YEDWQTRX6XWV postproc is designed to do simple post-processing on MPEG video files, such as those generated by tovid. It can adjust audio/video sync, and re-quantize (shrink) without re-encoding.
Usage
postproc [OPTIONS] IN_FILE OUT_FILE
Options
-audiodelay NUM
Delay the audio stream by NUM milliseconds. Use this if your final output has audio that is not synced with the video. For example, if the audio comes 2 seconds sooner than the video, use "-audiodelay 2000". Use a negative number for audio that comes later than the video.
-normalize
Analyze the audio stream and then normalize the volume of the audio. This is useful if the audio is too quiet or too loud, or you want to make volume consistent for a bunch of videos. Similar to running normalize without any parameters. The default is -12dB average level with 0dB gain.
-amplitude NUM[dB]
In addition to analyzing and normalizing, apply the gain to the audio such that the 'average' (RMS) sound level is NUM. Valid values range 0.0 - 1.0, with 0.0 being silent and 1.0 being full scale. Use NUMdB for a decibel gain below full scale (the default without -amplitude is -12dB).
-shrink NUM
Shrink the video stream by a factor of NUM. May be a decimal value. A value of 1.0 means the video will be the same size; larger values cause more reduction in size. Beyond 2.0, the returns are diminishing.
-parallel
Run all processes in parallel and pipe into multiplexer, should increase speed significantly.
-debug
Save output in a temporary file, for later viewing if something goes wrong.
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Makexml
makexml generates XML output describing an (S)VCD or DVD file structure and navigation hierarchy in the format expected by dvdauthor or vcdimager
Usage
makexml [OPTIONS] VIDEOS -out OUTFILE
For example:
$ makexml -menu MainMenu.mpg \
Season1.mpg Season2.mpg Featurettes.mpg \
-out MyDisc
OPTIONS is anything from the Options section below.
VIDEOS may be any of the following:
List of one or more video files to include, separated by spaces. At minimum, a DVD must have one video file. You can use shell wildcards (i.e., "*.mpg") to include multiple files easily. Put filenames in quotes if they have spaces in them.
-menu VIDEO
Use video file VIDEO as a menu from which you can jump to each of the listed video files. If you have multiple menus, include a top menu so they are reachable.
-slides
Create a slide-show of still images
OUT_PREFIX is the file that will receive the resulting XML.
Options
-dvd (default)
Generate the XML for a DVD disc, to be used with dvdauthor or makedvd.
-vcd
Generate the XML for a VCD disc, to be used with vcdxbuild or makevcd.
-svcd
Generate the XML for an SVCD disc, to be used with vcdxbuild or makevcd.
-overwrite
Overwrite any existing output files.
-quiet
Limit output to essential messages.
DVD-only options
-group -endgroup
(DVD only) List of video files to include as one single title. This is useful if you have split a movie into several video files.
-topmenu VIDEO [-menu VIDEO] [-menu VIDEO ]...
(DVD only) Use video file VIDEO for the top-level (VMGM) menu. The top menu will jump to each of the subsequent [-menu...] videos listed.
Use this only if you have multiple sub-menus to jump to. You can only have one top menu.
-titlesets
(DVD only) Forces the creation of a separate titleset per title. This is useful if the titles of a DVD have different video formats, e.g. PAL + NTSC or 4:3 + 16:9. If used with menus, there must be a -topmenu option that specifies a menu file with an entry for each of the titlesets.
-chapters INTERVAL
(DVD only) Creates a chapter every INTERVAL minutes (default 5 minutes: without -chapters, each movie will be divided into 5-minute chapters). This option can be put at any position in a and is valid for all subsequent titles until a new -chapters option is encountered. Using this option may take some time, since the duration of the video is calculated.
-nochapters
(DVD only) Don't create chapters for the videos.
Usage notes
makexml checks to make sure the video filenames you give it exist, but it does not check whether they are valid for the chosen disc format. MPEG videos of menus should have the specified number of buttons for reaching each of the videos, and, if you're using DVD, should be multiplexed with their corresponding subtitles using spumux of the dvdauthor 0.6.0 package prior to authoring using dvdauthor. If you use the makemenu component to generate the menu, this should all be handled for you.
Examples
Make a DVD without a menu. Title 1, 2, and 3 will play in sequence:
makexml -dvd \
title-1.mpg title-2.mpg title-3.mpg \
-out My_DVD
Group the file chapter-1|2|3.mpg into one title and make a DVD without a menu:
makexml -dvd \
-group
chapter-1.mpg \
chapter-2.mpg \
chapter-3.mpg \
-endgroup \
-out My_DVD
Make a DVD with a main menu that points to two movies, with movie-1.mpg divided into 3-minute chapters, and movie-2.mpg into 10-minute chapters:
makexml -dvd \
-menu main_menu.mpg \
-chapters 3 movie-1.mpg \
-chapters 10 movie-2.mpg \
-out My_DVD
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Usage
makexml [OPTIONS] VIDEOS -out OUTFILE
For example:
$ makexml -menu MainMenu.mpg \
Season1.mpg Season2.mpg Featurettes.mpg \
-out MyDisc
OPTIONS is anything from the Options section below.
VIDEOS may be any of the following:
List of one or more video files to include, separated by spaces. At minimum, a DVD must have one video file. You can use shell wildcards (i.e., "*.mpg") to include multiple files easily. Put filenames in quotes if they have spaces in them.
-menu VIDEO
Use video file VIDEO as a menu from which you can jump to each of the listed video files. If you have multiple menus, include a top menu so they are reachable.
-slides
Create a slide-show of still images
OUT_PREFIX is the file that will receive the resulting XML.
Options
-dvd (default)
Generate the XML for a DVD disc, to be used with dvdauthor or makedvd.
-vcd
Generate the XML for a VCD disc, to be used with vcdxbuild or makevcd.
-svcd
Generate the XML for an SVCD disc, to be used with vcdxbuild or makevcd.
-overwrite
Overwrite any existing output files.
-quiet
Limit output to essential messages.
DVD-only options
-group
(DVD only) List of video files to include as one single title. This is useful if you have split a movie into several video files.
-topmenu VIDEO [-menu VIDEO
(DVD only) Use video file VIDEO for the top-level (VMGM) menu. The top menu will jump to each of the subsequent [-menu...] videos listed.
Use this only if you have multiple sub-menus to jump to. You can only have one top menu.
-titlesets
(DVD only) Forces the creation of a separate titleset per title. This is useful if the titles of a DVD have different video formats, e.g. PAL + NTSC or 4:3 + 16:9. If used with menus, there must be a -topmenu option that specifies a menu file with an entry for each of the titlesets.
-chapters INTERVAL
(DVD only) Creates a chapter every INTERVAL minutes (default 5 minutes: without -chapters, each movie will be divided into 5-minute chapters). This option can be put at any position in a
-nochapters
(DVD only) Don't create chapters for the videos.
Usage notes
makexml checks to make sure the video filenames you give it exist, but it does not check whether they are valid for the chosen disc format. MPEG videos of menus should have the specified number of buttons for reaching each of the videos, and, if you're using DVD, should be multiplexed with their corresponding subtitles using spumux of the dvdauthor 0.6.0 package prior to authoring using dvdauthor. If you use the makemenu component to generate the menu, this should all be handled for you.
Examples
Make a DVD without a menu. Title 1, 2, and 3 will play in sequence:
makexml -dvd \
title-1.mpg title-2.mpg title-3.mpg \
-out My_DVD
Group the file chapter-1|2|3.mpg into one title and make a DVD without a menu:
makexml -dvd \
-group
chapter-1.mpg \
chapter-2.mpg \
chapter-3.mpg \
-endgroup \
-out My_DVD
Make a DVD with a main menu that points to two movies, with movie-1.mpg divided into 3-minute chapters, and movie-2.mpg into 10-minute chapters:
makexml -dvd \
-menu main_menu.mpg \
-chapters 3 movie-1.mpg \
-chapters 10 movie-2.mpg \
-out My_DVD
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
Makeslides
makeslides converts images into still-frame MPEG video for (S)VCD.
Usage
makeslides [OPTIONS] IMAGES
Options
-ntsc (default)
Generate NTSC (704x480) output
-pal
Generate PAL (704x576) output
-verbose
Print extra output from subprocesses
IMAGES is a single image or list of images to be converted to still MPEGs. The output names will be the same as the input name, with a .mpg extension.
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Usage
makeslides [OPTIONS] IMAGES
Options
-ntsc (default)
Generate NTSC (704x480) output
-pal
Generate PAL (704x576) output
-verbose
Print extra output from subprocesses
IMAGES is a single image or list of images to be converted to still MPEGs. The output names will be the same as the input name, with a .mpg extension.
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Makemenu
makemenu generates (S)VCD- or DVD-compliant MPEG videos for use as navigational menus, given a list of text strings to use for title names. You can customize the menu by providing an optional background image or audio clip, or by using custom font and font color.
Usage
makemenu [OPTIONS] TITLES -out OUT_PREFIX
For example:
$ makemenu \
"Season One" "Season Two" "Featurettes" \
-out MainMenu``
Options
ntsc (default)
Generate an NTSC-format menu
-ntscfilm
Generate an NTSC-format menu (24000/1001fps)
-pal
Generate a PAL-format menu
-dvd (default)
Generate a DVD-format menu, with highlighted text included as a multiplexed subtitle stream.
-vcd, -svcd
Generate a VCD/SVCD menu; each menu option will have a number associated with it. You can have up to nine menu options per menu.
Menu background/audio options:
-background IMAGE
Use IMAGE (in most any graphic format) as a background. If image is not the correct aspect ratio (4:3), it will be scaled and/or cropped, depending on the -crop and -scale options. If no background is supplied, a default background will be created.
-crop (default)
If provided background image is not 4:3 aspect ratio, crop edges to make it so. Image will be scaled up if it is too small. Cropping keeps the center area of image. If you want to do cropping/scaling yourself in another program, provide an image of 768x576 pixels.
-scale
If provided background image is not 4:3 aspect ratio, scale/stretch it to make it fit. May cause visible distortion!
-audio AUDIOFILE
Use AUDIOFILE (in most any audio format) for background music. The menu will play for long enough to hear the whole audio clip. If one is not provided, 4 seconds of silence will be used.
-length NUM
Make the menu NUM seconds long. Useful for menus with -audio. If you don't want the entire AUDIOFILE in the menu, then you can trim the length of the menu with -length.
Menu text options:
-menu-title "MENU TITLE TEXT"
Add MENU TITLE TEXT as a title/header to the menu.
-font FONTNAME (default Helvetica)
Use FONTNAME for the menu text. Run 'convert -list type' to see a list of the fonts that you can use; choose a font name from the leftmost column that is displayed. Or you can specify a ttf font file instead, e.g. '-font /path/to/myfont.ttf'.
-fontsize NUM (default 24)
Sets the size for the font to NUM pixels.
-menu-title-fontsize NUM (default -fontsize + 8)
Sets the size of the menu title.
-fontdeco FONTDECORATION
Sets the font decoration method to FONTDECORATION. It is used by the 'convert' ImageMagick command to draw the menu text. You can add colored text outlines, gradient fills, and many others. See Usage notes.
-align {left|center|middle|right}
Align the text at the top left, top center, very middle, or top right side of the screen. You may also substitute any "gravity" keyword allowed by ImageMagick (north|south|east|west|northeast|southwest|...).
-textcolor {#RRGGBB|#RGB|COLORNAME}
Use specified color for menu text. #RRGGBB and #RGB are hexadecimal triplets (e.g., #FF8035). COLORNAME may be any of several hundred named colors; run 'convert -list color' to see them. White (#FFF) is the default color.
DVD-only options:
-button BUTTON (default '>')
Specify the button used for menu selection. Specify either a single character or one of the shortcuts:
play
Use a button shaped like 'Play' on many A/V electronics: a triangle pointing to the right. (uses the font Webdings)
movie
Use a button shaped like an old movie projector. (uses the font Webdings)
utf8
Use your own non-keyboard character as a button. Provide only the four hex digits: eg '-button utf8 00b7'. Beware that ImageMagick's utf8 characters aren't the same as those drawn in character browsers like gucharmap.
