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DVD Authoring Under Linux?
To add on to phorm's query, smz420 asks: "A few months ago, I acquired a DVD burner and have had a lot of fun creating discs. While they come out well, they're very much cookie-cutter, due to the software I've been using to create them. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of flexibility built into the consumer level authoring systems out there, and I'd like to take my discs to the next level. Can anyone in Slashdot-land recommend books, links or software packages that could lead me down the road towards 'prosumer' DVD authoring? I'd like to be able to take full control over authoring: design my own button shapes and structures; place text where-ever I want on a menu page; create custom navigation structures, and possibly plant an easter egg or two. So far, I've tried Pinnacle Studio 8, Sonic MyDVD and Nero on Windows 2000. While each had very good aspects to them, all of them fell short of enabling 'next level' DVD authoring. Any advice would be most appreciated."
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6953
works great. Oh linux or windows? Nevermind. =)
-
Apple is really ahead of the game here -- iDVD is very reliable and easy to use, though simplistic. Apple's DVD Studio Pro gives excellent authoring support for more sophisticated authoring. MacOS X is an excellent UNIX alternative.... and you won't ever have to pay SCO licensing fees for OSX... =)
I'm pretty happy with this, although it was a bit on the pricey side (59.99 after 20 dollar rebate at best buy). the dvd builder app allowed me to add images or video clips (quicktime, mpeg1/2, etc) to my project, has a selection of 10+ themes I can use, you can choose your own background, button style from pre-defined themes, move the buttons anywhere you want on the main page, resize the buttons, create chapter menus by defining chapter points. When I created a longer movie, the auto detect scene automatically created chapter points at scene changes which was pretty sweet...
:)
It's just damn cool
Grab DVD Shrink while you can. BTW, I love DVD Shrink. The latest version will burn on its own if you have Nero installed, so you don't even have to switch apps. The drag-and-drop reauthoring lets you cut out DVD extras so you can often fit just the movie on a 4.7GB DVD*R without recompression (but it has adjustable recompression built in, too). However, I don't believe the author is adding any new features--just bugfixes. (Wait, aren't "features" and "bugs" interchangeable words? Maybe there's hope yet! ;-) )
Worried you might not keep your virginity forever? Try new Linux(TM), guaranteed twice as effective as LARPing
Buy a mac, use iDVD.
- ask about any subject X and include 'Linux' and it'll get your answers posted to slashdot.
Frankly the best I've seen is for the Macintosh, which is unfortunate due to my high investment in PC hardware.
I currently make wedding 'dvds' from photographs using Studio 8.1 and, recently, have been experimenting making AVIs and converting them to MPGs. Just doesn't work well tho.
Prosumer? Come on now.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Just what do our friends at the DVD CCA have to say about the "DVD Authoring" standard? Is this something home users who don't have thousands and thousands to spend will ever be able to do legally?
Oh yeah? For how long?
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Author the DVD on your mac friend's computer, and then duplicate it on your own ;)
IDVD and Imovie come free with Macs, and have a nice simplicity/power trade off. I know this is not useful for the person who posted, but is maybe something you want to think about when buying a new computer (plus, you know, chicks dig the mac).
I recommend checking out www.vcdhelp.com. They have tons of links and guides and howtos on various tools. Here is a link to their authoring page.
I use DVDLab to author dvd's myself, which you can find here. It works in most cases, but sometimes I use ifoedit to do really advanced things. However, Ifoedit is not for the feint of heart.
I thought someone said there was going to be free beer!
I believe the problem with DVD authoring is, that to write a decent program for it, you'll have to pay like $50.000 to get the specs.
Otherwise you'll have to painstakingly reverse the entire format. There is already great progress with this I presume since there are some nice open source programs.
But no professional grade software under Linux as far as I know..
And I'm sure the anti-Apple mods will say this is overrated, flamebait, or whatnot, but there is a *reason* Apple's been spending big bucks on DVD production software.
$1,100 eMac and you get iDVD4, the *best* DVD software I have ever seen. For an additional $300, you can get DVD Studio Pro, which offers *everything* in DVD production (literally, since it can make professional level DVDs!)
Unfortunately those solutions *require* a Mac.
But if you want to make the best DVDs, *hands down*, and simply, you need a Mac.
GPL Deconstructed
No, really. If you're just doing this for fun and you don't want to spend anything (other than your time), then perhaps there's some Open Source project you can work with to help develop it to the level you need.
But if you're doing this to make money, there's no substitute for getting a Mac. Final Cut Express + DVD Studio is the combination you're looking for. Extremely professional results, all the flexibility you want, and support for the full range of DVD authoring options.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
There's commercial software that does what you want, but you can't find anything for free. You could a) pay b) code c) whine to slashdot.
Everybody's a libertarian 'till their neighbour's becomes a crack house.
No, of course not. They do make DVD Studio Pro, which looks like exactly what he's looking for.
This is your cue to start your own project or begin contributing to one of the "alpha/beta" ones. Or perhaps you think those of us who write software exist only to provide you with free toys?
I bought a DVD burner a year ago and never could get it working. I burnt my first DVD with my new Mac two days ago, and it worked perfectly first try (well, first try I waited long enough instead of deciding it had crashed -- it hadn't, the progress bar had just stopped updating for some reason).
I think the product Apple turned into Final Cut Pro used to have a Windows version, but it was dropped. No Linux version, though.
don't give them ideas =p.
I do security
they said your rightious indignation was overdue.
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/ There are the guides, there are also several links to tools that you can use. You can go very expensive (scenarist, dvdmaestro), cheaper trialware (tmpg, spruceup) , or freeware tools (dvdauthor, ifoedit). Granted freeware isn't quite at the level of the others, but definitely a powerful improvement over the software that you have been using. You will probably learn alot more about the DVD format by using these guides/tools also.
www.TechiePlus.net "...we make IT easy" (serving Sioux City, Iowa area) Offering PC support, custom PCs, and web design
Beg pardon! I meant DVD Studio Pro, not Final Cut Pro. At least, I think I did. Apple's video products are hella confusing...
As much as I like linux. DVD authoring and fancy media stuff is really far better on mac and windows.
mark me as -1 troll, but I get tired of this sort of thing on slashdot. He did not ask about what operating system would be best for dvd authoring, he's just looking for some software that'll work with his current OS.
http://dvdauthor.sourceforge.net
it's lowlevel but you can do virtually anything you want -- custom nav, animated menu, etc. it'll even let you do some things that are illegal according to the spec. It works on many Unices and there's even a Cygwin port.
disclaimer: I wrote it.
A few links:/ dvd-slideshow.sourceforge.net/i ence.org/james/dvd/presentations /20031016/medres/text0.html. uk/Linux/dvd.htmll l idori.chapelperilous.net/c eforge.net/
http://dvdauthor.sourceforge.net/
http:/
http://www.pcxper
http://www.tappin.me
http://gecius.de/linux/dvd.htm
http://www.dahnielson.com/primer.txt
http://po
http://qdvdauthor.sour
http://dvdstyler.sourceforge.net/
The best tool I've ever used for creating videos. Even supports making SVCDDVD's so I can burn my TV Episodes 5 at a time to a DVD can be found at http://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/
Cinelerra(video editing)
Transcode(video encoding)
Gear Pro(not free)
mkisofs (for making images with the -dvd-video switch)
linuxvideostudio (gooey)
lsdvd (for listing dvd contents
Okay a few things to get out of the way.
