Provided by: tovid_0.33-0ubuntu5_all 
Name
tovid - Make DVDs from video files
Description
tovid is a command-line tool for creating DVDs. It can encode your video files to DVD-compliant MPEG
format, generate simple or complex DVD menus, author and burn a ready-to-watch DVD, with just a few shell
commands. A graphical interface is also provided to make the process even easier.
NOTE: As of tovid 0.32, this is the only manual page provided by tovid. There is now a single executable
frontend to all functionality in the suite, so if you were expecting to find manpages for todisc, idvid,
makemenu and their kin, they can all be found in the tovid manpage you are reading now.
And yes, this makes for a pretty large manual page. If you are viewing this manpage from the command-line
man utility, which normally pages through the less utility, you can skip to a section by searching with
the / key, followed by a ^ to match the given section name. For example, to skip to the mpg command, type
/^Command:mpg. See man less for more on how to navigate.
Usage
tovid COMMAND [OPTIONS]
Where COMMAND is one of the following:
gui Start the tovid GUI (was todiscgui. See Command:gui)
disc Create a DVD with menus (was todisc. See Command:disc)
mpg Encode videos to MPEG format (was tovid. See Command:mpg)
id Identify one or more video files (was idvid. See Command:id)
menu Create an MPEG menu (was makemenu. See Command:menu)
xml Create (S)VCD or DVD .xml file (was makexml. See Command:xml)
dvd Author and/or burn a DVD (was makedvd. See Command:dvd)
vcd Author and/or burn a VCD (was makevcd. See Command:vcd)
postproc
Post-process an MPEG video file (was postproc. See Command:postproc)
The OPTIONS differ for each command; run tovid <command> with no further arguments to get help on a
command, and what options it expects.
Configuration
Two configuration files are created the first time you run tovid:
~/.tovid/preferences
Defines working directory for all scripts. In addition you can define the output directory for
makempg here.
~/.tovid/tovid.config
Includes command-line options that should always be passed to makempg.
Edit these files if you wish to change your configuration.
The following environment variables are also honoured: TOVID_WORKING_DIR (working directory for
all scripts). TOVID_OUTPUT_DIR (output directory for the makempg script).
Command:gui
tovid gui starts the graphical user interface (GUI) for tovid. This is the easiest way to start creating
DVDs with tovid. At this time, there are no additional command-line options; the GUI controls take care
of everything, and all help is integrated in the form of tooltips. You can also see **Command:disc **
for more detail about the options. Note: one limitation of the gui at present is that it does not do
multiple titlesets (though it will do chapter menus). Use the tovid disc command (below) for titlesets.
Command:disc
tovid disc creates a DVD file-system with menus, from a list of multimedia video files and their titles.
As this is a low level script it is the easiest command line program for creating a DVD from start to
finish, including automatically converting non-compliant videos and prompting to burn at completion. It
does animated menus, static thumbnail menus and text only menus. In addition, it can do slideshows,
using images as input, and combine slideshows with videos. It supports sub-menus for chapter breaks,
configurable menu style, animated backgrounds and transparency effects.
Usage
tovid disc [OPTIONS] \
-files <file list> -titles <title list>
-out OUT_PREFIX
For example:
$ tovid disc -files File1.mpg File2.mpg File3.mpg \
-titles "Episode 1" "Episode 2" "Episode 3" \
-out Season_one
The number of -files and -titles must be equal, though if you do not include any titles tovid disc will
use the basename of the included files as titles. If you are doing a slideshow or multiple slideshows,
use -slides rather than -files for passing in the images. You may use -files and -slides more than once
to create an ordering in a mixed slideshows/videos menu. See SLIDESHOWS part of Usage section, below.
If the input files are not mpeg, you will have the option to auto-encode them.
At present there are 2 display arrangements or "templates":
A. (Default)
Thumbs will be centred, and as large as space restraints allow.
B. -showcase IMAGE|VIDEO
Produces an arrangement with small buttons on the side and the showcase image/video in the centre.
If no IMAGE or VIDEO argument is supplied, the central thumb will be omitted.
Note: -textmenu, -quick-menu and -switched-menus are all types of showcase style menus. See
descriptions under Menu style section.