-highlightcolor {#RRGGBB|#RGB|COLORNAME}
Use the specified color for button highlighting. Yellow (#FF0) is the default color.
-selectcolor {#RRGGBB|#RGB|COLORNAME}
Use the specified color for button selections (when a menu item is played or activated). Red (#F00) is the default color.
-button-outline {#RRGGBB|#RGB|COLORNAME}
Outline buttons with the specified color. 'none' is the default.
-button-font FONTNAME
Specify a differnt font to use for the buttons. By default, the button font will be inherited from the title font (see -font). Use this option to use a different font for the buttons. The button font size is inherited from -fontsize and cannot be changed.
Other options:
-debug
Print extra debugging information to the log file. Useful in diagnosing problems if they occur. This option also leaves the log file (with a .log extension) in the directory after encoding finishes as well as all the temporary files created.
-nosafearea
Do not attempt to put text inside a TV-safe viewing area. Most television sets cut off about 10% of the image border, so the script automatically leaves a substantial margin. This option turns that behavior off, leaving only a tiny margin. Use at your own risk.
-overwrite
Overwrite any existing output menu.
-noask
Don't ask interactive questions, and assume answers that will continue making the menu until completion.
-quiet
Limit output to essential messages.
If the word "back" is given as an episode title, a "back" button for returning to a higher-level menu will be added at the end of the list of titles. "
Examples
Make an NTSC VCD menu with white Helvetica text containing three centered selections: Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3. The finished menu will be called Season-1.mpg:
makemenu -ntsc -vcd -align center \
-textcolor white -font "Helvetica" \
"Episode 1" "Episode 2" "Episode 3" \
-out "Season-1"
Make an NTSC DVD menu with white Kirsty text containing three lower-left aligned selections: Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3. Items under the cursor will be highlighted a pale blue, and selected items will be a pale orange (before going to the selected title). The finished menu will be called Main-menu.mpg:
makemenu -ntsc -dvd -align southwest \
-textcolor white -highlightcolor "#5f65ff" \
-selectcolor "#ffac5f" -font "Kirsty" \
"Episode 1" "Episode 2" "Episode 3" \
-out "Main_menu"``
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Usage
makemenu [OPTIONS] TITLES -out OUT_PREFIX
For example:
$ makemenu \
"Season One" "Season Two" "Featurettes" \
-out MainMenu``
Options
ntsc (default)
Generate an NTSC-format menu
-ntscfilm
Generate an NTSC-format menu (24000/1001fps)
-pal
Generate a PAL-format menu
-dvd (default)
Generate a DVD-format menu, with highlighted text included as a multiplexed subtitle stream.
-vcd, -svcd
Generate a VCD/SVCD menu; each menu option will have a number associated with it. You can have up to nine menu options per menu.
Menu background/audio options:
-background IMAGE
Use IMAGE (in most any graphic format) as a background. If image is not the correct aspect ratio (4:3), it will be scaled and/or cropped, depending on the -crop and -scale options. If no background is supplied, a default background will be created.
-crop (default)
If provided background image is not 4:3 aspect ratio, crop edges to make it so. Image will be scaled up if it is too small. Cropping keeps the center area of image. If you want to do cropping/scaling yourself in another program, provide an image of 768x576 pixels.
-scale
If provided background image is not 4:3 aspect ratio, scale/stretch it to make it fit. May cause visible distortion!
-audio AUDIOFILE
Use AUDIOFILE (in most any audio format) for background music. The menu will play for long enough to hear the whole audio clip. If one is not provided, 4 seconds of silence will be used.
-length NUM
Make the menu NUM seconds long. Useful for menus with -audio. If you don't want the entire AUDIOFILE in the menu, then you can trim the length of the menu with -length.
Menu text options:
-menu-title "MENU TITLE TEXT"
Add MENU TITLE TEXT as a title/header to the menu.
-font FONTNAME (default Helvetica)
Use FONTNAME for the menu text. Run 'convert -list type' to see a list of the fonts that you can use; choose a font name from the leftmost column that is displayed. Or you can specify a ttf font file instead, e.g. '-font /path/to/myfont.ttf'.
-fontsize NUM (default 24)
Sets the size for the font to NUM pixels.
-menu-title-fontsize NUM (default -fontsize + 8)
Sets the size of the menu title.
-fontdeco FONTDECORATION
Sets the font decoration method to FONTDECORATION. It is used by the 'convert' ImageMagick command to draw the menu text. You can add colored text outlines, gradient fills, and many others. See Usage notes.
-align {left|center|middle|right}
Align the text at the top left, top center, very middle, or top right side of the screen. You may also substitute any "gravity" keyword allowed by ImageMagick (north|south|east|west|northeast|southwest|...).
-textcolor {#RRGGBB|#RGB|COLORNAME}
Use specified color for menu text. #RRGGBB and #RGB are hexadecimal triplets (e.g., #FF8035). COLORNAME may be any of several hundred named colors; run 'convert -list color' to see them. White (#FFF) is the default color.
DVD-only options:
-button BUTTON (default '>')
Specify the button used for menu selection. Specify either a single character or one of the shortcuts:
play
Use a button shaped like 'Play' on many A/V electronics: a triangle pointing to the right. (uses the font Webdings)
movie
Use a button shaped like an old movie projector. (uses the font Webdings)
utf8
Use your own non-keyboard character as a button. Provide only the four hex digits: eg '-button utf8 00b7'. Beware that ImageMagick's utf8 characters aren't the same as those drawn in character browsers like gucharmap.
-highlightcolor {#RRGGBB|#RGB|COLORNAME}
Use the specified color for button highlighting. Yellow (#FF0) is the default color.
-selectcolor {#RRGGBB|#RGB|COLORNAME}
Use the specified color for button selections (when a menu item is played or activated). Red (#F00) is the default color.
-button-outline {#RRGGBB|#RGB|COLORNAME}
Outline buttons with the specified color. 'none' is the default.
-button-font FONTNAME
Specify a differnt font to use for the buttons. By default, the button font will be inherited from the title font (see -font). Use this option to use a different font for the buttons. The button font size is inherited from -fontsize and cannot be changed.
Other options:
-debug
Print extra debugging information to the log file. Useful in diagnosing problems if they occur. This option also leaves the log file (with a .log extension) in the directory after encoding finishes as well as all the temporary files created.
-nosafearea
Do not attempt to put text inside a TV-safe viewing area. Most television sets cut off about 10% of the image border, so the script automatically leaves a substantial margin. This option turns that behavior off, leaving only a tiny margin. Use at your own risk.
-overwrite
Overwrite any existing output menu.
-noask
Don't ask interactive questions, and assume answers that will continue making the menu until completion.
-quiet
Limit output to essential messages.
If the word "back" is given as an episode title, a "back" button for returning to a higher-level menu will be added at the end of the list of titles. "
Examples
Make an NTSC VCD menu with white Helvetica text containing three centered selections: Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3. The finished menu will be called Season-1.mpg:
makemenu -ntsc -vcd -align center \
-textcolor white -font "Helvetica" \
"Episode 1" "Episode 2" "Episode 3" \
-out "Season-1"
Make an NTSC DVD menu with white Kirsty text containing three lower-left aligned selections: Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3. Items under the cursor will be highlighted a pale blue, and selected items will be a pale orange (before going to the selected title). The finished menu will be called Main-menu.mpg:
makemenu -ntsc -dvd -align southwest \
-textcolor white -highlightcolor "#5f65ff" \
-selectcolor "#ffac5f" -font "Kirsty" \
"Episode 1" "Episode 2" "Episode 3" \
-out "Main_menu"``
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Makedvd
makedvd takes a dvdauthor XML file (as generated by makexml) and authors a DVD filesytem. makedvd can also burn a DVD disc from either the XML file or from an existing DVD filesystem.
To ensure that this script successfully executes, please run it from a directory with plenty of free space. "Plenty" would be 10 GB for single-layer discs, and 20 GB for dual-layer discs. Running this program may slow down your other applications, due to intense disk activity.
Usage
makedvd [OPTIONS] FILE.xml or DVD_DIR
For example:
$ makedvd -burn MyDisc.xml
$ makedvd -burn /path/to/DVD/directory
Options
-author
Author the DVD described by FILE.xml. Overwrites an existing directory containing the dvdauthor output if already present.
-burn
Burn a DVD filesystem in DVD_DIR (must contain a VIDEO_TS folder).
-device DEVICE (default /dev/dvdrw)
Burn the disc image to DEVICE, the Linux device filesystem name of your DVD-recorder. Common examples might be /dev/dvdrw, /dev/scd1, and /dev/hdc. You can also use a bus/id/lun triple such as ATAPI:0,1,0
-speed NUM (default 1)
Burn disc at speed NUM.
-label DISC_LABEL
Uses DISC_LABEL as the volume ID. This appears as the mount name of the disc on some computer platforms. Must be <=32 alphanumeric digits without spaces.
-quiet
Limit output to essential messages.
-noask
Don't ask interactive questions and assume answers that will continue execution.
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
To ensure that this script successfully executes, please run it from a directory with plenty of free space. "Plenty" would be 10 GB for single-layer discs, and 20 GB for dual-layer discs. Running this program may slow down your other applications, due to intense disk activity.
Usage
makedvd [OPTIONS] FILE.xml or DVD_DIR
For example:
$ makedvd -burn MyDisc.xml
$ makedvd -burn /path/to/DVD/directory
Options
-author
Author the DVD described by FILE.xml. Overwrites an existing directory containing the dvdauthor output if already present.
-burn
Burn a DVD filesystem in DVD_DIR (must contain a VIDEO_TS folder).
-device DEVICE (default /dev/dvdrw)
Burn the disc image to DEVICE, the Linux device filesystem name of your DVD-recorder. Common examples might be /dev/dvdrw, /dev/scd1, and /dev/hdc. You can also use a bus/id/lun triple such as ATAPI:0,1,0
-speed NUM (default 1)
Burn disc at speed NUM.
-label DISC_LABEL
Uses DISC_LABEL as the volume ID. This appears as the mount name of the disc on some computer platforms. Must be <=32 alphanumeric digits without spaces.
-quiet
Limit output to essential messages.
-noask
Don't ask interactive questions and assume answers that will continue execution.
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Idvid
idvid identifies each multimedia video file in a list, and reports its compliance with video disc standards such as VCD, SVCD, and DVD
Usage
idvid [OPTIONS] VIDEO_FILE(s)
For example:
idvid foo.avi
idvid -tabluar videos/*.mpg
Options
Print extra information from mplayer, tcprobe, and ffmpeg.
-fast
Don't do lengthy play-time estimation; report length as reported by mplayer (possibly inaccurate). Results in faster execution.
-tabular
Display output in a table format for easier comparison. Most useful when identifying multiple video files.
-isformat [vcd|svcd|dvd]
Check VIDEO_FILE for compliance with the given disc format. If VIDEO_FILE matches the given format, then idvid reports "true" and exits successfully. Otherwise, idvid reports "false" and exits with status 1 (failure).
-istvsys [ntsc|pal]
Check VIDEO_FILE for compliance with the given TV system. If VIDEO_FILE matches the given TV system, then idvid reports "true" and exits successfully. Otherwise, idvid reports "false" and exits with status 1 (failure). IGNORED when -isformat is present
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Usage
idvid [OPTIONS] VIDEO_FILE(s)
For example:
idvid foo.avi
idvid -tabluar videos/*.mpg
Options
Print extra information from mplayer, tcprobe, and ffmpeg.
-fast
Don't do lengthy play-time estimation; report length as reported by mplayer (possibly inaccurate). Results in faster execution.
-tabular
Display output in a table format for easier comparison. Most useful when identifying multiple video files.
-isformat [vcd|svcd|dvd]
Check VIDEO_FILE for compliance with the given disc format. If VIDEO_FILE matches the given format, then idvid reports "true" and exits successfully. Otherwise, idvid reports "false" and exits with status 1 (failure).