First, most consumer oriented DVD authoring apps are absolute garbage and not worth your time if your looking to make something unique that is your own and you don't need templates written in stone to guide you.
On the PC side Ulead DVD Workshop was a decent app with some flexibility but it has its limitations. If you need something more powerful then DVD Workshop I would recommend Adobe Encore.
If you need something more advanced then Encore you are now entering the realm of Sonic Scenarist which is what is used by a lot of the pros for Hollywood movie DVDs. It comes with a very high pricetag depends on which version you opt for.
On the Mac side of things you've got iDVD 4 which is very nice for non-technical people. It has some nice features and flexiblity. If you need more then iDVD 4 skip ahead to DVD Studio Pro 2 which is IMHO one of the easiest to use fully featured DVD authoring apps I've had the pleasure to use. There are a very few things that DVDSP2 doesn't do that Sonic Scenarist does support and if you need them your usually in a postion to afford the cost of Scenarist.
Personally, if your going to be making money off DVD authoring I'd have a Mac around just for working in DVDSP2 and then use something like CinemaCraft SP on a very fast PC for MPEG-2 encoding (unless G5 encode speeds are fast enough for you, depends on your projects and turnaround time).
DVD authoring on Linux I have yet to try but this stuff is non-trivial to do even under Windows. DVDSP2 is great because it helps hide some of the underlying complexity, just enough so its not overwhelming but you do need to know a few things about the DVD spec. I suspect part of Linux's problem when it comes to DVD authoring packages is the mutli-application aspect of such a program. Remember an authoring package has to understand multiple media types for assest, be able to composite both 2D images and moving video as well as deal with sound, editing, compositing, not to mention DVD scripting and other things if it intends to allow you to do anything allowed withing the DVD-Video spec.
Keep in mind that some of these higher end authoring packages like Scenarist are so complicated that you have people whose whole job description can be summed up as "Sonic Scenarist Specialist" when it comes to DVD authoring.
if he's doing it because he has PC hardware and recieved a DVD writer as a gift?
Or how about you read the f'ing questions?
Or barring that, how about you read the f'ing comments so there aren't 15 people with the same answer that doesn't address the same questions they none of them read?
How about I adjust my expecations to the shockingly low standards of the enviroment? Yeah... It's working, I can feel it tingling.
Developers first need to see how successful ideas are implemented. Note Apple's iDVD page and the features that are provided. Note the attention to motion themes (demo requires QuickTime), chapter marking for scene selection, and slideshows. I'm sure linux developers know how to code this stuff. They just need a handle on what people WANT from an app, and implement it in a logical format.
Those who laugh at you for you having a Mac.. are the people who constantly call you to fix their PC.
First, please realize that the DVD menus are simply MPEG files. You can create a static menu with the gimp, or if you're into motion, use Cinelerra or another video editing program like MainActor, Final Cut Pro, or Adobe Premier.
Finally, you can add buttons to the menu with dvdauthor. There aren't many frontends for dvdauthor, but it is easy to use manually or you can kludge together your use of a video editor and qdvdauthor.
Using Linux only...look here
Ban Reality TV!
This is not a drop-dead easy wizard oriented program but is easy enough to learn. Highly recommended. (and no, no personal interest). The menu that I wanted to do was have a video preview pane and 3 text listings of movies. As you scroll through the 3 items, the preview changes to the appropriate movie. Couldn't do it in any other program that I could find. www.mediachance.com
is it just me or did the user ask about pc or linux applications? perhaps people should read a post before they reply. try the demo of roxio, if your looking to go on the cheap youll have to forgo a lot of the nice high end perks, of professional systems. and i fail to see how the buy a mac so you can get idvd installed makes sense.
Is this a record?
for 'ever'
:P
can't read your own subject?
I've been using Ulead DVD Workshop under Win2K, and I would heartily recommend it. Has customizable menus, buttons, text placement anywhere...works like a charm. Burned 50+ DVDs so far. Burns VCDs & SVCDs too. Cost - I got it free when I purchased my Pioneer DVR-A06 burner, maybe the cost is factored in the h/w. Dunno about easter eggs, I'm sure there must be a bunch of catholic folk at Ulead who can cater to that department :)
Ulead VideoStudio is about the best consumer grade DVD authoring application I've used on Windows. That's not saying much, but I think it's the best option. You can customize quite a few settings that more simplified programs don't have (such as bit rate, codec choices, etc). Roxio has DVD builder which is much simpler and you can't customize as much.
I've heard nothing but good things from my co-workers on DVD authoring on the Mac. I would consider buying one if I spent a lot of time doing DV video editing and such.
TechTV did a short article on this not too long ago. All free tools. I've used DVDXCopy and even CloneDVD, but the truth is these free tools work best (DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink). http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/darktips/story/ 0,24330,3605537,00.html
But really, if you buy an eMac with a Superdrive, it will come with iDVD. If iDVD actually is good enough for what these people need, it *might* be cheaper to buy the new machine than it is to buy the equivalent Windows software.
If you're needing the professional Apple tools to meet the requirements though (the * Pro tools), then a Windows or Linux professional software solution is certainly cheaper.
Just use DVD Lab with wine.
Nero Vision is a very simple program to use with tons of features and the final product comes out looking real nice. If you are looking for something extremely advanced, then adobe encore dvd is the way to go. Both programs run on windows(obviously).
This software will make a compliant DVD with motion menus, slideshows, tranitions, etc etc that Scenarist also does. DVD-lab is mid range as price. Probably under $500. (Scenarist is about $45,000)
I to recently got a DVD Burner, and was wondering where to install it, Linux or Windows. I, like you, didn't find much ready for primetime in the Linux arena, so I went with Windows for the time being.
I use Roxio Easy DVD creator for burning data.
For creating Video DVD I have been using several products, not finding any one that could the whole job well.
I use ScenalyzerLive by Andreas Winter to capture content.
I use TMPGEnc to encode into Mpeg2 from AVI, and finally I use TMPGEnc DVD Author to create the menus and burn.
So far these products have proven to get the job done with great quality and decent performance.
Hope this helps.
Adobe Encore DVD + eDonkey = Problem Solved!
support for buttons?
animated menus/backgrounds?
These are useless and get in the way. A true nerd only wants to store the MPEGS on the disc, and *maybe* have a text menu. Shame on you.
Did anyone else besides me notice that "Cliff" posed the question, "DVD Authoring Under Linux?"
and NOT
DVD Authoring Under Windows?
or
DVD Authoring Under Mac?
JFCOAPS!! All the Mac and M$ suggestions are really helpful to the Mac and M$ users but the poor dude needs an answer for Linux..
We now return you to your regularly scheduled troll...
The original poster wanted a solution available for purchase for less than 800 USD.
That's what I was going to suggest for Windows.
DVDLab is one of the few apps that let me easily burn 480x480 mpeg streams. They work fine in most DVD players I've tried.
That's actually one of the few reasons I ever boot to Windows. I haven't found any easy to use Linux software. I hear dvdauthor works but until it's integrated into K3B with a menu builder or something then I'm out of luck.
