MESSAGE
| DATE | 2007-01-08 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] making dvds with Free Software and other stuff
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http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/01/06/122323.php
In this article, I'm going to tell you how to download a movie, convert
it into a format that your DVD player can read, and then author it.
To do this we will use three pieces of software: a BitTorrent client to
download the movie with, software to do the conversion to MPEG2 format,
a process called transcoding, and authoring software to create the menus
and file structure for the DVD. Technically, you also need a program to
burn it to DVD as well, but the authoring program recommended here will
do that for us.
For a BitTorrent client I use KTorrent. It should be available from your
package manager, or the KTorrent website has packages or the source code
for download. For Ubuntu or Debian users you can use Synaptic or Adept
to install it, or type sudo apt-get install ktorrent from a terminal.
The transcoding software we use will be Avidemux. Again, packages or
the source code are available for download, but your package manager
probably has it available. sudo apt-get install avidemux will do the
trick for Ubuntu or Debian users who don't want to use Synaptic or Adept.
DVD Styler is the authoring software we will use. This one isn't currently
available in the Ubuntu repositories, but the Debian package on the
downloads page here works fine. There is also a package for Fedora Core,
and source code for those who wish to compile. Your package manager may
have this available to make things easier for you.
For Ubuntu Linux users: Dapper users shouldn't need to change anything,
but because I'm running Edgy Eft I did have to change an option in
the settings of DVD Styler because it kept throwing me an error about
"jpegtopnm". To fix this you have to go to Configuration -> Settings,
and in the Core tab change the first line to:
jpegtopnm "$FILE_IN" | ppmtoy4m -n 1 -I t -L $FRAME_RATE -S 420mpeg2 |
mpeg2enc -f 8 -b $BITRATE -o "$FILE_OUT" $VIDEO_NORM
Don't worry, it's not as scary as it looks. Just copy and paste it in,
you don't have to know what it means. I don't.
We are ready to get a movie that we can burn to a DVD. A great source of
free, public domain movies is Public Domain Torrents. For this example
I've chosen to download Night of the Living Dead. It will take a few
hours, perhaps overnight or longer, to download a movie depending on
your connection speed and the size of the movie.
Now that the movie has been downloaded it needs to be transcoded with
Avidemux.
Open the movie, select Auto -> DVD, hit Save, and relax for a couple of
hours while it converts the movie. Have a nap, talk on the phone, go out
for a walk. Or stare at the progress bar for a while. That can be fun too.
Avidemux: Auto -> DVD
When you see the progress bar hit 100% the movie is ready for
authoring. DVD Styler has a lot of abilities, but I won't go over
everything it is capable of doing. There are some excellent manuals and
a wiki to help you get started, but I'll go over the basics.
First thing we are going to do is choose a background for the menu. It
comes with a bunch of backgrounds, but you can import your own if you
like. Click the Backgrounds tab on the left and select the one you want.
DVD Styler Backgrounds
Now select the Directories button on the left and navigate to the
directory you saved the converted movie to. Only valid MPEG2 files will
be available to select. Select your movie.
DVD Styler: Directories
Now let's click the Buttons tab. Drag the "button1" image to the right,
right click it, and select Properties. Since there is only one video on
this disc the only thing we have to change is the button label, and the
font if you wish.
DVD Styler: Buttons
Now you can select File -> Burn DVD from the main menu. Select Burn if
you want to burn a disc right away, or you can Just Generate the file
system or Create ISO Image if you want to burn the DVD with another
program such as K3B.
DVD Styler: Burn DVD
After a few minutes you should be able to watch your shiny new DVD movie.
There are some other great resources for making video DVDs. The Internet
Archive is another great source for public domain movies. Files are
downloaded directly from their servers, so you don't need a bittorrent
client, but sometimes can be slow. The video quality of the movies is
also less, but there are a lot of them.
For authoring DVDs there is also DeVeDe which converts and authors the
DVD, eliminating the need for a program like Avidemux. It is simple
to use and can automatically divide a movie into chapters. It doesn't
create menus though, but is great for quickly making simple movies. On
my system, though, it sometimes creates faint bands across the image.
Tovid is a program that also converts movies and authors DVDs and allows
you to create simple menus. I've had occasional weird issues with the
sound not syncing. I can correct this by fast forwarding through part
of the movie. It may be an issue with my DVD player. Well worth a try.
