanium

there must be a better way! no super drive but yes toast 6 titanium----Will toast compress or even handle a 12 gig iMovie and create a DVD? AND, is there a way to burn iDVD to my LaCie external? If so how do I save the iDVD file and export it to toast? iDVD seems to want to freez up when finished with the making of the DVD and there's no 'save as' in the menu and so on....
Is there a way to compress iMovie? (quick time?)
thanks

a) iDVD (and Toast...) doesn't care for size, but for length of a project... anything under <120min (≥24 gigs!) fits on a standard, single-layer dvd-r (=4.7GB)... because iDVD (Toast...) does a conversion into the playback format mpeg2...
b) choose "create image" in iDVD, that creates a digital copy of a dvd... launch Toast, choose "mount image", "copy" that image... read the manual/help files.
c) iDVD5 supports external burners... most...
d) freezin' - my guess, reading in your specs "macbook": you run out of diskspace.- dvd encoding needs at last 10 - 15GB free on internal drive, when hitting "burn"....-
e) … next time, I would post such a Q in the iDVD section of this forum ... ;-))

Is iDVD from iLife 11 compatible with OS X Lion 10.7.3?

I recently bought a 21.5" Mid 2011 iMac and was surprised to find out that iDVD was not included. I am considering buying iLife 11 for $49.99 just for iDVD but I am not clear as to whether or not iDVD is even compatible with OS X Lion 10.7.3 ... Any info/feedback/help/suggestions are appreciated. Thank you!

At this point I will probably deal with not having it or just get Toast from Roxio. Since Apple is phasing out iDVD who knows if it will just become incompatible eventually anyway.
I have both Toast and iDVD. IDVD is vastly superior for making movies.
IDVD is not being phased out by Apple. They have simply stopped including it with new computers. Apple currently sells iDVD as part of iMovie 11 in the Apple Store. It is also available from Amazon.
It is unlikely that iDVD will become incompatible anytime in the next few years. All Mac OSs and updates are tested for compatibility with iDVD.

IDVD won't install from iLife '09 disk

Are there any reports of bad iLife '09 DVD pressings? I just tried to install iLife on two of my late model Macs- a Dual 2.3GHz Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) with Superdrive, and an Intel iMac 24" (Mid-2007) model- and the installer grayed out the iDVD selection in the Custom Install on both machines, telling me that it could only install iDVD on Macs with a SuperDrive. WTH? They BOTH have SuperDrives, and they each have an install of iDVD from iLife '08. I know that these SuperDrives both work, because I've used iDVD to burn DVDs on both of them. What am I missing?

Honestly I don't know if iDvd'08 vs. iDvd'09 are the very same version. But they are very close. Not much has changed if you are looking at iDvd alone. Still no blu-ray support within either version. Seems to me that Roxio Toast and it's Blu-ray plug in, picks up where iDvd left off (with the exception of Apple's Final Cut Studio which is much more money and has rather large learning curve).
Btw, this is not intended to compare Toast with iDvd since really one is authoring software vs. a disc burning utility. It's like comparing apples and oranges (no pun intended). However, Toast is getting more improvements lately vs. iDvd.
Did a search on Yahoo and here's what came up which seems like a valid assessment:
iLife '09 isn't as large of an update as previous iLife releases. In fact, iDVD was hardly changed, if at all. GarageBand received a facelift and has a bunch of new features, probably the most prominent of which being the artist lessons. iMovie got a few new features like image stabilization, themes and more, and isn't as annoying to use as the previous version. iPhoto got a lot of small tweaks, as well as the Faces and Places features and integration with Facebook and Flickr. iWeb also got a few enhancements, like more themes, more publishing options, and more widgets.
As for which is better, go with iLife '09. Both are good suites of applications, but if you have the money, go ahead and upgrade. The few new features you'll find are worth it.
Disclaimer: Apple does not necessarily endorse any suggestions, solutions, or third-party software / products that may be mentioned in this topic. Apple encourages you to first seek a solution at Apple Support. The following links are provided as is, with no guarantee of the effectiveness or reliability of the information. Apple does not guarantee that these links will be maintained or functional at any given time. Use the information above at your own discretion.
Message was edited by: SDMacuser

IDVD '08 support for eyeTV recordings?

