free dvd authoring tool

Originally Posted by liquid217

Sakuya has been emailing me and i replied to the "green preview screen" problem, but thought i would post it here as well. Photoshop, when saving at high quality, uses a sampling rate that apparently, jpeg2yuv does not like. The solution, is to simply lower the quality of the jpeg in photoshop, and it will convert nicely. The error that jpeg2yuv throws is:
**ERROR: [jpeg2yuv] Unsupported sampling factors!

I emailed you again. But in case you didn't get it, here's my question. For some reason, lowering the quality of the image worked yesterday. But today, all that shows up is a black screen. I played the M2V file in WMP and all it showed was a black screen. I used Medium quality in Photoshop too. I also tried Low quality and still, a black screen. Why is this?

@Sakuya
The only thing i can think of is that your mpeg2 directshow filters are messed up. To test this, open the .m2v file in virtualdubmod. If it opens and displays the image correctly, your mpeg2 filter is corrupt. I personally recommend using the demo to powerdvd, but you can also use the mpeg2 codec featured on this site.

If it doesn't open in virtualdubmod, then it sounds as if there is something wrong with the jpeg. After trying to convert the m2v from the jpg, goto file...show log (in dvdauthorgui) to see if there was some type of error. If there was, post it here.

@all
A new version of dvdauthorgui is up (0.975) which now includes vob importing support. I have also disabled jumppad, so the dvd is compliant. I may add it back in later on.

Thanks. It worked! And for the chapters, you said the format is HH:MM.SS

The times I acquired in TMPGEnc DVD Authoring are like this:

00:1:48.02

Where do I put the last .02?

Edit:
That's not all, does DVDAuthor allow 1 video track to be DVD-compliant and the other track to be VCD-compliant? They're not joined but separate titles. Also, when I clicked to author, it first multiplexed title 1, then it said to multiplex menu 1, but there are TONS of WARN messages. I can't make out the entire message because it plays back the same message again and again really fast. This is what I managed to make out:

Please remultiplex input.

So...I clicked on the X to quit.

00:01:48.02

is Hours:minuteseconds:frames you can add the 02 to the end.

You can not mix resolutions in a single VTS you need a multi VTS authoring application. DVD Author is multiVTS, but the GUI doesn't have this feature.

You could try to edit the xml yourself.

Originally Posted by disturbed1

You can not mix resolutions in a single VTS you need a multi VTS authoring application. DVD Author is multiVTS, but the GUI doesn't have this feature.

@disturbed1, Do you have a reference to the dvd spec on this? I was under the ussumption that multiple PGCs (with different resolutions) were allowed under the same titleset, provided that they were all NTSC, or all PAL. If you notice when dvdauthor is creating the vob/ifo set, it correctly detects and writes to the ifo the AR, resolution, and fps of each PGC. One of the major points of writing the gui is i want it to be as dvd compliant as possible. (I frequently use 1/2 D1 material, and have tested on many players and haven't seen any problems as of yet).

That's a good question.

It seems like as long as they are the same type (NTSC/PAL) it would be allowed.

I may be mistaken, it could just be different ARs are not allowed, not mixing of 4:3 and 16:9 in the same VTS.

This is from the Scenarist manual

The DVD Specification requires that video content within a single volume be set to the same
parameters for the following options:
• Format (MPEG-1 or MPEG-2)
• TV system (NTSC or PAL)
• Aspect ratio (4:3 Standard or 16:9 Widescreen)
• Frame size (352 x 240 or 720 x 480 for NTSC; 352 x 288 or 720 x 576 for PAL)

and this


Program chains (PGCs) contain the playback characteristics and navigation information for
the disc’s content, determining the order in which tracks are played and how menus are
linked to other menus and tracks. A PGC is required for each menu, video, and still track in
the scenario. All PGCs within the VMG or a VTS must conform to the parameters specified
for that VMG or VTS, such as the video format (NTSC or PAL), type of encoding, and bit rate.

and this


The number of VTSs you will need for a project depends on several factors. If the project
consists of a single large title or several related titles, one VTS may be sufficient. However, if
the project includes several groups of titles, or contains titles authored in a different format
or aspect ratio, multiple VTSs may be required.

Hope that helps.

But I'd check DVD Demystified, and MPUCoder's site to be sure.

After authoring a project, i reviewed the log and I was wrong on dvdauthor writing the attributes on each PGC. However, apparently the VTSM (titleset menu) can be different from the PGCs in the VTS. (my project had a 720x480 menu, and 2 - 352x480 titles). So as long as all the titles are the same, the dvd is compliant. Its odd because in my test runs, i used many different resolutions for the titles (352x240 mpeg1, 720x480 mpeg2, 352x480mpeg2) and they played fine in every player i tried them out on.
When i get some free time (hard to come by anymore), I'll work on multi-VTS support in the gui.

