Review: Toast 5.01 Titanium

Developer: Roxio (product page)

Price: $89.95 (direct from Roxio); $59 (upgrade from Toast Deluxe 4)

Requirements: PowerPC-based Mac with System 8.6 and QuickTime 4, 12 MB application RAM; CD Spin Doctor requires 128 MB RAM with Virtual Memory turned off, 2 GB hard drive with 800 MB available for digitizing audio.

Recommended: Internet connection to access FreeDB audio CD database (freedb.org)

Trial: None

Overview

Toast 5 Titanium software helps you record CDs and DVDs from your Power Macintosh. Toast 5 supports nearly every CD recording format. Toast Titanium also includes applications for recording sound from any source, for creating CD labels, and for organizing and cataloging multimedia files.

Changes from Adaptec Toast Deluxe 4

The biggest improvement is that CD recording now can be done in the background. You can write CDs while performing other tasks if you have adequate RAM. Another big improvement is support for DVD-R/RW formats and for Apple’s SuperDrive. Toast 5 can convert iMovie files and digital video streams to Video CDs or DVDs, and can also create CDs that work in MP3 CD-ROM audio players. Toast 5 now works with iTunes (but not seamlessly). New applications bundled with Toast 5 include QDesign’s MVP for playing MP3 audio files and an improved version of Magic Mouse Discus CD Labeler, for creating CD labels and jewel case covers and inserts. Toast now identifies audio CD titles and tracks using the FreeDB Internet service.

The one negative change is that Toast 5 no longer supports autoloader hardware for making multiple CD copies.

Installation

Double-clicking the “Toast Titanium 5.0 Installer” icon launches the Installer VISE application. You use a pop-up menu to select a drive or a folder for installation. You are given only two installation options: Full Install or Toast Only. I dislike the lack of a custom install option. I performed a full installation and then trashed the files I did not need. Installer VISE closes all open applications, and a restart is required after installation. A full installation requires nearly 200 MB of hard disk space, though Toast Titanium alone requires only 6 MB. All files are installed in the Toast Titanium folder.

Four extensions are also installed in the Extensions folder: Adaptec UDF Volume Access, Toast CD Reader, Toast FireWire Support, Toast USB Support, and Toast Video CD Support. Only the Toast CD Reader is required, unless you have a FireWire or USB CD burner.

Full Installation of Toast Titanium

Using Toast

Toast 5 sports a new interface that complements OS X. The four main buttons near the top of the window are for selecting the type of recording: Data (Mac OS standard or HFS+ or Mac/PC hybrid standard or HFS+), Audio (AIFF), Copy (CD only, not DVD), and Other (video CD, MP3 CD, DVD, disk image, Mac volume, ISO 9660, custom hybrid CD, CD-i, enhanced music CD, multitrack CD-ROM XA, and device copy).

Toast 5 Main Window

Creating Data CDs

For most formats, you select files for the CD by either dragging them onto the Toast window or by clicking on the Add or Select… buttons and navigating to the file or folder of interest. When setting up most types of data disks, you can create new folders (or subdirectories) and arrange files within them. Within a folder, files always appear in alphabetical order. When you have chosen all the files, you can do three things: save the configuration (Save menu or Command-S), run a simulation of the recording process (to confirm that the burn speed will work), or burn a new CD or DVD-R.

Toast’s Record Dialog Box

If you have appropriate blank media in your burner, clicking the red Record button brings up a dialog box where you select the burn speed from a pop-up menu (the maximum burn speed will depend on your hardware, media, and available RAM). You can choose Simulation mode by checking the button. If your recorder supports buffer underrun prevention, you can toggle that feature off or on. You start the recording (or simulation) process by clicking the “Write Disc” button. In many modes you may alternately click on the “Write Session” button. Using this recording mode allows you to write to one CD numerous times. Each session mounts as a separate disk. This feature is useful when you archive files to CD and only use a portion of the CD’s capacity each time.

Creating Audio CDs

Toast can create audio CDs from nearly any format: prerecorded audio CDs, MP3 files, other digital sound formats, and from analog sources such as phonographs or tapes. A nice feature is “Toast Greatest Hits.” You insert audio CDs into your CD-ROM drive and drag the tracks you wish to record onto the Toast audio window. If you click on the “Internet” button, Toast will access the FreeDB database and find the titles and track names for your prerecorded audio CDs. You can arrange the tracks in any order. When you start to record, Toast will prompt you to reinsert the appropriate audio CDs as needed. Another method for creating new CDs from prerecorded audio CDs is to use Toast Audio Extractor to copy audio tracks to your hard drive. You can burn new audio CDs from these AIFF files, or convert them to other formats such as QuickTime movies or Sound Designer II files.

Toast automatically converts MP3 files to standard Red Book audio CD format. You can drag individual MP3 files to the Toast audio window. You can also use Toast 5 in conjunction with iTunes. You can create a playlist of MP3 or AIFF digital recordings in iTunes. When you are ready to burn a CD, instead of clicking on iTunes’ “Burn” button, just drag the playlist onto the Toast audio window.

CD Spin Doctor

This application lets you record analog sound onto your hard drive. It will accept analog input from RCA ports, the external microphone, and the sound-in port found on some Macintosh computers or audio/video cards. CD SpinDoctor can also record analog sound from disks in your CD or DVD drive. A reason for using CD SpinDoctor on digital media is when the audio needs to be cleaned-up or filtered. After launching CD SpinDoctor you need to designate a destination hard drive for the sound files. You then choose an input source.

CD SpinDoctor has a vertical group of buttons with standard symbols for record, pause, play, stop, and loop. The two columns of small circles are left and right channel signal strength indicators. The circular buttons to the right trigger the following actions: send audio files to Toast, mute the audio input, pop-up a slider to adjust input gain, pop-up a window to select and adjust filters, and pop-up a slider to adjust volume. Most of these features are intuitive.

CD SpinDoctor Window

CD SpinDoctor Filter Window

The filter choices include noise and pop (used to eliminate background hums and phonograph clicks and pops), bass boost, “exciter” (for extrapolating “lost” harmonics), and width (for creating or widening stereo separation). Since the “Realizer” filters increase the sound signal strength, the Filters window also includes a slider for adjusting output level. After capturing sound with CD SpinDoctor, you can apply filters to selected sections of music (recommended for noise and pop filters) or to the entire recording (recommended for Realizer filters). Filters permanently alter your recorded files, so you may want to save a copy of your unfiltered files before running the filters. (Note: The filters are licensed from Arboretum System’s Ray Gun^TM noise reduction technology. You can purchase a full version of Ray Gun that has more powerful features, including the ability to filter sound as you record.)

Selecting a Track in CD SpinDoctor

CD SpinDoctor can automatically designate audio tracks while recording. This works best when there are a few seconds of silence between tracks and no moments of silence within tracks. You may also designate tracks manually, which is my preferred method. You zoom in on the sound amplitude display window that includes recording time. You select a track with the mouse by clicking and dragging to highlight an area. Typing Command-D or selecting Define Track from the Tracks menu creates the track. You can double-click on the “Untitled Track” entry in the track list window to enter the track’s title. After all tracks are assigned, you can delete the first “track” that includes the entire recording. This only deletes the track designation; all the recorded sound remains intact.

CD SpinDoctor can send its recorded sound files directly to Toast for burning audio CDs. Just select the tracks of interest and click on the Burn CD button. Toast will be launched and the selected tracks will appear in Toast’s audio window.