I see a lot of posts in here about iDVD. I might give it a shot since I have a Mac sitting here that I hardly ever use. Thank goodness for firewire DVD burners.
The ratio of people to cake is too big
dvdauthor is a very good software.
It certainly isn't point&click dvd creator, everything has to be written in xml files defining dvd structure. But it has support for buttons, multiple menus of all types (i.e. root, title, subpicture etc). It also allows to write programs running on DVD Player virtual machine.
dvdauthor also contains software to multiplex graphical and textual subtitles into mpeg2 stream (spumux) as well as software to extract subtitles from existing mpeg2 stream, such as VOB files (spuunmux).
You will need lots of other programs to create your dvd videos, like mplex from mjpegtools, some mpeg encoder (transcode or mencoder from mplayer), toolame and/or ffmpeg for creation of proper mpeg2 audio tracks, sox for occasional resampling of audio (dvd needs 48kHz sound whereas audio is often available in 44.1kHz).
If you think it looks cryptic, you are right: it is. But after a while one manages to handle this whole mess and with the help of several scripts make his own video dvds with separate audio tracks, chapters, multiple subtitles and much, much more.
Robert
Bastard Operator From 193.219.28.162
Adobe Premiere Pro 7.0
Intervideo WinDVD Creator v2 Platinum
Pinnacle Studio 9
Pinnacle Impression DVD Pro
Ulead DVD Workshop 2
Hope this helps.
iDVD is $800 and comes with a free Mac. $800 makes the original poster's check bounce.
Or perhaps you think those of us who write software exist only to provide you with free toys?
No more than the software/etc that I code is offered to provide "free toys" to somebody. It's to make life easier, or more productive. I really hate feeding trolls, but most people don't want to contribute to one of the several alpha/beta projects that have bare functionality and then watch it go down the tube. Paying for decent software is fine, and I'd be happy to support a project with strong backing, but most don't have that. I'd rather contribute to the OS movement in general, by making my own OS code to share with the masses.
Beside that fact, you're making a big assumption that I don't contribute. I do, to projects that are advanced enough and attract my attention. So stop trolling and maybe next time offer a suggestion that's helpful to the problem at hand.
DVD-Labhttp://www.mediachance.com/dvdlab/index.htm l -- Windows shareware software. $99, $128 if you get the TMPGEnc engine with it.
I use this for making my DVDs, and I'm quite happy with it... well worth the money.
How about multiple camera angles? I never see that advertised in any DVD authoring software I've looked at. Does that mean it's so easy that they all do it by default? Or does it mean it's not easy and only professional grade tools can do it?
Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen any movies that utilize it (or I just didn't notice if they did). How does it work exactly? Do you have multiple sychronized video streams that you can seemlessly switch between without interrupting the flow of time?
-tim
but you had to tell us about your Mac anyway
+5 informative my ass more like -1 off topic
It's an awesome program for a very reasonable price tag. Does everything you could want and doesn't treat you like an idiot. However, be aware that it is NOT an MPEG encoder or editor.
No, I'm not kidding. It plugs into anything in the house that makes video, does almost frame-accurate editing, 80GB HDD and stores to either -R or -RAM discs. Never drops frames, asks for software updates, gets the audio out of sync with the video, and the discs play on anything that will play -R media.
I have a DVD-R in my PC as well, and I know I'm probably a total loser but I found that video editing on the computer was more of a PITA than it was worth. DV bridge, hundreds of dollars worth of software, and a shitload of time to do compression or transcoding. The PC drive mainly comes in handy for duping DVDs I made on the E80 (DVD Decrypter) or making backups of stuff I've bought (DVDShrink).
For $480 I got a DMR-E80 and spent the rest of my time doing something more productive. I know it's not the right answer for someone who HAS to do 'fancy' editing (TV or Movies), but for most anything else it's sooo much easier and reliable, and less money to boot.
And, the number one reason why Linux users don't get it is...
I get more coasters when doing it through linux than windows, but I could have something configured wrong.
First off, I'm a video editor, and yes i use macs all day. yes, DVD studio is the best thing since sliced bread. and no, that doesn't answer the question. The best PC program I've found for DVD authoring is Adobe's Encore. At $550, its not free, but you get what you pay for with AV stuff.
Mod point free since 2001
This guide was posted on the Gentoo Forums by shiznix. Find it here: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=117709
I know you Slashdot users hate Gentoo, but this is actually an excellent guide that features animated menus and all!
My Systems
I found doom9.org was a good place to begin in creating DVD's they have a great tutorials and some damn good programs (only windows).
you know I allways drink coffee while I watch the rader everyone knows that.
Which is only for Macs, so it doesn't answer the question (and yeah, its really is great software). I'd recommend Adobe's Encore.
Mod point free since 2001
Check out:
man growisofs
or go to.
If you're new to the command line try this tutorial
Good luck.
(Probably stolen from a bash.org quote. Free karma to person who posts the link)
Nerd: Derogatory term typically directed at anybody with a lower Slashdot ID than you.
Personally, I think that there is no substitute for Adobe Encore. Sonic Foundry Dvd Architect (i think it's owned by sony now) comes as a somewhat distant second. It is $599, but easily worth the money.
You can buy any USB mouse and plug it into a Mac.
Even the one you're using right now, troll.
god damnit man, dont you know those other buttons do not have any native functions in MacOS? you have to program them to do limited things
Here we go again. The best advice the parent's poster has is for someone (anyone but him, apparently) to reinvent the wheel attached to someone else's ride.
Linux will not make significant inroads to the desktop unless its proponents exceed the status quo.
What's that? Money where my mouth is? Well, er... I use Microsoft's products. Exclusively (except for my iPod). I like MS's products. Under pressure from Apple and other sources, they've become wonderful. They... just work.
I've used a *lot* of software for DVD authoring, and my favorite and current applications for doing so are the products from Ulead. They aren't free, and they are Windows only, but they do the job, and there are 30 day demos on their web site. I've even used them for commercial work, and am very happy with them.
I also regularly use and like Adobe Premier Pro. But this is a high-dollar solution ($700), so its probably not one you're interested in.
Most of the time, I still will select Ulead Visual Studio over Premier anyway.
Again speaking as someone who has done DVD authoring commercially, I regret to say that I find the Linux applications for this to be woefully lacking. DVD authoring is the *one* thing that keeps me on a dual-boot machine as opposed to a Linux only box. I'd love to dump Windows entirely, especially after hearing that Bill Gates and Darl McBride are secret homosexual lovers, but I like being able to get my video work done in a timely and professional fashion.
Now that I've tried to answer the posted question, I'm going to chime in agreement with something a few others have posted. I've looked all over the original posting, and nowhere in it can I see the term "Mac" or any variation of it. When someone asks a PC question, "get a Mac" is not an appropriate answer. I'm sure the Mac users would get just as riled if someone posted a Mac question and only got PC answers. I would also go so far as to say that anything you can do in regards to DVD authoring with a Mac, I can do it just as well on a PC. The Mac used to be the hands-down winner in any type of multimedia application. Sorry kids, but those days are over.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
I agree , dvd shrink is a great tool that you should dl while you can. The best site I have found for DVD information is www.afterdawn.com They have links MB's and userguides for all the tools your looking for.
