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
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - marcos
How bout using ManDVd?? QDVDAuthor????? should be far easier.
2 - 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 - 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 - 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 - elmeromero
Why don't you do the honest thing and buy the movie?
6 - Steve
Personally I like tovid.
7 - 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 - 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 - Daniel Woolstencroft
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 - 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.
11 - guigouz
Using ffmpeg is much easier for converting the file [altough I don't know of any good frontend for it]
ffmpeg -i file.avi -target ntsc-dvd file.mpg
converts the avi file to mpeg2 and ac3 audio, that easy.
12 - Shlepzig
When I have used dvdstyler, I have had a hard time getting it to burn in NTSC rather than PAL format (which seems to be its default).
Are these instructions for PAL or NTSC?
13 - mike
You rock.
I've worked as a DVD programmer for a while now and have been looking for a linux alternative to the authoring software we use for a while now.
Gratzi
14 - billybunter
"Why don't you do the honest thing and buy the movie?"
Why don't you bother to read the article you comment on before calling people dishonest?
Reprehensible.
15 - billybunter
"Why don't you do the honest thing and buy the movie?"
Why don't you do the right thing, and bother to read the article you comment on before calling people dishonest?
Reprehensible.
16 - Steve Wild
Schlepzig-
The article should work for both PAL and NTSC, although I only use NTSC.
In DVDStyler go to Configuration -> Settings and change Default Menu Format to NTSC. You shouldn't have to touch it after this.
guigouz-
You're right, ffmpeg is easier. People new to Linux tend to shy away from having to use the command line though, even though it's mostly a simple cut and paste rather than having to navigate through menus.
Avidemux does have other features, such as being able to edit the video, that might come in handy, but for a straightforward transcoding like I described ffmpeg would definitely do the trick.
Mike-
Thanks! Check out the manuals and wiki for DVDStyler. I was amazed at how much this free software is capable of, but it may not be a replacement for a professional package. It doesn't hurt to try it out and see though.
And QDVDAuthor, as was suggested earlier, is comparable and is actually more flexible with menu options, such as using graphics for buttons.
17 - Dino Vliet
Ok,
on FreeBSD I managed to install all these two packages (avidemux and dvdstyler) and I managed to append the files in avidemux. I should now read the documentation of these two packages carefully to be able to tweak my dvd creation process.
So I'm on the right track and wanted to thank you again for this nice article!
I'm glad my amd64 system managed to perform on this one too (have a 3gb RAM system).
18 - MacNorth
Steve (Wild) wrote:
"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."
Maybe it's been a while since you last tried tovid... I haven't had any sound sync issues for the last nine months (or more, I don't really remember the last time), and the menus have come a long way as well. See some screenshots on tovid's site:
--MacNorth
19 - Steve Wild
Hi MacNorth- The last version of Tovid I tried is 0.29, which is the latest version as of this writing. Still have sound sync issues, but only with MPEG2 encoded video, not MPEG1.
Yes, the menus are very nice, but you can only use those features in the command line. Tovidgui has only very basic menu creation tools, although I'm sure that will improve with time. Most new users (and many existing users, like me) wouldn't be comfortable having to type in:
todisc -files amateur.mpg caliendo.mpg monkey.mpg poppin.mpg -titles "Amateur" "FranknCaliendo" "CodenMonkey" "KoreannBreakers" -menu-title "A Few Great YouTube Videos" -menu-font SudburyBasin3D -menu-fontsize 31 -title-color '#0010c3' -stroke-color '#90b3ff' -thumb-font SudburyBasin3D -thumb-fontsize 24 -thumb-text-color '#0010c3' -bgaudio poppin.wav -showcase poppin.mpg -showcase-seek 0 -ani-submenus -submenu-titles "Amateur by Lasse Gjertsen" "Frank Caliendo on Letterman" "Code Monkey music video" "Poppin in the streets of Korea" -submenu-title-color '#0010c3' -submenu-stroke-color '#90b3ff' -submenu-audio batida-urbana.mp3 -out GreatYouTubeVideos
to make a menu when you can move around some buttons in a gui.
Although the command line can be a better choice many times, if I'm creating something visual like a menu it makes more sense for me to have a gui.
But again, if it works for you it is a good choice. Tovid was one of the first programs to start making VCD/DVD creation easier on Linux, and it is still improving. I will probably try it again in the future.
20 - Strumming Sam
I would first like to thank you for taking the time to write this short tutorial. It was interesting, to say the least.
For example, I had no idea that there was a resource for public domain movies. OK, I had no idea that movies fell under public domain. I guess that I am a bit naive. Regardless, I think that I will have to make a few firewall rules and unchain the torrent client!
I have my own DVD-editing project: I have several instructional guitar DVDs (legally purchased and owned - for the inquiring minds among us) that drone on and on; burying those gems of visual instruction under an avalanche of mundane chatter.
I hope to rip the movies to my hard drive, cut out the unwanted portions, and burn the desired video back to DVD. Why haven't I done that yet? Well, I have been more than just a little lazy about learning some of the open source DVD editing software.
While your tutorial did not address my project directly, it did renew my curiosity again. So, thank you for a well written, and entertaining article.
Keep up the noble writing,
-Sam
21 - Steve Wild
Strumming Sam- Thank you for the kind words. For the kind of editing you want to do, cutting out parts of a video, Avidemux should do the trick for you as well. You can do simple editing with it. One way to do it would be to rip the DVDs to an MPEG4 .avi file, Acidrip is good for this, edit the file with Avidemux, and re-encode back to DVD using the above how-to.
22 - clavan
Thanks for the article!
I've learned a lot. I'm running Fedora Core 6 and it seems to work fine here.
ps:
I'm looking for converting-program,DIVX to DVD
any sugestion ?
Regards
clavn
23 - rictw
Thanks for the tutorial. Regarding the silly comments about "the honest thing", I am responsible for a public access TV station and one of the issues I have is getting video into the DVD format. For our midnight movies we download from archive.org, and I have been looking for a freeware solution for the DVD burning. Not only because I believe in the freeware model, but because one of my goals is to run our station for as little money as possible.
We already use a linux firewall box, and I have been hunting around for possible linux solutions for this very task!
24 - PaJoe
There are some great public domain movies in mpeg2 format. My favorite so far are His Girl Friday and Topper Returns.
I am currently attempting to burn my own dvd using the above methods. I tried many of the other programs mentioned in the comments but so far have not been happy with the results. My biggest problems seems to be retaining the 5.1 sound and reducing the overall size to fit on the single layer disc.
I liked the tutorial and wished I had bumped into it sooner....
joe
ps: The free, cross platform, VLC will do also an excellent job of transcoding to mpeg 2, but may not be as easy to understand as avidemux
25 - Raymond
Nice program, although I question why with the diaporama it is not possible to add more than 99 photos. Or did I miss something?
Thanks