Creating Video CDs

The Toast Video CD Support extension must be active to create video CDs. You can create video CDs from QuickTime movies (most formats), MPEG-1 streams, and iMovie 2.0.1. In the main Toast window, you click on Other and select Video CD, MP3 Disc, or DVD from the pop-up menu. You then drag the QuickTime or MPEG-1 movie file onto the Toast window or use the Select… button to find the movie file. For all video files, you must choose either the NTSC or PAL format. QuickTime files are converted and saved to disk before Toast burns the video CD. MPEG-1 files can be burned without conversion.

Toast handles iMovie 2.0.1 files differently from QuickTime or MPEG movies. You start by opening the iMovie and choosing Export Movie from the File menu. You must export the iMovie as a QuickTime file. You then choose a Toast Video CD format from the Format pulldown menu. When you click on the Export button, the iMovie is converted to a QuickTime movie, Toast is launched, and the video CD is burned (remember to load the blank disk first).

Extra Applications

QDesign MVP 1.2.38

MVP Player and Playlist Windows

This application plays digital audio (MP3, MP2, WAV, AIFF, QDMC, etc.) and video files, saves playlists, and can convert digital sound files to MP3, MP2, WAV, or QDMC formats at a variety of bit rates. Toast Titanium includes 17 MP3 songs you can play on MVP. I spent little time with MVP because it caused numerous freezes and hard crashes. I recommend using iTunes and QuickTime Player instead of the crash-prone MVP. An additional reason for using iTunes is that its playlists can be dragged onto the Toast audio window for recording. This feature is not supported by QDesign MVP.

iView Multimedia

iView Multimedia Catalog Window

Toast Titanium includes the OEM version of iView Multimedia. Toast Titanium owners can upgrade to iView Multimedia Pro for $25 (a $20 saving). The included version may meet your needs for organizing your digital photos, movies, and sound clips. You add items to a catalog by dragging files or folders to the catalog window or by selecting Import… from the File menu. During import, iView Multimedia will create thumbnails images at one of four sizes. You can rearrange files within a catalog by dragging them. Each catalog item can have associated captions, credits, keywords, and categories. You can use this information to select and sort catalog items. Pictures can be viewed individually or as a slide show. Captions can be displayed in slide show mode.

iView Multimedia can export images as QuickTime movies, contact sheets, HTML files, and video postcards. It can also export many types of files directly to Toast. iView Multimedia offers full AppleScript support and includes a script menu.

Magic Mouse Discus CD Labeler

This application sports a childlike interface that reminds me of KidPix. The application takes over your entire screen and features large buttons and wild background choices for your labels. Discus CD Labeler can help you create CD labels, jewel case lid and base sheets, and folding booklets that will fit in CD jewel cases. You can use the supplied backgrounds, create your own by switching to Paint mode, and add your own art or photographs in Photo mode. Discus CD Labeler can import audio CD track titles from saved Toast files. It does not do this correctly with data CDs. Discus CD Labeler has printer settings for 28 different brands of CD labels. I experienced no freezes or crashes with this version of Discus CD Labeler—a big improvement compared to the version bundled with Toast Deluxe 4.

Discus CD Labeler Window

Toast Titanium Problems and Bugs

I experienced no significant problems with Toast 5.01. Users have reported some problems burning DVD disks on the new SuperDrives, but some of those problems may be due to different firmware versions of the SuperDrive.

CD SpinDoctor works, but it needs interface and usability improvements. The program has not been upgraded since its release two years ago.

QDesign’s MVP crashed frequently. Roxio should include a different MP3 player. Perhaps Apple will let them bundle iTunes.

Documentation

The Toast 5 Titanium User’s Guide is a 237-page, 5.5" x 8.5" softcover manual that describes the use of Toast 5 and CD SpinDoctor. Toast Titanium also includes a 20-page “Getting Started Guide.” All other documents are PDF files. Toast Audio Extractor, iView Multimedia, and Discus CD Labeler have short (8-19 pages) PDF manuals.

Technical Support

Roxio offers 90 days of free telephone support (via a toll call) in North America, Europe, and Japan. English language telephone support is available after 90 days for a fee. Webmail support (English only) is also free for 90 days. The Roxio Web site has answers to frequently asked questions, a searchable “Knowledgebase” database, a user-based e-mail discussion list, and an updates page.

Strengths

Can write CDs in nearly all formats.
Can write CDs in the background.
High reliability with ability to check burn speeds and simulate the burn process.

Weaknesses

No support for CD burner autoloaders.
Mediocre MP3 player included.
High upgrade cost for Toast Deluxe 4 owners.
Less expensive Toast 5 Lite not available as separate purchase. (It is only bundled with new CD burners.)

Alternatives

Charis Mac’s Discribe 4 is the only significant commercial competition. Discribe 4 now costs less than Toast ($75 retail, $30 for competitive or version upgrade), but it has a clumsier interface and fewer features. It does not include bundled extras equivalent to iView MultiMedia or Discus CD Labeler.

Summary

Toast 5 is the best and most complete CD and DVD recording software available for the Macintosh. The Toast 5 Titanium bundle adds useful programs for analog sound input, cataloging media, and creating CD and jewel box labels.

Reader Comments (98)

David Sternlight · July 3, 2001 - 13:52 EST #1: Misleading review: You say Toast supports a new interface "which complements OS X." Actually, it doesn't work under OS X--you have to REBOOT into OS 9. Roxio has been promising an upgrade to OS X for months now and it still hasn't come. They blame Apple and now they are "working around the problem." When?

Howard · July 3, 2001 - 16:17 EST #2: Hi Gregory, I enjoyed your review and I ordered the program, (before reading your review--my fault I guess) but after reading your review I think I am going to have some trouble? They sent me an email stating that I am on the list and could order the program from them but no mention that I had to have Toast Deluxe 4? So I guess using Toast 4.1.2 won't work?

Lucas · July 3, 2001 - 18:27 EST #3: Just as an added comment for those who already have Toast Deluxe 4, The iView multimedia was PhotoRelay 1.0.4 before and has not changed any in Toast 5 other then the name change and expecting you to pay for an upgrade to the Pro Version of iView. Discus was also included in Toast 4 Deluxe and the toast 5 version is an upgrade but still not the full version of Discus which has much more artwork and the template for credit card CD's and the small CDs. I also felt that Roxio(aka:Adaptec) way over charged previous owners of Toast Deluxe for the upgrade.

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · July 3, 2001 - 21:23 EST #4: Mr. Sternlight: I never said that Toast 5 works directly under OS X. I said the interface complements OS X, which means only that the interface's style and appearance match the Aqua-look of OS X. Roxio is correct that Apple is mostly to blame for Toast's lack of OS X compatibility. OS X didn't support CD burning initially; the current upgrade still doesn't offer full DVD support. No one else has CD/DVD burning software that works in native mode with OS X. Roxio will "work around" the problem by trying to get Toast 5 to work in Classic mode under OS X without rebooting. Roxio probably will release a free or inexpensive update if they are successful. Otherwise, users may have to wait for OS 10.1 for native CD/DVD burning support.

Dennis Wilkins · July 6, 2001 - 13:15 EST #5: Thank you for your timely Toast article, and David's comments. I was going to purchase Toast 5 before reading your article, but not now! I learned my software lesson going from OS6 to OS7. Many vendors promised future support for OS 7 and then either failed to deliver or decided that OS 7 was a new piece of software and demanded full price for an upgrade. If software does not run now under OS X, I don't want it.