Reading the post and some of the comments reminds me of similiar discussions redundantly repeated on websites all over the net. Other people have already mentioned many excellent sources of information for DVD authoring/burning for windows AND linux(my favorite is doom9.org).
But my comment is, what happened to doing some research? A five minute google would find thousands of useful hits. It seems lately, and not just at slashdot, more and more people cannot be bothered to do even the most basic of searches. are we becoming that lazy? So lazy I can't spend a few minutes actually reading a website's content before asking a question? I read a 97 page white paper on quantization just so I would know what was going on. The internet is a great reference library if you use it!
I don't really need a firewall just because I am on the Internet, do I?
Apple actually bought out spruce who made "dvd maestro" that program rocked, and eventually became known as dvd studio pro. but since they no long make a pc version where apple owns them, your gonna have to find an archived version on kazaa or gnutella or whatever. its a few megs TOPS, no copy protection, and its almost as good as dvd studio pro is today. oh and it DOES run on windows
Hey, I thought I'd seen your advice somewhere before...hmmmm ;) DVD Shrink is useless if you want custom menus. It's used for taking an original DVD and removing/compressing items already on the DVD, not for mixing in new stuff. But it is a good program.
is VegasVideo.
:-)
Google for it
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
I just wanted to mention that most inexpensive, consumer-level or free programs do not support Dolby Digital audio compression. This is important if you want to have very high video quality on a disc which is longer than one hour.
g _e ncoder.htm
If you use uncompressed audio, your video bitrate has to be lowered and this will start to affect the quality. With Dolby Digital (2 channel) the audio size is significantly reduced, allowing you to set the video bitrate higher.
Adobe Encore, DVDit! Professional Edition, and DVD Studio Pro 2 all support Dolby Digital. DVD Studio Pro 2 even apparently does 5.1!
I have used Adobe Premiere for video editing and Adobe Encore for DVD authoring. Premiere is excellent, Encore is only at version 1.1 and still has some bugs.
BTW, a handy chart for selecting an appropriate bitrate for your video can be found at:
http://www.video2stream.com/using_the_adobe_mpe
dvdrhelp.com also has info and good tutorials on these (and other) programs, although you probably won't need them.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
These babies are my favourites, if you've designed your own buttons and such you can import them otherwise theres a range of sample layouts & buttons which have all the 'code' behind them pre-set.
TMPGEnc DVD Source Creator - Good for converting a bunch of movies (of almost any source) to dvd-compliant MPEG2 to fit to size.
TMPGEnc DVD Author - Awesome tool for taking your compliant MPEG2 files and assembling them into a fully compliant DVD (with VOBs, IFOs, BUPs, etc) with menus, etc.
HTH.
... and then there were none
Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment. There are lots of steps involved to do it in Linux, but it's quite powerful once you've gotten the basics down and have written shell scripts to automate the tasks.
If you find it difficult to install all these tools on your Linux box (as many do), may I recommend installing Debian linux? Best way to do this is to do a hard drive install from the Knoppix Live Linux CD. The scripts to do this are built-in the cd: knx-hdinstall or knoppix-installer. Why do I recommend it? Installing all the tools I have listed above are a simple apt-get away -- i.e. "apt-get install kino" or "apt-get install mpgtx" or "apt-get install dvdauthor" -- I mean how much easier can it get?
Lastly, allow me to plug my blog that has documented this and a number of other linux tips ages ago: linuxathome.com
Linux at home
Buy a Mac, Final Cut Pro 4 and DVD Pro Studio.
Linux is a joke when is comes to mutlimedia along with Winblows.
dvdwizard
It's not GUI, but it does the trick with minimal effort, is mostly automatic, and has produced excellent results that fit my needs.
Once you have your
1. vmgm background image (static)
2. vtsm background image (static)
3. DVD title
4. path to
First, it creates a root vmgm menu with the DVD title specified above and the vmgm background image specified above. The two menu options provided are: "Play All" and "Chapter Select" menu.
The script then extracts a thumbnail from each chapter and creates a chapter selection menu using the screenshots in a button matrix.
It concatenates all your seperate chapters into one "movie" so you have the ability to play from beginning to end without returning to the "chapter selection" menu after each chapter finishes. It also drops in chapter markers for easy scene-to-scene navigation, just like a commercial DVD.
It uses dvdauthor to then create the DVD filesystem. It would be trivial to add an automatic burn at the end, but I like to preview everything with xine first.
Seemingly the only thing these scripts do not handle is animated menus.
Since the author lives in Germany, it is hardcoded for PAL format video, but I have converted them for my NTSC needs.
The scripts are GPL'd and my intention is to make the process as automatic as possible. I'd like to create a simple GUI for specifying the numbered items above and possibly add support for animated menus for my parents to use to archive all their old VHS tapes.
I use Cinelerra for video editing, dvgrab and Kino for capture from a Canopus ADVC-50 or my JVC GR-500 Mini-DV camera. I use dv2dv, transcode, mplex, (or tcmplex) and ffmpeg to transcode the Quicktime
As a side note, by first converting my Quicktime files to raw DV with dv2dv from the dv_utils package first, I can transcode with ffmpeg to DVD compliant MPEG-2 format at a blistering average of 15 fps!!
I've been very happy with this arrangement as most operations after the actual video editing is complete can be scripted.
Hope this helps!
mw
--Peace be with you.
for phorm, I don't have a good solution. However, in regard to the second question by smz420, I have found that TMPGEnc and TMPGEnc DVD Author are great tools.
I have tried most of the different authoring tools mentioned above with limited VCD success and no DVD success (with the exception of Ulead, which I haven't tried yet). However, TMPGEnc DVD Author took my MPEG-1 files in VCD format and let me burn 20 of them (at 22.5 minutes each) to one DVD. Mind you, they weren't great quality to begin with but being able to put 450 minutes of video (Buzz Lightyear episodes for my son) on one disc was great.
I have also used TMPGEnc to put a movie and TV episodes captured in DivX into MPEG-2 format and then burn it to disc with TMPGEnc DVD Author. Worked great!
TMPGEnc DVD Author allows the user to create custom menus, move things around, change back grounds, et cetera. I haven't tried the easter egg stuff yet, but you never know. I've only made one coaster so far and that was my fault for trying to compile while burning.
Both tools have wizards but TMPGEnc allows you to set it up without the wizard once you feel more comfortable. TMPGEnc DVD Author builds the DVD structure on your drive and then you can create an ISO, burn it to disc with the built in tool.
With these tools, I've been able to build and burn DVDs of my captured TV shows (from satellite) at about 9 episodes per disc in great quality. If you go at low quality, 20 episodes per disc.
You can buy them in a bundle or separately from http://www.pegasys-inc.com. And, no, I don't work for them.
could you ask for a lightbulb and get the glass blowing machine, the parts, the filaments, how to make your own lamp booklet and how to wire your room to have electricity.. but never the lightbulb.
Ooh, I hadn't seen Encore before. It looks pretty powerful, which doesn't surprise me coming from Adobe. Maybe I'll have to kill my uptime and go back to Windows to play with it... :)
QDVDAuthor (http://qdvdauthor.sourceforge.net/main.html) is really cool, and creates menus and jpeg slideshows along with videos. BTW, it's included in Mandrake 10 contribs by Yours Truly.