-istvsys [ntsc|pal]
Check VIDEO_FILE for compliance with the given TV system. If VIDEO_FILE matches the given TV system, then idvid reports "true" and exits successfully. Otherwise, idvid reports "false" and exits with status 1 (failure). IGNORED when -isformat is present
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Todisc
todisc is a command-line script for creating a DVD file-system with animated thumbnail menus, from a list of multimedia video files and their titles. It supports sub-menus for chapter breaks, configurable menu style, animated backgrounds and transparency effects. It can automatically convert non-compliant input files to the target format.
Usage
todisc [OPTIONS] \
-files file list -titles title list
-out OUT_PREFIX
For example:
$ todisc -files File1.mpg File2.mpg File3.mpg \
-titles "Episode 1" "Episode 2" "Episode 3" \
-out Season_one
The number of -files and -titles must be equal. If the input files are not mpeg, you will have the option to auto-encode them with tovid.
At present there are 3 display arrangements or "templates":
A. (Default)
Thumbs will be centred, and as large as space restraints allow.
B. -showcase IMAGE|VIDEO
Produces an arrangement with small buttons on the side and the showcase image/video in the centre. If no IMAGE or VIDEO argument is supplied, the central thumb will be omitted.
C. -textmenu
No thumbs will be made, text will be used instead. You can still make an animated menu however by using a video for the background (-background VIDEO), or a showcase video (-showcase VIDEO)
The -titles arguments should be double or single quoted, or have the spaces backslash-escaped. Special characters (like ", !, *, &, ?) may need to be backslash-escaped. To include a quoted string within a title, backslash-escape the quotes. These titles are used for labelling thumbnails on the main menu, and for the submenu title for that video. (see also -submenu-titles)
The -showcase and -textmenu styles can use longer titles than the default arrangement. With -showcase style, use: "-showcase-titles-align west" to give more space for the title, or use ""-showcase-titles-align east" to allow titles of more than one line.
The default style can only show about 16 characters (depending on the number of thumbs, and what -thumb-font and -thumb-fontsize is being used). If your titles are too long to fit in the label area, you may try using sub-menus, which can display longer titles, for example:
$ todisc -submenus \
-files file1.mpg file2.mpg ... \
-titles "Short 1" "Short 2" \
-submenu-titles "Long Title One" "Long Title Two" \
-out foo
The "-align" argument will position both titles and thumbs either south, north east, west, southwest, northwest, southeast, northeast, subject to certain constraints of each arrangement.
Titlesets
A word should be mentioned here about titlesets. If you want to have titlesets you need to put all the options for each titleset menu you would like to have between -titleset and -end-titleset options. Additionally, for the main menu, you need to put options between -vmgm and -end-vmgm.
Any options outside the -titleset -end-titleset and -vmgm -end-vmgm areas will be general options that will apply to every titleset. If an general option is duplicated inside a -titleset or -vmgm area, the general option will be overridden. You do not use -files for the vmgm menu options, but you will need as many TITLES after -titles as you have menus. For example:
$ todisc -static -out MY_DVD \
\
-titleset -files 1.mpg 2.mpg 3.mpg \
-titles "Title One" "Title Two" "Title Three" \
-end-titleset \
\
-titleset -files 4.mpg 5.mpg \
-titles "Title Four" "Title Five" \
-background foo.jpg \
-showcase bar.png \
-end-titleset \
\
-vmgm \
-titles "Season One" "Season Two" \
-background bg.jpg \
-bgaudio foo.mp3 \
-thumb-fontsize 20 \
-end-vmgm
See also -titleset and -vmgm
Basic options
-keepfiles
Keep all intermediate/temporary files (helps with debugging)
-dvd
DVD-compatible output (default)
-svcd
Super Video-CD-compatible output: *this is currently disabled for -showcase-* styles
-ntsc
720x480 output, compatible with NTSC standard (default)
-pal
720x576 output, compatible with PAL standard
-submenus
Create a sub-menu with chapters for each video (default: no sub-menus)
-ani-submenus
Create an animated sub-menu with chapters for each video (default: not animated)
Menu style
-showcase, -showcase IMAGE|VIDEO
If IMAGE or VIDEO are specified, use a different arrangement of images for the menu: small thumbnails go at left (and right) side of screen, with a larger image in the centre. Without an argument, use showcase style with no central thumb. Maximum of 10 videos. If the provided argument is a video file, the central thumb will be animated. Pick a file of correct aspect ratio: ie. it should still look good when resized to 720x480 (PAL 720x576), then resized to proper aspect ratio.
-textmenu, -text-menu NUM
Without an argument, create a text menu out of the supplied titles. The optional argument specifies how many titles are in the 1st column, ie. giving 4 titles and using "-textmenu 2" would make 2 columns of 2 titles. The default is to put all titles up to 13 in the first column before starting a second title. Maximum, 2 columns and 26 titles.
If no video files for either -background or -showcase are supplied, the menu will be static.
-use-makemenu
This will call the other tovid menu script, "makemenu" on the titles supplied.
-static
Main menu will just be static thumbs (not animated) (default: animated)
-background IMAGE|VIDEO
Menu background. This can be a image file or an video file. If it is a video file the background will be animated. Pick a file of correct aspect ratio: ie. it should still look good when resized to 720x480 (PAL 720x576)
-menu-title
Title for the root menu - may be longer than thumbnail labels. Also if you use \n in the title, you can use multi line titles, but you would need to adjust -menu-fontsize to something smaller than default. For example: -menu-title "A\nMultilined\nTitle" -menu-fontsize 24
-menu-font FONT
Font to use for titles, either by ImageMagick font name (ex., "Arial") or explicit pathname (ex., "/full/path/to/arial.ttf"). To see a complete list of acceptable ImageMagick font names, run convert -list type, and refer to the leftmost column
-menu-fontsize
Font size for main menu
-menu-fade
Fade the menu in and out The background will fade in first, then title (and mist if called for), then the menu thumbs. The fadeout is in reverse order
-bgaudio
An audio file for the main menu background
-submenu-audio NUM
List of files for sub-menu backgrounds. If one file is given, then it will be used for all sub-menus. Else the number given must equal the number of chapters, though the keyword "none" may be used for silence
-titleset . . . -end-titleset
If you have more than one titleset, put the options for each titleset between -titleset and -end-titleset. A separate menu will be created that can be accessed from the main menu (VMGM). You can create this main menu using the -vmgm...-end-vmgm
options. See -vmgm below and TITLESET introduction above.
-vmgm . . . -end-vmgm
The VMGM menu is the root menu when you use titlesets. Put your VMGM menu options between -vmgm' and -end-vmgm. You only need -titles "Titleset One title" "Titleset Two title" ... and not -files. Any other options can be used, but the menu will be a textmenu style by default. Hint: use -showcase IMAGE/VIDEO to create a fancier VMGM menu.
-switched-menus
This should probably be under "advanced" but is included here for exposure :) This will make a "switched menu": there will be a central image where the showcase image would go, and text menu titles along the menu edge where textmenu titles go. As you select a video title with the down or up arrow on your DVD remote, the image in the centre will change to the image or video made from that selected video.
Thumbnail style
-thumb-shape [normal|oval|plectrum|egg]
Apply a shaped transparency mask to thumbnail videos. The default is to have a rectangular semi-transparent misted background for each thumb; to disable this mist use -thumb-mist-color none.
-3dthumbs
This will give an illusion of 3D to the thumbnails: dynamic lighting on rounded thumbs, and a raised effect on rectangular thumbs. Try it!
-thumb-font FONT
Display thumbnail titles in the given font
-thumb-fontsize POINTS
Font size to use for thumbnail titles
Advanced options
-menu-length
The desired animated main menu length in seconds
-submenu-stroke-color, -submenu-stroke-colour COLOR
The color for the sub-menu font outline (stroke)
-submenu-title-color, -submenu-title-colour
The fill color used for sub-menu title fonts
-submenu-titles
You can supple a list of titles here for sub-menus without the length restrictions found in thumb titles. Must equal number of videos
-chapters NUM
The number of sub-menu chapters for each video (default: 6)
-seek NUM | "NUM1 NUM2 NUM3 . . ."
Seek to NUM seconds before generating thumbnails (default: 2.0 seconds). If a quoted string of values matching the number of videos is used, then each video can use a different seek value. If using switched menus, the -seek value(s) will be used to generate the showcase image that displays on switching to another video choice with the up/down arrow keys.
-showcase-seek NUM
Seek to NUM seconds before generating thumbnails for showcase video (default: 2.0 seconds)
-bgvideo-seek NUM
Seek to NUM seconds before generating images for background video (default: 2.0 seconds)
-bgaudio-seek NUM
Seek to NUM seconds before generating audio for bgaudio (default: 2.0 seconds)
-group N VIDEO1 VIDEO2 . . .
Allow grouping videos in dvdauthor.xml. Example: -group 1 2.mpg 3.mpg 4.mpg will group these 3 videos with the 1st video given with -files
-noask, -no-ask
Skip all interactive questions. No preview, no re-encoding option, no interactive
option to use background video for bgaudio.
-nowarn, -no-warn
Don't pause after outputing warning messages
-tovidopts "OPTIONS"
Pass the given string of options to 'tovid', if it is called upon to
re-encode your non-compliant videos. Be sure to include the double-quotes
around your list of options!
Menu Style
-button-style rect|text|text-rect
The style of button that you will see when you play the DVD.
"rect" draws a rectangle around the thumb when you select it
in the DVD player. "text" highlights the thumb title text, and "text-rect"
draws a rectangle around the title text. "text-rect" is ONLY used for multiline
titles in the showcase-* template. "text-rect" is used by default if you use -3dthumbs
with showcase-* and multiline titles, as the others are not suitable for this arrangement.
-title-color, -title-colour COLOR
Color to use for the main menu title. For list of supported colors do:
**convert -list** color. HTML notation may be used: "#ff0000".
-stroke-color, -stroke-colour COLOR
Outline color for the main menu font. Use "none" for transparent outline (see title-color)
-highlight-color, -highlight-colour
Color to use for the menu buttons that your dvd remote uses to navigate
-select-color, -select-colour
Color to use for the menu buttons that your dvd remote uses to select
-text-mist
Put a semi-transparent misted background behind the title text, just slightly larger than the text area
-text-mist-color, -text-mist-colour COLOR
Color of the mist behind the menu text (see title-color)
-text-mist-opacity
Opacity of the mist behind the menu text - see -opacity
-menu-audio-length
The length of the background audio for a static menu. The default is to use the full length of the supplied audio (-bgaudio).
-submenu-audio-length
The length of the background audio for a static submenu. The default is to use the full length of the supplied audio (-bgaudio).
-menu-audio-fade
Number of sec to fade given menu audio in and out (default: 1.0 seconds)
If you use -menu-audio-fade 0 then the audio will not be faded.
-submenu-audio-fade
Number of sec to fade given sub-menu audio in and out (default: 1.0 seconds). See -menu-audio-fade.
-intro VIDEO
Use a introductory video that will play before the main menu. At present this must be a DVD compatible video at the correct resolution etc. Only 4:3 aspect is supported: 16:9 will give unexpected results.
The following menu style options are specific to showcase and textmenu arrangements:
-text-start N
This option is for -text-menu menus. The titles will start at the Nth pixel from the top of the menu (Y axis).
-title-gap N
This option is for -text-menu menus. The gap is the space between titles vertically (Y axis).
-rotate DEGREES
Rotate the showcase image|video clockwise by DEGREES. If used without options, the rotate will be 5 degrees.
-showcase-geo GEOMETRY
The position of the showcase image. (XxY position)
-wave default|GEOMETRY
Wave effect for showcase image|video. Alters thumbs along a sine wave using GEOMETRY. "default" will produce a wave arg of -20x556, which produces a gentle wave with a small amount of distortion.