The -titles arguments should be double or single quoted, or have the spaces backslash-escaped. Special
characters (like ", !, *, &, ?) may need to be backslash-escaped. To include a quoted string within a
title, backslash-escape the quotes. These titles are used for labelling thumbnails on the main menu, and
for the submenu title for that video. ( see also -submenu-titles )
The -showcase styles can use longer titles than the default arrangement. With a showcase style, use:
-showcase-titles-align west to give more space for the title, or use -showcase-titles-align east to allow
titles of more than one line.
The default style can only show about 16 characters (depending on the number of thumbs, and what
-titles-font and -titles-fontsize is being used). If your titles are too long to fit in the label area,
you may try using sub-menus, which can display longer titles, for example:
$ tovid disc -submenus \
-files file1.mpg file2.mpg ... \
-titles "Short 1" "Short 2" \
-submenu-titles "Long Title One" "Long Title Two" \
-out foo
The -align argument will position both titles and thumbs either south, north east, west, southwest,
northwest, southeast, northeast, subject to certain constraints of each arrangement.
Titlesets
A word should be mentioned here about titlesets, which is really just a hierarchy of menus. You need to
use titlesets, for example, if you have videos of different resolutions, or otherwise want to arrange
videos on separate menus. If you want to have titlesets you need to put all the options for each
titleset menu you would like to have between -titleset and -end-titleset options.
Additionally, for the main menu (the opening menu that will let you jump to each titleset), you need to
put options between -vmgm and -end-vmgm. You do not use -files for the opening menu options (-vmgm), but
you will need as many TITLES after -titles as you have menus.
Any options outside the -titleset -end-titleset and -vmgm -end-vmgm areas will be general options
applying to every titleset. If a general option is duplicated inside a -titleset or -vmgm area, the
general option will be overridden.
Note: you do not need titlesets for a single menu with chapter break menus, for that just use -submenus
or -ani-submenus
Example of using tovid disc with titlesets:
$ tovid disc -static -out MY_DVD \
\
-titleset -files 1.mpg 2.mpg 3.mpg \
-titles "Title One" "Title Two" "Title Three" \
-end-titleset \
\
-titleset -files 4.mpg 5.mpg \
-titles "Title Four" "Title Five" \
-background foo.jpg \
-showcase bar.png \
-end-titleset \
\
-vmgm \
-titles "Season One" "Season Two" \
-background bg.jpg \
-bgaudio foo.mp3 \
-titles-fontsize 20 \
-end-vmgm
See also -titleset and -vmgm
Slideshows
You can also use tovid disc to make slideshows. This can either be a single slideshow, or multiple
slideshows on the same menu. Remember to use -slides rather than -files for passing in the images.
Images can be any filetype that imagemagick supports: for example JPEG, PNG, GIF, TGA BMP etc. For a
single slideshow do not use -titles: use -menu-title to set the slideshow title.
For a single slideshow the default is an animated menu that transitions from slide to slide. The default
transition type is 'crossfade', which fades each slide into the next and loops back to the first slide at
the end. If instead you use -static, then a static 'polaroid stack' menu of all the slides is created,
with a single spumux'ed button for navigating with the enter key. You may have to experiment to find out
which DVD remote button advances the slides. Try the 'next chapter'(skip ?) button and the play or enter
buttons. If you want to limit the number of slides in the menu to a subset of all files entered with
-slides, then use -menu-slide-total INT. Be sure to use a long enough audio file for -bgaudio or set
-menu-length so the menu is long enough to support the slides plus transitions.
You can also put multiple slideshows on one menu. To do this, use -slides IMAGES for each slideshow
desired. You can even mix videos with slideshows by using -files -slides -titles multiple times.
Example of a single slideshow with an animated menu with transitions:
$ tovid disc -menu-title "Autumn in Toronto" -slides images/*.jpg \
-menu-slide-total 20 -slide-transition crossfade -bgaudio slideshow.wav \
-out myslideshow
Example of multiple slideshows on one menu:
$ tovid disc -menu-title "Autumn in Toronto" \
-slides photos/september/*.jpg \
-slides photos/october/*.jpg \
-slides photos/november/*.jpg \
-tile3x1 -rotate -5 5 -5 -align center \
-bgaudio background.wav \
-out myslideshow
Example of mixed videos and slideshows:
$ tovid disc -menu-title "Autumn in Toronto" \
-files fall_fair.mov \
-slides photos/september/*.jpg \
-files harvest.mpg \
-slides photos/october/*.jpg \
-titles "Fall Fair" "September" "Harvest" "October" \
-background autumn.png \
-bgaudio bg.mp3 \
-out myslideshow
See the other slideshow options in the SLIDESHOWS options section.