I recently purchased an eyeTV 250 plus, and have been using it to capture digital TV episodes. The eyeTV came bundled with a copy of Toast 8 Basic that can burn captured video to a DVD but Toast Basic will only burn two video clips to the same DVD. Getting past this limitation requires me to pay $60 to upgrade to Toast Titanium.
What's nice about using Toast to burn the video is that it doesn't have to convert the video in order to use it. Since the captured digital TV shows are already encoded in MPEG-2; it just demuxes the audio and video, and burns the DVD. An hour of video (two 30-minute episodes and a menu) took less than 10 minutes to create, start to finish.
I tried using iDVD '06 to do the same, but it would not accept the MPEG-2 files. Exporting the video to some Quicktime-compatible format will take a great deal of time, and I'd rather avoid doing that if I could. The specifications for iDVD '08 mention MPEG-2, so I'm tempted to upgrade to iLife '08 for basically the same price as Roxio wants for Toast alone. But before I do, I wanted to know if anyone has tried to do this already. Anyone?
Thanks,
Jon

The specifications for iDVD '08 mention MPEG-2, so I'm tempted to upgrade to iLife '08 for basically the same price as Roxio wants for Toast alone.
iDvd eventually compresses QT content to mpeg2 but it won't allow you to import mpeg2 directly without the use of a third party app like MpegSteamclip + Apple's MPEG-2 Playback Component or Visual Hub.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html
No version of iDvd works directly with mpeg2 in terms of importing these files.
However, iMovie 7 now has the ability to import mpeg2 directly from a camcorder's HD. I think this is why mpeg2 is mentioned.
For what you are looking to do, you might be better off with an app like Toast or even apple's pro apps like DVDSP. However, I should mention that DVDSP has a rather large learning curve when compared to either Roxio Toast or apple's i-apps. Frankly, I'd go for Toast in this particular situation.
Good luck & I hope this helps.

IDVD 06 not recognizing my LaCie External FW DVD Burner

1. With the burner on, I start iDVD 06 and a message pops up telling me that I "don't have a superdrive and therefore will not be able to burn a DVD using iDVD".
What steps do I need to take in order to make iDVD recognize my external burner? I haven't used Patchburn yet, becuase I didn't think I would have to.
2. In lieu of burning directly from iDVD 06, I attempted to create a disk image and simply burn from Toast 7. iDVD went through the steps of rendering menus and content but when it was complete, iDVD simply closed without report of error and there was no disk image to be found. Any thoughts on what is happening here?
I just loaded Leopard and haven't downloaded any of the updates yet if that matters in some way.

Check the LaCie support site and choose the Downloads page for DVD drives. After selecting your model of drive you'll see a download titled something like "LaCie DiscRecording Support 1.26 for Mac OS X 10.3.2 or later (Mac)." Install that and iDVD should recognize your drive. While you're there be sure to download the latest firmware update. If your drive doesn't need it you'll be told when you open the updater application.

IDVD6 discs not copy-able by toast

My problem is Titanium toast not being able to copy a DVD burned with iDVD6.
What had worked in the past was to burn one master in iDVD, quit iDVD, restart the computer to refresh Free space on the drive, and then burn multiple copies using Titanium Toast 6.
Since upgrading to iDVD6, Toast doesn't want to copy my master discs saying
"The content on disc to be copied cannot be unmounted. All open files and programs on this volume must be closed first."
None of the help info for either Toast or iDVD inform me how to go back and close the volumes or files or whatever it is that needs to get closed - after the burning process is over. Also I couldn't find anything in iDVD6 help that would make this closing process occur - before the end of burning, or before coughing up the so called completed disc.
I must say that these discs that won't copy in toast, do perform wonderfully in stand alone DVD players. I would be happy to burn all of my copies with iDVD but there seems this one continual bug that APPLE has perpetuated since iDVD3 which is that in one single disc burning my activity monitor shows that it (the iDVD softwear) eats up most of the Free space on my drive leaving it mostly Inactive rather than Free. iDVD also pushes my dual 1GB processor to its limits (sometimes running it at 196%). I have 1.5GB ram btw. So, what had worked in the past was to burn one master in iDVD, quit iDVD, restart the computer to refresh Free space on the drive, and then burn multiple copies using Titanium Toast 6.
Please help, I am a professional shooter and going nuts with this simple process of gettting the deliveries out.
John <[email protected]>