-showcase-framestyle none|glass
For -showcase-* style template only; "none" will use the default frame method, using "convert -frame . . ." "glass" will use mplayer to make frames, which gives an interesting animated effect to the frames, and can be much faster (especially if you don't use -rotate or -wave as thumbs will not need to be processed again after mplayer spits them out Note: you need to be using either -showcase IMAGE or -showcase VIDEO for this framestyle to work
Thumbnail style
-opacity [0-100] (default 100)
Opacity of thumbnail videos as a percentage (no percent sign). Anything less than 100(%) is semi-transparent. Not recommended with dark backgrounds
-blur NUM
The amount of feather blur to apply to the thumb-shape. Default is 4.0 which will more or less keep the shape and produce transparency at the edges. Choose float or integer values between 0.1 and 5.0. Higher values are possible, but you may not like the result, particularly when using "-thumb-mist-colour none". 3D thumbs are automatically set to a negligble blur, so this option has no effect with -3dthumbs.
-align north|south
This will align thumbs and titles north or south. (if -align south then title will align north)
-thumb-mist-color, -thumb-mist-colour
Color of mist behind thumbnails
-thumb-text-color, -thumb-text-colour COLOR
Color to use for the thumb titles (see -title-color)
-showcase-titles-align west|east (default
center [centre])
The default is to center the text above the thumbnails. This option will align the titles either to the left (west) or right (east). Aligning west gives more space to the titles. Aligning east also does so, and as well will let you use "\n" in your titles to achieve multi line titles.
-tile-3x1, -tile3x1
Use a montage tile of 3x1 instead of the usual 2x2 for 3 videos, i.e. [movie1] [movie2] [movie3] instead of [movie1] [movie2] [movie3]. This option only comes into play if the number of videos supplied equals 3, otherwise it will be silently ignored. Not used for -showcase-* style either.
-rotate-thumbs DEGREE LIST (list of degrees, one for each thumb)
Rotate thumbs the given amount in degrees - can be positive or negative. There must be one value for each file given with -files. If the values are not the same distance from zero, the thumbs will be of different sizes as images are necessarily resized after rotating. With the default montage template - this will also resize the titles; with the showcase template the titles will remain the same size. Example: -rotate-thumbs -10 10 -10 10 -10 (for 5 files). Note: this option does not work currently with shaped or 3d thumbs (-thumb-shape SHAPE or -3dthumbs) unless using showcase style.
Dvdauthor options
-loop
Pause in seconds at end of menu. Use "inf" if you wish indefinite pause.
(Note: you can not use inf with -menu-fade as you will get a black screen
at the end) (default: "inf" for static menu, 10.0 seconds for animated)
-playall
This option will create a button on the main menu that will allow going right to the 1st title and playing all videos in succession before returning to the main menu
-chain-videos NUM | N1-NN
Without options this will chain all videos together so they play sequentially without returning to the main menu, except for the last, which will return. You can also specify which videos you want to behave this way by number or by a range. (ex. -chain-videos 1 2 4-6)
-subtitles "lang1 lang2 . . ."
This allows selectable subtitles in the DVD, assuming you have optional subtitles muxed into your videos
-audio-lang "Video1_channel Video2_channel Video3_channel . . ."
"VideoN_channel" is the track number to use in a multitrack (multi-language) mpeg. Usually something like -audio-lang "1 0 1" (1st track is 0, 2nd is 1 . . . etc) If the tracks are 0. English 1. French, then the above would make French the audio language on Video1 and Video3, and English the audio language on Video2. You can check the mpeg with "mplayer -v . . ."
-aspect 4:3|16:9
This will output a tag for the dvdauthor xml file. It will affect all videos in the titleset. (effectively all videos since todisc only does one titleset). Example: -aspect 16:9
-widescreen nopanscan|noletterbox [nopanscan]
This will output a tag (for example) for the dvdauthor xml file. It will affect all videos in the titleset. Use in conjunction with -aspect if your dvd player is cropping your videos. Example: -aspect 16:9 -widescreen
-quick-nav
This option will allow navigation of a menu with more than one titleset by using the left and right arrow keys of your DVD remote. When you press this key the highlight will go the next or previous title. If you are at the end of a titleset the right key will go to the next titleset. If you are at the beginning of a titleset, the left key will go to the previous titleset. If no next or previous titleset it will cycle to the end or beginning of the titlesets.
-outlinewidth, -outline-width WIDTH
For spumux outlinewidth variable. If there is a large gap between words in a text button, this option may help.
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Usage
todisc [OPTIONS] \
-files file list -titles title list
-out OUT_PREFIX
For example:
$ todisc -files File1.mpg File2.mpg File3.mpg \
-titles "Episode 1" "Episode 2" "Episode 3" \
-out Season_one
The number of -files and -titles must be equal. If the input files are not mpeg, you will have the option to auto-encode them with tovid.
At present there are 3 display arrangements or "templates":
A. (Default)
Thumbs will be centred, and as large as space restraints allow.
B. -showcase IMAGE|VIDEO
Produces an arrangement with small buttons on the side and the showcase image/video in the centre. If no IMAGE or VIDEO argument is supplied, the central thumb will be omitted.
C. -textmenu
No thumbs will be made, text will be used instead. You can still make an animated menu however by using a video for the background (-background VIDEO), or a showcase video (-showcase VIDEO)
The -titles arguments should be double or single quoted, or have the spaces backslash-escaped. Special characters (like ", !, *, &, ?) may need to be backslash-escaped. To include a quoted string within a title, backslash-escape the quotes. These titles are used for labelling thumbnails on the main menu, and for the submenu title for that video. (see also -submenu-titles)
The -showcase and -textmenu styles can use longer titles than the default arrangement. With -showcase style, use: "-showcase-titles-align west" to give more space for the title, or use ""-showcase-titles-align east" to allow titles of more than one line.
The default style can only show about 16 characters (depending on the number of thumbs, and what -thumb-font and -thumb-fontsize is being used). If your titles are too long to fit in the label area, you may try using sub-menus, which can display longer titles, for example:
$ todisc -submenus \
-files file1.mpg file2.mpg ... \
-titles "Short 1" "Short 2" \
-submenu-titles "Long Title One" "Long Title Two" \
-out foo
The "-align" argument will position both titles and thumbs either south, north east, west, southwest, northwest, southeast, northeast, subject to certain constraints of each arrangement.
Titlesets
A word should be mentioned here about titlesets. If you want to have titlesets you need to put all the options for each titleset menu you would like to have between -titleset and -end-titleset options. Additionally, for the main menu, you need to put options between -vmgm and -end-vmgm.
Any options outside the -titleset -end-titleset and -vmgm -end-vmgm areas will be general options that will apply to every titleset. If an general option is duplicated inside a -titleset or -vmgm area, the general option will be overridden. You do not use -files for the vmgm menu options, but you will need as many TITLES after -titles as you have menus. For example:
$ todisc -static -out MY_DVD \
\
-titleset -files 1.mpg 2.mpg 3.mpg \
-titles "Title One" "Title Two" "Title Three" \
-end-titleset \
\
-titleset -files 4.mpg 5.mpg \
-titles "Title Four" "Title Five" \
-background foo.jpg \
-showcase bar.png \
-end-titleset \
\
-vmgm \
-titles "Season One" "Season Two" \
-background bg.jpg \
-bgaudio foo.mp3 \
-thumb-fontsize 20 \
-end-vmgm
See also -titleset and -vmgm
Basic options
-keepfiles
Keep all intermediate/temporary files (helps with debugging)
-dvd
DVD-compatible output (default)
-svcd
Super Video-CD-compatible output: *this is currently disabled for -showcase-* styles
-ntsc
720x480 output, compatible with NTSC standard (default)
-pal
720x576 output, compatible with PAL standard
-submenus
Create a sub-menu with chapters for each video (default: no sub-menus)
-ani-submenus
Create an animated sub-menu with chapters for each video (default: not animated)
Menu style
-showcase, -showcase IMAGE|VIDEO
If IMAGE or VIDEO are specified, use a different arrangement of images for the menu: small thumbnails go at left (and right) side of screen, with a larger image in the centre. Without an argument, use showcase style with no central thumb. Maximum of 10 videos. If the provided argument is a video file, the central thumb will be animated. Pick a file of correct aspect ratio: ie. it should still look good when resized to 720x480 (PAL 720x576), then resized to proper aspect ratio.
-textmenu, -text-menu NUM
Without an argument, create a text menu out of the supplied titles. The optional argument specifies how many titles are in the 1st column, ie. giving 4 titles and using "-textmenu 2" would make 2 columns of 2 titles. The default is to put all titles up to 13 in the first column before starting a second title. Maximum, 2 columns and 26 titles.
If no video files for either -background or -showcase are supplied, the menu will be static.
-use-makemenu
This will call the other tovid menu script, "makemenu" on the titles supplied.
-static
Main menu will just be static thumbs (not animated) (default: animated)
-background IMAGE|VIDEO
Menu background. This can be a image file or an video file. If it is a video file the background will be animated. Pick a file of correct aspect ratio: ie. it should still look good when resized to 720x480 (PAL 720x576)
-menu-title
Title for the root menu - may be longer than thumbnail labels. Also if you use \n in the title, you can use multi line titles, but you would need to adjust -menu-fontsize to something smaller than default. For example: -menu-title "A\nMultilined\nTitle" -menu-fontsize 24
-menu-font FONT
Font to use for titles, either by ImageMagick font name (ex., "Arial") or explicit pathname (ex., "/full/path/to/arial.ttf"). To see a complete list of acceptable ImageMagick font names, run convert -list type, and refer to the leftmost column
-menu-fontsize
Font size for main menu
-menu-fade
Fade the menu in and out The background will fade in first, then title (and mist if called for), then the menu thumbs. The fadeout is in reverse order
-bgaudio
An audio file for the main menu background
-submenu-audio NUM
List of files for sub-menu backgrounds. If one file is given, then it will be used for all sub-menus. Else the number given must equal the number of chapters, though the keyword "none" may be used for silence
-titleset . . . -end-titleset
If you have more than one titleset, put the options for each titleset between -titleset and -end-titleset. A separate menu will be created that can be accessed from the main menu (VMGM). You can create this main menu using the -vmgm...-end-vmgm
options. See -vmgm below and TITLESET introduction above.
-vmgm . . . -end-vmgm
The VMGM menu is the root menu when you use titlesets. Put your VMGM menu options between -vmgm' and -end-vmgm. You only need -titles "Titleset One title" "Titleset Two title" ... and not -files. Any other options can be used, but the menu will be a textmenu style by default. Hint: use -showcase IMAGE/VIDEO to create a fancier VMGM menu.
-switched-menus
This should probably be under "advanced" but is included here for exposure :) This will make a "switched menu": there will be a central image where the showcase image would go, and text menu titles along the menu edge where textmenu titles go. As you select a video title with the down or up arrow on your DVD remote, the image in the centre will change to the image or video made from that selected video.
Thumbnail style
-thumb-shape [normal|oval|plectrum|egg]
Apply a shaped transparency mask to thumbnail videos. The default is to have a rectangular semi-transparent misted background for each thumb; to disable this mist use -thumb-mist-color none.
-3dthumbs
This will give an illusion of 3D to the thumbnails: dynamic lighting on rounded thumbs, and a raised effect on rectangular thumbs. Try it!
-thumb-font FONT
Display thumbnail titles in the given font
-thumb-fontsize POINTS
Font size to use for thumbnail titles
Advanced options
-menu-length
The desired animated main menu length in seconds
-submenu-stroke-color, -submenu-stroke-colour COLOR
The color for the sub-menu font outline (stroke)
-submenu-title-color, -submenu-title-colour
The fill color used for sub-menu title fonts
-submenu-titles
You can supple a list of titles here for sub-menus without the length restrictions found in thumb titles. Must equal number of videos
-chapters NUM
The number of sub-menu chapters for each video (default: 6)
-seek NUM | "NUM1 NUM2 NUM3 . . ."
Seek to NUM seconds before generating thumbnails (default: 2.0 seconds). If a quoted string of values matching the number of videos is used, then each video can use a different seek value. If using switched menus, the -seek value(s) will be used to generate the showcase image that displays on switching to another video choice with the up/down arrow keys.
