ROXIO 2009 Issues - Looking for alternatives

[ksalwitz]

I havein the past and continue to have issues with Roxio products. Every version that i have had (since rel 5.0) has been buggy and not performed up to spec. The only reason that I continue to purchase it is that it is SUPPOSED to support .tivo files and be easy to use. After installing this piece of junk, I couldn't get it to open my old covers for my jewel cases. I have several dozen of these that I wanted to reprint. They told me there was no support for the old format! I work in software development and there is an expectation that it absolutely should be backwardly compatible. Then it wouldn't read the tracks from the disk I inserted. Each time they send me this "clean install procedure" i've reinstalled this thing at least 4 times! Now it won't even run the copy and convert module at all. It just hangs and max's out my cpu! I'm just about done with this thing and I'm looking for suggestions to edit tv shows (remove commercials) and burn to cd's/dvd's for personal use..Any suggestions out there????

[moyekj]

VideoRedo TVSuite (http://www.videoredo.com/en/index.htm)

[ksalwitz]

Thanks moyekj. How's it for editing? video and pics?

[moyekj]

Thanks moyekj. How's it for editing? video and pics? It's one of the best mpeg2 editors out there and nice that it can edit .TiVo files directly. Personally for commercial editing I still prefer Womble Mpeg Video Wizard DVD as I can do it quicker with that program since I've used it for years. However VideoRedo has a Quickstream Fix utility which has proved invaluable for fixing mpeg2 glitches so even if I don't edit it VideoRedo directly I'll run the mpeg2 through QuickStream Fix first before editing. There really is nothing wrong with VRD editing and it's very intuitive, it's just a tad slower than doing it with Womble, especially for HD editing. Womble's scrubbing speed is lighting fast, where with VRD there is some delay when scanning through the file quickly. The actual write to Hard drive is much faster with VRD compared to Womble, so overall I think most would prefer VRD. Plus with VRD you get local support in Tivo Forums much easier than Womble.
I don't know if VRD can do pictures or not as I've never tried it for that, but I assume it does. A lot of Tivo owners around here have VRD and can vouch for it.

[Dan203]

VideoReDo does not do pictures. You can add a single photo to the beginning of a video as a title, but you can do compilation DVDs of just pictures.

That being said you should give VideoReDo a try. We offer a 15 day full feature trial, so you can try it out and see if it does what you want before paying. Also if you have any trouble with it, or even just a feature request, you can feel free to PM me directly.

Dan

[richsadams]

I can sympathize with your frustration with Roxio. I tried using Toast 9 for a while and it was almost useless for editing TiVo files. I've heard that the latest update has corrected some problems, but I'm still very wary of a company that has such buggy software.

I'm with moyejk. If you're using a PC, VideoReDo TVSuite is by far and away the very best editing software for TiVo files bar none. :up: :up:

Now that I've switched to a Mac I am keeping it on my PC laptop for a while...hoping against hope that they'll make a Mac verison...soon! :)

[Dan203]

A Mac version is definitely on our road map, unfortunately it's quite a ways down the road. However we have confirmed reports that VRD does work with Parallels and of course boot camp, so those are always options until a native Mac version arrives.

Dan

[richsadams]

Thanks Dan...I'm really looking forward to a Mac version of VRD!

I had a long argument with myself about installing VM Fusionware or Parallels to run Windows on my Mac and the Mac side of me won. There are so many reasons I dislike Windows and now that I'm using Apple products I can list so many more!

Apple is seeing double digit increases in sales of their computers now so hopefully VOD development will be cost effective soon.

Keep up the great work!

[rn701]

I use Pinnacle Studio 12. But you first have to convert the .tivo files using Tivo Decoder.

[ksalwitz]

Thanks for all of the great feedback! I downloaded VRD and am playing around with it to get a feel for how it works. First impression is that it's easy to use, very intuitive. Again, thanks for the help on this one. Roxio is still good for pictures, but I see Adobe Photoshop in my future now, along with VRD.

[Pixel]

I've got Roxio Creator 2009 with the Blu Ray plug in and have no trouble with it.

I can't speak to your jewel case issue however.

Yes, it does support Tivo files directly, but if they're HD and you want to edit and burn them to a DVD, Creator will change them to SD. Yet the whole point of me buying Creator 2009 and it's Blu Ray plug in was to be able to burn OTA HD to AVCHD and/or Blu Ray.

Even so, Roxio Creator 2009 works as advertised. There is no problem with it that I've found.

If you also have VRD, you can edit Tivo files directly, save the MPG and burn AVCHD or Blu Ray with Creator 2009 and get a nice HD recording on a DVD (in AVCHD of couse) or a Blu Ray. If you want to spend the kind of money those cost.

VRD cannot burn AVCHD or Blu Ray as far as I know.

[dlfl]

Pixel,

What are your system specs? I suspect satisfaction with Roxio EMC is directly proportional to system speed, and perhaps memory. I believe it is quite demanding in those departments.

I have a 3GHz hyper-threaded Pentium4 system with 1 GB of memory, and I have not been happy with EMC - it seems to almost lock up at various times. My son has an identical system and has been happy with EMC, although he tends to do different things with it.

[Pixel]

I'm going from memory here, I'm not home right now.

Intel Core Duo Q9300 quad core, 4gig ram, Vista 32 bit (yes, I know it only uses 3GB) ATI Radeon 3870

Maybe Creator 2009 is very demanding. Maybe I just got lucky.

[qz3fwd]

Consumer Roxio Software = Crap
Buy VRD-Works Like a Charm.

[Pixel]

Consumer Roxio Software = Crap
Buy VRD-Works Like a Charm.


Buy Roxio Creator 2009 because it works as claimed. I own it, I am using it. It does what they say it will do. Maybe it takes a lot of computer, but that's not Roxio's problem. It makes beautiful AVCHD and Blu Ray recordings.


VRD is also good. Very good. But it won't burn AVCHD or Blu Ray. Roxio will.