So what is the main cause of my authoring problems? The two titles I have are:

DVD Standard (4:3)
VCD Standard (4:3)

And my menu is 720x480. And the entire project is in NTSC.

Make sure your audio is sampled at 48Khz (dvd standard), and not 44.1Khz (which is standard for vcd).
ffmpeggui or besweet can do this nicely if you haven't

Thanks. Also, for some reason, I can't seem to create an M2V file. I selected the JPG and typed the destination filename and it said M2V was created. But the M2V is nowhere in sight. Might it be because I have TMPGEnc running and am converting a MPEG-2 file to an MPEG-2 file (I needed to change the PAL to NTSC that's why)? I really hope it works after.

Edit:
TMPGEnc finished and the M2V still won't create.

Post your log

file...show log

DVDAuthorGUI .97 - 3/30/2004
*creating m2v still
**ERROR: [jpeg2yuv] /cygdrive/c/Program Files/DVDAuthorGUI/bin/jpeg2yuv: input format string not specified. (Use -j option.)
usage: jpeg2yuv [ options ]

where options are ([] shows the defaults):
-v num verbosity (0,1,2) [1]
-b framenum starting frame number [0]
-f framerate framerate for output stream (fps)
-n numframes number of frames to process [-1 = all]
-j {1}%{2}d{3} Read JPEG frames with the name components as follows:
{1} JPEG filename prefix (e g rendered_ )
{2} Counting placeholder (like in C, printf, eg 06 ))
-I x interlacing mode: p = none/progressive
t = top-field-first
b = bottom-field-first
-L x interleaving mode: 0 = non-interleaved (two successive
fields per JPEG file)
1 = interleaved fields

jpeg2yuv pipes a sequence of JPEG files to stdout,
making the direct encoding of MPEG files possible under mpeg2enc.
Any JPEG format supported by libjpeg can be read.
stdout will be filled with the YUV4MPEG movie data stream,
so be prepared to pipe it on to mpeg2enc or to write it into a file.


examples:
jpeg2yuv -j in_%06d.jpeg -b 100000 > result.yuv
| combines all the available JPEGs that match
in_??????.jpeg, starting with 100000 (in_100000.jpeg,
in_100001.jpeg, etc...) into the uncompressed YUV4MPEG videofile result.yuv
jpeg2yuv -It -L0 -j abc_%04d.jpeg | mpeg2enc -f3 -o out.m2v
| combines all the available JPEGs that match
abc_??????.jpeg, starting with 0000 (abc_0000.jpeg,
abc_0001.jpeg, etc...) and pipes it to mpeg2enc which encodes
an MPEG2-file called out.m2v out of it

**ERROR: [mpeg2enc] Could not read YUV4MPEG2 header: system error (failed read/write)!

Knowing that I could copy and paste the log, I should've copied the log yesterday when the authoring failed. Maybe next time I will do that too if it fails again.

Im not sure honestly. Try looking at the process.bat file that the gui generates. It should say something like:

Code:

jpeg2yuv.exe -n 1 -I t -L 1 -f 29.97 -j input.jpg | mpeg2enc.exe -f 8 -q 1 -b 6000 -o output.m2v

other than that, try redownloading the gui, or check the source jpeg.

When I try to open the PROCESS.BAT file, the DOS window flashes and then disappears before I can read anything.

Edit:
I deleted everything and then redownloaded the RAR file. After I extracted it, it still cannot generate the M2V file even though it said it did.

Have you found out the source of this problem? I already tried DVD-lab PRO and it won't burn for me and DVDauthorGUI is the last program out there to match my needs.

When I try to open the PROCESS.BAT file, the DOS window flashes and then disappears before I can read anything.

A bat file is simply a text file with a list of commands. Just open it in notepad. A small, single line bat file is generated whenever you use the "create m2v still" function.

I deleted everything and then redownloaded the RAR file. After I extracted it, it still cannot generate the M2V file

Sounds like a probem with your source jpeg then. email the jpeg to me at liquid_217@hotmail.com and all look at it for you, and report back here.

even though it said it did.

The gui is stupid has really poor error checking. All it really knows is that the process finished. Better error checking will be in the next release.

Thanks, when I inputed the 720x480 JPG file into DVDAuthorGUI, it outputted as M2V. I'll have to post here again if there is any authoring problems ok? Thanks.

Video problem? I authored but it stops in the middle. I always suspected my video has some errors. How do I check? Does it matter if the M2V is a few seconds shorter in length than the AC3 file?

Edit:
I think I corrected it. Nevermind.