Encoding Options
These are options for reencoding your non-compliant videos. They are passed directly to the tovid mpg
command which is invoked by tovid disc when non-compliant files are found. For details, see the
Command:mpg section. Here is a list of possible options you can pass:
-config, -ntscfilm, -dvd-vcd, -half-dvd, -kvcd,
-kvcdx3, -kvcdx3a, -kdvd, -bdvd, -704, -normalize,
-amplitude, -overwrite, -panavision, -force, -fps,
-vbitrate, -quality, -safe, -crop, -filters,
-abitrate, -priority, -deinterlace, -progressive,
-interlaced, -interlaced_bf, -type, -fit, -discsize,
-parallel, -mkvsub, -autosubs, -subtitles, -update, \
-mplayeropts, -audiotrack, -downmix, -ffmpeg, -nofifo,
-from-gui, -slice, -async, -quiet,
-fake, -keepfiles
Options
-keep-files, -keepfiles
Keep all intermediate/temporary files (helps with debugging)
-ntsc 720x480 output, compatible with NTSC standard (default)
-pal 720x576 output, compatible with PAL standard
-submenus
Create a sub-menu with chapters for each video (default: no sub-menus)
-ani-submenus
Create an animated sub-menu with chapters for each video (default: not animated)
-no-menu | -nomenu
With this option todisc will just create a DVD file system, ready for burning, with NO MENU, just
the supplied video files. These do not need to be compliant, as non-compliant files will be
encoded as usual. Each video will be a chapter unless -chapters OPTION is passed. The -chapters
option is a number indicating the chapter interval in minutes, or a HH:MM:SS string indicating
chapter points. See -chapters
Menu style
-showcase IMAGE|VIDEO
If used without an argument, use showcase style without a central thumb. This is a different
arrangement of images for the menu: small thumbnails go at left (and right) side of screen, with a
larger image in the centre. Maximum of 10 videos. If the provided argument is a video file, the
central thumb will be animated. Pick a file of correct aspect ratio: i.e. it should still look
good when resized to 720x480 (PAL 720x576), then resized to proper aspect ratio.
-textmenu, -text-menu NUM
If used without an argument, create a textmenu out of the supplied titles The optional argument
specifies how many titles are in the 1st column, i.e. giving 4 titles and using "-textmenu 2"
would make 2 columns of 2 titles. The default is to put all titles up to 13 in the first column
before starting a second column. Maximum: 2 columns and 26 titles. Note that column 2 titles are
aligned to the right. If no video files for either -background or -showcase are supplied, the
menu will be static.
-quick-menu
(Note: unfortunately ffmpeg's 'vhooks' have been removed, so this option may not be available for
you depending on your ffmpeg version) This will make a very quick menu by using ffmpeg instead of
imagemagick. There are two choices: you can either use '-showcase IMAGE|VIDEO' or '-background
VIDEO'. There are no fancy effects like -wave or -rotate available for it, but it is extremely
fast. It will be a text-menu style of menu, with no video thumbs, and a central showcase
IMAGE(static) | VIDEO(animated). ( see -bg-color if you are not using a -background and want to
change the default black )
Specifying the IMAGE|VIDEO argument to -showcase is mandatory for this style of menu, unless used
in conjunction with -switched-menus in which case the videos passed with -files automatically
become the showcase videos. If this is used in combination with -switched-menus it can really
speed up an otherwise time consuming process.
Example:
-quick-menu -showcase /home/robert/showcase.mpg
See -switched-menus for example of making switched menus with -quick-menu
-bg-color | -bg-colour
The color to use for the menu background. (default: ntsc-safe black) Note: use a color a great
deal darker than you want, as it appears quite a bit lighter in the video version. You can use
hexadecimal ('#ffac5f') or named colors notation.
