convert 2 DVDs to 1 / authoring DVDs

John Stumbles · External Since: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 35

Apologies for what is effectively a re-post from another group but I think
there are people here who don't hang out on c.o.l.m

I have a 2 DVD set of a programme which I'd like to condense into a single
DVD. The DVD isn't copy protected (so no DeCSS necessary) (and I even have
permission to do this work Smile

).

I've been using kino for editing DV camcorder videos and which can produce
rudimentary DVDs (no titles, just chapter marks for different sections,
but it would do for what I want. However if I try to import from the
DVD's VOB files it says it's doing so but takes forever and produces
nothing.

A bit of STFW-ing led me to avimerge which seems to read the DVDs and can
export them as an AVI. I then ffmpeg-ed the AVI into a DV fo edit with kino
but found that less than half the programme seems to have made it into the
DV file (though there were no error messages from ffmpeg).

So at this point it's RTFM ... STFW ... nah: ATFE (Ask The Friendly Experts) Smile

.

What Linux tool(s) should I be trying to do this? And for bonus points,
to do it without agony? Wink

And - prolly moon-on-a-stick department I know - are there tools to
properly author DVDs with titles, chapters, menus, graphics etc?

--
John Stumbles

Geoffrey Clements · External Since: Apr 06, 2004 Posts: 226

"John Stumbles" <john.stumbles.RemoveThis@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:742o2qF1146rfU2@mid.individual.net...
> Apologies for what is effectively a re-post from another group but I think
> there are people here who don't hang out on c.o.l.m
>
> I have a 2 DVD set of a programme which I'd like to condense into a single
> DVD. The DVD isn't copy protected (so no DeCSS necessary) (and I even have
> permission to do this work Smile

).
>
> I've been using kino for editing DV camcorder videos and which can produce
> rudimentary DVDs (no titles, just chapter marks for different sections,
> but it would do for what I want. However if I try to import from the
> DVD's VOB files it says it's doing so but takes forever and produces
> nothing.
>
> A bit of STFW-ing led me to avimerge which seems to read the DVDs and can
> export them as an AVI. I then ffmpeg-ed the AVI into a DV fo edit with
> kino
> but found that less than half the programme seems to have made it into the
> DV file (though there were no error messages from ffmpeg).
>
> So at this point it's RTFM ... STFW ... nah: ATFE (Ask The Friendly
> Experts) Smile

.
>
> What Linux tool(s) should I be trying to do this? And for bonus points,
> to do it without agony? Wink

>
> And - prolly moon-on-a-stick department I know - are there tools to
> properly author DVDs with titles, chapters, menus, graphics etc?
>

Do you need to shrink the videos or are you cutting out things you don't
want in order to get onto one DVD?

I've done a bit of DVD work, I tend to use transcode with ffmpeg backend for
converting the video but you don't need to do this as they're already DVD
compliant mpeg2 program streams (I assume).

So all you need to do is extract, cut (or shrink) and then author.

I'm a bit of a command-line junkie (it's my age) so to extract and cut I'd
use transcode - the number of swtches is fiendish but well worth getting
into. To shrink I'd use tcrequant or vamps. tcrequant has been deprecated in
favour of vamps but I still get better results with tcrequant. tcrequant is
in the transcode package which you already have as avimerge is also part of
that package. You can then use mplex to create video with NAV sectors but
this may not be necessary depending on the path you've taken to get to this
point

To author I use qdvdauthor which uses dvdauthor as the backend. qdvdauthor
is being actively developed (by one person I think) and many things do not
work yet so it can be a bit frustrating when you don't know what to avoid
but it works well authoring basic DVDs and I've used it many times.

It helps to understand the structure of a DVD and the sort of things you can
do with menus; there's lots on the web to help you there
(http://dvd.sourceforge.net/dvdinfo/index.html). If you're after one
application to do all the work with no knowledge on your part then you may
be out of luck. I haven't looked for a while but free software is not well
served in this area. However, if you don't mind spending a bit of time
learning then this can pay dividends in the future.

