sudo apt-get install dvdauthor
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Making a DVDTable of Contents
IntroductionDVD structuresYou’ll encounter mainly two kinds of DVD: DVD-Data and DVD-Video.
DVD file formatsDVD-video files are a special kind of MPEG2-PS format, called VOB (Video OBject). Unlike text or image files, multimedia formats are container formats. That means they are just like boxes containing several streams, encoded in various codecs. Our VOB files usually contains:
During playback the player must manage the streams and playback the audio stream and/or the subtitle stream chosen by the user (using the remote control buttons or the DVD graphical menu). More than one subtitle stream can be played back at the same time (e.g. close captioning and translation of occasional foreign terms). DVD wokflowTo make a DVD-Video you have to pay a lot of attention and follow a precise recipe. The process of making a DVD-Video can be divided into many steps:
DVD disksDVD disks come in many formats. The most common are DVD+R and DVD-R. Both are good. DVD+R are not playable on very old players but they get less writing errors. How to make a DVD-Video structure - multiple titles, single menuI recommend you use the program DeVeDe. You can install it using Synaptic.
You can now buld your DVD structure, adding your titles and connecting each of them to one or several video files. Titles A title is the unit of video in your DVD structure. It has its own menu entry and can be split into chapters. The division into chapters doesn’t affect playback. It affects only the navigation with the remote control (or with the application menu if played back by a computer). Titles properties (name and behaviour) can be adjusted with the Properties button under the Titles column. For every title you must add one or several video files. DeVeDe will accept various formats and will take care of transcoding to proper DVD-compliant MPEG files. Allow DeVeDe a lot of time for transcoding (depending on the size of the files, it can take an hour). You can add more than one video file to the Files column. Files will be played one after the other, as chapters of the same title. Your little granddaughter won’t notice they are separate files untill she uses the navigation buttons to skip to the next chapter of the title. Menu The most common menu is a screen image that lists the titles as buttons so your little granddaughter can choose which title to playback. Click on the Preview menu button in the main window to enjoy the ugly default menu layout. Structure To create your DVD Structure:
How to make a DVD-Video structure - single title, no menuThis is the kind of DVD-Video you are supposed to send to Short Film Festivals. They have to be essential and reliable. The video file must be played as soon as the DVD is inserted in the player. Using the Graphical User Interface - DeVeDeFollow the instructions above for making your video structure with DeVeDe. To prevent the application from building a Menu, just disable the Create a menu with the titles option in the main panel. If your target is a Film festival, you should try to get the best image quality possible following the tips of Note 2. Using the Command Line - dvdauthorI assume you have a DVD-compliant MPEG file ready. If not, see the Rendering section. I recommend you use dvdauthor, a command line program. sudo apt-get install dvdauthor dvdauthor uses text files to describe the DVD structure. Let’s start talking to the program! In our example we have: a folder called DVD, containing a video file called video.mpg. (full path is /home/grandma/DVD/video.mpg) Adapt this example to your case replacing filenames and paths with the ones right for your project. Now open a new file in a text editor with the following terminal command: gedit Copy and paste the following description: <dvdauthor dest="/home/grandma/DVD"> <vmgm /> <titleset> <titles> <pgc> <vob file="/home/grandma/DVD/video.mpg" /> </pgc> </titles> </titleset> </dvdauthor> This is a simple XML file with information about the location of the DVD structure that is going to be created and the location of the source file. Save this text file in the DVD folder, with .xml extension. (e.g.: /home/grandma/DVD/video.xml) Now we are ready for authoring. Change the working directory to DVD with the following terminal command: cd DVD Tell dvdauthor to build the structure using the information stored in the just created XML file using the command: dvdauthor -x video.xml dvdauthor will create the DVD-Video structure, consisting in a set of two folders: AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS. For variants of this structure, see the dvdauthor documentation How to create a mixed DVD-Video/Data diskIt is possible to add some extra-content to your DVD-video disk, like images, text or hypertext documents. Your standalone DVD player will read only the DVD-Video but your computer will be able to access all the other documents (Data) on the disk. To create the DVD-Video/Data disk first prepare your DVD-Video structure as usual. Do not create an ISO image. You’ll end up with a folder containing AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders. Copy and paste your extra files inside the container folder. Your DVD folder will look like this:
If your disk is going to be read by other computers you have to take extra care on compatibility with different operating systems. I recommend you burn your DVD-Video structure using the command line because you have the full control over the compatibility options. How to preview your DVD-Video structureBefore burning it on a DVD disk I recommend you preview your DVD-Video structure, you check all the buttons and all the video. Using the Graphical User Interface - VLCInstall VLC using Synaptic Package Manager. Open VLC from Applications → Sound & Video. Go to File - > Open Directory. Browse your filesystem and select the VIDEO_TS folder of your DVD. Click on Open. Alternatively you can right-click on the VIDEO_TS folder, select Open with in the popup menu and click on VLC. Use your mouse or the Navigation menu of VLC to control the playback. Always stop the playback before closing the program. Using the Command Line - xineInstall Xine with the following command: sudo apt-get install xine-ui Enter the directory that contains the DVD with (replace DVDdir with the path to the folder of your DVD-Video structure): cd DVDdir Preview the DVD with the command: xine dvd:`pwd` How to burn the DVD-Video structure on a DVD diskUsing the Graphical User Interface - K3b
Always test your DVD on the crappiest standalone DVD player available. The more players the better. Using the Command Line - growisofsEnter the directory containin the DVD-Video structure by typing the following command (replace DVDdir with the actual name of your directory): cd DVDdir Burn the DVD-Video Structure at speed 2x and automatically eject the disk at the end by typing the following command: sudo nice -n -20 growisofs -dvd-compat -v -r -R -J -hfs -speed=2 -Z /dev/dvd -dvd-video -V VIDEO ./ && eject /dev/dvd Look at the options of the command. You can modify them!