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · July 19, 2001 - 21:14 EST #6: Roxio just posted a free beta version of Toast 5 for OS X. You can download it here: http://www.roxio.com/toastbeta/ And in reply to Mr. Wilkins, Roxio has promised that owners of Toast 5 will be able to upgrade to the OS X version for free.

Sanee · August 9, 2001 - 02:49 EST #7: Please help me. My Toast can't copy from my data to my CD-RW disc. My CD-RW disc specs:
80 minutes/720 MB
I use the G4 Macintosh 450MHz
My CD-RW writer is the Kodak 4832e CD-R/RW external USB writer. My program: Toast Titanium 5.0.1. All parameters are default from the store. After I drag the data into the Toast window and click the record button, I get an error message window: "the drive reported an error
sense key = medium error
sense code = 0x31
Medium format Corupted" What am I supposed to do with this problem?? Thanks Mr. Sanee

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · August 9, 2001 - 17:46 EST #8: Sanee: Standard CD-R and CD-RW media holds 74 minutes of audio or 650 MB of data. You cannot directly copy a CD containing 720 MB of information. Some CDs are deliberately encoded to act like they have more than 650 MB of data to prevent copying and piracy. I doubt that you will find 720 MB of files on the CD in question. I looked into this for a colleague who had a software CD with a huge file (over 250 MB) that had no apparent purpose. However, without that file the CD wouldn't work. This was obviously a copy protection technique.

Eric Blair (ATPM Staff) · August 14, 2001 - 19:43 EST #9: Greg & Sanee, There are 80 minute/700 MB CDRs -- I have a stack of them in front of me. However, I don't think its possible to do 80/720 - the math just doesn't come out right. Have you successfully burned with your burner and any version of Toast in the past? I checked the Toast Recorder Support page and didn't find a listing for your drive. Is there any other identifying name on the drive? Typically, I would try trashing the Toast preferences. After that, I'd reinstall Toast. Finally, I'd contact Roxio tech support.

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · August 14, 2001 - 20:07 EST #10: Roxio's web site has a whole page on the CD size conundrum. http://www.roxio.com/en/support/discs/disccompat.html

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · August 14, 2001 - 20:11 EST #11: Oh, one other item ... you can't search Roxio's support site by the drive's brand. You have to go by the drive manufacturer, not forgetting that one brand doesn't necessarily use the same manufacturer's mechanism for all their drives. i.e. VST Tech's most recent CD-RW module for G3 FireWire PowerBooks is actually a Ricoh mechanism (this is the drive I use).

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · August 15, 2001 - 19:50 EST #12: Yes, my burner supports 79 minute/700 MB CDRs, too. However, I still think that the data CD in question (720 MB) used faked file sizes to prevent copying. I do not think it was a 90 minute CD. -- Greg

Andrew L · August 20, 2001 - 03:24 EST #13: Hi Gregory, Thanks for the detailed review and walkthrough. Actually, I am planning to buy a new iBook with a combo drive. Will Toast 5 work well with the iBook, which is just a G3 rather than G4? My main objective is to burn Video CDs of the iMovie clips that I will import from a Sony DV camcorder (since iDVD does not work with the G3, so outputting to VCD is the only alternative despite of an inferior picture quality). Does anyone has such experience of using the new ibook and Toast 5 this way?

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · August 20, 2001 - 19:37 EST #14: Andrew - I use a G3 PowerBook FireWire (Pismo) laptop which predates most (all?) iBooks--certainly predating the iceBook you're planning to buy. Toast 5 works perfectly, so you'll have no worries. I haven't once yet burned a drink coaster with this configuration. I have burned several Video CDs and, you're right, the quality is inferior. I'm not sure why the MPEG compression artifacts are so prominent. I know movies used to be available (and still are, if you look hard enough) on VCD format, and I just can't believe they looked the same way. Recording a VHS tape off the TV in EP mode looks better than what Toast 5 burns in VCD format. So, I'm not sure if it's a hardware limitation, or just the best Toast will do. If you don't absolutely have to pop the VCD into a home DVD player, and can use your computer as the playback device, there's an alternative. You can burn the DV QuickTime stream to a CD instead. Use a program like Play It Cool to show it. Play It Cool works like QuickTime Player, but allows you to stage the movie full screen, even having x number of seconds of black screen before and after the movie. Of course, you'll need that optional iceBook audio/video cable to output to your television. Also, remember that the iceBook only does video mirroring, not dual-monitor. On my Pismo, I set the TV as the second monitor and direct the Play It Cool output there. Can't do that on the iceBook, so the TV will be displaying whatever you do in advance to prepare the movie file for playback.

Steve · August 22, 2001 - 11:00 EST #15: Can Toast create an ISO file which is an image of the CD? Can it then take this file and, at a later date, create actual CDs? In a networked environment with PCs and Roxio's PC product, I frequently create ISO images on the local system to avoid network latency problems and get a clean, prepared data stream for burning.

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · August 22, 2001 - 20:13 EST #16: Steve - in a word, yes. Any directory structure you set up in Toast to burn can be saved as an image which you can open in Toast at a later time for burning.

RKJ · October 7, 2001 - 17:08 EST #17: Does Titanium Toast have an MPEG2 encoder for DVD? I have looked for this spec, but have found nothing on it. I am considering Cyclone's DVD Revo external DVD-RW Firewire drive with Toast 5.

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · October 8, 2001 - 17:45 EST #18: RKJ: Toast Titanium does not offer MPEG2 encoding. To make an audio/video DVD, you must encode the material with iDVD, DVD Studio Pro, or some other software. The encoded material must be in a VIDEO_TS folder. Toast can write that folder to a DVD disk or disk image.

HP · November 18, 2001 - 10:23 EST #19: I made a Video CD with Toast Titanium and the video has a bad case of the jaggies. And ideas? Also - what resolution should I be capturing the MiniDV video - 352x240?

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · November 18, 2001 - 12:18 EST #20: HP, since I'm not able to see your video, I can't tell you if it's out of the ordinary, but I can tell you that some jumpiness and compression artifact visibility is normal for Video CDs. I burned one myself some months ago and got the same thing. Something I can't confirm right now is that this problem might lie with Toast's capabilities and not with the VCD format. Not totally sure on that issue. By the way, my understanding is that you can burn a couple minutes worth of DVD video (which wouldn't have the bad picture you describe) onto a regular CD-R. I haven't personally tried this yet, though. As for the resolution ... again, this is only my understanding, but I believe the native resolution for DV is 720x480. The Video CD uses less, but you definately want to let Toast size the video down to what it needs. Always start big and work down. Where are you being asked for resolution information? Or I suppose I'm asking, what capture software/device are you using? I don't recall a setting in iMovie for that. I thought it only captured it at the maximum (native) resolution.

anonymous · February 26, 2002 - 21:46 EST #21: Is it possible to use Toast 5 with a PowerBook G3 series?

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · February 26, 2002 - 22:16 EST #22: Absolutely you can use Toast 5 on any G3. I use it on mine. Just make sure you update to the most current version, especially if you're running OS X.