-showcase-seek NUM
Seek to NUM seconds before generating thumbnails for showcase video (default: 2.0 seconds)
-bgvideo-seek NUM
Seek to NUM seconds before generating images for background video (default: 2.0 seconds)
-bgaudio-seek NUM
Seek to NUM seconds before generating audio for bgaudio (default: 2.0 seconds)
-group N VIDEO1 VIDEO2 . . .
Allow grouping videos in dvdauthor.xml. Example: -group 1 2.mpg 3.mpg 4.mpg will group these 3 videos with the 1st video given with -files
-noask, -no-ask
Skip all interactive questions. No preview, no re-encoding option, no interactive
option to use background video for bgaudio.
-nowarn, -no-warn
Don't pause after outputing warning messages
-tovidopts "OPTIONS"
Pass the given string of options to 'tovid', if it is called upon to
re-encode your non-compliant videos. Be sure to include the double-quotes
around your list of options!
Menu Style
-button-style rect|text|text-rect
The style of button that you will see when you play the DVD.
"rect" draws a rectangle around the thumb when you select it
in the DVD player. "text" highlights the thumb title text, and "text-rect"
draws a rectangle around the title text. "text-rect" is ONLY used for multiline
titles in the showcase-* template. "text-rect" is used by default if you use -3dthumbs
with showcase-* and multiline titles, as the others are not suitable for this arrangement.
-title-color, -title-colour COLOR
Color to use for the main menu title. For list of supported colors do:
**convert -list** color. HTML notation may be used: "#ff0000".
-stroke-color, -stroke-colour COLOR
Outline color for the main menu font. Use "none" for transparent outline (see title-color)
-highlight-color, -highlight-colour
Color to use for the menu buttons that your dvd remote uses to navigate
-select-color, -select-colour
Color to use for the menu buttons that your dvd remote uses to select
-text-mist
Put a semi-transparent misted background behind the title text, just slightly larger than the text area
-text-mist-color, -text-mist-colour COLOR
Color of the mist behind the menu text (see title-color)
-text-mist-opacity
Opacity of the mist behind the menu text - see -opacity
-menu-audio-length
The length of the background audio for a static menu. The default is to use the full length of the supplied audio (-bgaudio).
-submenu-audio-length
The length of the background audio for a static submenu. The default is to use the full length of the supplied audio (-bgaudio).
-menu-audio-fade
Number of sec to fade given menu audio in and out (default: 1.0 seconds)
If you use -menu-audio-fade 0 then the audio will not be faded.
-submenu-audio-fade
Number of sec to fade given sub-menu audio in and out (default: 1.0 seconds). See -menu-audio-fade.
-intro VIDEO
Use a introductory video that will play before the main menu. At present this must be a DVD compatible video at the correct resolution etc. Only 4:3 aspect is supported: 16:9 will give unexpected results.
The following menu style options are specific to showcase and textmenu arrangements:
-text-start N
This option is for -text-menu menus. The titles will start at the Nth pixel from the top of the menu (Y axis).
-title-gap N
This option is for -text-menu menus. The gap is the space between titles vertically (Y axis).
-rotate DEGREES
Rotate the showcase image|video clockwise by DEGREES. If used without options, the rotate will be 5 degrees.
-showcase-geo GEOMETRY
The position of the showcase image. (XxY position)
-wave default|GEOMETRY
Wave effect for showcase image|video. Alters thumbs along a sine wave using GEOMETRY. "default" will produce a wave arg of -20x556, which produces a gentle wave with a small amount of distortion.
-showcase-framestyle none|glass
For -showcase-* style template only; "none" will use the default frame method, using "convert -frame . . ." "glass" will use mplayer to make frames, which gives an interesting animated effect to the frames, and can be much faster (especially if you don't use -rotate or -wave as thumbs will not need to be processed again after mplayer spits them out Note: you need to be using either -showcase IMAGE or -showcase VIDEO for this framestyle to work
Thumbnail style
-opacity [0-100] (default 100)
Opacity of thumbnail videos as a percentage (no percent sign). Anything less than 100(%) is semi-transparent. Not recommended with dark backgrounds
-blur NUM
The amount of feather blur to apply to the thumb-shape. Default is 4.0 which will more or less keep the shape and produce transparency at the edges. Choose float or integer values between 0.1 and 5.0. Higher values are possible, but you may not like the result, particularly when using "-thumb-mist-colour none". 3D thumbs are automatically set to a negligble blur, so this option has no effect with -3dthumbs.
-align north|south
This will align thumbs and titles north or south. (if -align south then title will align north)
-thumb-mist-color, -thumb-mist-colour
Color of mist behind thumbnails
-thumb-text-color, -thumb-text-colour COLOR
Color to use for the thumb titles (see -title-color)
-showcase-titles-align west|east (default
center [centre])
The default is to center the text above the thumbnails. This option will align the titles either to the left (west) or right (east). Aligning west gives more space to the titles. Aligning east also does so, and as well will let you use "\n" in your titles to achieve multi line titles.
-tile-3x1, -tile3x1
Use a montage tile of 3x1 instead of the usual 2x2 for 3 videos, i.e. [movie1] [movie2] [movie3] instead of [movie1] [movie2] [movie3]. This option only comes into play if the number of videos supplied equals 3, otherwise it will be silently ignored. Not used for -showcase-* style either.
-rotate-thumbs DEGREE LIST (list of degrees, one for each thumb)
Rotate thumbs the given amount in degrees - can be positive or negative. There must be one value for each file given with -files. If the values are not the same distance from zero, the thumbs will be of different sizes as images are necessarily resized after rotating. With the default montage template - this will also resize the titles; with the showcase template the titles will remain the same size. Example: -rotate-thumbs -10 10 -10 10 -10 (for 5 files). Note: this option does not work currently with shaped or 3d thumbs (-thumb-shape SHAPE or -3dthumbs) unless using showcase style.
Dvdauthor options
-loop
Pause in seconds at end of menu. Use "inf" if you wish indefinite pause.
(Note: you can not use inf with -menu-fade as you will get a black screen
at the end) (default: "inf" for static menu, 10.0 seconds for animated)
-playall
This option will create a button on the main menu that will allow going right to the 1st title and playing all videos in succession before returning to the main menu
-chain-videos NUM | N1-NN
Without options this will chain all videos together so they play sequentially without returning to the main menu, except for the last, which will return. You can also specify which videos you want to behave this way by number or by a range. (ex. -chain-videos 1 2 4-6)
-subtitles "lang1 lang2 . . ."
This allows selectable subtitles in the DVD, assuming you have optional subtitles muxed into your videos
-audio-lang "Video1_channel Video2_channel Video3_channel . . ."
"VideoN_channel" is the track number to use in a multitrack (multi-language) mpeg. Usually something like -audio-lang "1 0 1" (1st track is 0, 2nd is 1 . . . etc) If the tracks are 0. English 1. French, then the above would make French the audio language on Video1 and Video3, and English the audio language on Video2. You can check the mpeg with "mplayer -v . . ."
-aspect 4:3|16:9
This will output a tag for the dvdauthor xml file. It will affect all videos in the titleset. (effectively all videos since todisc only does one titleset). Example: -aspect 16:9
-widescreen nopanscan|noletterbox [nopanscan]
This will output a tag (for example) for the dvdauthor xml file. It will affect all videos in the titleset. Use in conjunction with -aspect if your dvd player is cropping your videos. Example: -aspect 16:9 -widescreen
-quick-nav
This option will allow navigation of a menu with more than one titleset by using the left and right arrow keys of your DVD remote. When you press this key the highlight will go the next or previous title. If you are at the end of a titleset the right key will go to the next titleset. If you are at the beginning of a titleset, the left key will go to the previous titleset. If no next or previous titleset it will cycle to the end or beginning of the titlesets.
-outlinewidth, -outline-width WIDTH
For spumux outlinewidth variable. If there is a large gap between words in a text button, this option may help.
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Tovid
tovid converts arbitrary video files into (S)VCD/DVD-compliant MPEG format, suitable for burning to CD/DVD-R for playback on a standalone DVD player.
Usage
tovid [OPTIONS] -in INFILE -out OUTPREFIX
For example:
$ tovid -pal -dvd -in foo.avi -out foo_encoded
INFILE can be any multimedia video file, and OUTPREFIX is what you want to call the output file, minus the file extension. OPTIONS are additional customizations, described below.
Basic options
-v, -version
Print tovid version number only, then exit.
-quiet
Reduce output to the console.
-fake
Do not actually encode; only print the commands (mplayer, mpeg2enc etc.) that would be executed. Useful in debugging; have tovid give you the commands, and run them manually.
-ffmpeg
Use ffmpeg for video encoding, instead of mplayer/mpeg2enc. Try this if you have any problems with the default encoding method. Using this option, encoding will be considerably faster. Works with -vcd, -svcd, and -dvd.
Television standards
ntsc
NTSC format video (USA, Americas) (default)
-ntscfilm
NTSC-film format video
-pal
PAL format video (Europe and others)
Formats
Standard formats, should be playable in most DVD players:
-dvd
(720x480 NTSC, 720x576 PAL) DVD-compatible output (default)
-half-dvd
(352x480 NTSC, 352x576 PAL) Half-D1-compatible output
-svcd
(480x480 NTSC, 480x576 PAL) Super VideoCD-compatible output
-dvd-vcd
(352x240 NTSC, 352x288 PAL) VCD-on-DVD output
-vcd
(352x240 NTSC, 352x288 PAL) VideoCD-compatible output
Non-standard formats, playable in some DVD players:
-kvcd
(352x240 NTSC, 352x288 PAL) KVCD-enhanced long-playing video CD
-kdvd
(720x480 NTSC, 720x576 PAL) KVCD-enhanced long-playing DVD
-kvcdx3
(528x480 NTSC, 520x576 PAL) KVCDx3 specification
-kvcdx3a
(544x480 NTSC, 544x576 PAL) KVCDx3a specification (slightly wider)
-bdvd
(720x480 NTSC, 720x576 PAL) BVCD-enhanced long-playing DVD
Advanced options
tovid automatically determines aspect ratio of the input video by playing it in mplayer. If your video plays with correct aspect in mplayer, you should not need to override the default tovid behavior.
If mplayer does not play your video with correct aspect, you may provide an explicit aspect ratio in one of several ways:
-full
Same as -aspect 4:3
-wide
Same as -aspect 16:9
-panavision
Same as -aspect 235:100
-aspect WIDTH:HEIGHT
Custom aspect, where WIDTH and HEIGHT are integers.
NOTE: This is the INPUT aspect ratio. tovid chooses an optimal output aspect ratio for the selected disc format (VCD, DVD, etc.) and does the appropriate letterboxing or anamorphic scaling.
Video stream options
-quality NUM (default 6)
Desired output quality, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 giving the best quality at the expense of a larger output file. Default is 6. Output size can vary by approximately a factor of 4 (that is, -quality 1 output can be 1/4 the size of -quality 10 output). Your results may vary. At present, this option affects both output bitrate and quantization (but may, in the future, affect other quality/size-related attributes). Use -vbitrate if you want to explicitly provide a maximum bitrate.
-vbitrate NUM
Maximum bitrate to use for video (in kbits/sec). Must be within allowable limits for the given format. Overrides default values. Ignored for VCD, which must be constant bitrate.
-interlaced
Do interlaced encoding of the input video (top fields first). Use this option if your video is interlaced, and you want to preserve as much picture quality as possible. This option is ignored for VCD, which doesn't support it. You can tell your source video is interlaced by playing it, and pausing during a scene with horizontal motion; if you see a "comb" effect at the edges of objects in the scene, you have interlaced video. Use this option to encode it properly. If you would prefer to have output in progressive format, use -progressive. If you have a DV camera, use -interlaced_bf since DV footage is generally bottom fields first.
-interlaced_bf
Do interlaced encoding of the input video (bottom fields first).
-deinterlace | -progressive
Convert interlaced source video into progressive output video. Because deinterlacing works by averaging fields together, some picture quality is invariably lost. Uses an adaptive kernel deinterlacer (kerndeint), or, if that's not available, the libavcodec deinterlacer (lavcdeint).
