I do n’t begrudge the folks at Roxio . When you ’ve got a production that ’s as ripe and well developed as their CD- and DVD - burning software , Toast Titanium , you execute the risk of introducing lineament bloat with major new releases — and produce an easy - to - use program harder than it should be . But I have to give credit where it ’s due : Toast 8 Titanium adds features and simplifies the interface in such a way that it ’s much undecomposed than its predecessors .
pledge 8 Titanium remain to do what it ’s always done very well ; namely , sting CD and DVD media . But the new exit adds a slew of young feature that just about every segment of the Mac - using public will find useful — everything from consolidation withTiVo DVRs(digital video record-keeper ) to sustain for Blu - ray optical magnetic disk .
TiVo DVRs are popular with television watchers because they permit you immortalize idiot box shows to hard record and find out them when you prefer , fast - forwarding through ads , search for message that occupy you , and making certain you never miss an episode of the programme you want to see . Two years ago , TiVo introduced a feature calledTiVoToGo , which let you move program file from your TiVo box to a portable equipment or electronic computer . It debut as Windows - only software , but TiVo promised a Mac adaptation , which failed to materialize — until now .
Now , TiVoToGo is here on the Mac , thanks to Roxio , which plug an exclusive distribution system from TiVo . And you could export those TiVo files to PSP or video iPod data format , or cauterise them to DVD or DivX discs for subsequently viewing .
fix up the TiVo Transfer program is a lead - pipe picnic : you enter your TiVo DVR ’s Media Access Key , and the applications programme displays the TiVo ’s substance . Setting up Auto Transfer helps automate the process of bringing contentedness over to your Mac . you may rouse up in the morning and find last dark ’s episode ofLostorHeroesalready on your arduous campaign and ready to rip to phonograph recording — or convert for your iPod or PSP .
Unfortunately , the actual timbre and speed of video yield still leaves something to be hope . I found the quality of video converted and exported by Toast 8 Titanium to be depressed than I could attain on my own with software like Handbrake — range of a function were often darker and less distinct . Though I could rub down it a bite using Toast ’s extended alternative , I still had a hard meter getting resolution that fulfill me . But Toast 8 Titanium is still the good Mac app out there for export video to a panoptic reach of different formats .
TiVoToGo does n’t completely automatize the operation of converting picture , though . For object lesson , once my TiVo content is on my hard drive , I still need to tell Toast to rip the video to a format that my PSP understands . It would be ready to hand if there were a elbow room to automate this entire work flow .
Blu - ray , Sony ’s high - definition optical disc format , is hit grip as a consumer product , but it ’s also appearing as a computer memory board formatting , and it ’s not hard to interpret why . Each 5.25 - inch dual - level Blu - ray disc can store up to 50 GB of data , compare to 4.7 GB of data on a single - layer DVD - R disc . But as I publish this , Apple has n’t yet progress in support for Blu - ray campaign , which means you must set up software on your Mac to get a Blu - ray private road to work .
Toast does indeed offer this support , and Roxio has widen it beyond the confines of the Toast applications programme . pledge Dynamic Writing lets you see a Blu - ray disc in the Finder , so you could re-create files from there as well . Unlike with conventional DVD - R writing , you ’re not copying file to a cache or alias location . You ’re writing file straightaway to the Blu - ray disc in real time , as if it were a 25 GB or 50 GB hard disk drive .
If you use Toast to combust audio CDs , you ’ll find a lot of improvement in that arena as well — including some you previously had to pay extra for by buying Roxio ’s Jam , a separate audio - recording applications programme . you may now create disk jockey - stylus cross - fades and transitions , process audio you import from analog sources such as vinyl group criminal record and cassette ( to take away hisses and pop , for example ) , normalize bulk levels , and cut your track .
goner 8 Titanium works considerably as a data file archival and musical accompaniment organization in this new version , too . As before , you may span information across more than one CD or DVD . Toast put in a little Mac OS X- and Windows - compatible applications programme called Roxio Restore alongside the archived datum , so when you desire to go back files you ’ve backed up to CD or DVD , you do n’t need Toast to make it happen — you just require the disc itself . Toast now keeps track of which files you ’ve stored on which burned discs using the accompanying DiscCatalogMaker RE app , so you may locate content more easily once you ’ve offloaded it and put the disk away . And Toast can even recuperate files from damaged discs — it can read information from atomic number 48 and DVDs that the Finder ca n’t decipher .
With all this new functionality you might expect Toast 8 Titanium to be more difficult to use , but you ’d be wrong . Roxio has taken pains to simplify the interface . surmount schoolbook issue inside the Toast windowpane show you what kind of file cabinet you’re able to wangle using the different data , audio , television , and copying features of Toast . The developer have also reworked the port , remove the clunkydrawermotif of Toast 7 and cleanly discover all of the major features . rather of the drawers , you ’ll now get hold a Media web browser , a floating window that gives you accession to the music , photos , and television content you want to put on disc , showing you the mental object of your iPhoto subroutine library , for example , or your Movies folder . If you have Elgato ’s EyeTV ( ) DVR software instal , the Media internet browser will also show you telly shows that EyeTV has archived .
All these new feature do push the envelope a number in the system of rules requirement department . You ’ll want a G4 or well running OS X 10.4.8 to get Toast 8 Titanium to work .
Macworld’s buying advice
I ’ve only rival on some of the major clobber that ’s changed in Toast 8 Titanium . This programme has dozens of enhancements and improvements under the goon . With Blu - electron beam support , TiVoToGo , sweetening , user interface streamlining , and feature improvement galore , Toast 8 Titanium is the good value Roxio has offer in eld .
[ Peter Cohen is Macworld.com ’s elderly editor for news and also writes the Game Room web log . ]
