[Scribble]

Hello all -

Quick question...

I have some video on my Canon ZR30 DV camera that I'd like to put onto a VCD. I'd like it so it'd play on a DVD player. What is the easiet way of going about that?

I have Toast, if that is a possibility...

Thanks!

[Jay Bee]

Originally posted by Scribble:
<STRONG>Hello all -

Quick question...

I have some video on my Canon ZR30 DV camera that I'd like to put onto a VCD. I'd like it so it'd play on a DVD player. What is the easiet way of going about that?

I have Toast, if that is a possibility...

Thanks!</STRONG>

All you need is ROXIO "Toast 5" that has a built in mpeg-1 encoder. It is around $75.00 at buy.com It is very easy to use but takes some time to encode. You can put about 1 hour of video (mpeg-1) on a VCD. On a newer G4 it takes about 6 hours to encode one hour of mpeg-1. On an iMac G3 it can take about 15 hours to do the same. There are other programs out there but cost in the hundreds of dollars. This was the cheapest and easiest that I found without having to invest a bundle..............

[Scribble]

Seems to work just fine so far...

Are there any performance gains using iMovie in OS X versus 9.x? I'm encoding right now in 9.x, but I'm wondering if iMovie X takes advantage of dual processors??? I have a dual 533... I'll have to give it a shot once it finishes.

Thanks for the help.

[Big Mac]

Originally posted by Scribble:
<STRONG>Seems to work just fine so far...

Are there any performance gains using iMovie in OS X versus 9.x? I'm encoding right now in 9.x, but I'm wondering if iMovie X takes advantage of dual processors??? I have a dual 533... I'll have to give it a shot once it finishes.

Thanks for the help.</STRONG>

I administer a large number of machines and can tell you that you should see tremendous benefits in speed and stability by using OS X's iMovie. Under OS 9's iMovie, many of my machines would go down with hard freezes. OS X's native iMovie on the same machines is rock solid. It has never gone down and seems to offer superior speed. I'm not too sure about rendering time, but I am confident that everyone will see worthwhile improvements with iMovie in OS X.

[Cipher13]

Yeah, it'll probably be faster in OSX due to the better MP support; make the movie in OS9, then encode it in OSX.

[Jay Bee]

Originally posted by Scribble:
<STRONG>Hello all -

Quick question...

I have some video on my Canon ZR30 DV camera that I'd like to put onto a VCD. I'd like it so it'd play on a DVD player. What is the easiet way of going about that?

I have Toast, if that is a possibility...

Thanks!</STRONG>

Encoding MPEG-1 in OS X using Toast 5 "BETA" takes just about the same amount of time on Dual G4 as it does in OS 9. Mabey just a tad longer. Mabey when the final edition comes out it will take advantage of the second processor but for now it does not......at least not on mine.

[Cowdog]

Originally posted by Jay Bee:
<STRONG>

Encoding MPEG-1 in OS X using Toast 5 "BETA" takes just about the same amount of time on Dual G4 as it does in OS 9. Mabey just a tad longer. Mabey when the final edition comes out it will take advantage of the second processor but for now it does not......at least not on mine.</STRONG>

But if you have more than one file to encode, what i've done is make a copy of the app and have them both working on their own file. I opened process viewer and saw each toast generally ran on it's own cpu from 90-100%

[Cowdog]

btw: here's a tutorial I found that has some general helpful mac specific vcd info http://www.insanely-great.com/features/011221.html

[ 12-29-2001: Message edited by: Cowdog ]

[Jay Bee]

Originally posted by Cowdog:
<STRONG>btw: here's a tutorial I found that has some general helpful mac specific vcd info http://www.insanely-great.com/features/011221.html

[ 12-29-2001: Message edited by: Cowdog ]</STRONG>

Thanks for the reply and link Cowdog!
It seems that "TOAST 5" is the only poor man amature alternative to record VCD's. ($75. - $80.)
What I mean is that if you were to use Media cleaner 5 ($500.00) or a real time PCI mpeg encoding card(3000.00) you might as well invest in a new G4 that would encode your movies in almost real time and record them to DVD.
I like your idea of having two applications and encoding more than one file on a DP. Is there a way to let one processor encode and free up the other one for the internet or anything else?
I do believe that the final version of TOAST 5 in OS X would be MP aware and take advantage of the G4 processors. If Roxio is taking the time to port it to X it would not be that hard to use the hardware that is available. Mabey I am wrong. I currently can encode MPEG1 at about 6X on a G4DP450 (With toast 5). It takes about 15X on a G3400 with the same encoder.

[apflestruddel]

Originally posted by Cowdog:
<STRONG>

But if you have more than one file to encode, what i've done is make a copy of the app and have them both working on their own file. I opened process viewer and saw each toast generally ran on it's own cpu from 90-100%</STRONG>

Hello,
Apple is fantastic !, you want to do several times the same job, you bye cpus !, how many cpus can a mac hold ?
Oh, seems that a G3 400Mhz w/ os9 can encode dv to mpeg1 faster than G4 400 & much faster than G4 w/ osX. As apple killed BeOs (or contributed to) let's wait a while for good tools and let buy these slow and buggy G4 w/ os X, it's the cuppertino will.(osx needs 2 terabit ram and 70% cycles to handle nice windows, cool).
About tool, if one can try cleaner, it has very a good mpeg1 codec, real better than roxio things.. I like Mac, so i hate apple...

Originally posted by Scribble:
<STRONG>Hello all -

Quick question...

I have some video on my Canon ZR30 DV camera that I'd like to put onto a VCD. I'd like it so it'd play on a DVD player. What is the easiet way of going about that?

I have Toast, if that is a possibility...

Thanks!</STRONG>

Go to
VCDHELP.COM. There's a mac forum there which is fairly helpful. Toast doesn't do such a great job encoding MPEG-1, particularly those with a lot of motion.