Linux Multimedia Hacks

Create a DVD

How to create your own DVD under Linux with the tovid suite and a host of other utilities.

“Create a VCD” [Hack #69] discussed how to use the tovid suite to take a video of almost any format and convert it into a video suitable for a VCD or SVCD. You can also use this tool to create DVD-compatible video. The nice thing about this method is that you use largely the same tools for the task with a few variations when it comes to creating the final DVD file structure.

This hack assumes that you already have the tovid suite of tools installed. If you don’t, follow the steps in [Hack #69] to download and install tovid. Much of the syntax to create a DVD-compatible video file is the same. First identify the aspect ratio of your video file. tovid supports full-screen (4:3), wide-screen (16:9) and theatrical wide-screen (2.35:1) aspect ratios through the -full, -wide, and -panavision options, respectively. Generally speaking, if you are creating a DVD of a home video or TV show, you probably will use -full (which is what tovid uses by default if you don’t specify the option). If the video source is from a movie, you will use -wide or -panavision, depending on how wide the video is. If you are unsure, run the idvid utility that comes with the tovid suite on the video file to output the width and height of the video, then divide the width by the height:

	$ idvid sample.avi ----------------------------------- idvid video identification script Version 0.18b Written in 2004 by ...