1. for windows: Scenarist if you have $ is simply the poop. Most ordinary citizens don't have the $, though, and if that's the case:
2. for windows: Adobe Encore. It's fairly simple - more complex than iDVD, but somewhat easier than DVDSP2, and - it's WINDOWS ONLY. This does not bode well for Apple, as Adobe is carpet bombing all those "advertise on Daytime TV Art Schools" with the Adobe Video Solution, but that's a discussion for another day.
There are other apps, but they're not as good as the two abbove. The above will cost you $, Scenarist more than Encore (by a lot). Deal with it.
For Linux? Nemmind that stuff. None of it is as competent as Scenarist, and none of it is as easy to use as Encore. Sure: you save a few hundred dollars, but when you're sitting there QA testing your XML scripts and praying that the new DVD urner drivers work, your time will be worth MUCH more money than what you saved.
By a similar argument, the Apple Way of Working is great and cheap. For $50 you can get iLife with the latest rev of iDVD, which is more than most people need for some stupid DVD of their cousin's sister's daughter's wedding that was shot on some cheeezy Canon ZR10. 9 times out of 10, you can get away with iMovie and iDVD and *no one* will notice or care. Now, you'll need to get an Apple computer, but most anything built in the past year or two will do fine, and you can pick 'em up at somewhat less than extortionate prices these days...
I've been doing DVD authoring for years, and back around 2002 I figured that I wasn't going to beat my head against the wall anymore - it was faster, cheaper, and easier to get a mac and get it done than try and get my Windoze machine to jump the hoops at a reasonable price.
Oddly, and contrary to what some people have posted, this really is a situation where the OS matters.
So, in short:
Windows:
1. Scenarist if you can afford it. It does everything, but it's really complicated.
2. Encore if you can't or won't do Scenarist.
Windows isn't the optimal solution for this, so consider a Macintosh.
1. iLife w/ iDVD is supercheap and very very good.
2. If you need to do more advanced work, DVD Studio Pro does the job.
Linux:
Simply: it's not ready for prime time, and given the complexity of the problem it may never be. Yes, there are solutions out there, but you'll burn a lot of creative time dorking around with code when you could be getting work done. I would LOVE IT if there was an adequate solution out there, though - free or cheap software on a free OS on a cheap computer? Floats my boat. But I'm not holding my breath.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
Why not learn yourself how a DVD is made? What file structure & what files a dvd-player wants. Write scripts to avoid repetative tasks. But that is basically all these programs do. They write the files that a dvd-player requires, in the structure they need to be in. But thats for the menus, as far as the whole package with video stream & menus... you CAN do this in linux too using existing command-line programs
HOWTO - author AVI -> DVD with menus in linux
Yea... kinda geeky, and you will need to build a lot of scripts until somebody (OR you!) makes some sorta GUI version of it all.
have you tried director mx
And not an Apple. I can freely recommend ReelDVD, which is a VERY robust DVD authoring app that doesn't pander with wizards, EZ buttons, and such. It's pricy, Approx $500-600, but worth every penny if you want to use these DVD's to make money.
It's as costly as Encore, and a MUCH better authoring program, with a much better looking DVD as your end result. I only use encore when People need to know how to use encore. Otherwise it's junk compared to ReelDVD
I have used a little know script called dvd wizard (linux). If you just want basic menus this is a great tool!
d .tar.gz
The link to dvdwizard is...
http://www.wershofen.de/downloads/dvdwizar
good luck!
It's about as complex as the combination of:
1) a drag-n-drop ISO creation tool (not even necessarily a burning tool) with the ability to read MPEG2 headers
2) the image split for web plug-in in the Gimp.
3) The "storyboard" mode of openoffice.
You can do it with scripts and the gimp. Check the latest Linux Journal. What you mostly miss from the graphical GUI apps is the ability to interactively layout/preview. But with a little forethought, the GIMP and a command line IFO creation tool are just as useful.
We'll see a free, good DVD authoring tool soon enough, once more people have MPEG2 quality video lying around and DVD burners become more commonplace.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
If you meant DVD Studio Pro, then you'd be wrong. DVD Studio Pro (and iDVD for that matter, they share a common core) was based on Astarte's DVD authoring program. But there's been a LOT of work done on it since then, Astarte's software has been buried under a whole new interface and expanded with a ton of new capabilities.
Personally, I'm confused as to how you could be confused.
iDVD - Consumer DVD authoring app, bundled with new systems, or available seperately as part of iLife
DVD Studio Pro - Prosumer/Professional DVD authoring app
iMovie - Consumer video editing app
Final Cut Pro Express - Prosumer video editing app
Final Cut Pro - Professional video editing app
Going beyond that...
iTunes - MP3 encoder/player
iPhoto - Digital photo album organizer, importer, and who knows what else (I'd never pay for it)
GarageBand - Consumer music/MIDI creation/editing app
iCal - Calendar & Task organizer, network aware & all that fun stuff
iSync - Synchronize data between desktop & palmtops, phones, etc.
Yeah, that's incredibly confusing compared to Microsoft's product lineup. Er. Wait. Not!
Adobe's Encore DVD is a fairly powerful DVD editor.
You can make pro quality dvds with it. However, it has a bit of a learning curve though. It even allows for movie clips as backgrounds and as thumbnail buttons. It's also Adobe Quality "pricing", but if nothing else you can download a 30 day trial version to play around with.
Anyone know a good dvd burning program that burns both .iso's and .gi's?
All, I have had the same problem. I have used just about every one for windows and most are crap. However, I didn't see anyone mention Pinnacle Studio 8 (or the newer 9) I have found the program for around $80 at Best Buy and the upgrade for the 200+ special transitions was worth it for $100 more. I have been able to do everything I had hoped and much more. Mostly it is how much time you want to spend. Check it out at www.pinnaclesys.com. By the way I don't work for them just enjoy their product.
Authoring != Copying.
Karma: Non-Heinous
Authoring video DVDs on linux is more than a little difficult, these days. That said, with a little command line knowledge and some good old-fashioned ingenuity, you can accomplish much.
I found this article to be a good starting point. The beginning of the article assumes that you'll be working with a framegrabber and generating MJPEG video with appropriate resolution/framerate, etc. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world, so you'll actually need to transcode your videos into the MJPEG format before you do the MPEG2 encoding. I find that mencoder is usually the best way to accomplish this:
Note that the above command assumes you are making a DVD for NTSC (US/Canada/Japan) format. If you use PAL, you'll want 720:576 as your resolution and 25 fps as your framerate instead. If you're encoding from a film (24 fps) source, try applying the telecine filter, as well (add ",telecine" after the scale command, and set "-ofps 29.97). This method of framerate conversion is the standard for cinematic DVDs.
Now, I know you're asking, why not use mencoder to encode the MPEG2 stream directly and skip the middleman? Well, I've tried this, and it isn't possible for a couple of reasons. The first is bandwidth control. Although mencoder will accept a bitrate option for MPEG2 encoding, it is not conscious of the buffering assumptions of the DVD standard, and will produce streams that will encounter buffer underruns in hardware DVD players. The second problem is that an MPEG2 program stream for a DVD must contain empty navigation packets (these get filled in when you create the actual vobs), which mencoder won't create. C'est la vie.