-mkvsub LANG (EXPERIMENTAL)
Attempt to encode an integrated subtitle stream (such as may be found in Matroska .mkv files) in the given language code (eng, jpn, etc.) May work for other formats.
-autosubs
Automatically include subtitle files with the same name as the input video.
-subtitles FILE
Get subtitles from FILE and encode them into the video. WARNING: This hard-codes the subtitles into the video, and you cannot turn them off while viewing the video. By default, no subtitles are loaded. If your video is already compliant with the chosen output format, it will be re-encoded to include the subtitles.
-type {live|animation|bw}
Optimize video encoding for different kinds of video. Use 'live' (default) for live-action video, use 'animation' for cartoons or anime, and 'bw' for black-and-white video. This option currently only has an effect with KVCD/KSVCD output formats; other formats may support this in the future.
-safe PERCENT
Fit the video within a safe area defined by PERCENT. For example, -safe 90% will scale the video to 90% of the width/height of the output resolution, and pad the edges with a black border. Use this if some of the picture is cut off when played on your TV. The percent sign is optional.
-filters {none,denoise,deblock,contrast,all} (default none)
Apply post-processing filters to enhance the video. If your input video is very high quality, use 'none'. If your input video is grainy, use 'denoise'; if it looks washed out or faded, use 'contrast'. You can use multiple filters separated by commas. To apply all filters, use 'all'.
-fps RATIO
Force input video to be interpreted as RATIO frames per second. May be necessary for some ASF, MOV, or other videos. RATIO should be an integer ratio such as "24000:1001" (23.976fps), "30000:1001" (29.97fps), or "25:1" (25fps). This option is temporary, and may disappear in future releases. (Hint: To convert a decimal like 23.976 to an integer ratio, just multiply by 1000, i.e. 23976:1000)
-crop WIDTH:HEIGHT:X:Y
Crop a portion of the video WIDTH by HEIGHT in size, with the top-left corner at X, Y.
Audio stream options
-normalize [VOLUME]
If used without VOLUME argument, analyze the audio stream and then normalize the volume of the audio. This is useful if the audio is too quiet or too loud, or you want to make volume consistent for a bunch of videos. Similar to running normalize without any parameters. The default is -12dB average level with 0dB gain. If the optional VOLUME argument is supplied, ffmpeg will be used instead to increase or decrease the volume. An argument of 256 is normal volume. This option is useful for -slice, because there are sync issues if audio and video are encoded separately after a seek.
-amplitude NUM[dB]
In addition to analyzing and normalizing, apply the gain to the audio such that the 'average' (RMS) sound level is NUM. Valid values range 0.0 - 1.0, with 0.0 being silent and 1.0 being full scale. Use NUMdB for a decibel gain below full scale (the default without -amplitude is -12dB).
-abitrate NUM
Encode audio at NUM kilobits per second. Reasonable values include 128, 224, and 384. The default is 224 kbits/sec, good enough for most encodings. The value must be within the allowable range for the chosen disc format; Ignored for VCD, which must be 224.
-audiotrack NUM
Encode the given audio track, if the input video has multiple audio tracks. NUM is 1 for the first track, 2 for the second, etc. You may also provide a list of tracks, separated by spaces or commas, for example -audiotrack 3,1,2. Use idvid on your source video to determine which audio tracks it contains.
-async NUM
Adjust audio synchronization by NUM seconds.
Other options
-config FILE
Read configuration from FILE, containing 'tovid' alone on the first line, and free-formatted (whitespace-separated) tovid command-line options on remaining lines.
-force
Force encoding of already-compliant video or audio streams.
-overwrite
Overwrite any existing output files (with the same name as the given -out option).
-priority {low|medium|high}
Sets the main encoding process to the given priority. With high priority, it may take other programs longer to load and respond. With lower priority, other programs will be more responsive, but encoding may take 30-40% longer. The default is high priority.
-discsize NUM
When encoding, tovid automatically splits the output file into several pieces if it exceeds the size of the target media. This option sets the desired target DVD/CD-R size to NUM mebibytes (MiB, 2^20). By default, splitting occurs at 700 for CD, 4300 for DVD. Use higher values at your own risk. Use 650 or lower if you plan to burn to smaller-capacity CDs. Doesn't work with the -ffmpeg option.
-fit NUM
Fit the output file into NUM MiB. Rather than using default (or specified) video bitrates, tovid will calculate the correct video bitrate that will limit the final output size to NUM MiB. This is different than -discsize, which cuts the final file into NUM MiB pieces. -fit makes sure that the file never exceeds NUM MiB. This works with -ffmpeg, but not with -vcd since VCDs have a standardized constant bitrate.
-parallel
Perform ripping, encoding, and multiplexing processes in parallel using named pipes. Maximizes CPU utilization and minimizes disk usage. Note that this option simply does more tasks simultaneously, in order to make better use of available CPU cycles; it's unrelated to multi-CPU processing (which is done automatically anyway). Has no effect when -ffmpeg is used.
-update SECS
Print status updates at intervals of SECS seconds. This affects how regularly the progress-meter is updated. The default is once every five seconds.
-mplayeropts "OPTIONS"
Append OPTIONS to the mplayer command run during video encoding. Use this if you want to add specific video filters (documented in the mplayer manual page). Overriding some options will cause encoding to fail, so use this with caution!
-nofifo (EXPERIMENTAL)
Do not use a FIFO pipe for video encoding. If you are getting "Broken pipe" errors with normal encoding, try this option. WARNING: This uses lots of disk space (about 2 GB per minute of video).
-keepfiles
Keep the intermediate files after encoding. Usually, this means the audio and video streams are kept (eg the .ac3 and .m2v files for an NTSC DVD). This doesn't work with -parallel because the intermediate files are named pipes, and not real files.
-slice START-END
Encode a segment from START to END (in seconds).
-from-gui
Put tovid into a fully non-interactive state, suitable for calling from a gui.
-noask
Don't ask questions when choices need to be made. Assume reasonable answers.
Configuration
Two configuration files are created the first time you run tovid. Edit them to change tovid's directory use and default behavior.
Working and output directories are defined in ~/.tovid/preferences:
WORKING_DIR=/tmp
OUTPUT_DIR=/pub/video
If you would like to include certain command-line options all the time, edit ~/.tovid/tovid.config and add them.
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Usage
tovid [OPTIONS] -in INFILE -out OUTPREFIX
For example:
$ tovid -pal -dvd -in foo.avi -out foo_encoded
INFILE can be any multimedia video file, and OUTPREFIX is what you want to call the output file, minus the file extension. OPTIONS are additional customizations, described below.
Basic options
-v, -version
Print tovid version number only, then exit.
-quiet
Reduce output to the console.
-fake
Do not actually encode; only print the commands (mplayer, mpeg2enc etc.) that would be executed. Useful in debugging; have tovid give you the commands, and run them manually.
-ffmpeg
Use ffmpeg for video encoding, instead of mplayer/mpeg2enc. Try this if you have any problems with the default encoding method. Using this option, encoding will be considerably faster. Works with -vcd, -svcd, and -dvd.
Television standards
ntsc
NTSC format video (USA, Americas) (default)
-ntscfilm
NTSC-film format video
-pal
PAL format video (Europe and others)
Formats
Standard formats, should be playable in most DVD players:
-dvd
(720x480 NTSC, 720x576 PAL) DVD-compatible output (default)
-half-dvd
(352x480 NTSC, 352x576 PAL) Half-D1-compatible output
-svcd
(480x480 NTSC, 480x576 PAL) Super VideoCD-compatible output
-dvd-vcd
(352x240 NTSC, 352x288 PAL) VCD-on-DVD output
-vcd
(352x240 NTSC, 352x288 PAL) VideoCD-compatible output
Non-standard formats, playable in some DVD players:
-kvcd
(352x240 NTSC, 352x288 PAL) KVCD-enhanced long-playing video CD
-kdvd
(720x480 NTSC, 720x576 PAL) KVCD-enhanced long-playing DVD
-kvcdx3
(528x480 NTSC, 520x576 PAL) KVCDx3 specification
-kvcdx3a
(544x480 NTSC, 544x576 PAL) KVCDx3a specification (slightly wider)
-bdvd
(720x480 NTSC, 720x576 PAL) BVCD-enhanced long-playing DVD
Advanced options
tovid automatically determines aspect ratio of the input video by playing it in mplayer. If your video plays with correct aspect in mplayer, you should not need to override the default tovid behavior.
If mplayer does not play your video with correct aspect, you may provide an explicit aspect ratio in one of several ways:
-full
Same as -aspect 4:3
-wide
Same as -aspect 16:9
-panavision
Same as -aspect 235:100
-aspect WIDTH:HEIGHT
Custom aspect, where WIDTH and HEIGHT are integers.
NOTE: This is the INPUT aspect ratio. tovid chooses an optimal output aspect ratio for the selected disc format (VCD, DVD, etc.) and does the appropriate letterboxing or anamorphic scaling.
Video stream options
-quality NUM (default 6)
Desired output quality, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 giving the best quality at the expense of a larger output file. Default is 6. Output size can vary by approximately a factor of 4 (that is, -quality 1 output can be 1/4 the size of -quality 10 output). Your results may vary. At present, this option affects both output bitrate and quantization (but may, in the future, affect other quality/size-related attributes). Use -vbitrate if you want to explicitly provide a maximum bitrate.
-vbitrate NUM
Maximum bitrate to use for video (in kbits/sec). Must be within allowable limits for the given format. Overrides default values. Ignored for VCD, which must be constant bitrate.
-interlaced
Do interlaced encoding of the input video (top fields first). Use this option if your video is interlaced, and you want to preserve as much picture quality as possible. This option is ignored for VCD, which doesn't support it. You can tell your source video is interlaced by playing it, and pausing during a scene with horizontal motion; if you see a "comb" effect at the edges of objects in the scene, you have interlaced video. Use this option to encode it properly. If you would prefer to have output in progressive format, use -progressive. If you have a DV camera, use -interlaced_bf since DV footage is generally bottom fields first.
-interlaced_bf
Do interlaced encoding of the input video (bottom fields first).
-deinterlace | -progressive
Convert interlaced source video into progressive output video. Because deinterlacing works by averaging fields together, some picture quality is invariably lost. Uses an adaptive kernel deinterlacer (kerndeint), or, if that's not available, the libavcodec deinterlacer (lavcdeint).
-mkvsub LANG (EXPERIMENTAL)
Attempt to encode an integrated subtitle stream (such as may be found in Matroska .mkv files) in the given language code (eng, jpn, etc.) May work for other formats.
-autosubs
Automatically include subtitle files with the same name as the input video.
-subtitles FILE
Get subtitles from FILE and encode them into the video. WARNING: This hard-codes the subtitles into the video, and you cannot turn them off while viewing the video. By default, no subtitles are loaded. If your video is already compliant with the chosen output format, it will be re-encoded to include the subtitles.
-type {live|animation|bw}
Optimize video encoding for different kinds of video. Use 'live' (default) for live-action video, use 'animation' for cartoons or anime, and 'bw' for black-and-white video. This option currently only has an effect with KVCD/KSVCD output formats; other formats may support this in the future.
-safe PERCENT
Fit the video within a safe area defined by PERCENT. For example, -safe 90% will scale the video to 90% of the width/height of the output resolution, and pad the edges with a black border. Use this if some of the picture is cut off when played on your TV. The percent sign is optional.
-filters {none,denoise,deblock,contrast,all} (default none)
Apply post-processing filters to enhance the video. If your input video is very high quality, use 'none'. If your input video is grainy, use 'denoise'; if it looks washed out or faded, use 'contrast'. You can use multiple filters separated by commas. To apply all filters, use 'all'.
-fps RATIO
Force input video to be interpreted as RATIO frames per second. May be necessary for some ASF, MOV, or other videos. RATIO should be an integer ratio such as "24000:1001" (23.976fps), "30000:1001" (29.97fps), or "25:1" (25fps). This option is temporary, and may disappear in future releases. (Hint: To convert a decimal like 23.976 to an integer ratio, just multiply by 1000, i.e. 23976:1000)
-crop WIDTH:HEIGHT:X:Y
Crop a portion of the video WIDTH by HEIGHT in size, with the top-left corner at X, Y.