-submenu-bg-color | -submenu-bg-colour
The color to use as background for the submenu(s). (default: ntsc-safe black) See -bg-color
-use-makemenu
This will use tovid menu to create a menu with the provided titles.
-static
Main menu will just be static thumbs (not animated) (default: animated)
-background IMAGE|VIDEO
Menu background. This can be a image file or an video file. If it is a video file the background
will be animated. Pick a file of correct aspect ratio: i.e. it should still look good when
resized to 720x480 (PAL 720x576)
-submenu-background IMAGE
Submenu background. This can be only be an image file. Pick a file of correct aspect ratio: i.e.
it should still look good when resized to 720x480 (PAL 720x576)
-menu-title
Title for the root menu - may be longer than thumbnail labels Also if you use \n in the title, you
can use multi line titles, but you would need to adjust -menu-fontsize to something smaller than
default for example:
$ tovid disc ... -menu-title "A\nMultilined\nTitle" -menu-fontsize 24
-menu-font FONT
Font to use for titles, either by ImageMagick font name (ex., "Arial") or explicit pathname (ex.,
"/full/path/to/arial.ttf"). To see a complete list of acceptable ImageMagick font names, run
convert -list type, and refer to the leftmost column
-menu-fontsize
Font size for main menu - best to -preview if you use this
-submenu-font
Font to use for the sub-menu main titles. See -menu-font
-submenu-fontsize
Font size for the sub-menu main titles
-menu-fade ['BACKGROUND DURATION']
Fade the menu in and out The background will fade in first, then title (and mist if called for),
then the menu thumbs. The fadeout is in reverse order. 'BACKGROUND DURATION' is an integer
denoting the amount of time the background will play before the menu begins to fade in. This can
allow you to do a 'transition' to the menu: if you supply a -background VIDEO it will play for the
indicated time before the menu fades in. Leave the optional argument empty (just -menu-fade) to
get the default behavior of showing the background for 1 second before fading the menu in. To
disable the fadeout portion, use '-loop inf'. See also: -transition-to-menu and -loop
-transition-to-menu
This option goes with the -menu-fade option above, which must be enabled for it to have effect.
It is a convenience option for animated backgrounds: the background will become static at the
exact point the thumbs finish fading in. This menu does not loop unless you pass -loop VALUE. See
also: -loop
-bgaudio, -bg-audio* FILE
An file containing audio for the main menu background. For static menus the default is to use 20
seconds of audio. You can change this using the -menu-length option.
-submenu-audio FILE(S)
List of files for sub-menu audio backgrounds. If one file is given, then it will be used for all
sub-menus. Otherwise the number given must equal the number of submenus, though the keyword
"none" in this list may be used for silence. See also -submenu-length
-titleset . . . -end-titleset
If you have more than one titleset, put options for each titleset between -titleset and
-end-titleset. A separate menu will be created that can be accessed from the main menu (VMGM).
You can create this main menu using the -vmgm -end-vmgm options. See -vmgm below and TITLESET
paragraph opening Usage section.
-vmgm . . . -end-vmgm
The VMGM menu is the root menu when you use titlesets. Put your VMGM menu options between -vmgm
and -end-vmgm. You only need -titles "Titleset One title" "Titleset Two title" . . . , and not
-files. Any other options can be used, but the menu will be a textmenu style by default. Hint:
use -showcase IMAGE/VIDEO to create a fancier VMGM menu.
-no-vmgm-menu | -no-vmgm
This will skip the creation of a VMGM ( root menu ) for titlesets. The DVD will start with the
first titleset. You can not use this option unless also using -quick-nav as you would not have a
way to get to other titlesets.
-skip-vmgm
Start DVD from the first titleset instead of the VMGM ( root ) menu.
-switched-menus
This will make a "switched menu": there will be a central image where the showcase image would go,
and text menu titles along the menu edge where textmenu titles go. As you select a video title
with the down or up arrow on your DVD remote, the image in the centre will change to the image or
video made from that selected video. Do not use -showcase IMAGE/VIDEO with this option.
This can be a time consuming process for making animated menus as you need to make a separate menu
for each video provided with -files. The process can be greatly sped up by using -quick-menu in
conjunction with this, though you will lose fancy options like -rotate and -wave.