It's worth noting that you can get at more advanced bitrate control options for libavcodec's MPEG2 encoder by using lavc's native transcoding application, ffmpeg. At least, theoretically you can. My version of ffmpeg 0.4.7 doesn't seem to include mpeg2 as a possible output format, even though it's accessible through mencoder. Go figure.
OK, let's move on to our friend mpeg2enc. The first thing you'll notice is that it's slow. Really slow. Especially compared to mencoder. You'll live, though. Take a nap or something. The instructions in the article will give you a stream that's perfectly fine for DVD encoding, but it's definitely worth looking at the manpage as well. One of the most important things you'll learn there is that mpeg2enc takes arguments for both aspect ratio and framerate of incoming movies. Add the option "-a n" to the command given in the article, substituting 2 for n if your video is in the 4:3 aspect ratio (regular TV), 3 if it is 16:9 (letterbox widescreen format, most movies), or 4 for 2.21:1 (cinemascope widescreen, movies shot in panoramic view). The "-F n" command specifies the framerate. IF you are using PAL or SECAM, always use 3. If you are using NTSC, always use 4. Anything else will make you cry. Finally, you can add the "-p" option if you have 24 fps input video that you intend for NTSC viewing, and you didn't already have mencoder apply telecine. I actually prefer to have mpeg2enc do telecine, as that way you are certain to avoid A/V sync problems.
Moving right along, the article tells you how to use the dvd authoring tools to eventually get an iso file ready to burn. It should be noted that the image you have ready won't have menus or other niceties. For sooth! Lucky for you, you actually can include these things, but it won't exactly be easy. Now that you know the basics of encoding for the DVD format, this guide can instruct you on how to add things like menus and whatnot. Anyway, once you get the iso file ready to go, I highly recommend you burn it with KDE's excellent K3B, unless you have an attachment to the command line too
Anonymous Luddite: "What do you think of the dehumanizing effects of the Internet?"
Andy Grove: "Not Much."
A person should not have to mess around with a terminal to burn a silly DVD.
Rules
(1) KISS: Keep it simple stupid.
(2) See rule 1
What about k3b www.k3b.org? It's for Linux and as far as I remeber it can also burn DVDs. -red
tmpgenc isnt very good, especially for interlaced source material. it has a lot of bells and whistles and blinky lights though.
x ?sku=CCEB) is probably the best mpeg2 encoder you can get for under $2000. And its only $60. it is also miles, miles faster than tmpgenc.
Cinemacraft Encoder Basic (http://www.visiblelight.com/mall/productview.asp
when it comes to absolute quality, eg converting out-of-print laserdiscs which will never be released on dvd, i use cinemacraft basic to encode the video.
disclaimer: i have purchased both tmpgenc and cce basic and used both extensively for years.
There are lots of steps involved to do it in Linux, but it's quite powerful once you've gotten the basics down and have written shell scripts to automate the tasks.
You're not just talking about DVD authoring now...
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Sorry I do not know of any good authoring tools for Linux, but I too would be interested. Although I hope to just get a new G5 soon.
I end up using windows and Sonic Foundry's products. Or I should say 'Sony' now. I've tried lots of video editing apps from high-end to low-end. The best one I found was Vegas Video without a doubt. Its not cheap however, but not as much as Premiere, and its definitely more usable and has good plugin support. For authoring DVDs I use their DVD Architect software. I've been able to make some really nice menus with it.
How about some remarks about hardware compatibility and Linux.
I have heard some burners don't play nicely with the Penguin.
I use Windows on a day-to-day basis, but I've met lots of people who swear by iMovie, FCE and FCP.
He didn't ask for OS advice, but if the poster wants to make great DVDs in as little time as possible, I've heard only positive things about one OS and a few programs.
...except that it has a $499 pricetag and only works on a Mac. Other than that, it's just what he's looking for.
Sigs for Nerds. Sigs that Matter.
very cheap and allows you to do anything u see on a pro disc....
This is the motion of the new revolution..... The trance is the motion.......
for redhat users, apt-for-rpm port is available at freshRPMS
filter: +3. Hey, look! all the trolls went away!
Hey, you can probably tell if this thing has a subtitle support?
The doc says that you can use "spumux spumux.xml < input.mpg > output.mpg" to add subtitles to your mpg, but it does not really elaborate. Because there is no option to select subtitle numbering or anything, this leads me to believe that the subtitles are burned into the image and not really selectable (on/off) in the DVD player.
Actually, our application for subtitles is to do a vacation DVD from trip to Australia with friends (Dec 2002 Solar Eclipse), with a running text commentary that can be turned on or off from the DVD player...so texts that are hard"burned" into the image are really not what we're looking for..
Can you comment on this?
$60 is pricey? Jesus, man, no wonder so many IT jobs are being offshored
No, $60 is pricey because we're all forced to take cheaper jobs since our last decent paying ones got offshored.
Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
I don't have Mandrake 10 downloaded yet, but according to press releases I have read, they have put DVD writing ability into K3B as of Mandrake 10. I use K3B for all my CD writing on my current Mandrake 9.2 system and I am more than happy with it. If the DVD writing performance is on par with the CD writing in K3B, I'm sure you would like it too :)
RebateFX.com - Spread rebates for Forex traders
mkdvd rocks. It's a handy little script to reencode any mplayer-playble movie into a dvd. Works like a charm.
Very convenient for those those movies that need to be watched on the big screen.
So, as far as I'm informed, DVD menuing is done through a series of altered MPG standards, to include basic flow control.
Could there be some simple way to take a SWF movie (perhaps with a limited set of operations) and compile it down to the same flow control this MPG standard uses? If so, that would seem to be a simple, platform independent way of authoring DVDs.
-mmt
I just want to see the movie, not run through a friggin' obstacle course first. It's so pleasant to remaster DVDs with Ifoedit's "Movie only" option. Stick the resulting DVD into a player and BAM! the movie starts playing right away. Subtitles and audio tracks are easily changed from the remote. I wish all DVDs were like this, and the menu could be accessed through the "menu"-button in the remote, in case you want to see those crappy Making of -commercials and trailers.
--
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, where does the road paved with evil intentions lead to?
If you want to use Linux, and your sources are DV, use Kino CVS. Given that the required programs are installed (mostly ffmpeg, dvdauthor, growisofs) you can export your movie from Kino to a finished DVD (with chapters) in a single step.
While this DVD will not have a menu, you can also export to an non-finished DVD, where all the chapters will be marked up, and you can exit the dvdauthor XML to include menus, etc.
The last point is not as easy as point and click, and will take some time, but if you want to use Linux, I think its the best/easiest solution at the moment.
Disclaimer: I have contributed code to Kino.
As you might have guessed by my .sig i'm a mac user, but you make a very good first point. On behalf of mac users everywhere, sorry.
I went down to my girlfriends art department the other day, and besides showing her the wonders of the network, which it seems art students were not previously aware. (read into this taking files between networked computers on an external hard disc). I had the chance to play around with their copy of DVD studio pro, which was a very nice bit of software to use. It has a nice clean interface and was simple to use for the basic interface that I created in a few minutes. Would be interested to know what people think of it for creating more complex structures. The only downside of this is that now i need enough money to replace my long served original iBook.
MacOS X, I've upped my standards, Up Yours...
Small correction: the mplex program isn't from MPlayer but from mjpegtools.
kino.