KMS · April 2, 2002 - 02:06 EST #23: Toast is poorly thought out and has a terrible user's guide. It has technical problems hidden at every turn and will frustrate anyone who has had experience with the Adaptec Easy CD software for Windows. I am a devout Mac person but am forced to use a PC at the office. The PC software is light years ahead of Toast. Too bad toast is the only game in town. You'd probably feel robbed if you waste money on this product.

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · April 2, 2002 - 23:09 EST #24: KMS: I have used Toast exclusively for 3 years to burn CDs. The interface seems quite straightforward to me. The user's guide is one of the best around, especially in these times when printed guides have nearly disappeared. I don't feel that I was robbed by purchasing Toast: for me it repaid itself quickly. I think that learning Easy CD first has made it harder for you to use Toast's approach to CD and DVD burning. That's not surprising. I remember the same phenomenon when I switched from Word to WordPerfect many years ago (and later had to switch back).

Larry Bottjen · April 11, 2002 - 22:01 EST #25: When exporting a movie from FCP 3.0, I am missing sound elements when cutting to a VCD via Toast 5.0.2. Specifically, some sound elements are missing, such as narration tracks. Any idea why this is happening? When playing the MPEG 1 file via QuickTime, the sound is complete.

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · April 12, 2002 - 15:36 EST #26: Mr. Bottjen: I haven't ever prepared a Video CD, but the Toast manual gives some important details. The QuickTime movie needs to have audio and video on separate tracks. I do not know if Toast can properly handle a QuickTime movie with multiple audio tracks (such as music and narration). However, if you have an MPEG-1 file, you can use that to create your Video CD (and not use the QuickTime movie at all). If your MPEG-1 stream plays correctly in QuickTime, it will probably play correctly when burned to a Video CD.

Neil Barman · April 17, 2002 - 19:17 EST #27: I just started using Toast 5.02 (on an iMac 600, OS 9.2.1) but I can't get off the ground. I'd love to though, as it sounds great.

When I push Record, I get the message "The Drive Reported an Error Sense Key=Medium Error Sense Code00x73, 0x03" and can't go any further but to eject the CD-R. However, iTunes burns the same items to the same CD-R just fine.

Any thoughts?

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · April 17, 2002 - 22:09 EST #28: Neil: I believe that the problem was fixed in a recent Toast update. You should go to the Roxio web site and update to version 5.1.3. This will probably fix your problem. Another possibility is a conflict with the Authoring Support extension installed with the original version of iTunes and Disc Burner.

Neil Barman · April 18, 2002 - 16:13 EST #29: Gregory, thank you for the tip. I downloaded and installed the Toast update but I get the exact same problem. I thought that conflicts with Toast and Authoring Support/Disc Burner extensions had been corrected a while ago. If not, should I disable the AS and DB extensions? If I do this, will I only be able to burn via Toast?

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · April 18, 2002 - 18:43 EST #30: Neil: If you are using iTunes 2 with OS 9.2, then the only Apple extension needed for CD burning is Authoring Support 1.1.3. Disc Burner extensions are no longer needed and should be removed. It is still possible that Authoring Support is interfering with Toast. I recommend deactivating it and restarting. If that doesn't work, you may need to hunt down other possible extension conflicts.

Adrian Larkin · April 25, 2002 - 04:01 EST #31: Hi. I was just given Toast 5 for my birthday and can't wait to start burning my old tapes and LPs onto playable discs. Is this easy? There is no real mention of it so far. I'm also worried that I am going to have issues setting up Toast when I work with an iBook with 128mb of RAM, OS 9.2, and iTunes 2. Will this prove problematic?

Please let me know. Thanks.

Ade.

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · April 25, 2002 - 10:51 EST #32: Adrian: You did not say what Macintosh model you own. Converting analog audio (phonographs and tapes) to digital audio works best when you have dedicated stereo audio-in ports on your computer. The alternative is to use the microphone port. The quality isn't as good, and the microphone port isn't great at separating left and right stereo tracks, but for most people it is acceptable. I wrote a column concerning this topic that appeared in the December 2000 issue of ATPM. By the way, TV tuner cards or adapters often contain RCA-type audio/video-in ports. You can use the card for audio transfers and for watching TV on your Mac. I use an ATI XClaim device which works great.

Jim Barnes · April 29, 2002 - 18:32 EST #33: Toast 5 does not allow writing an iMovie2 video file to a DVD, does it?

It requires that the video file be inside a Video_TS folder, and iMovie2 does not create such a folder.

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · April 30, 2002 - 17:44 EST #34: Jim: You are correct about Toast requiring a Video_TS folder for DVD (MPEG-2) movies. Toast's manual describes how to create video CDs from iMovies, but it does not say how to create DVDs. However, you may be able to convert an iMovie into a standard MPEG-2 based movie without using iDVD. Unfortunately, I have no specific information on how to do this.

Andrew Riddoch · May 5, 2002 - 20:13 EST #35: Can someone tell me how to create a Video_TS folder? I have converted my DV Quicktime movie into MPEG2 files using Cleaner 5. Now, what do I do to prepare the files for Toast 5.1 to record them onto a DVD-R for playing on a regular DVD player?

Mark Heath · May 28, 2002 - 09:59 EST #36: When I read 'DVD support' on the box, I assumed this meant that I could take a Quicktime or MPEG file, drop it in Toast, and burn a DVD that would play on my player.

Even your review says "Toast 5 can convert iMovie files and digital video streams to Video CDs or DVDs"

Now only after purchasing the product do I discover that I need 3rd party software to do this.

I must say I'm not terribly impressed with the program, since I purchased it thinking it would allow me to do more than iDVD.

No Rock Ridge support.

No DAO style cue sheet support.

No DVD mastering support.

Will not work if you boot OS X from a UFS drive.

There seems to be confusion when companies merge the mastering side of their software with the recording side. This product is not good 'recording only' software (compared to CDRDAO or CDRWin) nor is it good 'mastering' software, especially since it has no video DVD support.

Could someone make some recommendations to make this software more useful?

Mark

Chris Pfropper · July 23, 2002 - 14:56 EST #37: I just installed Toast Titanium 5 on my Mac with OS X.

I am trying to make a video CD from iMovie and right when the movie gets done exporting, iMovie unexpectedly quits.

Then, the next problem is when I go to drag the file into the video CD window in Toast. I get a Mac OS error code: 2003.

What is going on? What do I need to do to fix these problems?

I'd greatly appreciate any help.

Ken Gruberman (ATPM Staff) · July 24, 2002 - 10:27 EST #38: Chris - you didn't say which version of Toast you've installed. The latest version of Toast Titanium 5 is 5.1.4. There was an upgrade to the VideoCD exporting function as well. If you're not running 5.1.4, download the updater. Go to VersionTracker and enter TOAST into the search field and you'll find it quickly.

David · July 27, 2002 - 19:48 EST #39: In regard to the problem of creating Video_TS folders for video DVDs, I have looked into this and have learned some unpleasant facts. Apple states that iDVD works ONLY with the internal Superdrive provided by Apple. It does not work with external DVD recorders or 3rd party internal drives. The only solution for those without the internal Superdrive is DVD Studio Pro which costs $1,000. Because Apple has dominated the market with iDVD and Studio Pro, there in NO cheaper alternative for creating Video_TS folders for video DVD burning. There are Windows programs for as little as $49. Someone please tell me I'm missing something. For example, can iDVD simply place the folder on the hard drive so Toast can later burn it? Thanks.

