HOWTO Create DVD's from AVI's on Ubuntu

To create simple DVD's (i.e. with no title menu's) you need the following software:

  • mplayer
  • videotrans
  • libxvidcore4
  • dvdauthor
  • mkisofs

To install all this use:

$ sudo apt-get install mplayer videotrans dvdauthor mkisofs libxvidcore4

Here are the simple steps to format a video for DVD:

First, make sure you can view the video using mplayer:

$ mplayer MyMovie.avi

Then we convert if to DVD mpeg format:

$ movie-to-dvd -m pal MyMovie.avi

This will create two files: MyMovie.m2v and MyMovie.ac3 which we need to merge back together:

$ mplex -f 8 -o MyMovie.mpg MyMovie.m2v MyMovie.ac3

Format the video for DVD:

$ dvdauthor -o dvd/ -t MyMovie.mpg

Create a title page for it:

$ dvdauthor -o dvd/ -T

Create an ISO image to burn to dvd:

$ mkisofs -dvd-video -v -o MyMovie.iso dvd

Then right click on the ISO in the file browser (Nautilus) and select "Write to Disc" and you have a DVD that will play in you normal DVD player.

References:

Comments
ikaruga's Gravatar This is way more complicated than it needs to be. If you use mencoder (bundled with mplayer), you can eliminate 2 steps:

mplayer MyMovie.avi

mencoder -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf -ovc lavc -oac lavc \
-vf harddup -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 \ #format sound
-lavcopts \
vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vstrict=0:\ #dvd specs
vbitrate=8000:keyint=12:aspect=16/9:\ #tweakable dvd specs
trell:mbd=2:precmp=2:subcmp=2:cmp=2:dia=-10:\ #hi-qual options
predia=-10:cbp:mv0:vqmin=1:lmin=1:dc=10:\
acodec=ac3:abitrate=192 -ofps 30000/1001 \ #sound specs
MyMovie.avi -o MyMovie.mpeg

dvdauthor -o dvd/ -t MyMovie.mpg

etc.

Yes, I know it looks a little complicated, but not really. (See the #comments above. The only thing you can tweak is the vbitrate: less for lo-quality, max=9800; and the aspect ratio). I just cut and pasted from the official mencoder documentation. I use that command to convert a high-quality avi (widescreen) to a high-quality DVD (widescreen) video. (For fullscreen, change 16/9 to 4/3.) It's also for NTSM. It gives me really awesome quality DVD videos (assuming the original AVI is also hi-quality.)

I'm not sure what the dvdauthor -o dvd/ does (since I don't use it directly), but it might be possible to eliminate that step as well since the resulting mpeg is already dvd-player ready.
# Posted By ikaruga | 1/8/08 4:57 PM
Anonymous's Gravatar Thanks for the guide - it's pretty user-friendly & very helpful.
I did notice though, that "apt get" ought to have a hyphen in between: "apt-get"...
# Posted By Anonymous | 6/21/08 7:03 AM
Mark Lynch's Gravatar Good point re apt-get. I've fixed it up. Thanks for letting me know.
# Posted By Mark Lynch | 6/21/08 8:34 AM
alpo's Gravatar thanks for the tips. i used <a href="http://www.sharewarecheap.com/WinX-DVD-Author_soft...">WinX DVD Author</a> to convert avi to dvd and make dvd menu. just this one is ok. you can try.
# Posted By alpo | 7/10/08 4:50 AM
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