DISCUSSION: Converting video to VCD, SVCD, or DVD

Hrm, cool. Hopefully it will have 'help' pop-ups or something of that sort. Plus, hopefully the default bitrate settings are already chosen.

If you remember the old GUI, it had a lot of tooltips. This one does too - I like tooltips, so pretty much every button, checkbox, text field, etc. has a tooltip that explains what it does.

The bitrates will probably default to reasonable values for each format (just like tovid does). Once you add all the videos you want to the disc, there'll be a "bitrate wizard" of sorts that will figure out the best video bitrate to use.

cool.

I tried out the 'makeslides' script just to see what it does. Ran it like so:

makeslides -ntsc IM000494.jpg

It prints some stuff, then exits without an error. I tried to play the resulting mpg with mplayer, but it exits out quickly without playing anything. When i check the size of the resulting mpg, its only 120k. Is it supposed to be that big or does that depend on how long we want the image to play as a movie?

It looks like it succeeded. The resulting mpeg is only 1 frame long, so it'll be over before you can see it in mplayer You should be able to view it with ImageMagick, though: 'display IM000494.mpg'. 120K is about the right size.

When you author it to VCD/SVCD (with makexml and the -slides option), each slide stays on the screen until you press 'next'. At least, that's how it is supposed to work. I haven't really tested it out.

I see. I went ahead and tried it, and this is what i am getting:

The 'display' command seems to be not working for me:


$ display IM000494.jpg.mpg
mpeg2dec-0.4.0 - by Michel Lespinasse <walken@zoy.org> and Aaron Holtzman
mpeg2decode: invalid option -- q
usage: mpeg2decode [-h] [-o <mode>] [-s [<track>]] [-t <pid>] [-p] [-c] \
[-v] [-b <bufsize>] <file>
-h display help and available video output modes
-s use program stream demultiplexer, track 0-15 or 0xe0-0xef
-t use transport stream demultiplexer, pid 0x10-0x1ffe
-p use pva demultiplexer
-c use c implementation, disables all accelerations
-v verbose information about the MPEG stream
-b set input buffer size, default 4096 bytes
-o video output mode
sdl
null
nullslice
nullskip
nullrgb16
nullrgb32
pgm
pgmpipe
md5
display: Delegate failed `"mpeg2decode" -q -b "%i" -f -r -o3 "%u%%d"'.


So, i left that and went ahead anyways:

$ makeslides *.jpg
--------------------------------
makeslides
A script to create MPEG stills from provided images
Part of the tovid suite, version 0.17
Written in 2004 by Eric Pierce
http://tovid.sourceforge.net/
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
Processing image: IM000494.jpg
INFO: [ppmtoy4m] Command-line Parameters:
INFO: [ppmtoy4m] framerate: 30000:1001
INFO: [ppmtoy4m] pixel aspect ratio: 10:11
INFO: [ppmtoy4m] interlace: none/progressive
INFO: [ppmtoy4m] starting frame: 0
INFO: [ppmtoy4m] # of frames: 1, or until input exhausted
INFO: [ppmtoy4m] chroma subsampling: 4:2:0, JPEG/MPEG-1, interstitial si ting
INFO: [ppmtoy4m] Output Stream parameters:
INFO: [ppmtoy4m] frame size: 704x480 pixels (506880 bytes)
INFO: [ppmtoy4m] frame rate: 30000/1001 fps (~29.970030)
INFO: [ppmtoy4m] interlace: none/progressive
INFO: [ppmtoy4m] sample aspect ratio: 10:11
INFO: [mpeg2enc] SETTING EXTENDED MMX for MOTION!
INFO: [mpeg2enc] SETTING MMX for TRANSFORM!
INFO: [mpeg2enc] SETTING EXTENDED MMX for PREDICTION!
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Selecting VCD Stills output profile
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Assuming norm NTSC
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Progressive input - selecting progressive encoding.
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Encoding MPEG-1 video to IM000494.jpg.mpg
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Horizontal size: 704 pel
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Vertical size: 480 pel
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Aspect ratio code: 12 = 1:1.1250 (4:3 NTSC for 720x480/352x2 40 images)
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Frame rate code: 4 = 30000.0/1001.0 (NTSC VIDEO)
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Bitrate: 8000 KBit/s
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Field order for input: none/progressive
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Sequence unlimited length
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Search radius: 16
INFO: [mpeg2enc] GOP SIZE RANGE 1 TO 1
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Setting colour/gamma parameters to "NTSC"
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Progressive format frames = 1
INFO: [mpeg2enc] mpeg1 - setting intra_dc_precision = 0
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Using default unmodified quantization matrices
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Buffering 6 frames
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Signaling last frame = 0
INFO: [mpeg2enc] SETTING 3DNOW and EXTENDED MMX for QUANTIZER!
INFO: [mpeg2enc] GOP start (1 frames)
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Setting VCD HR still overshoot margin to 7680 bytes
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Frame end 0 I quant=2.06 total act=129.16827 PAD
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Splitting sequence this GOP start
INFO: [mpeg2enc] GOP start (0 frames)
INFO: [mpeg2enc] Guesstimated final muxed size = 33366


I had other pics in the directory too, the above is output from just one of them. I went ahead with makexml:


$ makexml -svcd -slides *.mpg
--------------------------------
makexml
A script to generate XML for authoring a VCD, SVCD, or DVD.
Part of the tovid suite, version 0.17
Written in 2004 by Eric Pierce
http://tovid.sourceforge.net/
--------------------------------
Adding title: IM000494.jpg.mpg as number 1 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000502.jpg.mpg as number 2 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000503.jpg.mpg as number 3 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000504.jpg.mpg as number 4 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000527.jpg.mpg as number 5 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000529.jpg.mpg as number 6 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000530.jpg.mpg as number 7 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000557.jpg.mpg as number 8 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000558.jpg.mpg as number 9 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000559.jpg.mpg as number 10 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000560.jpg.mpg as number 11 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000561.jpg.mpg as number 12 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000563.jpg.mpg as number 13 in a slideshow
Adding title: IM000627.jpg.mpg as number 14 in a slideshow
sed: -e expression #1, char 19: unterminated `s' command
==========================================
Done. The resulting XML was written to IM000653.jpg.mpg.xml.
You can create the (S)VCD .bin and .cue files by running the command:
vcdxbuild IM000653.jpg.mpg.xml
Thanks for using makexml!


Next is vcdxbuild:


l$ vcdxbuild IM000653.jpg.mpg.xml
IM000653.jpg.mpg.xml:34: validity error: Element pbc content does not follow the DTD, expecting (selection | playlist | endlist)+, got
</pbc>
^
IM000653.jpg.mpg.xml:35: validity error: Element videocd content does not follow the DTD, expecting (option* , info , pvd , filesystem? , segment-items? , sequence-items , pbc?), got (option info pvd segment-items pbc)
</videocd>
^
**ERROR: error while parsing file `IM000653.jpg.mpg.xml': No such file or directory


And thats where i am.

I'm not sure, but I don't think you can author a disc that only contains slides - there has to be at least one -menu in there also. Like I said, I haven't done much testing, so there are probably lots of bugs to be worked out. Anyhow, try it with a -menu (maybe just a menu that links to the beginning of the slideshow) and see if that works.

Also, make sure to include an output filename when you run 'makexml', like this:

makexml -svcd -slides *.mpg outfile.xml

Otherwise, it puts the xml in a file named after the last .mpg, which is why you got that funky-named .jpg.mpg.xml file.

The 'display' command should be part of ImageMagick, so it's strange that it wouldn't work... you may be able to view the .mpg with another image viewer (especially if it uses the ImageMagick libraries).

Ok. I'll leave it alone for now. I did try the methods, but its still messing up with vcdxbuild.

Thx.

I've burned a DVD and SVCD with tovid, and, in both cases, the resulting disk works fine when played on a PC (Windows or Linux). However, when I try to play them in a stand-alone DVD player, the audio loses synchronization with the video over the course of the program. Things start off fine, but by the end, audio is two seconds behind video.

My reading of postproc leads me to believe it allows for a fixed shift, but this problem appears to be a mismatch of audio and video play rates.

Can anyone offer some guidance?

Hmm, i haven't noticed that *yet*. Sorry, can't be of much help here.

Just to get back to the Tovid name topic, I think you should keep the name.

On the contrary, Tovid, to me a least, does indicate what it does: " Tovid...eo".

And like it was mentionned above, it is a very Unix name. As it should be.

Well ,why not keep the name and add (eo) in parentheses like so on your web site and at Sourceforge.

Like so for examples:

Tovid(eo) 0.17

That would make it more obvious and keep the original name intact.

Don't forget your software is on it's way to become well knowned. The name should stay.

Originally posted by koschate Things start off fine, but by the end, audio is two seconds behind video. My reading of postproc leads me to believe it allows for a fixed shift, but this problem appears to be a mismatch of audio and video play rates.

It is odd that it would play OK on your computer, but not in the DVD player. Are they in sync for the whole movie when you watch it on the computer?

The problem you're describing is one of the hardest to deal with, in my experience. Usually it seems to result from an unusual frame rate in the original video; since the video must be converted to 29.97 fps (NTSC) or 25.00 fps (PAL), it's usually necessary to add or remove frames in order to get the correct play rate. If it's off by a frame here and there, it won't make much difference in the short term, but over the course of a 2-hour movie it may become noticeable.

Here's my suggestion: Run 'idvid' on your input video to find out what frame rate it is. If it says 25.00 or 29.97 or whatever, try re-running 'tovid' using the '-fps' option (run 'tovid -help' to see how to use it).

If that still doesn't work, you could try using the '-twopass' option, but chances are slim that it will work.

If all else fails, your only option may be to use a source video in a different format, or encoded by different software, if one is available. Unfortunately, some videos are either damaged in some way (bad header, missing frames) or just don't play correctly for whatever reason.

Thanks for the comments on the name, Steel_J! I do think I will keep the name. I started working on a logo last night, to use as a splash-screen for the GUI (maybe), and for the webpage. I think the logo will help convey the purpose of tovid.

No problem.

The 0.17 version is very polished. I convert my tv shows to VCD in 40 to 45 minutes for a 1 hour playtime.

Very large quality differentials between older versions and 0.17 when it comme to DVD movies. They look much nicer and the process takes a very reasonnable amount of time while still letting you use the sytem for other tasks

The quality is great and it's also the best and fastest PAL to NTSC conversion I have seen, because many of my shows, like Galactica 2004 are 25fps.


They all come out fine and the audio is always in sync.

On Windows, good PAL 2 NTSC conversions are painfully long for most and often the audio sync is screwed.

That is what is unique to Tovid. Whatever source you feed it, it will output what it is asked.

One other thing I noticed on Linux, most of the time VCD's are much nicer than SVCD's for under 60 minutes playtime. Technically mpeg2 should be superior, but I guest mpeg1 encoding is legacy and like all things legacy, Unix does it well.

Your new GUI looks very user friendly and to the point, but I hope Tovid will remain fully functionnal on the command line even when it ships with a default GUI. After moving away from editing video on Microsoft platforms for many years, I find the console approach incredibly fast and powerful and I want to keep my prompt, hahahaha!

One other thing I noticed on Linux, most of the time VCD's are much nicer than SVCD's for under 60 minutes playtime. Technically mpeg2 should be superior, but I guest mpeg1 encoding is legacy and like all things legacy, Unix does it well.

Strange...i haven't messed too much with vcds. Will try to see if thats the case some other time.

Originally posted by Steel_J One other thing I noticed on Linux, most of the time VCD's are much nicer than SVCD's for under 60 minutes playtime. Technically mpeg2 should be superior, but I guest mpeg1 encoding is legacy and like all things legacy, Unix does it well.

That doesn't surprise me; VCD is much lower resolution than SVCD (only about 1/3 the pixels), so the pixels you do see are encoded with quite a bit more precision for the same bitrate. The main advantage of SVCD is the potential for higher resolution and variable bitrate (not to mention more audio channels and subtitles, though that's not yet supported in tovid).

Your new GUI looks very user friendly and to the point, but I hope Tovid will remain fully functionnal on the command line even when it ships with a default GUI.

I hope so too! I must admit I've been neglecting the scripts since I started work on the GUI. I think the 0.18 release will be essentially the same as 0.17, just with a GUI. Some new features will be added (particularly in 'makemenu', which will have configurable font and text color), but things should stay mostly the same until I get at least a good start on a usable GUI.

I'm very glad to hear that you are having satisfactory results. I'm concerned that some people will get out-of-sync videos and similar problems, but it's good to know that it doesn't happen often.

I've toyed with the possibility of porting tovid to Windows; doing so would require a lot of work, though (it needs a bash interpreter, and has a lot of software dependencies that are easily available in Linux but may be difficult to install or completely unavailable for Windows). I chose wxPython for the GUI partly because of its portability. But there's a big part of me that has no interest in porting it to Windows - mainly because I don't use or even like Windows, and trying to give technical support for it would be a nightmare - but also because I think making it Linux-only gives people one more good incentive to switch to Linux.

Here's a question for all of you: What platforms/distributions have you used tovid on successfully? I'm sure we have a pretty good range of Linux distros, but has anyone tried running it on FreeBSD, Unix, or anything similar? Let me know what distros you use, and whether tovid worked more or less out-of-the-box, or whether you needed to go to special efforts to get the dependencies installed.

I know it works on Gentoo, since that's what I use. All of the dependencies were available through portage, with the minor exception of dvdauthor, for which I needed to use the ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" option to install the unstable 0.6.10 version. So it's reasonably close to working out-of-the-box with Gentoo. I'd be interested to know your experiences with installing/using tovid and its dependencies. So, for instance:

• What platforms or distribution(s) have you gotten tovid to run on?
• Would it take a Linux guru to install all the required software, or could most newbies do it?
• What could tovid itself do to make installing and using it easier? (aside from the GUI)

Mandrake 10.1 Community for me .

The dependencies that need to be installed are not that numerous, but would require some work from a newbie on less user friendly distros. On Mandrake, URMPI takes care of that.

Other distros have similar features.

Mostly when you are at the video editing point in computers, you are advanced enough to install software by yourself and Tovid is no more a problem to install than other Linux software.

Actually, your installer is quite unique and easy to understand.