Dave

Darren Francey · August 29, 2002 - 22:55 EST #40: Whoa! I just went out and bought a Griffin Technology iMic audio adapter to connect my stereo amp to my iBook in anticipation of downloading my dusty LPs. Now I see Toast comes with a cable that may do the same thing. If I buy Toast, should I be returning my iMic adapter. Thanks for all your advice.

Darren

Ken Gruberman (ATPM Staff) · August 30, 2002 - 20:14 EST #41: Darren, keep that iMic handy! The cable you're referring to in the Toast package is simply that: a 3.5mm to RCA patch cable just like the ones in Radio Shack. This doesn't help the problem of a computer with no line or mic input.

In the good ol' days (2 years ago), all Macs had audio IN as well as audio OUT. Then the input port went away, or "got Steved" if you prefer. Granted, the Mac's built in audio in was never as good as 3rd party solutions, but they often cost (and still do) hundreds of dollars for PCI cards or USB/FireWire interfaces of some kind. Griffin's solution is simple, elegant, and affordable!

In my case, I have an Apple Studio Monitor with 2 USB ports on the side. If I want to plug in a headphone, I've got to reach WAY down and in back of my CPU which is several feet away. With the iMic, I can pop it right into one of the USB ports on the monitor and plug headphones into that or flip the switch and get a "line in" for a turntable, mic, or tape deck in order to do audio capture, and the quality is just fine.

Interestingly, the newest Macs just introduced have an audio in port put back again, so maybe someone at Apple "got a clue."

In any case, go to Griffin's web site and make sure you've got the latest version of the iMic control panel, and then go vinyl crazy.

One last thing: please do not think this is a message telling you not to buy Toast: you should definitely own Toast Titanium 5 as well, if you already don't. It's LIGHT YEARS beyond Apple's skimpy excuse for burning software ("Disc Burner") and can do many things Disc Burner can't do, and is faster at things it can do. AND Toast Titanium comes with "CD Spin Doctor" (a lite version of "RayGun") which eliminates clicks and pops from LPs.

If you want to get serious about burning CDs, you'll want the iMic and Toast for sure.

Wendy Horsfall · October 18, 2002 - 17:55 EST #42: I have a new iMac, flat panel, 800 Mhz, with a SuperDrive. It has a built-in microphone and no sound input port. I would like to convert old analog audio cassettes to CDs. No one I've talked to seems to know how to go about this.

Would I connect my RCA stereo receiver cord to my computer USB port or Firewire port? I do have a computer headphone port but is it line out only? Once connected, would I need a program like Toast 5 Titanium, or would iTunes do the job?

One last question--is Toast 5 Titanium OS X compatible? Thanks for your help.

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · October 18, 2002 - 18:27 EST #43: Wendy - there are various products such as Griffin's iMic that give you a stereo audio input via your USB port. Most just provide a 3.5mm stereo plug input and you may or may not have to supply your own 3.5mm to twin RCA cable that would connect the output of your tape deck to the iMic. I don't think the iMic comes with this cable. Since tape deck RCA outputs are virtually always line level (not mic level), you'll want to be sure to switch the iMic's input to line mode.

iTunes will let you burn music or MP3 CDs but will not allow you to record from your tapes. Toast 5 Titanium is an excellent investment and includes a standalone utility to help you record analog audio input, such as what you want to do. You'll have more options burning audio CDs with Toast, too, such as finer control of the gap between tracks. And yes, it is fully OS X compatible. Be sure to update to the most recent version from Roxio. One of the new features that's been added to the latest version is the ability to include CD Text when you burn a standard audio CD. Many newer car CD players will read CD Text and, of course, display the name of the song instead of just the track number.

Oh yeah, unless they've changed their minds after the time I bought my copy of Toast, Roxio bundles a 3.5mm to twin RCA cable in the Toast box.

anonymous · November 5, 2002 - 17:36 EST #44: Hi. I have downloaded many different CD makers and I could say that this one is really good. But I must admit that I had downloaded it 3 times because my computer wasn't able to open it.

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · November 5, 2002 - 19:32 EST #45: Dani - you're sort of comparing apples to lemons. Not being able to open something you've downloaded doesn't really have anything to do with whether the program is good or bad. The reason you couldn't open it could be due to any number of things such as having an older version of Stuffit Expander, or perhaps a bad modem connection causing a corrupt download, or ad infinitum.

It would sort of be like me saying the new BMW Z4 Roadster is not a good car because I can't get into one. The reason I can't get into one is there is no way I could even afford the down payment on it. But not being able to afford a car doesn't make it a bad car.

Did you finally get a working copy downloaded? If so, now tell us what you think of it. Is there something specific that you don't like? Personally, I would recommend no other software for burning CDs.

Wendy Horsfall · November 6, 2002 - 10:40 EST #46: Lee, thanks for your reply on Oct. 18. You mentioned that Roxio now bundles a 3.5 mm to twin RCA cable in the Toast box.

Does that mean that the purchase of Griffin's iMic would not be necessary?

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · November 6, 2002 - 12:12 EST #47: No, you'd still need some way of inputing the audio signal into your iMac. On your tape player, probably on the back, you should find the two RCA jacks (left and right audio) where you'd plug the twin RCAs from the cable that Roxio bundles. The other end—the 3.5mm stereo plug—is what you'd normally plug directly into a computer. Since your computer does not have an audio input that uses the 3.5mm plug, you need something like the iMic. The 3.5mm plug goes to the audio input of the iMic, then the iMic plugs into your iMac's USB port.

Brian Seegmiller · November 11, 2002 - 02:05 EST #48: I need to make a Video CD for a client and I was told that Toast would be the way to go. I read some of the comments on here and it seems there are a lot of problems. I read the ones that where posted a year ago. Have those issues been fixed? I have a 867 MHz G4 with SuperDrive and want to burn DVDs and Video CDs. Also is it true you can take a video-ts folder on an existing burned DVD done in iDVD and burn another one?

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · November 11, 2002 - 10:53 EST #49: Brian - which problems, specifically, are you concerned about? I have burned VCDs several times and they played on my home DVD unit without a hitch. I even used CD-RW discs. I think if you make sure you have the latest version of Toast, you'll be fine.

As for duplicating a DVD, my opinion is that the easiest way to copy a nonprotected DVD is to simply launch Toast, insert your DVD, import the entire disc into Toast and save it as an image, then burn that image to a new DVD as many times as you like. My memory is faltering a bit, but there might even be a Copy function that automates part of this for you.

Ian Harrison · November 17, 2002 - 14:13 EST #50: I've burned Flash files (.swf and the corresponding HTML files) using Toast Lite. They seem to work fine on a PC with Windows 2000 but not with later versions of Windows. Will an upgrade to Toast 5 fix this problem?

I'd appreciate any thoughts and comments.

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · November 18, 2002 - 22:30 EST #51: Ian - most of the ATPM.com staff don't work too much with any Windows machines, so another reader may have to chime in here.

If you're burning the CDs on a Mac using the ISO 9660 format, I can't see any reason why they wouldn't work on current (XP) versions of Windows.

Perhaps the problem is not with the burning. Do you see the files on the PC when you put the CD in? If so, then I'd venture a guess that the problem is with the new XP versions of Flash player not able to read the .swf files you are creating.

anonymous · November 22, 2002 - 00:51 EST #52: Hi. I have the Ricoh MP7060S and am using Toast Titanium on a Mac G3 with 400mb of RAM. Whenever I use any discs other than Sony or Fuji or, to a lesser extent, Maxell, I get a Sense Key = Medium Error Sense Code = 0x64, 0XC0 Illegal Mode for this track. The CD is then rejected. This is especially true for unbranded or non-brand name CD-Rs. Can anyone help me? This problem has caused me a lot of grief and money. Thank you.

