HOWTO: Make DVD Videos Using Tovid: The Video Disc Authoring Suite

[user1397]

So here are the steps to take if you want to have a dvd movie, that's playable in a home dvd player, and created from a video file on your computer.

Tovid should work on any architecture (x86, x86_64, PPC, etc.) and any desktop environment (Gnome, KDE, Xfce, etc.). This guide assumes that you already have a video file saved on your computer, that you own a dvd burner, and that you have a blank dvd.

Tovid will accept many different types of video formats for your initial video. In fact, whatever formats the programs mplayer and ffmpeg support, tovid supports. There are very few formats it doesn't support, but you'll probably have one of the more common ones, so there's nothing to worry.

Also, please know that for tovid to work optimally, it's recommended to have at least 20GB of free space, so that it can author and encode the video smoothly.

- - - - -

Installation

To install tovid, just search for it in the Software Center, or else type this in a terminal:

sudo apt-get install tovid

If that doesn't work, install from source.

If you don't see any tovid menu entries under Applications > Sound & Video, refresh the gnome panels:

killall gnome-panel

- - - - -

Using the GUI:

Go to Applications > Sound & Video > tovid. If for some reason it doesn't start up correctly, run the command in a terminal to diagnose the cause of the issue:

todiscgui

OR

Using the CLI:

You have an avi file named 'foo' in your home directory, and you live in the Eastern Hemisphere (not Japan, they use NTSC), and you have a widescreen TV. You would simply type in a terminal:

tovid -wide -pal -in foo.avi -out foo_encoded

The -wide command tells tovid to make it widescreen, the -pal command tells tovid to make it PAL format, the -in file is the original, and the -out is the final product. Simple huh?

Consider the more complicated scenario: You have 3 videos, File1.mpg, File2.mpg, and File3.mpg. You want the menu to have titles Episode 1, Episode 2, and Episode 3. You want the dvd to be called Season_One. Your command would be:

todisc -files File1.mpg File2.mpg File3.mpg \
 -titles "Episode 1" "Episode 2" "Episode 3" \
-out Season_One

- - - - -

Once it is finished encoding, you could try to burn the video to a dvd using the burn tab in the GUI, but sometimes it doesn't work, so just minimize tovid (you dont want to close it, just in case if the encoding output is needed for support.) Then open a terminal and paste (this is just an example; replace the italic words accordingly):

makexml -menu Menu.mpg \foo1.mpg foo2.mpg foo3.mpg \
 -out MyDisc

That created an xml file, which in this case would be called: MyDisc.xml
Now, you have to burn to a dvd, using this command (again, replacing the italic word with your actual file name):

makedvd -burn MyDisc.xml

When it's finished, you'll have a dvd that's playable on your computer and on all (or most) dvd players!

If you wish to make more dvd's using this guide, you'll have to delete the dvd folder that was created, and move any completed files to your completed folder, or delete it if you wish. These should be moved from the encoding directory so that tovid can encode anew with a fresh place, no left-over trash, so that it doesn't run into space problems or errors.

Official tovid website (installation/info/guides): here.

Official tovid forums (bug reports and general info/help): here.

Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for anything related to this howto. Be aware of the laws in your country.

[boywondr16]

Erik,

Following your HOWTO to the letter, but I'm getting this when I type the command make:

make: command not found

Paging back up, here's the output I got from ./configure:

checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... no
configure: Checking for required core dependencies...
checking for grep... ok
checking for sed... ok
checking for md5sum... ok
checking for mplayer... ok
checking for mencoder... ok
checking for mplex... ok
checking for mpeg2enc... ok
checking for yuvfps... ok
checking for yuvdenoise... ok
checking for ppmtoy4m... ok
checking for mp2enc... ok
checking for ffmpeg... ok
checking for sox... ok
configure: Checking for optional dependencies...
configure: Checking for ImageMagick...
checking for composite... ok
checking for convert... ok
configure: Checking for dvd tools...
checking for spumux... ok
checking for dvdauthor... ok
checking for growisofs... ok
checking for mkisofs... ok
configure: Checking for vcd tools...
checking for vcdxbuild... ok
checking for cdrdao... ok
configure: Checking for transcode...
checking for tcprobe... ok
checking for tcrequant... ok
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: creating Makefile
config.status: creating src/Makefile
config.status: creating src/tovid-init.sh
config.status: creating setuplib.py
configure:

From there it gives me the list of dependencies met, etc. Why is the make file not being created? Do I need to run as superuser?

[user1397]

boywondr16, did you install the packages build-essential and checkinstall?

oops! forgot to add that in my howto! i'll edit my howto right now. Pay close attention to step 1

[boywondr16]

boywondr16, did you install the packages build-essential and checkinstall?

<slaps forehead>

Thanks.

[justinflavin]

excellent guide - i was always wondering how i could do this, but i got lost in page after page of tovid technical and dvd authoring information.

[user1397]

<slaps forehead>

Thanks.

Your're welcome!

[user1397]

excellent guide - i was always wondering how i could do this, but i got lost in page after page of tovid technical and dvd authoring information.

Why thank you!

[squidward_tentacles]

Hello, first off great tutorial...really straightforward and easy to follow. However when I attempted to run: tovidgui I recieved the following output:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/bin/tovidgui", line 33, in ?
from libtovid import TDL,Parse, Project
ImportError: No module named libtovid

As I am really new at this, I have no idea what went wrong, I tried removing the parse argument, and still recieved the exact same error message, thinking this was not the problem , I gedited it back in.....I have no idea how to proceed, any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks

[squidward_tentacles]

PS I did make sure all the dependancies were installed before begining, and it DOES seem to work w/out the GUI, aka if I enter just "tovid", however as a recent convert from windows, I am a bit bewildered as how to run programs entirely from the command prompt, a GUI interface is highly desired. Well thanks in advance for your help

[QUASAR_FREAK]

Hello, first off great tutorial...really straightforward and easy to follow. However when I attempted to run: tovidgui I recieved the following output:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/local/bin/tovidgui", line 33, in ?
from libtovid import TDL,Parse, Project
ImportError: No module named libtovid

As I am really new at this, I have no idea what went wrong, I tried removing the parse argument, and still recieved the exact same error message, thinking this was not the problem , I gedited it back in.....I have no idea how to proceed, any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks

Same problem here =/