What had worked in the past was to burn one master in iDVD, quit iDVD, restart the computer to refresh Free space on the drive, and then burn multiple copies using Titanium Toast 6. Since upgrading to iDVD6, Toast doesn't want to copy my master discs saying "The content on disc to be copied cannot be unmounted. All open files and programs on this volume must be closed first."
None of the help info for either Toast or iDVD inform me how to go back and close the volumes or files or whatever it is that needs to get closed after the burning process is over. Also I couldn't find anything in iDVD6 help that would make this closing process occur before the end of burning, or before coughing up the so called completed disc. I must say that these discs that won't copy in toast, do perform wonderfully in stand alone DVD players. I would be happy to burn all of my copies with iDVD but there seems this one continual bug that APPLE has perpetuated since iDVD3 which is that in one single burn my activity monitor shows that it (the iDVD softwear) eats up most of the Free space on my drive leaving it mostly Inactive rather than Free. iDVD also pushes my dual 1GB processor to its limits (sometimes running it at 196%). So, what had worked in the past was to burn one master in iDVD, quit iDVD, restart the computer to refresh Free space on the drive, and then burn multiple copies using Titanium Toast 6.

Is there a way to burn a tv show to disc?

Just downloaded an episode of the Night Stalker (mostly out of curiosity to see how it would look). Since I don't have an iPod video player, I was hoping I would be able to burn the QuickTime video to a dvd and watch it on my bigger screen tv rather than at the computer. Apparently, the TV Shows you download for $1.99 are copy protected the same as the music you buy in the iTunes store, I am able to burn the music to CDs and play them on my CD player. I can't imagine why I shouldn't be able to burn the QuickTime video using Toast or iDVD so I can watch it at the tv. After all, it isn't such great quality that it is a threat to piracy. And it is a TV show that I can record when it is on--so what's the deal?

A few things to consider. The TV shows, vieos, etc on iTunes are meant for one purpose - the video iPod. They are encoded in H.264 at 320x240 which means they need to scale up to 640x480 to be viewed on your TV set, thus quality loss. Also, H.264 encoded videos require more computing power, I see a lot of people on these threads complaining about choppy playback, well they are on slower systems and that is why.
I think Apple may have mislead people into thinking these shows are for your pc or tv screen, and while they do look OK, they are only going to look perfect on the iPod since that is what they were encoded for. So taking an episode of a tv show from iTunes and trying to watch it on your TV is not going to look very good anyway.

So many ways to create a DVD. What is the best?

Would love a little help here. First, every week I deliver a DVD to the local cable operation. It must have a menu so it parks itself until a timer kicks it on at the correct time. I edit in 720p then downconvert to SD when I create the DVD. To make matters worse, it feeds the system via a composite out. Yuch. With that info out of the way, what is the best way? I do not have DVD SP anymore, but I do have Toast Titanium, iDVD, and Compressor. I have been taking my master ProRes file and dropping it into iDVD with a menu of course. Tried Toast with mixed results. I like exporting right out FCP X to DVD, looks good, but on my home DVD player, it will not play but it will play on my computer and another DVD player. I am afraid to give that DVD to the cable company as it might not play. I have no idea why it will not play on my new household player. Anyway, what are your thoughts on how to creat a simple DVD to give to the cable company?
Best.
Tom