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · November 22, 2002 - 14:41 EST #53: Anonymous: Here is the official word from Roxio about media errors:

1) Try another type of media. If you are using CD-RW disks, try a CD-R or vice versa.

2) Try another brand or color of media. Some recorders seem to work more reliably with certain types of recordable disks. Try finding a particular type that works well with your recorder.

3) If neither of the previous two have helped, it is likely that your recorder has developed a problem. Check with your recorder manufacturer for repair or replacement.

SK · January 3, 2003 - 07:17 EST #54: I use a G4 Mac, installed Toast 5.1.4, and tried to burn VCDs with a TDK Cyclone Burner. As far as I understand, the export from iMovie to Toast works fine since Toast displays a correct PAL MPG file in its window but, when I burn the CD, the size of the film is only 2Kb instead of 45Mb, for example, and cannot be opened by Quicktime nor by free VCD. Do you have any ideas?

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · January 3, 2003 - 17:31 EST #55: SK: The Toast manual (p. 90) describes how to make a Video CD from an iMovie. Use the Export Movie... File menu choice and choose QuickTime format. In the Format pop-up menu, choose Toast Video CD (PAL). (If that choice isn't present, make sure that the ToastVideoCDSupportComponent extension is loaded.) Finally, indicate where you want the exported movie to be saved. In Toast, select Video CD for the disc format. Drag your exported movie to the Toast window. You should now be able to burn a Video CD.

Bob Ford · January 27, 2003 - 23:43 EST #56: My Yosemite G3 running OS 9.2.2 needs a USB CD-RW. Some CD-RWs in stores bundle Roxio Toast lite 5.1.3.

Do you know if this version will operate on OS 9.2.2?

I wish there was a site that listed the inquiry strings for CD-RW brand/models for versions of Toast. It would be easier to choose a CD-RW product if it were known before purchase if Toast would interface it to a particular Mac OS. Any advice on how to reveal what USB drives, through a Toast version, can be used with Mac OS versions?

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · January 28, 2003 - 00:25 EST #57: Bob - I think it would be quite safe to say that Toast lite will support the same recorders that the full version of Toast will support.

If that is true, Roxio has a recorder compatibility list on which you can search for the model CD-RW you want to check.

Jesster · February 20, 2003 - 18:42 EST #58: I need to convert many (60 or so) T-120 S-VHS tapes to DVD format, along with 20 or so mini-DV tapes that need to be transferred to DVD. Our Sony mini-DV camcorder has an analog input that I believe can be used to convert/record 60 minutes of the S-VHS at a time. I have used the iDVD that came with our DP800 Mac to burn a 60-minute DVD and it came out fine. It could have been a little clearer. I realize iDVD 2 will put 90 minutes worth of video on a DVD, but that would be a non-optimal compromise.

I need to burn 2+ hour audio/video DVDs that do not lose video quality. I have researched and found MPEG-2 (using VBR encoding) allows up to 2 hours and 15 minutes on a 4.7 gig DVD. Will Toast 5 Titanium burn these? If not, would another program other than DVD Studio Pro (very expensive) work for my needs?

Gilbert Delgado · February 21, 2003 - 11:34 EST #59: I'm thinking of getting Toast 5 for burning VCDs. I have an iBook with iMovie2 installed. Does anybody know how much time the encoding process takes? I once read it was about a minute per second of video, which means that a 30 minute clip would take about 30 hours to encode. Is this true?

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · February 21, 2003 - 11:48 EST #60: Gilbert - it will, of course, depend on the muscle of the machine doing the encoding. I encoded a VCD once that was perhaps 20 minutes. I let it encode when I went to bed and it was done when I woke up the next morning. That means that 20 minutes of footage takes absolutely no more than 8 hours. Obviously I don't know what time during the night the encoding finished.

Ray · February 22, 2003 - 13:28 EST #61: I use an iBook 700MHz with a Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-R2102. The system is OS X 10.2.4 and I use Toast Titanium 5.2. The problem I have is that when I try to burn a data CD, it always fails and shows this message: The Driver reported an error:
Sense Key = Medium Error
Sense Code = 0x0C
Write Error Then, after I click OK, I get a message saying: Sense Key = ILLEGAL REQUEST
Sense Code = 0x24
INVALID FIELD IN CDB
And then it says the disc failed to be written. Can anyone help me with this? I have tried many times. Thanks.

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · February 22, 2003 - 21:40 EST #62: Ray: Scroll back to my 11/22/02 comments.

Malcolm Maddox · March 15, 2003 - 18:40 EST #63: I have Final Cut Pro 2.0 with the bundled Cleaner 5 EZ. I want to make Video CDs that will play in everyone's Windows Media Player. I understand this to be an MPEG-1 file. Should I purchase the full cleaner 6.0 for $450 or will Toast work for me? I have a G3 500MHz iMac.

Also, will those MPEG-1 files play on any DVD player? I'll spend the $450 if I have to, but I don't want to!

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · March 16, 2003 - 09:23 EST #64: Malcolm - Toast 5 Titanium does a great job of burning VCDs. My understanding is that the software to play them on computers isn't necessarily pre-installed, but you can obtain it (check VersionTracker) easily from a variety of developers. As for DVD players, yes, most of them will play VCDs. I've personally burned a VCD with Toast and played it on my Sony DAV-S300. Just know that some of the older DVD units won't handle VCDs.

Malcolm · March 16, 2003 - 19:51 EST #65: Windows Media Player is loaded in every PC. Is there a program that will create video that will play in Media Player on everyone's computer? Is there any consistant platform I can save my files in? I would still save them as Quicktime...maybe MPEG-4. I was somehow able to create an MPEG-1 file in Cleaner 5.0 EZ and it plays in just about every Windows Media Player and looks like DVD quality in the newer PCs. I'd rather put the $100 bucks toward Cleaner if I'm grasping at straws.

Andy Woo · April 11, 2003 - 10:28 EST #66: I have a PowerBook G4. I am considering getting a Sony DRX-500ULX and using Toast Titanium with it. Has anyone used this combination and successfully burned DVD-Rs that can play on a home DVD player?

I understand what VCDs are (at least I think so...video that is burned on CD media that can be played on virtually all computers and most home DVD players. But, my understanding is that the storage capacity would limit this to 650M/700M and to about an hour or so of video/audio. And, at that size, I'm guessing the resolution is not the greatest.

My question is, does Toast Titanium allow you to author, burn DVD-Rs (or DVD-+RW, etc.) that can be played in a home DVD player, and create all the menu selections, etc. that you see in normal commercial DVDs? I'm not necessarily looking for fancy animated frames in the menus, etc.

But, I just want to take a movie stream from my Mini DV recorder into iMovie and, from there, somehow not lose any quality, be able to chop it up into different chapters, and then burn it on a DVD. I want to keep as much of the quality as possible and have a DVD that will play in a home DVD player with the same quality as what I would see from plugging my Mini DV camera into my TV.

Thanks. Advice/suggestions would be appreciated.