Example for using with -quick-menu:
-switched-menus -quick-menu
Thumbnail style
-thumb-shape
normal|oval|vignette|plectrum|arch|spiral|blob|star|flare Apply a shaped transparency mask to
thumbnail videos. These "feathered" shapes look best against a plain background (or used in
conjunction with -thumb-mist [COLOR]). For this rectangular semi-transparent misted background
for each thumb: see -thumb-mist. Note: if you wish to make your own mask PNGS you can put them
in $PREFIX/lib/tovid/masks/ or $HOME/.tovid/masks/ and use them on the command line using the
filename minus the path and extension. (i.e ~/.tovid/masks/tux.png becomes -thumb-shape tux) No
frame is used for shaped thumbs.
-thumb-frame-size INT
The size (thickness) of the thumb frames in pixels. This will also set the thickness of the
raised "frame" of thumbs when you use -3d-thumbs. See also -showcase-frame-size and
-thumb-frame-color
-thumb-frame-color, -thumb-frame-colour COLOR
The color of frames for video thumbnails. Use hexadecimal or named colors notation. Remember to
quote if using hexadecimal! ( '#ffac5f' ).
-3d-thumbs, -3dthumbs
This will give an illusion of 3D to the thumbnails: dynamic lighting on rounded thumbs, and a
raised effect on rectangular thumbs. Try it !
-titles-font FONT
Display thumbnail or textmenu titles in the given font
-titles-fontsize POINTS
Font size to use for thumbnail or textmenu titles
Slideshows
-slides IMAGES
Use -slides IMAGES to pass in images for a slideshow. The default is to make an animated menu of
the slides, moving from one slide to the next. If you use -static, a 'polaroid stack' montage is
created. This composites the slides onto the background in 'random' locations with random
rotations. -slides IMAGES can be used multiple times if you wish to make a menu with multiple
slideshows. You can also make a menu of mixed videos and slideshows by using -slides IMAGES, and
-files VIDEOS multiple times. For such a menu, the number of -titles needs to match the number of
-files passed in plus the number of slideshows. (Each time you use -slides counts as one title.)
To use a transition between the slides, use -slide-transition crossfade|fade. See
-slide-transition -menu-slide-total
-menu-slide-total INT
Use INT number of the slides that were passed in with -slides to make the animated or static slide
menu. The length of the menu is determined by 1) -menu-length NUM if given, and by 2) the length
of the audio from -bgaudio. For submenu slideshows, it is determined by 1) -submenu-length NUM if
given, and by 2) the length of the audio from -submenu-audio FILE(S).
-submenu-slide-total INT
This option is the same as -menu-slide-total except that it is for submenu slideshows.
-slide-transition crossfade|fade [crossfade]
The type of fade transition between slides in a animated slide menu. Be sure the menu length is
long enough to support the 1 second transitions between the slides. The length is determined by
1) the length of the -bgaudio AUDIO 2) the length given with -menu-length NUM. For submenu
slideshows, it is determined by 1) -submenu-length NUM if given, and by 2) the length of the
audio from -submenu-audio FILE(S).
See -menu-slide-total , -bgaudio , -menu-length , -submenu-length, and -submenu-audio.
The 'crossfade' transition fades from one slide to another. The 'fade' transition fades in and
out from and to black. If you don't use this option, the default is to use a 'crossfade'
transition.
-slideshow-menu-thumbs FILES
Use the FILES instead of the 1st image in each slideshow as the thumb that shows on the menu.
This option is for multiple slideshows or mixed slideshow/video menus only.
-slides-to-bin FILES
FILES will be resized to 640x480 using a 'box' filter - this is called 'binning'. It will reduce
the 'signal to noise' ratio for the image in the animated slide menu. Use this if you get some
unwanted effects for certain images, such as pixels shifting in what should be a static image.