For those keeping score, Sakuya's problem was that the jpeg used for the menu was not the correct resolution, and the gui wasn't reading the resolution size correctly. After resizing the image, the m2v creation worked fine. (And the bug in the gui has been corrected).

ive uploaded 0.976 now, which includes some bug fixes, and a simple editor, which will allow you to customise the dvdauthor xml, before authoring (For those like me who love to tweak things)

I have a question. For your post commands, what's the difference between "call menu" and "exit"? Also, how many chapters does DVDAuthorGUI allow? Last time, I selected 22 chapters but in the middle of the movie, when I click Next on the remote control, nothing happens.

[original post removed by Sakuya]

My problem is solved. But, I am having trouble with the post commands. I have two menus that I use.

Menu 1: Play Movie, Open Menu 2

Menu 2: Play 5 separate video clips, Open Menu 1

In the post commands, I selected all 6 titles (5 video clips and 1 movie) to "call menu" after playing. The movie finishes playing and returns to Menu 1. However, when I access the video clips, after they finish playing, they go to Menu 1 instead of Menu 2. I want the Menu 2 to appear after the video clip finishes playing so I can then select another video clip to watch. There's no option to "call menu #2" in Post Commands. Will future versions have this?

It has come to my attention that some users believe that the dvdauthorgui package contains spyware. I would like to comment on this. The binary named "gm.exe" is by no means spyware. In fact, it is a program called "graphicmagick" a completely opensource graphics manipulation tool (based on imagemagick), which can be found here. http://www.graphicsmagick.org/ . I personally took the available sourcecode, and compiled the binary with mingw/msys. I know very little C, but im fairly sure, if you look through that sourcecode, you won't find any instances of spyware activity. AS those who have used the gui know, the gui generates a simple batch file which executes the tools as needed. This "process.bat" file clearly shows how graphicmagick is used in the gui. (One reason for using the bat file was i wanted dvdauthorgui to be self documenting, so that users could see what is going on "behind the scenes".) I encourage other users to compile the sourcecode themselves and compare the binaries to ensure that i am speaking the truth.

edit: I just downloaded spysweeper to see if it is searching for a pattern in the binary, or if it is just reading the filename. To test this, i renamed gm.exe to graphicsmagick.exe. It detected gm.exe as "adware" but "graphicsmagick.exe" it did not. (which means spysweeper is searching the filename, and not actually looking in the binary.)

@Sakuya, its very hard for me to read your posts when you edit them frequently. To answer your latest question, i will probably not add jumppad support back in (at least not for a while). You can still edit the xml manually to achieve the same effect. simply add jumppad="yes" to the end of the <dvdauthor> tab on the first line. like this:
<dvdauthor dest="c:\the\path\you\selectedpreviously" jumppad="yes">
Then just modify the post command to "call menu 2".
refer to http://dvdauthor.sourceforge.net/doc/dvdauthor.html for more information on editing the xml

The reason i removed jumppad support is because some of the dvds it created were not fully compatible, so i will need to read up a little more before i add it back in.

Thanks. At other forums I go to, they do not allow double posts so I didn't want to get in trouble here, so I just edit my messages if the previous message is no longer needed. Thanks for the XML help!

Yet another GUI for dvdauthor...

If someone is interested, you may find it here:
http://www.boraxsoft.de/GUI_DVDauthor_eng_01.shtml

It supports multi VTS, movie screenshots and is simple to use (at least I hope so). I haven't tested it with ntsc material, as I don't have any...

Greetings from germany,
Borax

P.S. Special thanks to Compugup for the compilation of dvdauthor 0.6.10!

@MadMovieBuff
I would be very interested in your recompiled version of spumux. I have no knowledge of C and no compiler either...

It's nearly one week 'online' now. Still no comments, problems, suggestions?

If I should have annoyed someone or broken any forum rules, then I am sorry.

Nevertheless I have a new version:
Version 0.02 includes the following bugfixes/new functions:
- In the "add image" dialog it was not possible to change the drive/path: fixed
- If a "Create DVD" is (again) done, you will be asked if the folder VIDEO_TS should be deleted
- If titlesets (multi VTS) are used, you may select if the chapter menu will be shown first ("Show menu") or start the movie directly ("Play movie"). Further you may select to jump either to the main menu or to the chaptermenu ("Titleset menu") after the movie
- For the calculation of the "TotalSize" a mux overhead of 8% is assumed

Thank you very much for this GUI. I tried it once, but probably made some mistakes, as the menu didn't work as I wanted - the text didn't change colors for highlight or activation. I will try once again, but currently I haven't files for authoring ready.
Otherwise it is very promissing, and I really like the gui appearance. So keep the good work!

Thanks for your answer! Have you used PAL or NTSC? I still got no comments for the NTSC support.
Concerning your highlight color problem: Maybe it is just because I used too much transparence in the default settings of my first version. Try to set the transparence values to 20% max. for the next try. If you are used to regedit, just delete the complete key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\DVDAuthorGUI
And then use the update described here: http://www.boraxsoft.de/GUI_DVDauthor_eng_01.shtml