Version 8 under Leopard on my G5 2GHz 2Gb iMac typically demands 45-50% of the processor (as shown by Activity Monitor) to convert and burn a video file (such as an avi, divx or mpeg). It even uses 15-17% when open but not doing anything! This substantially slows down the computer and makes multitasking with say, MS Office, a painful process.

The time taken to do this converting and burning is absolutely stoneage taking hours and hours, and whichever brand of DVD I try (and believe me I've tried dozens, cheap and expensive, unbranded and top brands) I can never exceed the x2 burn speed. My DVD burner can supposedly do x8.

However, Toast works OK and I can't remember any wasted disks. The interface is clean and it is very easy to use, most functions being obvious without resorting to any manuals. But then, that is the easy bit to program. The functionality is the hard bit to program and like most modern gadgets, gizmos and software, they look flashy but the performance is often lacking.

What more can I say? There aren't many Mac compatible alternatives out there so I suppose we have to cope with Toast.