See also -slides-to-blur and -slide-border
-slides-to-blur FILES
FILES will be blurred a small amount - which will help on slides that still have noise even after
'binning' with -slides-to-bin. The default blur is 0x0.2 - you can increase this with -slide-blur
ARG. See also -slides-to-bin and -slide-border
-slide-blur VALUE or LIST of VALUES [0x0.2]
The argument to use for blurring files. It will be passed to imagemagick: convert -blur ARG. The
format of the arg is {radius}x{sigma} and the default is 0x0.2. Using values between 0x0.1 and
0x0.9 is probably the best range. Use a single value for all, or a list to have a different blur
for each file passed with -slides-to-blur. You must pass in -files-to-blur FILES to use this
option. Blurring can help 'noise' problems in the video. See also -slides-to-bin and
-slide-border
-slide-border WIDTH [100]
Pad the slides with a border for the animated slide menu. The default without using an argument
is 100. Using this option can also solve some noise/ringing effects if used alone or in
conjunction with 'binning' (-slides-to-bin) or blurring (-slides-to-blur).
-slide-frame WIDTH [12]
Frame the slides for the animated slideshow menu. The default width without using an argument is
12. See also -slide-frame-color
-slide-frame-color | -slide-frame-colour
The color of the slide frame if passing -slide-frame. The default if you don't use this option is
a color-safe white: rgb(235,235,235).
-showcase-slideshow
If doing multiple slideshows or mixed videos and slideshow(s), then use the animated slideshow as
a showcase video. It will be composed of slides from each slideshow in the menu. The thumb for
each slideshow button will be static. If you used with a mixed menu of videos and slideshows,
then the video thumbs WILL be animated, so you may wish to use -static or -textmenu with the
option in that case.
-background-slideshow, -bg-slideshow
If doing multiple slideshows or mixed videos and slideshow(s), then use the animated slideshow as
a background video. See -showcase-slideshow for additional details.
-no-confirm-backup
Slideshows are an experimental (but well tested) feature. Todisc is unlikely to overwrite your
personal files, but you should take precautions and backup your images, as you would with any beta
software. Todisc will prompt you to backup your files normally. If you have already backed up
your images, use this option to disable the prompt.
-use-dvd-slideshow CONFIG (FILE)
If you pass this option without an argument, tovid will use the dvd-slideshow program to create
the animated slide menu, assuming you have this program installed. The optional argument is the
dvd-slideshow configuration file - if you don't use this argument tovid will create it for you.
If you want to use the 'Ken Burns effect' - then the configuration file argument is required.
Note: the configuration file will override many of the above options for slideshows.
Burning the disc
-burn Prompt to burn the DVD directory on completion.
-device
Device to use for the burning program [ /dev/dvdrw ]
-speed The speed to use for burning the disc.
ADVANCED USAGE
Options
-menu-length
The desired animated main menu length in seconds
-submenu-length
The desired submenu length. This will also affect the length of submenu audio for static
submenus. (Assuming that -submenu-audio was passed in). The default is to use 10 seconds of
audio for static menus.
-submenu-stroke COLOR
The color for the sub-menu font outline (stroke)
-submenu-title-color, -submenu-title-colour
The fill color used for sub-menu title fonts
-submenu-titles
You can supple a list of titles here for sub-menus without the length restrictions found in thumb
titles. Must equal number of videos
-chapters [ NUM | CHAPTER POINTS in HH:MM:SS ]
The number of chapters for each video (default: 6) OR the actual chapter points in HH:MM:SS
format. Chapter points will be used for generating the submenu thumbs, and for seeking with your
DVD player. You can pass in just one value that will be used for all videos, or supply a list of
values (number of chapters) or time code strings.
If you just pass an integer for 'number of chapters', then tovid will make the chapter points for
you by dividing the video length by the number you supply. If using the -no-menu option, the INT
passed in will be the chapter interval in minutes, rather than the above formula.
If passing HH:MM:SS format you need to pass the string of chapter points for each video and each
string should have comma separated values. Additionally, the first chapter should always start at
00:00:00 as dvdauthor will add that if it is not there already.
To get your time codes, you can play your videos in mplayer and press 'o' to see them on-screen.
I have found these to be very accurate in my short tests. For greater frame accuracy you could
try loading the file in avidemux and find the time codes for the frames you want.
If passing grouped chapters you need to join the chapters from all the videos in a group with a
'+' separator. If you want to skip creating chapters for a video in the group use '0' for its
chapters.
Note: chapters for grouped videos should probably be passed in using the above HH:MM:SS format.
(Arbitrary chapters using just an INT for the # of chapters is not guaranteed to work reliably in
all cases for grouped videos at the moment.)
