free dvd authoring tool

[adamandhelen]

hmm this looks very interesting. http://www.jltoca.uaivip.com.br/files/dvdauthor-60-win32.zip have just d/l this but only mplex will work with the cygwin i have installed - 1003.22.0.0 - evidently a more upto date cygwin is required. where is this available from?

thanks

[liquid217]

it seems the .6 package is suffering from some compile problems. everytime ive tryed running spumux, it ends with a stackdump. If your wanting to play with dvdauthor, i would stick with 0.5.3 for the moment.

both versions are available here:
https://www.videohelp.com/tools.php?tool=450#comments

[vmesquita287]

You need the latest version of cygwin1.dll, not the complete cygwin. Mplex works because it was compiled using Visual C++.
Looks like the main new feature in dvdauthor 6 is xml for spumux, but according to Compugup, a change have to be made in the source for it to work correctly. I'll contact him to get the modified source.

[]'s
VMesquita

[Compugup]

I sent the modified sources to VMesquita.

Let me know if you still have problems with the new files.

Compugup.

[adamandhelen]

definately got my attention with this suite of tools (thankfully compiled into win32). You may or may not have heard of NuMenu4u - (available at doom9) that automates the recreation of dvd menus from the originals, but with re-encoded video stream. ie significantly reduced file size. Up until i found this post all re-authoring has been achieved with ifoedit, for which I have written an ifoedit_cli control. But being able to avhieve the author from commandline would be a major step forward. My stumbling block with the dvdauthor package is muxing of subpics. Exactly how should this be achieved. At present i use vsrip (vobsub) to demux the subpics which created an idx+sub file. These can easily be converted into bmp in either winsubmux, scenarist, maestro formats with vsconv all at commandline.

also must dvdauthor have an mpg as input or can you specify each elementry stream (m2v + ac3). I have noticed that mplex detection works very well.

thanks for any advice

[adamandhelen]

as an edit:

the button commandtable inside the vob + the rgb table in the ifo is not important because these are transferred afterwards - it is just getting the substream multiplexed at commandline.

btw is there a way to add a button commandtable or specify the vobid?

thanks again

[vmesquita287]

@adamandhelen
I have heard of your tool, but unfortunatelly I still didn't get a chance to use it...
dvdauthor does not support elementary streams, just muxed mpegs. You can mux audio and video using mplex. For subtitles, you can use spumux included in dvdauthor package or submux-dvd. submux-dvd accepts .sub format as produced by MaestroSBT, and spumux has a XML syntax.
You can find some examples here:
http://www.home.zonnet.nl/panteltje/dvd/
http://www.tappin.me.uk/Linux/dvd.html
I guess you can specify what will be in each VTS, titleset and chapter, so as a consequence you can specify the vobid. Each VTS must be created running DVDauthor separatelly. when you specify a path that already contains a VTS, it mux as the next VTS number.

@all
I added all the relevant documentation to the my latest compiled binary, and also added a compiled submux-dvd to the package. I also used the modifications Compugup sent me, Please re-download.

[]'s
VMesquita

[KYUSS]

wow this looks exciting


can't wait for a user friendly version for dummies

[Baldrick]

new dvdauthor 0.6 version out

0.6.1: October 26, 2003
	fix incorrect command length field for menu entries
	move menu entry pgcs to the end of the list to make numbering simpler
	allow jumping/calling to a wider variety of targets
	fix bug in autonavigation
	fix segfault if button is not defined in spumux
	fix stilltime for vobs
	add stilltime for pgc
	reduce libxml2 requirement to 2.5.0

[mats.hogberg]

Oopps! I got a "New post" message, and was presented with a message that (after answering) found to be far from new! Disregard this reply, that's totally irrelevant at this point!
/Mats

[vmesquita287]

Right now I am on the middle of a giant encode, but I'll compile the ner version later and post as soon as I can.

[]'s
VMesquita

[adamandhelen]

thanks vmesquita287 i look forward to your new compiled version

[Baldrick]

Added 0.6.1 win32 compile and liquid217 has made a very basic gui for the 0.5.3 version. Download from here:
https://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=450

[adamandhelen]

basic gui fails to compile if there are no chapter points

[vmesquita287]

Has anyone succeeded in making a menu? I can't mux the subpictures as described in menu.txt, spumux and submux-dvd won't work, and there's no subgen now...
Even if I past over this step, I have no idea of how to author them or map them to the itens in the DVD. The only tutorial I know besides menu.txt is this one:
http://www.tappin.me.uk/Linux/dvd.html

But still I can't get a clue. Anyone can explain this to me or point me to a better tutorial?

[]'s
VMesquita

[Compugup]

Hi VMesquita,

Yes, I got everything working after a debug session with Scott (the DVDauthor author ) that delivered version 6.2.

