For Mac users, Roxio Toast Titanium is a must-have software title. There’s another software title from the same software developer. No, it’s not Roxio Crunch, which we introduced about 3 months ago. It’s Roxio Popcorn. Roxio Popcorn is designed to let the user compress video files for external devices or burn DVDs.

We came across Roxio Popcorn for the first time almost two years ago. Initially, it was just a ripped version of Toast Titanium 6.5. And we weren’t impressed with it at all. In fact, we were pretty sure that Roxio Popcorn would be a dead Mac software title. And we never updated our Popcorn to version 2.

Several days ago, Sonic Solutions introduced a new version, Roxio Popcorn 3. Is there anything new with this version of Popcorn? Roxio Popcorn is not exactly a ripped version of Toast Titanium any more. Sonic Solutions has found a way of reviving this Mac software title. That means Toast Titanium and Popcorn can coexist at the same time. And we are quite impressed with the new version of Roxio Popcorn.

If you have used an older version of Roxio Popcorn, you should probably know that Popcorn doesn’t give you access to QuickTime compressors. This version is the same in this respect. Anyway, let’s take a closer look at some of the functions for those who have never used this Mac software title.

After launching Roxio Popcorn 3, you have two options. Burn a DVD or compress video files. Let’s see the options under DVD at first. If you have an image file (.ISO or possibly other disc image formats) containing a Video_TS, choose Image File. Likewise, you can drag and drop a Video_TS folder onto Roxio Popcorn’s screen. Furthermore, you can drag and drop a group of video files (AVI, DV, MOV, MP4, MPEG, WMV…) onto Popcorn’s main window to burn them all in one DVD. Under Options, you get to choose a DVD menu style and configure compression settings for MPEG-2. Unfortunately, Roxio Popcorn comes with only 3 menu styles and background images. (See Screenshot 04.) But you can actually use your own background image if you like.

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Okay. Let’s move on to Player. You can drop an image file, a Video_TS folder (or Video_TS folders) or a group of video files onto Popcorn’s main window. Then you have 12 presets to choose from. (See Screenshot 07.) You don’t have to know much about video compression. If you want to make your video ready for Apple TV, simply choose Apple TV from the pull-down menu. Then you will see its default preset. You can use it or customize it for your needs. Interestingly, you even have an option of compressing video with single-pass or multi-pass. (See Screenshot 09.)

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In sum, Roxio Popcorn 3 is not just a ripped version of Toast Titanium any more. It’s a combination of a ripped version of Roxio Toast Titanium and Roxio Crunch. Popcorn 3 supports most common video formats like AVI, DV, MOV, MPEG and more. And you can burn video files in DVD and compress them for Apple TV, Video iPod, iPhone, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and so forth.

MacHouse recommendation: If you own Apple TV, Video iPod and other video devices, Roxio Popcorn 3 is a nice-to-have Mac software title. Considering its price, we recommend Mac users to buy it! even if they already have Roxio Toast Titanium. However, if you also have Roxio Crunch on top of Toast Titanium, you may probably not need Popcorn.






Roxio Popcorn 3 is a product of Sonic Solutions.

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