Always test your DVD on the crappiest standalone DVD player available. The more players tested the better. If you want the disks readable also by other computers, test your master disc on GNU/Linux, Windows and Mac machines before burning several copies of it. How to make an ISO image out of a DVD-Video structureAn ISO image is a single file with .iso extension that contains all the data files plus filesystem metadata. It is a compressed archive, useful to store all the information of a DVD-Video in a single file to ease the burning of multiple copies of the same DVD-Video structure. Using the Graphical User Interface - K3b
Using the Command Line - mkisofsEnter the directory containin the DVD-Video structure by typing the following command (replace DVDdir with the actual name of your directory): cd DVDdir Then copy and paste the following command (final . included): sudo nice -n -20 mkisofs -v -r -R -J -hfs -dvd-video -V VIDEO -o dvd.iso . Now, look at the options of the command. You can modify them!
How to preview your ISO imageBefore burning it on a DVD disk I recommend you preview your ISO image, you check all the buttons and all the video. Using the Graphical User Interface - VLCYou can use use VLC for that. Install it using Synaptic Package Manager.
Alternatively you can right-click on the ISO image, select Open with in the popup menu and click on VLC. Use your mouse or the Navigation menu of VLC to control the playback. Using the Command Line - VLCYou can use use VLC for that. Install it with the following terminal command: sudo apt-get install vlc To preview your ISO image dvd.iso stored in your Home folder, use the following command (replace dvd.iso with the name of your image): vlc dvd.iso Use your mouse or the Navigation menu of VLC to control the playback. How to burn the ISO image on a DVD diskUsing the Graphical User Interface - Brasero
Always test your DVD on the crappiest standalone DVD player available. The more players the better. If you want the disks readable also by other computers, test your master disc on GNU/Linux, Windows and Mac machines before burning several copies of it. Using the Command Line - growisofsEnter the directory containin the ISO file (DVDdir) by typing the following command (replace DVDdir with the actual name of your directory): cd DVDdir Burn the ISO file (dvd.iso) at speed 2x and automatically eject the disk at the end by typing the following command (replace dvd.iso with the actual name of your file): sudo nice -n -20 growisofs -dvd-compat -speed=2 -Z /dev/dvd=dvd.iso && eject /dev/cdrom If your DVD burner complains about I/O errors, try with a different speed. My burner seems optimized for -speed=8. Always test your DVD on the crappiest standalone DVD player available. The more players tested the better. If you want the disks readable by computers also, test your master disc on GNU/Linux, Windows and Mac machines too before burning several copies of it. How to create the cover for your DVD caseI recommend you use KoverArtist, an easy application that lets you set title, subtitle, content, side text, text effects and images on covers for standard DVD cases, standard or silm CD cases. You can install it with Synaptic. If what you want is just a very basic cover, then try the tool Brasero offers in its Tool → Cover editor menu. How to convert your project from PAL to NTSC and viceversaA DVD-Video can be PAL or NTSC, depending on the country’s standard. Case 1: Projects that don’t use projector zoom
Case 2: Project with very keyframed projector zoom curvesIn case of a project with complex projector zoom keyframing, you may want to use ffmpeg, a command line application for converting your rendered file. Here is a command example of change of standard for a file meant for DVD: From PAL to NTSC: ffmpeg -i myfilePAL.mpg -target ntsc-dvd -sameq -r 29.97 -s 600x480 -padleft 60 -padright 60 myfileNTSC.mpg From NTSC to PAL: ffmpeg -i myfileNTSC.mpg -target pal-dvd -sameq -r 25 -s 720x480 -padtop 48 -padbottom 48 myfilePAL.mpg where -i myfilePAL.mpg is the input file name -target ntsc-dvd -target pal-dvd set automatically all the format options (bitrate, codecs, buffer sizes) -s 600x480 set frame size (1) -s 720x480 -r 29.97 set frame rate (frames per second) -sameq use same video quality as input avoiding compression -padleft 60 set left pad band size (1) (in pixels, black as default color) -padright 60 set right pad band size (1) -padbottom 48 set bottom pad band size -padtop 48 set top pad band size myfileNTSC.mpg is the output file name (1) needed to fit a 1.25 aspect ratio video into a 720x480 frame. Output size: (60+600+60)x480 PAL: Canvas size 720x576 - Aspect ratio: 5:4 (1.25:1) NTSC: Canvas size 720x480 - Aspect ratio: 3:2 (1.5:1) To keep the original ratio in the new canvas, blank pad bands are needed. NTSC video in a PAL canvas → 720x(48+480+48) (the small numbers indicate the pad band size) PAL video in a NTSC canvas → (60+600+60)x480 |