I hope I can deliver you some examples including some graphical files for the menus this evening, but I first have to document some stuff.
I advise to use 6.2 because the 6.1 version may mess up as soon as you start to use attributes.

For the compile: the only change you need to make is the already known sys time thing if you need mpeg2desc. The rest is fixed by Scott as far as I can see.

Compugup.

[liquid217]

i was able to create a basic menu using version 0.5.3. I have yet to really get into the 0.6.x version. here are the steps i used to create a single menu with 2 buttons.

mplex -f 8 -o wedding.mpg wedding.m2v wedding.ac3
mplex -f 8 -o menu.mpg menu.m2v menu.ac3
mplex -f 8 -o menu.mpg slideshow.m1v slideshow.ac3
submux menu.mpg sub.sub menusubbed.mpg
dvdauthor -o "d:\authoreddir" -m -b 133x430-270x433,vts1.1 -b 420x430-580x433,vts1.2 -f menusubbed.mpg -P -t -f wedding.mpg -i post=fpc -t -f slideshow.mpg -i post=fpc
dvdauthor -o "d:\authoreddir" -T

the sub file is rather simple:
solidimage.bmp 00:00:00.50 99:00:00.00 720 478 0 2 0 0 0 0

as the name implys, my image is practically solid. I used this to create an underline effect in the menu, rather than the process that the menu.txt refers to.

[Compugup]

Good job Liquid!

I like your approach with the 0 0 0 0 transparancy setting, that indeed offers another alternative approach for using solid menu pictures.

Compugup.

[adamandhelen]

grrr
further to my earlier post it seems logical to use the bmp files from vsrip and use the timings from the idx file to create an xml.sub file. Or so i thought. My commandline is:
xml.sub dvd.mpg dvdsub.mpg - this fails to create anything
dvd.mpg xml.sub dvdsub.mpg - this also fails

this is the very simple xml script (xml.sub):

<subpictures>
<stream>
<spu start="00:00:00:00" end="00:00:12:14" image="c:\authortest\muxtest_0001.bmp"
<spu start="00:00:12:15" end="00:00:15:15" image="c:\authortest\muxtest_0002.bmp"
</spu>
</stream>
</subpictures>

i have been trying this with spumux

evidently something is wrong - any ideas.

thanks

[Compugup]

Hi all,

Hereby the DVDAuthor 6.2 XML version of the 2 button menu that Liquid explained for DVDAuthor 5.x:

What you need:
1 The tools: I will supply my working directory with programs, tools and sample templates for upload to the forum.

2 The Menu contents:

General: if you use both NTSC and PAL titles most DVD players prefer then NTSC for the menu.
Make the subpicture files 4 lines shorter (PAL: 720x572, NTSC: 720x476) than normal.
Adjust the frame rate in the example given: PAL 25 and NTSC 29.97
Put text in the JPG file, not in the subpicture files (they look jurky).
Use anti-aliasing with your graphic editor for text, it looks better, if you do it right.

Both PaintshopPro (shareware) and GIMP (freeware) can handle this:
A You need to make two different colored .PNG graphic files out of a button template use 100% black for background with the subpicture XML shown later.
B You need to make a .JPG file for the menu with the buttons blended in and the texts you want to display.

SPUMUX will determine itself where the buttons are located and will encode that in the mpg output

3 The titles, provide two mpeg2 .MPG files (NTSC or PAL, DVDauthor will determine itself what it is) also .VOB files from a DVD work.

4 The SPUmux .XML file:

<subpictures>
  <stream>
    <spu start="00:00:00.0" end="00:00:00.0"
         highlight="PAL_DVD_highlight_menu.png"
         select="PAL_DVD_select_menu.png"
         autooutline="infer"
         transparent="000000"
         autoorder="rows">
    </spu>
  </stream>
</subpictures>

5 The DVDAuthor .XML file:

<dvdauthor dest="test">
  <vmgm>
    <menus>
      <pgc>
        <button> jump title 1; </button>
        <button> jump title 2; </button> 
        <vob file="PAL_DVD_menu_buttons_example.mpg" pause="inf"/>
      </pgc>
    </menus>
  </vmgm>
  <titleset>
    <titles>
      <pgc>
        <post>
          call vmgm menu 1;
        </post>
        <vob file="PAL_DVD_title1.mpg"/>
      </pgc>
    </titles>
  </titleset>
  <titleset>
    <titles>
      <pgc>
        <post>
          call vmgm menu 1;
        </post>
        <vob file="PAL_DVD_title2.mpg"/>
      </pgc>
    </titles>
  </titleset>
</dvdauthor>

6 A sequence of processing this all, following .BAT file as example:

deltree test
jpeg2yuv -n 1 -I t -L 1 -f 25 -j PAL_DVD_menu_example.jpg | mpeg2enc -f 8 -o PAL_DVD_menu_example.m2v
pause
mplex -f 8 -o PAL_DVD_menu_example.mpg PAL_DVD_menu_example.m2v
pause
spumux PAL_DVD_menu.xml <PAL_DVD_menu_example.mpg >PAL_DVD_menu_buttons_example.mpg
pause
dvdauthor -x PAL_DVD_example.xml

Except for the first two lines there should be only one full line above each "pause" statement but the forum editor may split some lines in two lines, you have to paste them in one line again.