Audio stream options
-normalize [VOLUME]
If used without VOLUME argument, analyze the audio stream and then normalize the volume of the audio. This is useful if the audio is too quiet or too loud, or you want to make volume consistent for a bunch of videos. Similar to running normalize without any parameters. The default is -12dB average level with 0dB gain. If the optional VOLUME argument is supplied, ffmpeg will be used instead to increase or decrease the volume. An argument of 256 is normal volume. This option is useful for -slice, because there are sync issues if audio and video are encoded separately after a seek.
-amplitude NUM[dB]
In addition to analyzing and normalizing, apply the gain to the audio such that the 'average' (RMS) sound level is NUM. Valid values range 0.0 - 1.0, with 0.0 being silent and 1.0 being full scale. Use NUMdB for a decibel gain below full scale (the default without -amplitude is -12dB).
-abitrate NUM
Encode audio at NUM kilobits per second. Reasonable values include 128, 224, and 384. The default is 224 kbits/sec, good enough for most encodings. The value must be within the allowable range for the chosen disc format; Ignored for VCD, which must be 224.
-audiotrack NUM
Encode the given audio track, if the input video has multiple audio tracks. NUM is 1 for the first track, 2 for the second, etc. You may also provide a list of tracks, separated by spaces or commas, for example -audiotrack 3,1,2. Use idvid on your source video to determine which audio tracks it contains.
-async NUM
Adjust audio synchronization by NUM seconds.
Other options
-config FILE
Read configuration from FILE, containing 'tovid' alone on the first line, and free-formatted (whitespace-separated) tovid command-line options on remaining lines.
-force
Force encoding of already-compliant video or audio streams.
-overwrite
Overwrite any existing output files (with the same name as the given -out option).
-priority {low|medium|high}
Sets the main encoding process to the given priority. With high priority, it may take other programs longer to load and respond. With lower priority, other programs will be more responsive, but encoding may take 30-40% longer. The default is high priority.
-discsize NUM
When encoding, tovid automatically splits the output file into several pieces if it exceeds the size of the target media. This option sets the desired target DVD/CD-R size to NUM mebibytes (MiB, 2^20). By default, splitting occurs at 700 for CD, 4300 for DVD. Use higher values at your own risk. Use 650 or lower if you plan to burn to smaller-capacity CDs. Doesn't work with the -ffmpeg option.
-fit NUM
Fit the output file into NUM MiB. Rather than using default (or specified) video bitrates, tovid will calculate the correct video bitrate that will limit the final output size to NUM MiB. This is different than -discsize, which cuts the final file into NUM MiB pieces. -fit makes sure that the file never exceeds NUM MiB. This works with -ffmpeg, but not with -vcd since VCDs have a standardized constant bitrate.
-parallel
Perform ripping, encoding, and multiplexing processes in parallel using named pipes. Maximizes CPU utilization and minimizes disk usage. Note that this option simply does more tasks simultaneously, in order to make better use of available CPU cycles; it's unrelated to multi-CPU processing (which is done automatically anyway). Has no effect when -ffmpeg is used.
-update SECS
Print status updates at intervals of SECS seconds. This affects how regularly the progress-meter is updated. The default is once every five seconds.
-mplayeropts "OPTIONS"
Append OPTIONS to the mplayer command run during video encoding. Use this if you want to add specific video filters (documented in the mplayer manual page). Overriding some options will cause encoding to fail, so use this with caution!
-nofifo (EXPERIMENTAL)
Do not use a FIFO pipe for video encoding. If you are getting "Broken pipe" errors with normal encoding, try this option. WARNING: This uses lots of disk space (about 2 GB per minute of video).
-keepfiles
Keep the intermediate files after encoding. Usually, this means the audio and video streams are kept (eg the .ac3 and .m2v files for an NTSC DVD). This doesn't work with -parallel because the intermediate files are named pipes, and not real files.
-slice START-END
Encode a segment from START to END (in seconds).
-from-gui
Put tovid into a fully non-interactive state, suitable for calling from a gui.
-noask
Don't ask questions when choices need to be made. Assume reasonable answers.
Configuration
Two configuration files are created the first time you run tovid. Edit them to change tovid's directory use and default behavior.
Working and output directories are defined in ~/.tovid/preferences:
WORKING_DIR=/tmp
OUTPUT_DIR=/pub/video
If you would like to include certain command-line options all the time, edit ~/.tovid/tovid.config and add them.
Manual pages: tovid - todisc - idvid - makedvd - makemenu - makeslides - makexml - postproc
full story...
Aspect ratio and safe area
In video processing, the aspect ratio is a pair of numbers that expresses the "wideness" of an image or video. The two numbers are a width-to-height ratio. For example, an aspect ratio of 4:3 means the picture is 4 units wide for every 3 units in height.
Typical 1980s-1990s TV sets have this aspect ratio, as do most computer monitors. In the early 2000s, High-definition TV (HDTV) screens have become more popular and affordable; HDTVs commonly have a 16:9 aspect ratio.
To find the aspect ratio of a video or image, just measure its width and height. The aspect ratio can then be expressed as width:height. If the picture is 24cm wide and 18cm tall, the aspect ratio can be expressed 24:18.
The aspect ratio is expressed in terms of the intended display dimensions. The resolution of an image in pixels is not always a good indicator of aspect ratio. For more on why this is so. How does 24:18 compare to other aspect ratios? Is wider or narrower than other aspect ratios like 16:9 or 4:3? It's hard to tell at a glance, because the denominators are different. The easiest way to compare aspect ratios is to reduce them to lowest terms by doing a simple division: 4/3 = 1.33, and 24/18 = 1.33, so 4:3 is the same as 24:18. Widescreen is 16/9 = 1.78. Reducing aspect ratios to their lowest terms makes comparison easier.
Two other aspect ratios are commonly used in filming movies: 1.85:1 (Academy Standard, or "flat"), and 2.35:1 (or "Scope", also called Panavision or CinemaScope). Both are even wider than 16:9, with Scope being almost twice as wide as 4:3. The term "widescreen" typically refers to any aspect ratio greater than about 1.33:1.
Converting between aspect ratios
Since the 1950s, theatrical releases have typically used a widescreen aspect ratio. Most TV sets use a 4:3 aspect ratio, so widescreen movies must be converted for viewing on 4:3 TVs. Two popular approaches to this conversion are described here. They are pan and scan and letterbox.
With pan and scan, a 4:3 region is shown, cutting off the left and/or right sides of the original picture. A human operator (sometimes the director) selects areas that are important to the scene, and tries to fit them in the 4:3 frame. When the action moves to a different part of the screen, the visible region is panned over to it.
Throughout the 1980s, pan and scan was by far the most popular home video format. Pan and scan transfers make full use of the 4:3 frame, so the viewer's TV screen is filled at all times. In the 1980s, VHS still ruled the home market; pan and scan makes full use of VHS's low (by today's standards) resolution. By "zooming in" on the picture, detail and picture quality are better preserved.
But this gain comes at a significant loss; up to half of the original movie picture may be cut off. Camera shots framed for widescreen may look amateurish and asymmetrical when converted to pan and scan; sometimes, important characters, objects, or scenery may be lost. Some directors forbid pan-and-scan transfers of their films.
Note: Laserdisc was a popular niche market for movie buffs throughout VHS's reign; the picture quality of Laserdisc transfers is superior to that of VHS, but inferior to that of our beloved DVD.
The advantage of letterbox format is that all of the original picture is visible. The disadvantage is that it's shrunk down to fit a 4:3 TV screen; a significant portion of the screen is "wasted" on the black bars. With VHS, a letterbox film would lose much of its original detail.
Since the late 1990s, pan and scan has become less popular. Its primary advantage to the consumer was optimal use of TV screen area, but the growing popularity of DVD, combined with the decreasing cost of HDTV, has made it easier than ever to enjoy high-quality widescreen at home. By the early 2000s, sales of widescreen (letterbox) and full-screen (pan and scan) DVDs were almost equal; some TV series have even begun using 16:9.
There are several other approaches to creating 4:3 versions of films, but those typically require special filming techniques, or access to final proofs of the original film.
Pixels and aspect ratio
Images and videos stored on a computer are saved as a big rectangle full of tiny square pixels. Each pixel stores a single color; you can think of a digital image as a giant paint-by-number grid, with millions of possible colors. The more pixels in a digital image, the more detail can be captured. In the digital camera market, this resolution is simply expressed in megapixels, or millions of pixels. A 4.0 megapixel (4 million pixel) camera can capture an image roughly 2,000 pixels wide and 2,000 pixels high. It's a good thing computers are fast, because it would take a human a very long time to do a paint-by-number this big.
Digital video stored on a computer has no particular limitation on resolution, but digital video disc formats such as VCD, SVCD, and DVD only allow certain resolutions, in terms of pixels. The most common resolution for commercial DVDs is Full-D1, which is 720×480 pixels in size.
Full-D1 is actually the name of two different resolutions, depending on whether the DVD is formatted for NTSC or PAL viewers and players. PAL uses a resolution of 720×576 for Full-D1; NTSC uses 720×480. In addition to Full-D1, DVD supports several other output resolutions, including 352×480 (352×576 PAL) and 352×240 (352×288 PAL). Higher resolutions give better detail and overall quality, but fill up more space on the disc. These additional resolutions allow even single-layer DVDs to contain from 2 to 10 hours of video, giving DVD authors several options for balancing quality with quantity.
You may notice, if you try to calculate what aspect ratio this is, that 720/480 = 1.5, which is not a standard aspect ratio for either standard or widescreen TV sets. Obviously, the resolution of a video in pixels has little bearing on the aspect ratio of the video; 1.5:1 is the ratio of width to height in pixels, but nobody watches DVDs on a 1.5:1 TV set.
So why the weird ratio? There's a good reason for it. DVD was designed to perform well with both 1.33:1 (4:3 television) and 1.78:1 (16:9) widescreen). But instead of having two different pixel resolutions, DVD uses only 720×480. Since 1.5:1 is about halfway between 1.33:1 and 1.78:1, Full-D1 DVD is well-suited to encoding both of these common aspect ratios.
To achieve this, videos are first squished or stretched to fit into 720×480 pixels. Each video is marked with a bit of information telling the DVD player whether 4:3 or 16:9 should be used for playback. The DVD player then automatically does the appropriate squishing or stretching to restore the proportions to normal.
A 4:3 picture fills the viewing area of a 4:3 screen, but may be stretched or letterboxed when played back on a widescreen TV. DVDs using this format are typically labelled "full screen."
A 16:9 picture is letterboxed when played on a 4:3 screen, but fills the viewing area of a widescreen TV. DVDs using this format are typically labelled "widescreen."
In these two formats, all letterboxing is done by the DVD player (or, in some cases, by the TV). All 720×480 pixels are used optimally, with none wasted on black bars. With DVD, consumers can choose the aspect ratio that best suits their viewing needs.
DVDs labelled "anamorphic widescreen" or "enhanced for widescreen displays" use a direct 16:9 encoding of the widescreen picture. If a DVD is labelled "widescreen" (but not anamorphic), then the disc probably contains a 4:3 encoding of a letterboxed widescreen image--and consequently, wastes 25% or more of its pixels on black letterbox bars. Anamorphic widescreen DVDs make better use of their available vertical resolution, and are thus superior in picture quality to non-anamorphic DVDs.
full story...
Typical 1980s-1990s TV sets have this aspect ratio, as do most computer monitors. In the early 2000s, High-definition TV (HDTV) screens have become more popular and affordable; HDTVs commonly have a 16:9 aspect ratio.
To find the aspect ratio of a video or image, just measure its width and height. The aspect ratio can then be expressed as width:height. If the picture is 24cm wide and 18cm tall, the aspect ratio can be expressed 24:18.