I bought an ATA DVD burner largely for data backups and had it direct-attached to my Linux machine. I used it this way for months. I also have a Powerbook G4. At some point, I borrowed an ieee1394 (Firewire) camcorder, and I got iLife so I could make home-movie DVDs. Transferring my home video to the powerbook was a breeze. iMovie was very easy to use for editing the video. I anticipated that I would use iMovie/iDVD to master an ISO that I could scp to the Linux box for burning.
Alas, iDVD claimed it wouldn't even start without the "correct hardware present". I assumed that meant a DVD burner. So I bought a firewire enclosure for the drive, and a ieee1394 card for the linux machine, and I was all set up to share the DVD drive. Except that really, iDVD won't run without an Apple Superdrive present. (The error message didn't tell me that; I had to google for that.")
In the end, I used Kino, dvdauthor, and growisofs to make my first home-DVD. The fact that I bought the ieee1394 enclosure was a waste of money caused by Apple's insistence on iron-fist control.
Sure, iMovie and iDVD are easier and quicker to learn than the open-source tools. But the open source tools wouldn't have caused me to waste time and money buying hardware, and hours editing video with a tool that ultimately I had to abandon (iMovie). It took some doing to learn how to use kino and dvdauthor to do what I wanted. But less time than it took to ship the DVD enclosure and reconfigure all my hardware.
"The simplest solution is to ignore your dead children."
Just get a new Mac. Quit futzing around the computer and focus on the fun stuff, the creative part! :)
If you owned a Power Mac, by this time you'd be making movies.
Author their DVDs by command line!
I use SONY (formerly Sonic Foundry) DVD architect in WinXP as there's no Linux solution I've found yet. A good app that seems to give you pretty much total control over what you need with menu's and everything. Various places to get (..errr PURCHASE - Ed) it I suppose including Bit Torrent *cough*...
It doesnt seem to do AC3 though... maybe it needs a plugin for that.. anyone??
For 'FAIR USE' backups DVDShrink (latest ver will burn using NERO if you have it installed) seems good though 'I have heard' that it won't do The Italian Job (that new-fangled one, not the proper Michael Caine one)
I wonder if those who believe Might Is Right ever wonder if they Might Be Wrong...
Heroine Virtual Ltd. offers one of the most advanced "content creation systems" available, called Cinelerra. It runs on Linux, and it's FREE!! It's not for the faint of heart, but you'll have the power of the big boys.
by the way.. is there a way to burn DVD-R/-RW on a DVD+R/+RW like mine PHILIPS DVDRW416 ??
Why would you need anything more than mkdvdisofs, vi, and a little creative piping and redirection? I'm disappointed in you, sir. Real men put the bits in right where they want them... in the basement of mom's house on a Friday night.
I really hate signatures, but go to my website.
What would make commercial DVDs truly beautiful to me is exactly a lack of cutesy-poo random-walk menu placement and other intrusive malarkey. It sounds like the OS tools are just what I want!
I use mkdvd that with just 1 command will convert any movie that mplayer can play into a DVD ISO image or burn it directly to a DVD. http://freshmeat.net/projects/mkdvd/
Yes, we are all aware of how much better the mac is at dvd authoring, but for various reasons many of us are tied to x86 win/linux world.
/. article very timely).
I have a Mac Powerbook 17" (and an external 200MB firewire drive for extra storage). I am quite familiar with the DVD authoring tools on Mac, but am unwilling to shell out an addition $1000 for the professional version of iDVD (or its similiarly priced competing product). The iMovie and iDVD software that came with my system should be sufficient.
Alas it is not.
I have had the system hang during burns (despite turning off the powersave features that are supposed to be the cause of this), I have successfully burned numerous DVDs only to have them hang during playback on both commercial players and other non-Apple systems.
Far from being a timesaver, I would have been better off sticking with Linux from the beginning for this project. (As an aside, I do not regret buying the powerbook, as I like the apple hardware and plan to install Linux on it when I get the time, and I do like the eye candy. The powerbook is the nicest laptop hardware wise I've seen, and the other Apple software, such as iTunes, is unparalleled.)
Now I am gearing up to attempt the project once again, this time using GNU and Linux software (making this
I like Apple's products, but the Apple zealots and astroturfers are here in force just like their Microsoft equivelents, and they are not shy about modding posts criticial of Apple into oblivion. Even someone who is a fan of their products, and who has recommended their platform to more than one person who wishes to move away from Microsoft and isn't ready for Linux get's silenced if they do not toe the party line, it seems.
In any event, the meme that Apple is superior to Linux for video editing is not born out of my experience, and I am a very experienced engineer and user of Windows, UNIX, Linux, and Apple, so this is not some niave user error. This is buggy software, and for my home videos (taken from a Sony firewire video camera and edited only slightly) it doesn't work very well at all. I have already had better luck with dvgrab and transcode under Linux, and will be trying out the suggestions mentioned in this thread RSN.
So yes, Apple is good. But not that good (unless you pony up even more cash), and the assumption that it is superior to Linux for these sorts of tasks is premature at best, and certainly not a given.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
To the guy that said $60 was "pricey", don't bother reading this. Vegas is expensive. But if you compare the prices of "consumer" MiniDV cameras at around $500 or less, to "prosumer" ones in the thousands, anything under $1000 for DVD authoring should be considered a bargain (IMHO).
:-) But seriously, for what you get, this is an incredible deal, as far as I'm conscerned. And if you're a student, check out Pricewatch for some great Academic version pricing. Even if you had to go with an older version, I'd recommend it.
Check out this review. Now sold by Sony Pictures Digital Media Software, it's originally by Sonic Foundry, makers of some seriously kick-butt audio software. It's under $600, or about $800 if you get the version with the Dolby Certified AC-3 Encoder. Definitely worth checking out.
Now before you all flame me, he did say "prosumer" and that he would consider Windows software. Given those two consideration, I chose to ignore the cost factor
666-607: 6th floor apartment of the beast
Found these tools to be the best both in price and features.
http://www.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tda.html
Some good features:
* auto mpg sound conversion
* full motion menus/buttons
* integrated burning software
* can import ac3 audio files
* cheap
Bad things (might be good, judge for yourself):
* does not encode avi-mpg, need seperate program
* VERY strict on formating of files (no svcd-as-dvd, gop structureing, etc)
* does not convert normal audio to ac3 (needs addon)
* costs money
...
I use idvd for my stuf and its free with my os, oh im sory i use a mac
You left out a whole raft of mid-range consumer and prosumer apps. There are quite a few apps on Windows that will do the job as good as iDVD. I thinkit's a bit much to expect someone that is looking for a low cost alternative to conider Encore, Scenarist or getting a Mac. I suggest that he pick up a copy of Videomaker or Camcorder and Computer Video mag, I have found their articles very informative.
so true.
Just stream it from your harddrive using your XCard :)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
I do use both...but, I find more and more, as I get used to the commandline tools I use more and more..I can do things MUCH faster command line than I could GUI. I find many times, I use the GUI just to have a number of XTerms up at the same time...and so easy to cut and paste between the (highlight with mouse, middle click to paste it)...