Do you have other suggestions or questions about making DVDs on Linux? Let
me know by leaving a comment or sending me an email.
Email this • Subscribe to this feed Steve has been a Linux enthusiast
since 2002. His aim is to painlessly show people how to use Linux to
accomplish tasks. Without getting too damn smug and preachy. For the
most part. Keep reading for information and comments on this article,
and add some feedback of your own! Buy from Amazon.com Linux For
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Making DVDs in Linux
Published: January 06, 2007 Type: Opinion Section: Sci/Tech Filed
Under: Sci/Tech: Computers, Sci/Tech: Personal Tech, Sci/Tech:
Software Writer: Steve Wild Steve Wild's BC Writer page Steve Wild's
personal site
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Comments #1 — January 7, 2007 -at- 03:40AM — marcos
How bout using ManDVd?? QDVDAuthor????? should be far easier. #2 —
January 7, 2007 -at- 04:15AM — Steve Wild
There are, of course, many ways of making DVDs. I chose one way that I
felt gave a lot of flexibility while being easy to use.
I find QDVDAuthor to be very similar to DVD Styler in terms of function,
but I thought the layout was a little confusing, especially with many
functions giving a "This feature is not yet implemented" message. It is
definitely not "far easier" than DVD Styler, but it is comparable.
ManDVD is easy and has some nice features, but is not nearly as flexible
in the making of menus.
I felt the process I described was easy enough to follow while being
flexible enough to create a nice DVD menu system. There is also a hidden
advantage in that all the software I describe (except for KTorrent) is
cross-platform, so even Windows users could follow this guide if they
so chose.
The other packages I mentioned, such as Tovid and DeVeDe, are also just
as easy as ManDVD, but are also not very flexible.
#3 — January 7, 2007 -at- 12:41PM — Dino Vliet
Thanks for the article! Iḿ running freebsd and because Ie checked
that all the apps you mentioned are in the ports system, I will try
this method.
However, I do have an additional question. How do you handle movies which
are donloaded in two pieces like ..CD1.avi and .. CD2.avi? How do you
concatenate them first? #4 — January 7, 2007 -at- 13:25PM — Steve Wild
Hi Dino, glad you liked it.
In Avidemux open the first .avi file, then go to File -> Append and select
the next .avi file. Avidemux will then transcode both pieces as one file.
#5 — January 7, 2007 -at- 13:37PM — elmeromero
Why don't you do the honest thing and buy the movie? #6 — January 7,
2007 -at- 13:43PM — Steve
Personally I like tovid. #7 — January 7, 2007 -at- 13:51PM — Diane
Kristine
The article mentions a few places for legal downloads and never mentions
pirating movies illegally. Nothing dishonest about this, elmeromero,
any more than it's dishonest to buy from Movielink.com instead of your
local Blockbuster store. #8 — January 7, 2007 -at- 13:58PM — Steve Wild
elmeromero-
What was dishonest in the article? The websites I linked to use only
public domain movies, the movie I used as an example was public domain,
and many people have videos they need to put on DVD (home movies,
presentations, training videos, etc.)
If you reread the article you will see that I did not encourage or even
mention pirating.
Steve-
I've used Tovid as well, but as I stated in the article it gives me
weird sound sync issues. The menus aren't great on it either, but it is
easy to use. It's a good option if it works for you. #9 — January 7,
2007 -at- 14:43PM — Daniel Woolstencroft [URL]
elmeromero - I take it you're not aware of Night of the Living Dead's
public domain status? More info here.
Another great freebie is The Last Man On Earth.
Steve has done nothing wrong here; in fact, this sort of thing probably
reflects the future quite well. #10 — January 7, 2007 -at- 18:22PM
— r_daneel
The article used public domain movies, the techniques could easliy be
applied to burning custom content. The dishonesty lies... where?
Ignorant knee-jerk reactions aisde, I enjoyed this article because it
mentioned some interesting open-source software I have not yet tried.
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-- http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Interesting Stuff http://www.nylxs.com -
Leadership Development in Free Software
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like
Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world -
RI Safir 1998
http://fairuse.nylxs.com DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS -
RI Safir 2002
"Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"
"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers
to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in
our own society."
"> I'm an engineer. I choose the best tool for the job, politics be
damned.< You must be a stupid engineer then, because politcs and
technology have been attacted at the hip since the 1st dynasty in
Ancient Egypt. I guess you missed that one."
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