This will produce a DVD directory in the subdirectory TEST.

7 Burn the thing with for example ImgTool (freeware)

I never said it was easy! Well in fact it is, if you have everything working.
Once you have, it is a good base to experiment further.

Good luck!
Compugup

[Compugup]

adamandhelen,

Try .XML as extension
Use .00 in stead of :00 for the frame part of the start and end times

But I have some bad news for you: SPUMUX doesn't process .BMP anymore, only .PNG
You can do the same thing with Submux-DVD, look in VMesquita's or Baldrick's posts I uploaded that once to them.

Compugup.

[adamandhelen]

thanks Compugup

It doesn't appear that the win32 compiled submux-dvd has been released
ok so bmp is a no go, there must be a way to convert these to png unless submux-dvd becomes available

is there an irc for this forum

[Compugup]

Adamandhelen,

Look in VMesquita's Oct 23 upload, there you can find DVD-submux!
You can use Gimp (freeware) or PaintshopPro (Shareware) to convert between .png and .bmp

Compugup

[adamandhelen]

I have d/l about every version off this forum except that one! Thanks again

[Baldrick]

You can now download dvdauthor 0.6.2 win32 here. It also includes submux-dvd and mpegtools and some xml and menus samples made by Compugup.

Thanks Compugup!

[bbills]

Hello, I have been poking around this forum for many years now. I rarely post but have learned a ton from you guys, thanks alot.
I am very intrigued by DVDAuthor and have been trying to put together a gui using VB. Everything seems to work OK (one title, no menu...very basic). I can't figure out chapters. When I play the DVD the video stops at each chapter mark. Does anyone have any ideas??

Thanks

[Compugup]

Bbils,

Could you give some more details on how you tried to produce the chapters?

Compugup.

[vmesquita287]

@All
The new compiled DVDAuthor can also be downloaded here (thanks Compugup):
www.jltoca.uaivip.com.br/files/DVDAuthor62_mjpegtools_submux.zip

@Compugup and liquid217
Thanks for menu instructions. I loved the new XML way, looks so simple and powerful! I'll try and post the results.

[]'s
VMesquita

[bbills]

Sorry about that...I first used the GUI from liquid217, and noticed it created a batch that dvdauthor ran from. I wanted something basic (one or two titles, a few chapters no menus) so I decided to try to create an App that created similar batch file. The batch file is listed below.

mkdir "C:\Program Files\GameVisionFootball\Video\Test10"
"C:\Program Files\GameVisionFootball\GVDVDAuthor\mplex" -f 8 -o "C:\Program Files\GameVisionFootball\Video\Test10\title0.mpg" "C:\Program Files\GameVisionFootball\Video\MpegCBR3069-1Mins.m1v" "C:\Program Files\GameVisionFootball\Video\MpegCBR3069-1Mins.mp2"
"C:\Program Files\GameVisionFootball\GVDVDAuthor\dvdauthor" -o "C:\Program Files\GameVisionFootball\Video\Test10" -c 5,34 -f "C:\Program Files\GameVisionFootball\Video\Test10\title0.mpg"
"C:\Program Files\GameVisionFootball\GVDVDAuthor\dvdauthor" -o "C:\Program Files\GameVisionFootball\Video\Test10" -T
erase "C:\Program Files\GameVisionFootball\Video\Test10\title*.mpg"

The chapter points are in seconds and come from a button that grabs the current position of the video. I am new to this and a stumped at why the video freezes at each chapter point. I also tried the GUI from liquid 217 again, added chapter points, the result is the same.

Thanks

[trckjunky]

But I have some bad news for you: SPUMUX doesn't process .BMP anymore, only .PNG
You can do the same thing with Submux-DVD, look in VMesquita's or Baldrick's posts I uploaded that once to them.

spumux can support BMP files if you build it with ImageMagick 5.5.7. in fact, it'll support almost any file format with ImageMagick. if you are authoring DVDs with dvdauthor, you should use spumux instead of submux-dvd, since it will automatically pass color and transparency.