--
Geoff

rich · External Since: Apr 08, 2009 Posts: 4

On Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:38:50 +0000, John Stumbles wrote:

> Apologies for what is effectively a re-post from another group but I
> think there are people here who don't hang out on c.o.l.m
>
> I have a 2 DVD set of a programme which I'd like to condense into a
> single DVD. The DVD isn't copy protected (so no DeCSS necessary) (and I
> even have permission to do this work Smile

).
>
> I've been using kino for editing DV camcorder videos and which can
> produce rudimentary DVDs (no titles, just chapter marks for different
> sections, but it would do for what I want. However if I try to import
> from the DVD's VOB files it says it's doing so but takes forever and
> produces nothing.
>
> A bit of STFW-ing led me to avimerge which seems to read the DVDs and
> can export them as an AVI. I then ffmpeg-ed the AVI into a DV fo edit
> with kino but found that less than half the programme seems to have made
> it into the DV file (though there were no error messages from ffmpeg).
>
> So at this point it's RTFM ... STFW ... nah: ATFE (Ask The Friendly
> Experts) Smile

.
>
> What Linux tool(s) should I be trying to do this? And for bonus points,
> to do it without agony? Wink

>

I do a fair bit of DVD authoring and sadly linux is lagging behind in
these stakes but is catching up, so there is hope yet.

I remember trying Kino and it is a horrible editor. If possible try
kdenlive.

Back to your case. The vobs from the dvd's are in mpeg2 format already so
the last thing you want to do is to re-encode them, which is what
happened with kino, and unfortunately most other applications.

If you have to edit, try Avidemux in copy mode (defaults to this), it
will open vobs directly. When you come to save give a name with a .mpg
extension. The problem with Aviedemux is that it is not frame accurate
so you are stuck with I frames (about every half second).

For authoring, again not much choice, I prefer ManDVD for the menu but
for a reasonably quick learning curve it has to be DeVeDe. It will
import .vob files directly (if you got away without editing), just enable
'all files' when searching. If your project is too big for a single layer
DVD it will re-encode to fit
but
if your files already fit on a DVD, in the files options, open
'advanced', then in the 'misc' tab tick the 'this file is already
dvd....' box. This will stop re-encoding and greatly speed up the process.
The snag with DeVeDe - the menu is very plain and inflexible, otherwise
it works well.

> And - prolly moon-on-a-stick department I know - are there tools to
> properly author DVDs with titles, chapters, menus, graphics etc?

Another one for authoring is DVDstyler, looks promising but as I have
never tried it, can't comment.

best of luck.

--
rich

Tony Houghton · External Since: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 113

On 8 Apr 2009 04:38:50 GMT
John Stumbles <john.stumbles.DeleteThis@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> I have a 2 DVD set of a programme which I'd like to condense into a single
> DVD. The DVD isn't copy protected (so no DeCSS necessary) (and I even have
> permission to do this work Smile

).

[Snip]

> What Linux tool(s) should I be trying to do this? And for bonus points,
> to do it without agony? Wink

>
> And - prolly moon-on-a-stick department I know - are there tools to
> properly author DVDs with titles, chapters, menus, graphics etc?

Extracting the streams with MPlayer is easy:

mplayer -dumpstream -dumpfile file1.vob dvd://

I've tried qdvdauthor, dvdauthor-wizard and maybe one or two others, but
I didn't really like them so one day when I couldn't get qdvdauthor to
import any files I wrote my own dvdauthor front-end called dvdmenu. Its
main feature is that you can choose your own thumbnails for making menu
buttons. It can be found on my website.

--
TH * http://www.realh.co.uk

John Stumbles · External Since: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 35

On Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:26:15 +0100, Tony Houghton wrote:

> mplayer -dumpstream -dumpfile file1.vob dvd://

Thanks (though FWIW I have to say /dev/cdromX rather than dvd:// on my
system)

> I've tried qdvdauthor, dvdauthor-wizard and maybe one or two others, but
> I didn't really like them so one day when I couldn't get qdvdauthor to
> import any files I wrote my own dvdauthor front-end called dvdmenu. Its
> main feature is that you can choose your own thumbnails for making menu
> buttons. It can be found on my website.

I think I'm missing something. I get it that your script produces an mpg
file containing (when I view it with xine -l) buttons corresponding to
whatever buttonXX.png files I place in the directory - that's neat. But
how does that link into generating the XML file (or command line options
or whatever) for dvdauthor?

--
John Stumbles

Things don't like being anthropomorphised.

John Stumbles · External Since: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 35

On Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:01:55 +0000, John Stumbles wrote:

> On Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:26:15 +0100, Tony Houghton wrote:
>
>> mplayer -dumpstream -dumpfile file1.vob dvd://
>
> Thanks (though FWIW I have to say /dev/cdromX rather than dvd:// on my
> system)

Oops, spoke too soon. It seems to produce an ISO file image of the DVD
rather than a VOB of the video contents.

$ file file1.vob
file1.vob: ISO 9660 CD-ROM filesystem data '(DVD title) ...'

However
mplayer /dev/cdrom1
plays the video OK

--
John Stumbles

There's nowt as queer as folk.
Especially other folk.

Tony Houghton · External Since: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 113

On 8 Apr 2009 22:01:55 GMT
John Stumbles <john.stumbles.DeleteThis@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:26:15 +0100, Tony Houghton wrote:
>
> > mplayer -dumpstream -dumpfile file1.vob dvd://
>
> Thanks (though FWIW I have to say /dev/cdromX rather than dvd:// on my
> system)

I've already read in your other post that it didn't do what you wanted
after all, I think what you need is:

-dvd-device /dev/cdromX dvd://

> > I've tried qdvdauthor, dvdauthor-wizard and maybe one or two others, but
> > I didn't really like them so one day when I couldn't get qdvdauthor to
> > import any files I wrote my own dvdauthor front-end called dvdmenu. Its
> > main feature is that you can choose your own thumbnails for making menu
> > buttons. It can be found on my website.
>
> I think I'm missing something. I get it that your script produces an mpg
> file containing (when I view it with xine -l) buttons corresponding to
> whatever buttonXX.png files I place in the directory - that's neat. But
> how does that link into generating the XML file (or command line options
> or whatever) for dvdauthor?

Oops, I forgot it's cruder than I thought, it only generates a menu
file, not an XML file. For the XML I checked what the friendly wizards
spewed out, tweaked it a bit, and ended up with something like this
(change your working directory etc where appropriate):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?>
<dvdauthor dest="/home/tony/demuxed/DVD/">
<vmgm />
<titleset>
<menus>
<audio lang="en" />
<pgc entry="root">
<vob file="/home/tony/demuxed/menu.mpg" pause="2" />
<button>jump title 1;</button>
<button>jump title 2;</button>
</pgc>
</menus>
<titles>
<audio lang="en" />
<pgc>
<vob file="/home/tony/demuxed/title1.vob" chapters="0:0" pause="2" />
<post>call menu entry root;</post>
</pgc>
<pgc>
<vob file="/home/tony/demuxed/title2.vob" chapters="0:0" pause="2" />
<post>call menu entry root;</post>
</pgc>
</titles>
</titleset>
</dvdauthor>

--
TH * http://www.realh.co.uk

John Stumbles · External Since: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 35

On Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:19:55 +0100, Tony Houghton wrote:

> -dvd-device /dev/cdromX dvd://

Yup - does the trick, thanks!

> Oops, I forgot it's cruder than I thought, it only generates a menu

OK, useful enough, just thought I was missing something else.

> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?>
> <dvdauthor dest="/home/tony/demuxed/DVD/">
> <vmgm />
> <titleset>
> <menus>
> <audio lang="en" />
> <pgc entry="root">
> <vob file="/home/tony/demuxed/menu.mpg" pause="2" />

--8<--

OK, I'll try and get my brain round that lot Wink

--
John Stumbles

Pessimists are never disappointed

Tony Houghton · External Since: Jul 22, 2006 Posts: 113

On 9 Apr 2009 07:45:51 GMT
John Stumbles <john.stumbles RemoveThis @ntlworld.com> wrote:

> On Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:19:55 +0100, Tony Houghton wrote:
>
> > <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?>
> > <dvdauthor dest="/home/tony/demuxed/DVD/">
> > <vmgm />
> > <titleset>
> > <menus>
> > <audio lang="en" />
> > <pgc entry="root">
> > <vob file="/home/tony/demuxed/menu.mpg" pause="2" />
>
> --8<--
>
> OK, I'll try and get my brain round that lot Wink

Understanding it is helpful, but not essential. That's served as a
template for every multi-title DVD I've made since writing the script
(for single titles I don't bother with a menu, I just use dvdauthor -t
file.vob and then -T). All you have to do is add or remove <title>
sections as needed.

--
TH * http://www.realh.co.uk

Andy Furniss · External Since: May 12, 2006 Posts: 29

John Stumbles wrote:

> And - prolly moon-on-a-stick department I know - are there tools to
> properly author DVDs with titles, chapters, menus, graphics etc?

Have a look at http://www.tovid.org for some tools/scripts to help with
this sort of thing.

Moog · External Since: Feb 02, 2007 Posts: 181

John Stumbles illuminated uk.comp.os.linux by typing:
> Apologies for what is effectively a re-post from another group but I think
> there are people here who don't hang out on c.o.l.m
>
> I have a 2 DVD set of a programme which I'd like to condense into a single
> DVD. The DVD isn't copy protected (so no DeCSS necessary) (and I even have
> permission to do this work Smile

).
>
> I've been using kino for editing DV camcorder videos and which can produce
> rudimentary DVDs (no titles, just chapter marks for different sections,
> but it would do for what I want. However if I try to import from the
> DVD's VOB files it says it's doing so but takes forever and produces
> nothing.
>
> A bit of STFW-ing led me to avimerge which seems to read the DVDs and can
> export them as an AVI. I then ffmpeg-ed the AVI into a DV fo edit with kino
> but found that less than half the programme seems to have made it into the
> DV file (though there were no error messages from ffmpeg).
>
> So at this point it's RTFM ... STFW ... nah: ATFE (Ask The Friendly Experts) Smile

.
>
> What Linux tool(s) should I be trying to do this? And for bonus points,
> to do it without agony? Wink

>
> And - prolly moon-on-a-stick department I know - are there tools to
> properly author DVDs with titles, chapters, menus, graphics etc?

DeVeDe

Check your distro's repositories.
http://www.rastersoft.com/programas/devede.html

--
So this bloke says to me, "Can I come in your house and talk about your
carpets?" I thought "That's all I need, a Je-hoover's witness".

John Stumbles · External Since: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 35

On Sat, 11 Apr 2009 08:16:47 +0000, Moog wrote:

> DeVeDe

Thanks I did find that one and gave it a go.

As I recall it allowed me to create a DVD but not to author it (divide
material up into titles, chapters etc). So partial victory there.

--
John Stumbles

This message has been rot13 encrypted twice for added security

Moog · External Since: Feb 02, 2007 Posts: 181

John Stumbles illuminated uk.comp.os.linux by typing:
> On Sat, 11 Apr 2009 08:16:47 +0000, Moog wrote:
>
>> DeVeDe
>
> Thanks I did find that one and gave it a go.
>
> As I recall it allowed me to create a DVD but not to author it (divide
> material up into titles, chapters etc). So partial victory there.

You can divide the video into titles on the main application window.
You can set one video file per title.

Chapters are a different thing completely, and I do not need them. I
tend to split my videos in avidemux then drop to dvd using devede.

There is dvdstyler, which seems to include chaptering. Although I
can't tell you how good it is as I'm happy with avidemux and devede.

Again, check your repositories or see here
http://www.dvdstyler.de/

--
I'll tell you what makes my blood boil?...crematoriums