The aspect ratio is expressed in terms of the intended display dimensions. The resolution of an image in pixels is not always a good indicator of aspect ratio. For more on why this is so. How does 24:18 compare to other aspect ratios? Is wider or narrower than other aspect ratios like 16:9 or 4:3? It's hard to tell at a glance, because the denominators are different. The easiest way to compare aspect ratios is to reduce them to lowest terms by doing a simple division: 4/3 = 1.33, and 24/18 = 1.33, so 4:3 is the same as 24:18. Widescreen is 16/9 = 1.78. Reducing aspect ratios to their lowest terms makes comparison easier.
Two other aspect ratios are commonly used in filming movies: 1.85:1 (Academy Standard, or "flat"), and 2.35:1 (or "Scope", also called Panavision or CinemaScope). Both are even wider than 16:9, with Scope being almost twice as wide as 4:3. The term "widescreen" typically refers to any aspect ratio greater than about 1.33:1.
Converting between aspect ratios
Since the 1950s, theatrical releases have typically used a widescreen aspect ratio. Most TV sets use a 4:3 aspect ratio, so widescreen movies must be converted for viewing on 4:3 TVs. Two popular approaches to this conversion are described here. They are pan and scan and letterbox.
With pan and scan, a 4:3 region is shown, cutting off the left and/or right sides of the original picture. A human operator (sometimes the director) selects areas that are important to the scene, and tries to fit them in the 4:3 frame. When the action moves to a different part of the screen, the visible region is panned over to it.
Throughout the 1980s, pan and scan was by far the most popular home video format. Pan and scan transfers make full use of the 4:3 frame, so the viewer's TV screen is filled at all times. In the 1980s, VHS still ruled the home market; pan and scan makes full use of VHS's low (by today's standards) resolution. By "zooming in" on the picture, detail and picture quality are better preserved.
But this gain comes at a significant loss; up to half of the original movie picture may be cut off. Camera shots framed for widescreen may look amateurish and asymmetrical when converted to pan and scan; sometimes, important characters, objects, or scenery may be lost. Some directors forbid pan-and-scan transfers of their films.
Note: Laserdisc was a popular niche market for movie buffs throughout VHS's reign; the picture quality of Laserdisc transfers is superior to that of VHS, but inferior to that of our beloved DVD.
The advantage of letterbox format is that all of the original picture is visible. The disadvantage is that it's shrunk down to fit a 4:3 TV screen; a significant portion of the screen is "wasted" on the black bars. With VHS, a letterbox film would lose much of its original detail.
Since the late 1990s, pan and scan has become less popular. Its primary advantage to the consumer was optimal use of TV screen area, but the growing popularity of DVD, combined with the decreasing cost of HDTV, has made it easier than ever to enjoy high-quality widescreen at home. By the early 2000s, sales of widescreen (letterbox) and full-screen (pan and scan) DVDs were almost equal; some TV series have even begun using 16:9.
There are several other approaches to creating 4:3 versions of films, but those typically require special filming techniques, or access to final proofs of the original film.
Pixels and aspect ratio
Images and videos stored on a computer are saved as a big rectangle full of tiny square pixels. Each pixel stores a single color; you can think of a digital image as a giant paint-by-number grid, with millions of possible colors. The more pixels in a digital image, the more detail can be captured. In the digital camera market, this resolution is simply expressed in megapixels, or millions of pixels. A 4.0 megapixel (4 million pixel) camera can capture an image roughly 2,000 pixels wide and 2,000 pixels high. It's a good thing computers are fast, because it would take a human a very long time to do a paint-by-number this big.
Digital video stored on a computer has no particular limitation on resolution, but digital video disc formats such as VCD, SVCD, and DVD only allow certain resolutions, in terms of pixels. The most common resolution for commercial DVDs is Full-D1, which is 720×480 pixels in size.
Full-D1 is actually the name of two different resolutions, depending on whether the DVD is formatted for NTSC or PAL viewers and players. PAL uses a resolution of 720×576 for Full-D1; NTSC uses 720×480. In addition to Full-D1, DVD supports several other output resolutions, including 352×480 (352×576 PAL) and 352×240 (352×288 PAL). Higher resolutions give better detail and overall quality, but fill up more space on the disc. These additional resolutions allow even single-layer DVDs to contain from 2 to 10 hours of video, giving DVD authors several options for balancing quality with quantity.
You may notice, if you try to calculate what aspect ratio this is, that 720/480 = 1.5, which is not a standard aspect ratio for either standard or widescreen TV sets. Obviously, the resolution of a video in pixels has little bearing on the aspect ratio of the video; 1.5:1 is the ratio of width to height in pixels, but nobody watches DVDs on a 1.5:1 TV set.
So why the weird ratio? There's a good reason for it. DVD was designed to perform well with both 1.33:1 (4:3 television) and 1.78:1 (16:9) widescreen). But instead of having two different pixel resolutions, DVD uses only 720×480. Since 1.5:1 is about halfway between 1.33:1 and 1.78:1, Full-D1 DVD is well-suited to encoding both of these common aspect ratios.
To achieve this, videos are first squished or stretched to fit into 720×480 pixels. Each video is marked with a bit of information telling the DVD player whether 4:3 or 16:9 should be used for playback. The DVD player then automatically does the appropriate squishing or stretching to restore the proportions to normal.
A 4:3 picture fills the viewing area of a 4:3 screen, but may be stretched or letterboxed when played back on a widescreen TV. DVDs using this format are typically labelled "full screen."
A 16:9 picture is letterboxed when played on a 4:3 screen, but fills the viewing area of a widescreen TV. DVDs using this format are typically labelled "widescreen."
In these two formats, all letterboxing is done by the DVD player (or, in some cases, by the TV). All 720×480 pixels are used optimally, with none wasted on black bars. With DVD, consumers can choose the aspect ratio that best suits their viewing needs.
DVDs labelled "anamorphic widescreen" or "enhanced for widescreen displays" use a direct 16:9 encoding of the widescreen picture. If a DVD is labelled "widescreen" (but not anamorphic), then the disc probably contains a 4:3 encoding of a letterboxed widescreen image--and consequently, wastes 25% or more of its pixels on black letterbox bars. Anamorphic widescreen DVDs make better use of their available vertical resolution, and are thus superior in picture quality to non-anamorphic DVDs.
full story...
Installing svn ffmpeg on a Debian
This shows how to compile the latest ffmpeg from source on debian based distros such as ubuntu and of course ... debian.
It may be particularly useful to those who have discovered an ffmpeg whose vhook's are broken and who can not use -quick-menu in the todisc/todiscgui program.
It has only been tested on ubuntu feisty and debian etch, but the principles will apply on any such debian based distro. Debian sid/unstable users can change the 'etch' in the sources.list line to 'sid'.
Note: Ubuntu users may find this howto outdated - for example libfaad-dev is no longer a package name. Someone who uses Ubuntu please contribute any help here, but please keep to the topic which is installing *svn* ffmpeg
The steps are:
1. install the dependancies needed for compiling.
2. download the latest source code using subversion (svn)
3. compile and install ffmpeg
4. double check your PATH and library paths are correct.
Commands preceeded by 'sudo' need root privileges: the sudo is added for the benefit of Ubuntu users. Others like Debian users will probably not use sudo but will become root before running them.
NOTE:
All commands in bold are run in a terminal.
Any commands NOT preceeded by 'sudo' are NOT run as the root user !
install dependencies needed for compiling
sudo apt-get build-dep ffmpeg
sudo apt-get install subversion
For Ubuntu users for whom the apt-get build-dep does not work, I suggest you do a "apt-cache showsrc ffmpeg" and install the deps manually, getting the missing packages from another repository. ( for example libfaad-dev is apparently no longer in Ubuntu. )
download the ffmpeg source
First, decide where you are going to do your compiling. Let's say you decide to put it in a directory called 'svn' in your home directory:
cd
mkdir svn
cd svn
Then use the subversion's 'svn' command to get the source. It will create a directory in $HOME/svn called 'ffmpeg'.
svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg
cd to the new directory it creates
cd ffmpeg
configure ffmpeg
The following command will configure the source code for you:
./configure --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libtheora --enable-libx264 --enable-libgsm --enable-postproc --enable-libxvid --enable-libfaac --enable-pthreads --enable-libvorbis --enable-libfaad --enable-gpl --enable-x11grab
compile ffmpeg
Run the 'make' program to compile the beast.
make
install ffmpeg
This command will install ffmpeg in /usr/local. This is the easiest place to install as /usr/local should already be in your PATH ahead of /usr/bin where debian/ubuntu install programs such as ffmpeg. This means when you type ffmpeg or it is called from a script, the ffmpeg in /usr/local/bin will be used.
sudo make install
check the library path
The text file /etc/ld.so.conf contains a compiled list of possible libraries for installed programs found in the library path. Make sure /usr/local/lib is in /etc/ld.so.conf and ahead of /usr/lib. Edit /etc/ld.so.conf using sudo or as root, and add /usr/local/lib to the top of the file if it is not already there. Update the library cache by running:
sudo ldconfig -v
The '-v' is added to show the output (verbose).
test your new ffmpeg
ffmpeg -version
This doesn't do anything, but should show you the flags you configured and compiled ffmpeg with, as well as versions and dates for the source and its other libraries.
Now try testing it on a video file !
full story...
It may be particularly useful to those who have discovered an ffmpeg whose vhook's are broken and who can not use -quick-menu in the todisc/todiscgui program.
It has only been tested on ubuntu feisty and debian etch, but the principles will apply on any such debian based distro. Debian sid/unstable users can change the 'etch' in the sources.list line to 'sid'.
Note: Ubuntu users may find this howto outdated - for example libfaad-dev is no longer a package name. Someone who uses Ubuntu please contribute any help here, but please keep to the topic which is installing *svn* ffmpeg
The steps are:
1. install the dependancies needed for compiling.
2. download the latest source code using subversion (svn)
3. compile and install ffmpeg
4. double check your PATH and library paths are correct.
Commands preceeded by 'sudo' need root privileges: the sudo is added for the benefit of Ubuntu users. Others like Debian users will probably not use sudo but will become root before running them.
NOTE:
All commands in bold are run in a terminal.
Any commands NOT preceeded by 'sudo' are NOT run as the root user !
install dependencies needed for compiling
sudo apt-get build-dep ffmpeg
sudo apt-get install subversion
For Ubuntu users for whom the apt-get build-dep does not work, I suggest you do a "apt-cache showsrc ffmpeg" and install the deps manually, getting the missing packages from another repository. ( for example libfaad-dev is apparently no longer in Ubuntu. )
download the ffmpeg source
First, decide where you are going to do your compiling. Let's say you decide to put it in a directory called 'svn' in your home directory:
cd
mkdir svn
cd svn
Then use the subversion's 'svn' command to get the source. It will create a directory in $HOME/svn called 'ffmpeg'.
svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg
cd to the new directory it creates
cd ffmpeg
configure ffmpeg
The following command will configure the source code for you:
./configure --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libtheora --enable-libx264 --enable-libgsm --enable-postproc --enable-libxvid --enable-libfaac --enable-pthreads --enable-libvorbis --enable-libfaad --enable-gpl --enable-x11grab
compile ffmpeg
Run the 'make' program to compile the beast.
make
install ffmpeg
This command will install ffmpeg in /usr/local. This is the easiest place to install as /usr/local should already be in your PATH ahead of /usr/bin where debian/ubuntu install programs such as ffmpeg. This means when you type ffmpeg or it is called from a script, the ffmpeg in /usr/local/bin will be used.
sudo make install
check the library path
The text file /etc/ld.so.conf contains a compiled list of possible libraries for installed programs found in the library path. Make sure /usr/local/lib is in /etc/ld.so.conf and ahead of /usr/lib. Edit /etc/ld.so.conf using sudo or as root, and add /usr/local/lib to the top of the file if it is not already there. Update the library cache by running:
sudo ldconfig -v
The '-v' is added to show the output (verbose).
test your new ffmpeg
ffmpeg -version
This doesn't do anything, but should show you the flags you configured and compiled ffmpeg with, as well as versions and dates for the source and its other libraries.
Now try testing it on a video file !
full story...
