I apologize if this has been answered before & I didn't perform a thorough-enough search (I did search). This is my second-ever post (my other being about ISO to VOB conversion--https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/323608-Convert-ISO-to-VOB)
I need a free DVD authoring program. It needs to be able to read VOB files (normal DVD-structure files, with AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS etc), allow menus, specify chapter & title "points" etc. And it needs to be freeware.
I have used TMPGEnc DVD Author for years (an older version from 5 years ago or so) and it works great for me, and I'd be fine for using that--except this is for my job, where they're skin-flints with regards to spending money on software (then why are they upgrading Office 2007 to 2010?). I already have DVD Flick, but it only works for AVI and MPEG4 etc, not VOB--and these are for files that will, ultimately, be in VOB. Otherwise, I'd have to convert all those VOB to AVI and that would REALLY add to the workload. For the record, I also have DVD Decryptor, DVD Shrink and WinFF.
Any tips?
LRH
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Thanks for the tips. I will try tomorrow--if I have any questions about any one I'll search or ask in this thread (or a new one).
LRH -
You'll probably have to demux. Authoring programs need elementary streams (separate audio, video, subs). And the freebie I use (DVDAuthorGUI) accepts only elementary streams. Some will demux themselves internally, but the 3 main free ones won't, I don't think. They'll all fit your other requirements.
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I use GUI for dvdauthor. It provides a more options than the other popular free authoring programs, but is more difficult to learn how to use, and it works best with demultiplexed audio and video.
Rejig is only good for authoring DVDs without menus. -
Tell your boss there isn't anything that you know of.
But if he knows of something, tell him you'll be glad to evaluate it.
Push it back on them. I used to do that all the time.
If it's really an important tasks, then they'll eventually buckle and buy what's needed.
You're wasting your time looking for something that doesn't exist.Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
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DVDAuthorGUI will accept already-authored VOBs (eg output from Muxman). I "think" DVDStyler will also.
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I checked my version of DVDAuthorGUI and it definitely didn't accept VOB input. To make sure, I installed the newest test version, and it did. Thanks for the correction, chowmein.
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On the older releases, you actually had to change the 'files of type' to mpg/vob.
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Oh, even with the older versions it would? But they'd still have to be internally demuxed, right?
While you're here, I have a question. Why, with DVDAuthorGUI authored DVDs, when I open them in PGCEdit to do stuff, do I always get the warning message about multiple sets of menu buttons? I ignore it and go about my business and everything seems fine, but it's a peculiar message I see nowhere else except from DVDAuthorGUI output (unless there really are multiple sets of menu buttons on a DVD). -
Multiple Button Sets (MBS) are normally used to change the characteristics of the button(s) during playback. You can, for example, change a button position, highlight image, or even its command. You can also add a new button after some time. You can change the subpic image at each new VOBU to somewhat animate the button highlights.
The authoring program has to tell the player if a button changes. The "highlight status" (HLI_GI) bits in the nav pack are used for that purpose. It can have 4 values. See offset 0x008d here: http://www.mpucoder.com/DVD/pci_pkt.html
When no button exists in that VOBU, HLI_GI must be 00. When the buttons appear for the first time in the cell, it must be 01. It must also be 01 if some buttons change completely. It must be 11 when only the command of one or several buttons change. And it must be 10 when there are no changes, and therefore when the player can continue to use the button information read in a previous nav pack.
In most menu cells, only the first nav pack that contains button information has an HLI_GI of 01, and the following ones have 10, or 00 if the buttons are removed before the end of the cell.
The menu editor of PgcEdit works currently at the cell level. That means that if you edit a menu button, the edited values will replace the original values in all nav packs with buttons, and there is a risk to lose the original behaviour of the buttons. (However, when you save the DVD, the HLI_GI bits are not modified, so if the MBS were defined because the highlight is animated, the player will continue to display the animated button. But the information that you can edit with PgcEdit will be overwritten, so for example the button position and size will not be animated any more.) It's why PgcEdit checks the HLI_GI bits when it reads the buttons, and warns you if you try to edit a menu with MBS.
I haven't analysed the problem with DVDAuthorGUI, but I suppose that it stores wrong HLI_GI bits in the nav packs. Unfortunately, I have no way to verify if they are correct, and ignore them when it's not the case, as I can't analyse the content of the subpic image, and I cannot guess if the highlights are animated. (However, PgcEdit checks if the commands of the buttons change really when HLI_GI is 11, and ignore the wrong HLI_GI value if it's not the case.)
Putting a wrong value in HLI_GI when it should be 10 is not a really big bug, except that that forces the player to rescan the button information at each new VOBU when it's useless... and that confuses PgcEdit!Last edited by r0lZ; 26th Jul 2010 at 04:01.
r0lZ - PgcEdit homepage Hosted by VideoHelp (Thanks Baldrick)
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It has been available for quite a while. It wasn't until 1.024 that I made it so you don't have to change the 'files of type'. Internally, the GUI will notice that it is already muxed and skip the multiplexing step(mplex, tcmplex, or ffmpeg).
I think r0lZ answered that much better than I could; although, I will add that dvdauthor 0.6.18 has had several improvements, and that may not be an issue any longer. You might try it and see. (That's why I called it a 'test' release ) -
Except I didn't understand a thing he said. But that's OK. I appreciate him taking the time to explain, even if I'm too dense to get it. And I'll test your new release soon. I only got it yesterday to confirm what chowmein had said about DVDAuthorGUI being able to load VOBs. Maybe it won't want to close all the time on me anymore either.
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What do you mean about "Close all the time on me"? No one has reported any problems like that. Could you elaborate? Since this is outside of the scope of this thread, feel free to email me any info on this issue.
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The next time I need to author a DVD with menus (in about a week) I'll take note of the exact message and circumstances and e-mail you. Thanks.
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