I think I wasted $$$ on Toast. Anybody know about it?

[Touchdown]

I have some old DVDs that I made, and wanted to edit them down, and add some of those cool iDVD menus etc. So I bought this $100 Toast 6 thing and am trying to load the video onto the HD. It now says that I need something called "Jam" for another $100 in order to get it in with the Dolby Digital intact.:grr:

Not only that, but I need to convert the video to Quicktime or MPEG4 or DV (hopefully without any compression of the original video) so I can edit it in iMovie. There's a blurb on the Roxio screen that says MPEG and Ac3 remain unchanged. Apple Store won't exchange it for any other software, so I think I basically wasted $100 in a day. What a PITA!

Does anybody know if I can convert the video, remove the sound and add a new soundtrack using this and the iLife stuff, or am I just dodging windmills with my own hoome made DVDs from 2 years ago?

[mrbassman03]

1. Toast is a great program, so technically you did not waste money...

However, if you are looking to convert the DVD to MPEG, there are many free options. I would use Mactheripper or DVD Backup to get the files off the DVD. Then you can convert it to MPEG with ffmpegx (http://homepage.mac.com/major4/ ). If you have HD files, you will need to use the new iMovie HD, then burn with iDVD. Toast isn't actually needed to do any of this, but it's a great program.

[Touchdown]

2. The DVD is already MPEG2. iMovie doesn't recognize it.

iMovie recognizes MPEG 4, DV and Quicktime, and I did get the $30 QT MPEG 2, but graphic converter won't recognize a DVD's MEG2 signal.

I pushed a button, and it's been doing something for 1 1/2 hours now. I'll update to what it's doing when it let's me control it again.

[mrbassman03]

4. Well, Quicktime Pro should be able to export as MPEG2

Open the files in Quicktime Pro (which is what I am assuming you spent the $30 on)... then go to export, then MPEG2. I am doing this from memory, so that may not be 100% correct, but it should work.

[cheezus]

3. toast is a great app, but I don't think it's what you were looking for

you need to take the compressed mpeg2 from you dvd and get it into DV format for iMovie.

I haven't used either of these, but maybe it'll get you on the right track:
http://www.dvdxdv.com/

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/mpeg2playback/

[Touchdown]

5. Update...

I can go to the bottom of file, which is some button I can't remember, and burn to HD the TS folder.

Then I can save as file on the make DVD screen, which takes about 45 minutes. iMovie HD will download the video files , but not the audio, so that shareware converter from AC3 may do the trick. AT least I can edit the video portion and add some iTunes or whatever now. I'll try and download that soon.

It's all aboput learning the programs. I just wanted to see what iMovie/iDVD can do. Looks damn professional!:hi: