Current version: 2.0
DeVeDe is a program that allows you to create a video DVD from an MPEG, AVI, MOV... video file, suitable for home DVD players. DeVeDe uses Mplayer, Mencoder, DVDAuthor and VCDimager, so you can use any video playable with Mplayer.
To install DeVeDe, first you must ensure you have Mplayer, Mencoder, DVDAuthor and VCDimager in your system. You need Python 2.4, PyGTK and PyGlade too. Then, just run the install.sh script as root. It will copy all the files at the right place. It should even create an entry in your Gnome/KDE/freedesktop-compatible-windowmanager menu.
When you launch DeVeDe, it will show you this window, asking what kind of disk you want to create. You can choose between:
Of course, you aren't limited to theses options, since you can choose, if you want, another resolution for your CD/DVD. This allows you to create Super VideoCDs with a resolution of 352x240 (or 352x288 for PAL), which is a very good compromise if you want to store a lot of video in a single CD. I don't recomend to use other resolutions with VideoCDs, because CBR MPEG-1 is very limited. Choose the Super VideoCD or CVD option (which uses VBR MPEG-2) and use there the resolution you want.
After choosing the kind of disk you want, you will see the main interface:
A DVD is divided in Titles and Chapters. Each title is a film on its own, and, when played, you have to choose the one you want to see. Into each title you can add as many files you want, and cut them in chapters to allow an easy search.
In VideoCDs, Super VideoCDs and CVDs there's no title concept, so that frame won't be visible when you choose to create one of them.
In the screenshot, we see that there's two titles, and at title two we have two files. The files in a title will be played one after another, so they will be treated as a single film. So if you only want to create a DVD with one single film from multiple files, you have to put them in a single title. Your player will merge all of them in a single film.
The File info box contains all the information about the selected file: desired audio an video rate, original size, FPS and length in seconds. It has the estimated size in Mbytes, but have in mind that is an estimation, so the final size can be lower.
The Disk usage shows the percentage of the DVD currently used. You can occupy more than the 100% because it's based in an estimation, so the final size can (and probably will) be lower than the espected. You can choose the CD/DVD size too. Have in mind another thing: a 700MB CD can contain 80 minutes of compressed audio/video, which, at 1150kbps are about 800MB. This means that, when the media is a CD, you MUST use the bar to know how many disc space you are using, and no the stimated size of the files, because you can put up to 800MB of compressed video in a 700MB CD, or about 720MB in a 650CD.
Now, the Action block allows you to choose what do you want to create. The first option,Only convert film files to compliant MPEG files takes each file and converts it to a DVD-compliant MPEG-PS file, or to VCD, SVCD or CVD-compliant MPEG-PS. You can choose a generic name, being the default name "movie", so the files will have names like movie_XX_YY.mpg, being XX the title, and YY the file position into the title. An example: if you have two titles, and two files in the first title and three files at the second title, you will get five files: movie_01_01.mpg, movie_01_02.mpg, movie_02_01.mpg, movie_02_02.mpg and movie_02_03.mpg. This option is specially usefull when you want to create DVD menus with other program like DVD Styler, Q DVD Author or PoliDori. Of course, with VCD, SVCD or CVD, the title number will be always "01".
The second option, Create disk structure, is visible only when you create a DVD. It creates the MPEG files and then uses DVDAuthor to create the DVD tree structure. After that, it erases the MPEG files. You can use this option to create the folder and files for a DVD and use your own DVD recording program to create the ISO image and burn it into a DVD.
The third option, (second if you are creating a VCD, SVCD or CVD), Create an ISO or BIN/CUE image, ready to burn to a disk, converts the files to MPEG, creates the DVD tree if needed and, using MKISOFS, creates the ISO file, erasing then the MPEG and DVD tree to free disk space. With CD media, it converts the files to MPEG and uses VCDImager to create a BIN/CUE image, ready to be burned to a CD. Use this option to create a disk image ready to be burned to a CD/DVD with a program like GnomeBaker or K3b.
Finally, the option Erase temporary files allows to choose if you want DeVeDe to erase the temporary files as soon as they are needed no more. Selecting it, DeVeDe will need only about twice the final disk space, but if you don't mark it, you will need about three times the final disk space, but you will have all the temporary files.
To add a new file you have two options: first, you can drag and drop one or more files into the main window, so DeVeDe will give them some default values; or you can choose the "Add" button, so you will see this window:
First you choose the file you want to add (you can do it by drag and drop in this window too). After doing it, you can see its properties at the File info block. You can then choose the new audio an video rate, unless you are creating a VCD (theses have a fixed data rate). Remember that bigger rates will give you more quality, but bigger file size too.
By default, if the video will be reescaled to a width of 720 pixels, DeVeDe will put 5000Mbps; but if the final width is 352, DeVeDe will put 2000Mbps by default if final height is 288 (PAL) or 240 (NTSC), or 3000Mbps if final height is 576 (PAL) or 480 (NTSC). Of course you can adjust this value to the one you want.
Then, you can choose if you want to put the whole file, or only the first or the second half. This is specially usefull when creating VCDs: you can divide a long film in two disks if it's too long to fit in a single disk.
Finally, you can choose if you want to create a PAL/SECAM or a NTSC DVD. DeVeDe will remember the last option you used, even between sessions, so you can choose it once and forget it.
Maybe you ask why I put this option here and not in the main window. The answer is: because this way you can create hybrid DVDs, with some films in PAL/SECAM format and others in NTSC. What is the utility of this? I don't know, but maybe someone needs it someday...
There's a Preview button that converts some seconds (you can choose how many), allowing you to check the audio/video quality and the audio sync. It will create the temporary file at /var/tmp, so be sure to have write access there.
Is possible that the preview doesn't play smoothly. This is because the program has a reduced priority. Don't worry about that, just keep your attention in the picture/sound quality and in the audio sync.
There's an expansor named Advanced options. If you expand it, you will see this:
The Audio delay box is used to adjust the audio/video sync, allowing to fix videos with audio out of sync. You can set positive or negative values.
Next, you can choose the expand method to use when the aspect ratio of the original file is not 4/3. The first method is the preferred, and consists in adding the classic black bars up and down. It has the advantage of maintain the aspect ratio, so the faces will look natural. The alternative method consists in expand the film, so the faces will look enlarged. Of course, if you have a 16:9 TV you can put it to Full Screen, and enjoy a full-resolution panoramic film.
The Division in chapters box, available only with Video DVDs, allows you to divide the file in chapters each X minutes, so if you choose 5 minutes, you will have a chapter each 5 minutes. You can choose different intervals for each file. Is a good practice to divide files in chapters, because that allows you to easily jump to the desired part of the DVD. I hope to add this feature to CD media soon.
The Final size box allows you to change the final resolution. A bigger resolution will give you sharper pictures, but will need more bitrate to avoid the horrible MPEG artifacs. If you choose Default, DeVeDe will choose automagically the best resolution, based in the original video resolution and the disk format you wanted. For Video DVD, DeVeDe will use resolutions of 352x288 for PAL/SECAM, or 352x240 for NTSC, if the video's resolution is smaller or equal than that. If not, it will jump to 352x480 (NTSC) or 352x576 (PAL) if this way the video fits. If not, it will use 720x576 for PAL/SECAM or 720x480 for NTSC. For VCD, SuperVCD or CVD, DeVeDe will use, as default, the standard resolution of each format.
Finally, the Custom parameters box allows you to add extra parameters to Mencoder, allowing you to add subtitles, set picture quality, and much more. Remember to use '\ ' to put blank spaces. An example:
-sub /home/raster/holidays\ at\ galicia.sub
will render the subtitles at the file "holidays at galicia.sub". The blank spaces at the filename are put as '\ '.
After adding all the files you want, you will be prompted for a directory where DeVeDe will create all the files, and a generic name for them. The directory must have sufficient free space to hold all the temporary files (aprox. the double of the final CD/DVD size). The generic name will be used to name all the temporary files, so the MPEG files will be named as GENERICNAME_XX_YY.MPG, the DVD tree directory will be named GENERICNAME, the ISO image will be named GENERICNAME.ISO, and the BIN/CUE files will be GENERICNAME.BIN and GENERICNAME.CUE. You can't use blank spaces for this name (if you put them, will be changed to underscores).
Finally, the program will start to create the files. Remember that this is a very slow process, and can need more than two hours to be completed.
DeVeDe 1.1 and later can be installed in other directories, like your own home directory. This allows to use DeVeDe in machines where you don't have root access. To do so, just copy the files:
into a folder, and run devede.py from that directory ("barras.png" and "estira.png" are in the "pixmaps" directory).
Version 2.1
Version 2.0
Version 1.6
Version 1.5
Version 1.4
Version 1.3
Version 1.2
Version 1.1
Version 1.02b
Version 1.02
Version 1.01
Version 1.0
This program has been created by Sergio Costas (Raster Software Vigo).
http://www.rastersoft.com
e-mail: raster@rastersoft.com