Andy

Alex · April 11, 2003 - 17:13 EST #67: FYI, anyone who is inclined to buy a download version of Toast Titanium from the Roxio web site should be aware that no User Guide PDF is available from Roxio. If you want to know what you're doing, you have to shell out an additional $10 for a printed guide which puts the price up to $20 more than what the program costs from most major vendors.

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · April 11, 2003 - 23:57 EST #68: Andy, some of your questions I'll need to let someone else chime in about, but I'll say a few things. First, you're right about VCDs. Second, authoring a DVD is not the same as burning a DVD. I don't fully understand authoring but i know that it requires more expensive authoring DVD media and the proper DVD burning drive. Lastly, Toast can burn DVD-R discs, but does not have any provisions for menus and navigation. It sets up DVD-R data discs just like CD-ROMs. You need something like iDVD or DVD Studio Pro to do the menus you speak of.

Andy Woo · April 12, 2003 - 12:34 EST #69: Lee:

Thanks for taking the time to respond. Yes, my understanding is that authoring tools (which don't always provide a burning mechanism, meaning that it can drive a DVD burner to burn the results) allow you to edit, create menus, add effects, etc., basically making it really pretty, fancy, etc.

Once that is done, then you probably want to 'burn' it onto a DVD, so that you can turn it into a movie (full length, meaning, like a standard DVD, 2+ hours, with the extras, you created in the authoring tool) so that it can be played on standard home DVD players.

The former is all software (except for maybe the capturing/transferring from analog medium to the computer).

The latter is software combined with hardware, meaning the software that can drive the burning of the information from your computer to the actual hardware (the DVD burner).

Thanks for the clarification on Toast. It is as I was thinking...that it helps burn DVD-Rs, but more as data burned to DVD-Rs.

Also that I would need things like iDVD (which only works with internal Apple SuperDrives, from my understanding) or DVD Studio Pro, of which, I believe both are combination of authoring and burning software.

Unfortunately, I have a PowerBook G4 before the DVD-Rs were out, and Apple doesn't provide an official upgrade path to get one. (I think MCEtech provides a replacement drive, but would void the warranty.)
So that means that if I get an external drive, I can't use iDVD and am facing $499 for DVD Studio Pro.

So, Toast can provide some level of authoring (creating of menus, etc.), but only for VCD's, right? Which means I am limited in how long the movie can be. I am guessing that VCD formats have lower quality because of the trade off of compression to fit an hour of movie onto a 650/700 MB CD.

Is the quality good enough to run on a large screen TV, or will I see a lot of pixelation?

Thanks!

Andy

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · April 12, 2003 - 21:00 EST #70: Andy - authoring does not inherently mean setting up DVD menus and the like. The term 'authoring' refers to creating master discs that are used for large-scale commercial reproduction. Burning your own DVD on a DVD-R drive is not synonymous with authoring. Authoring requires special discs and special hardware.

Also keep in mind that DVD-Rs that you'd be burning are only 1 hour in normal compression and 1.5 hours in higher compression, though most people can't see the difference. But even with standard DVD-R burning (not authoring) you can still use either iDVD or DVD Studio Pro to create menu navigation. Though you are correct, you have to have a SuperDrive to use iDVD. You are also correct that VCDs will usually show a bit of pixelation. Most people don't mind it, but I'm not really happy with the quality.

So, as I've described authoring, no, Toast does not author DVDs. It burns them, but does not author them. DVD Studio Pro will, if you have a DVD burning drive that is designed for authoring. SuperDrives are not.

Toast also does not create menus for DVD videos. Toast is a data burning tool. It can create VCDs, but it's technically just burning a computer movie data file to the disc.

Andy Woo · April 12, 2003 - 21:11 EST #71: Lee, wow, I'm learning more all the time. Thanks for the clarification.

Rats. Well, I don't need to get to the commercial level, but I'd sure like to take some home movies on MiniDV format and get them cut up into chapters, etc. and burned onto DVD at a good quality that won't pixelate when they are played on home DVD players.

iMovie takes care of being able to transfer over and creates very cool effects very easily, but it sounds like just burning that onto VCD would give me one long-playing movie with all the effects, but not really the menu/chapters I was looking for.

The search continues, at least for a less than $1,000 solution (software part alone, it seems, for DVD Studio Pro).

I guess I was hoping too much when I thought that the ability to create commercial-like DVD movies (chapters, menus, etc. and playable on home DVD players).

I was jumping too high when I thought it was coming down to consumer level prices.

But, at least it seems we can do some video creation.

Thanks.

Andy

Danal · April 20, 2003 - 16:28 EST #72: I had problems trying to use Toast Titanium 5.1 in OS X 10.2.4 in early Summer 2003. Roxio support had told me that when they said 5.1 supports "10.1 and higher," that meant 10.2.x.) I kept phoning back and one nice day, the Roxio support guy said they had just prepared a new version (5.2) for people in my situation and they sent it fast! It works okay under 10.2.4.

Brian · May 6, 2003 - 01:27 EST #73: I'm using Toast 5.2.1 and I burned a VCD from a bin file and everything went fine. Later in the night, I tried to burn the same exact thing for a friend of mine and I kept getting an error that said: "Sense Key: Medium Error, Sense Code: 0x73 0x03" and it wouldn't burn the VCD. I've read some of the responses to similar questions, but I don't understand how one disc worked fine and then the same brand of discs didn't work later, or if it's a problem with the software.

Hutch · June 15, 2003 - 21:22 EST #74: I am using Toast Titanium 5.2.1 on my 450 G3 Yosemite running OS 9.2. My DVD drive is a Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-104 FireWire housed in an Apricorn VideoXB Expansion Bay with a 120 gig hard drive. According to the Roxio chart, the DVD drive is supported.

"No supported DVD-RAM drive found" is the error message I receive when attempting to record a DVD.

"No CD recorder found" is what I get when I try for a CD.

All of the extensions seem to be in the right place. What have I done wrong?

Daniela Garza · September 25, 2003 - 02:11 EST #75: Hello. I just downloaded the Toast Titanium 5.2 update, but I need a serial number and I don't have it any more. What should I do?

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · September 25, 2003 - 10:17 EST #76: Daniela - you should contact Toast's developer, Roxio, directly. You can find phone numbers or addresses on their web page.

If you indeed own a legitimate copy of Toast, Roxio will be able to determine this to their satisfaction and should provide a replacement serial number.

Liz · October 24, 2003 - 10:24 EST #77: I'm trying to install Roxio Toast Lite 5.2Y on my iMac to use with my new Yamaha CDR3200. I keep getting the error message: "Roxio Toast Lite 5.2Y Installer has unexpectedly quit because an error of type 2 occurred." I've restarted, as instructed, but this message continues to appear. Other software bundled on the CD loaded with no problems. Roxio will only offer support services on full applications, not Lite, and Yamaha tech support is worthless. Any advice? Thanks very much, in advance!

Gregory Tetrault (ATPM Staff) · October 24, 2003 - 20:43 EST #78: Liz: Are you running OS 9 or OS X? If OS 9, I recommend restarting your iMac with only the OS 9 extension set active. The Toast Lite installer may have a conflict with a third party extension. If you are using OS X, then I don't know how to proceed.

Jill Kut · December 18, 2003 - 04:08 EST #79: Is it possible to burn DVDs with Toast 5.2 lite?