Thomas Whaley wrote:
… Tried Toast with mixed results. I like exporting right out FCP X to DVD, looks good, but on my home DVD player, it will not play …
then, something went wrong:
exactly for your purposes, the Share to DVD feature of FCPX is meant
no fancy menus, no options, straight forward:
you can add a graphic as customized background (eg, for a copyright note)
you can choose btw two 'themes' - black or white
autostart, or for you: menu first
and you can burn direct to disk, or create a disk-image first (what do YOU do?)
the resulting videoDVDs are fully standards-compliant …
my guess:
• you're creating a disk-image first (good) and burn that via Finder (wrong)
• for unknown reasons, your DVDplayer doesn't 'like' your brand of DVD-r - test on a 2nd one/change brand
• your internal disk-burner is 'dying' - that's how mine indicated its EOL: disks were only playable on that drive, then no more burn/play only ... months later totally kaputt ....
concerning 'best way'
I prefer iDVD as 'most convenient' + its many customizing options (=you don't need)
keep in mind, the max bitrate/best quality is accomplished in iDVD only with content length <60min
(content length: add menus play time!)
pretty sure, a professional could add the last 0.5% to perfection with other tools, such as DVDSP/Compressor
no hands-on experience concerning 'quality' with Toast …

Downloading videos from a disk.

Okay so I tried downloading this video that I made on another MacBook on to my Macbook, so I put it in then the DVD player comes up and goes to full screen and I can't get out of it without ejecting the disk. So, how do I go about downloading the video.

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Unless the video was mastered with DVD Studio Pro, Toast, or iDVD, or other DVD creation software, it won't read with DVD Player. How was the video created? Was it burnt to a data DVD, or a movie formatted DVD?

Burn a dvd from a VIDEO_TS folder

Hi all, this is sily, i have done this before i know i have, i cannot do it now !
I have a Folder named VIDEO_TS on my hard drive, it contains the contents of a video that i want to burn onto a DVD DL disc
So far today i have wasted 4 disc's trying 4 different programs, including Burn and Terminal, but nothing works.
the video plays fine on my Lap Top.
I just dont understand why i am struggling. i have even tried a Windows program "imgburn" but still no good
i dont mind buying an App for the job, but which one. I do not want to waste any more disc's, they aint cheap !.
tim

You need video authoring burn software; I use either Roxio Toast or iDVD:
It is no longer included with the OS, but you can buy a retail version of iLife 11 (or 09 for that matter) from online retailers; it contains iDVD - in my humble opinion, the very best burn software because of its' customizable menus and themes. You can make your masterpiece. I don't know how it would work since you already have a Video_TS folder (which is what you can create with iDVD), so you can't go backwards. In this case, Roxio Toast is the best idea (but no customizable or snazzy menus). I do not have the Pro version - I tried the blu-ray plugin and tested it; could not see a difference on my HDTV, so I decided to burn as close to HD as I could (camera shoots video in 1920X1080p) and forego the expensive blu-ray disks.
For future use, I'd recommend looking into iDVD as well:
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MC623Z-A-iLife-VERSION/dp/B003XKRZES
(you can find it on ebay as well)

Everything that has to do with burning a CD/DVD unexpectedly quits!!!!

When I am in 10.4.5 (or when I had 10.4.4) I cannot burn with Toast, iTunes, iDVD, etc. However, I have an Ext. HD with 10.4.2 and don't have any problem burning CDs/DVDs at all.
I recently upgraded my CDR/DVD-ROM with a Superdrive from OWC (MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-845S) which may be the problem. If it is then it is with the recent crop of operating system updates.
If anyone has this problem or how I can fix it let me know. It's a minor inconvenience, having to switch Startup disks, at best, but so is Windows XP.
Thanks
imac G5 17" ambient light Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Welcome to Apple Discussions.
I'd contact OWC here or give them a call @ 800-275-4576 and see if they can give you tech support through there.
Brian

Toast or iDVD+

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