I do a lot of database work...and I've grown so impressed with how powerful command line and the ability to pipe the commands together are....I get some pretty crappy data people throw together in excel files...I dump them to a CSV field...and with tools like sed and awk..sometimes perl...I can do quick and dirty manipulations to clean the data (get rid of stupid CR/LF's in text fields)...and get the data in a form to load into Oracle or whatever db.
So...like anything, it takes a little effort, yes..but, the rewards are there. It is analagous of when I started on windows....just using a mouse for everything...then, someone showed me keyboard shortcuts...that helped me start flying through work. The CLI of Linux/Unix is like that type revelation, except it exceeds that one by about 4 levels of magnitude.
So...just a matter of learning a new paradigm. No one is forcing anyone to use Linux over windows...if someone is so inclined to switch...they need to have the will to learn. If someone STARTS out doing more CLI and using a Linux environment...then, it is really no harder to learn that MS stuff...
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
How is this troll labeled insightful?
He subtly attacks Linux. He recommends some Windows software, then says Mac is better. The question was about Linux and if necessary Windows software, there was nothing about computers in general or Macs specifically.
There is nothing overly complex about authoring DVDs. The filesystem is well documented. It is quite possible to do it all manually. Of course you need to spend some time learning to use Linux. Any software package significantly more complex than notepad you will need to learn how to use. As far as wasteing time- either you are doing it once in blue moon and hence it doesn't matter if you spend a bit of time futz around with it or you do it often and learn the steps. If you can't remember the steps you took before then you must be a complete idiot or mentally retarded.
And Linux is not about free (implying gratis), but about Free (implying Freedom). Now that I have finished ranting about trolls, I will added something usefull.
If you want to test it before burning, simple- mount the iso image as a loopback file and fire up Ogle or Xine or Mplayer or VideoLAN or...you get the picture.
Others have already mentioned various authoring packages for Linux- DVDauthor seems to be the highest quality. I haven't had a chance to use these yet as I do not have a dvd burner.
I have used some of the Video editing apps for Linux, and they seem more than sufficent for most people.
If you really insist on Windows software then try Sonic MyDVD. It is very configurable, but I personally hate the interface. It was relatively inexpensive, if I remember right. A bit more limited package, but a nicer interface and much easier to use is Sony's Click to DVD. CTD handles menus only as themes, but comes with a couple dozen themes. It does currently only come bundled with Sony Vaio's. CTD does handle capturing analog video as well if the Vaio has an analgo capture board (Either XP Media Center or GigaPocket).
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
That's exactly what I said, if you actually read my post. I said the software Apple turned into their DVD app originally had a Windows application.
Obviously, turning it into Apple's DVD app involved a hell of a lot of changes.
Also, I'm confused about how you could be confused about me being confused. :)
There isn't really that much involved in setting up a DVD after you've taken care of the movies. So why are there two different DVD burning apps? What's the real difference?
And why three video editing apps?
For Windows-based solutions priced in the $700 range ("prosumer" market), check out the following:
http://www.videoguys.com/RT5.html
Is there a way to convert quicktime movs to mpegs in Linux. I know could buy software to do this in Windows.
Just wondering, coz this would help me convert all my MOVs from my digital camera to VCD/DVDs !!
Sonic MyDVD
BalamGood Howto with scripts.
--Brian
Yes, Dewd, you know, the flap of skin on
an elephant's butt?
I have a blog that covers DVD authoring on Linux. Primarily it is concerned with creating a subtitled DVD from video shot on a digital camcorder. (Hearing loss runs in my family.) It also touches on transcoding, automated menu creation and other peripheral topics. What's different about it is that rather than try to be an authoritative source (which I'm not), I've chronicled my efforts, error messages and all.
Check out software made by Ulead. They need lots of patches but work great.
In this statement, you've revealed quite how little you know about Linux.
I installed Fedora Core 1 last November. I bought my new DVD Burner earlier this year. Did I need to worry about whether the drivers work? Nope. Did I need to install any drivers? Nope.
My new DVD Burner worked with Fedora Core 1 OUT OF THE BOX. Within 10 minutes, I was burning my first DVD. Within an hour, I was using a swish GUI to burn DVDs (K3b, Check It Out).
I'll agree that Linux isn't quite there yet in a number of areas. This is just one area where it excels.
not much support for buttons, animated menus/backgrounds, and all the other things that make commercial
If you want animated backgrounds I suggest you buy a video game.
If you want to write DVDs, I suggest you check out dvdauthor, mpegtools, and dvdrecord.
Well said!!!! To all the annoying Mac iDiots who keep posting about iDvd: I'm happy that your Macs didn't go, like, bee-bee-bee-bee-bee-beep and , like, eat your video files, but you really shoud take your worthless advice elsewhere.
You will find that the windows dvd authoring tools
offered after 2002 all come with some sort of
malware not related to what you want to do with the
dvd recorder that you bought.
Intervideo comes with a web based spy. You have
to internet register and activate your software on
installation or the software will not install. You
agree on pain of non installation that intervideo
and/or its agents and assigns can remotely monitor
all your internet activity AND your computer activity. You might as well take your maching to
them and donate it to them.
Nero burning rom has a very long and onerous
license that includes you requirement to be bound
by other agreements to third party DRM providers
that are not named.....and for you to be required
to accept continual and unnannounced internet
'upgrades' to their DRM applications that will now
reside as a parasite on YOUR machine. Again you
might as well take your machine to redmond and
hand it to them. It will no longer be yours, and
your privacy will be at an end! That is nero
version 6 and above. Vers 5.5 and below is
better, but stupid about DVDs.
"So yes, Apple is good. But not that good (unless you pony up even more cash), and the assumption that it is superior to Linux for these sorts of tasks is premature at best, and certainly not a given."
Well, I think that you're in for an unpleasant surprise. I'm sure that you could author a DVD under Linux if you really work at it, pretty much everyone doing professional video and DVD production is using Mac's. Yes, there are exceptions, and it's possible to do this work under Windows as well, but in general the best, most predictable tools for getting this sort of work done are on the Mac.
As far as DVD-R's that burn but don't play on a DVD player, you should keep in mind that some DVD players won't play DVD-R's, the same way that a few years back some CD players wouldn't play CD-R's, but that has nothing to do with the authoring platform - DVD-R's are optically slightly different from pressed DVD's, and some players can't deal with it. So you might want to check a few different players, and a few different brands of DVD-R's, to see if there's a combination that works more reliably for you. It's a pain, but a symptom of the relative immaturity of the DVD-R market (like CD-R's a few years back). Changing to Linux, etc., won't help with media and reader optics. And DVD+R is less compatible with DVD players, so no joy there.
I don't know what has been causing your problems burning DVD's, as they don't sound typical, but my experience is that using Mac's for this sort of work is far more productive than PC's. Yes, Mac's aren't perfect, but Wintel's are (for this task) less perfect. And trying to cobble together a solution under Linux just sounds like torture unless you're really into doing everything yourself. Linux is great for a lot of things (web servers, render farms, some desktop app's) but video editing is pretty far ahead of the curve.
So if you get it working, as a Linux fan, I'd love to hear about it. IMO, while it's fair to complain that DVD authoring is still a bit immature, my advice would be to tough it out on the platform you've got, since it's better than the alternatives, and make sure that you install all of the OS and app updates and read sites like MacFixIt to see if anyone else is having the problems you're having.
Enable 3D printed prosthetics!