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · December 18, 2003 - 10:01 EST #80: Jill - according to the Toast 5 comparison page, Toast 5 lite is listed as supporting DVDs with "limited-data." I'm not certain what that means, exactly. The dash between the words is on the web page, and I'm wondering if maybe it means that DVD support is limited and you can only burn data files to a DVD, not a video DVD.

Wolfgang Kschwendt · April 14, 2004 - 05:18 EST #81: I have the same problem as Hutch, who posted on June 15, 2003 - 21:22 EST:
i'm using toast 5.0.1 on a mac G4 with os 9.2.
my burner is Pioneer DVR-106.
If i want to "write to dvd-ram" the error is:
"No supported DVD-RAM drive found"
what's wrong?
thanks in advance.

Chris Morse · September 7, 2004 - 09:15 EST #82: Is there any way to get Toast 5 Titanium running under OS9.1 to write audio tracks to a DVD that will play on a normal DVD player?
It sounds simple but can it be done?

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · September 7, 2004 - 11:49 EST #83: Chris - If you're referring to what is known as a DVD-Audio disc, no, you cannot create them. Even Toast 6 does not do this.

You can, however, burn a regular DVD with music or whatever on the audio tracks and, if you don't have video to go with it, just leave the picture black or put a static picture.

Toast 6 has a function to give you an on-screen menu to access audio tracks. I don't believe Toast 5 has this function, but I could be mistaken.

Graeme Crouch · August 24, 2005 - 10:17 EST #84: Can you help? I'm running system 9.1 on my Mac G4 and have updated my Toast Titanium to 5.2.1 from 5.0.1. If the Toast CD reader in the extensions folder is loaded the machine crashes at start-up. Also, when booting up Toast it also crashes with an error of 'type 3'. Any ideas, I can't upgrade the software on this machine as it runs a programme called ADS that is no longer made an is invaluable for the type of work we do.

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · August 24, 2005 - 11:01 EST #85: Graeme - some things to try: Go into your extension manager and be sure that USB Authoring Support and Firewire Authoring Support both are turned off. Then editing the Toast CD Reader filename to add a space or two or three at the beginning...so it loads sooner than everything else when you boot up.

Graeme Crouch · August 30, 2005 - 13:00 EST #86: We're getting somewhere! Adding the spaces is allowing Toast CD writer to load at startup. I've also turned off the two extensions mentioned. Unfortunately the programme is still crashing on booting it up with the type 3 error. The strange thing is that Toast Audio Extractor does boot up. Any more thoughts. Thanks for getting back so quickly.

Joe P. · November 29, 2005 - 15:33 EST #87: Could any one help me please? I would like to know why can't I record my dvd's? I have a G5 and using Toast 5.5. Will is work using OS X or do I have to use OS 9 classic? Well Please let me know or email me. Thanks

ATPM Staff · November 29, 2005 - 22:31 EST #88: Joe - Toast 5.5 will work fine in OS X. Just make sure it's the OS X installation and not a leftover OS 9 installation.

Please describe what you're doing and what errors and/or results you're getting and we'll try to assist.

Robert Duncan · November 30, 2005 - 20:11 EST #89: I do a lot of work out of my home recording studio, using a Mac G4 with OS 10.3.9 (Panther), Processor 733 MHz, Memory 768 MB SDRAM.

I have been using Toast to burn both audio files and data files on this computer for the past 2 years.
Recently I upgraded Toast to Titanium 7.
The recording software I use is Pro Tools LE 6.4.

About 2 months ago, prior to my upgrading Toast to Titanium 7, I began having problems backing up data files. Before that I was able to burn a data disk of a Pro Tools session, or audio files, and for that matter any other data such as PDF or Word documents, etc.

Regarding my attempts to burn a data disk of my recording session (Pro Tools) or audio (Aiff) files, these are the messages I get:

The drive reported an error:
Sense Key = ILLEGAL REQUEST
Sense Code = 0x72,0x03
Session Fixation Error - Incomplete Track in Session

Lead-in or Lead-out failed to be written

Regarding my attempts to burn a data CD of a PDF file, etc, I receive this message:

The drive reported an error:
Sense Key = Medium Error Sense Code = 0x73, 0x03

What is going on??? I can't find any discussion thread that specifically addresses these problems, though this thread I'm jumping on touches on similar problems.

Thanks

Robert / NYC

Tony Peter · January 8, 2006 - 23:54 EST #90: Can you burn dvds with Toast Lite 5.2.2? The instructions say that to burn a dvd you need the Other command on the Toast screen and we can not find it. I have a 600mHz iMac G3 and OS 10.3, Should I be getting Toast Titanium 6? I hoped that the program that came with the LaCie burner would burn dvds.

ATPM Staff · January 9, 2006 - 00:34 EST #91: Tony - as best I can tell from some simple searches, Toast Lite does support burning DVDs, though it does not support other formats such as Video CDs. If you look on the screenshot above, you'll see four blue buttons in the full Toast Titanium interface: Data, Audio, Copy, and Other. You click and hold the Other button to select DVD.

Tony Peter · January 12, 2006 - 12:37 EST #92: Thanks for the info. My Toast Lite does not have an Other button but instead has a Tinanium button which tells you to buy Toast Titanium 5. I guess that means that Toast Lite does not burn dvds since I can find no other place that allows one to move ahead. Hope this helps anyone else although it makes me mad that I buy a dvd burner and the software supplied does not burn dvds, just cds.

Diane Ashmore · March 11, 2006 - 11:20 EST #93: Hello,
I have an iMac with OS 9.2 and have just installed Toast 5.1.2. It comes up with the message "no recorder found". The recorder I am trying to use is Lacie DVD-RW USB external. Does anyone know how to solve this?

Tony Peter · March 11, 2006 - 22:32 EST #94: Diane, try this. Open Toast 5.1.2 and then go to the Recorder option in the menu bar. Choose Recorder and you should see either a CD choice or a dvd choice. If CD click on it to see the dvd choice and choose it. Then you DVD driver should come on. Put a disk in the external drive andchoose the disk option and it should read the disk and give you the space available, Please note: I could not get Toast Lite to burn dvds. If your main screen has data, audio, copy, other buttons you should be able to burn disks. If it has data, audio, copy, titanium then you are in the same boat as I am and can not burn dvds.

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · March 12, 2006 - 14:24 EST #95: Diane - here's some additional information from Roxio that may be of help.

Diane Ashmore · March 19, 2006 - 09:19 EST #96: Hi thanks for your advice. I am sure it works for some people, but I still can't get Toast 5 to recognize my CD-burner. Is there any alternative software that I could use instead of Toast. I have Mac OS 9.2, a Lacie DVD-RW USB external and have tried and failed with Toast 5.
Thanks
Diane

Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · March 19, 2006 - 13:50 EST #97: It's been my opinion that if Toast or the native Mac OS burning can't handle it, probably nothing else will. But there is other burning software. Best way to find it is to probably search Macupdate.com, Versiontracker.com, or do a Google search for 'macintosh cd burning software'

Kristen Rachelle · December 21, 2006 - 18:40 EST #98: I'm having the same problem as Diane, my Mac OS has never been able to successfully burn CDs. I had a recognizable CD-burner until this afternoon when I decided to upgrade to Toast 7. Initially Toast recognized my burner, then after it froze and I rebooted, it claims there is no recognizable CD-Burner. How frusterating!

Is there any reason that anyone knows of? Faulty hardware? Something that can be warrantied?

ATPM - About This Particular Macintosh

ATPM 7.07
July 2001

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