Formac Devideon

[David Thrasher]

Ok, I bought one and while it was in transit I find out on this list that (1) the authoring software may not possibly be able to "close the deal" burn the DVD after you do all of your authoring and encoding work) and (2) the burning inside the external case is a good one (a Pioneer). Omeone also mentioned not liking the case but for me that is just an interior decorating issue and unrelated to my interest, which is authoring and burning my own DVDs. 

Now, assuming that the DVD burner itself is ok and the included software from Formac sucks, are there alternative DVD authoring solutions where I could use the same external combo drive (burns both DVD-R and DVD+R DVD disks)? Considering I already own a G3 iMac and my budget is small, buying a whole new computer is not an option. Nor is the iDVD part of the iLife package due to it wanting an internal burner. Doesn't Apple have other more flexible authoring software available? Are there any other third party authoring solutions that might work? I do have Toast 5.0.2. Assuming that the Formac software can get as far as creating the files necessary to put onto the DVD, could they possibly be put on the DVD by Toast? 

I'm going to be trying out this new burner either this weekend or next. From the information I'm aware of, those who have tried this burner have been using Maxell DVD media (forgot if it was -R or +R) and since so many on the list are using Mac OS X, I'm going to assume that is the case here too. I'm going to try it on OS 9.2.2 and try other media other than Maxell and see if I have better luck. (I hope I can make it work after spending all this money.) I'm also going to check on eBay for other DVD authoring software for Macs (maybe there's an earlier verson of one of Apple's offerings for sale as an accessable price that will work with an external burner). I'll post what I find out. Thanks.

-Dave