Example for passing just number of chapters ( 4 videos ):
-chapters 5 2 4 8
Example of passing chapter points ( 4 videos ):
-chapters 00:00:00,00:05:34.41,00:12:54,00:20:45 \
00:00:00,00:04:25.623,00:09:12,00:15:51 \
00:00:00,00:05:10,00:13:41,00:18:13.033 \
00:00:00,00:15:23.342,00:26:42.523
Example of passing grouped chapters using the '+' separator:
-chapters 00:00:00,00:05:34.41,00:12:54,00:20:45+00:04:23,00:09:35 \
00:00:00... etc.
-chapter-titles LIST
If you are using submenus, you can pass a list of titles for the chapters. Each title must be
quoted, and the number of titles given must equal the total number of chapters for all videos. In
other words if you use -chapters 4 6 8 , you must give 18 chapter titles, in the same order that
the videos were passed in.
-chapter-font FONT
Use FONT as the font for submenu chapters.
-chapter-fontsize SIZE
Use SIZE as the pointsize for the chapters font.
-chapter-color COLOR
The color for the chapters font.
-chapter-stroke COLOR
The color for the chapters font outline (stroke)
-seek NUM | "NUM1 NUM2 NUM3 . . ."
Seek to NUM seconds before generating thumbnails (default: 2.0 seconds) If a quoted string of
values matching the number of videos is used, then each video can use a different seek value If
using switched menus, the -seek value(s) will be used to generate the showcase image that displays
on switching to another video choice with the up/down arrow keys.
-showcase-seek NUM
Seek to NUM seconds before generating thumbnails for showcase video (default: 2.0 seconds)
-bgvideo-seek, -bg-video-seek NUM
Seek to NUM seconds before generating images for background video (default: 2.0 seconds)
-bgaudio-seek, **-bg-audio-seek NUM
Seek to NUM seconds before generating audio for bgaudio (default: 2.0 seconds)
-group N VIDEO1 VIDEO2 . . .
Allow grouping videos in dvdauthor.xml, so they will play sequentially as a group. The videos
passed in after the 'N' will be grouped with the 'Nth' video. Example:
-group 2 2.mpg 3.mpg 4.mpg
will group these 3 videos with the 2nd video given with -files, so that they will play
sequentially as one title. Only one thumbnail and/or title will appear on the menu for the group:
it will be made from the 1st video in the group. In the above example if you passed:
-files foo.mpg bar.mpg baz.mpg -group 2 2.mpg 3.mpg 4.mpg
then the group will consist of bar.mpg 2.mpg, 3.mpg and 4.mpg, and only the title and/or
thumbnail for bar.mpg will appear in the menu. You can use -group more than once for multiple
groups. Be sure to quote video filenames if they contain spaces.
-jobs By default, tovid disc starts a parallel job for each processor detected. With this option you
can manually set the number of jobs. For example if you have a computer with 2 CPUs you can set
"-jobs 1" to keep one processor free for other things. At present this applies to the time
consuming imagemagick loops: you will notice a substantial speedup now if you have a multi-cpu
system.
-no-ask, -noask
Skip all interactive questions. No preview, automatic re-encoding with tovid if needed, no
interactive option to use background video for bgaudio.
-no-warn, -nowarn
Don't pause after outputting warning or info messages
-grid Show a second preview image with a grid and numbers that will help in finding coordinates for
options that might use them, like -text-start
Menu Style
-menu-title-geo north|south|east|west|center [south]
The position of the menu title. You may need to use -align as well if you don't want your title
covering other parts of your menu. See -align
-menu-title-offset OFFSET (+X+Y)
Move menu title by this offset from its N|S|E|W|Center position. You may need to use -align as
well if you don't want your title covering other parts of your menu. See -align
-button-style rect|text|line|text-rect
The style of button that you will see when you play the DVD. "rect" draws a rectangle around the
thumb when you select it in the DVD player. "text" highlights the video title text, "line"
underlines the title, and "text-rect" draws a rectangle around the title text.
-title-color, -title-colour COLOR
Color to use for the main menu title. For list of supported colors do: convert -list color. HTML
notation may be used: "#ff0000". See: http://www.imagemagick.org/script/color.php
-title-stroke COLOR
Outline color for the main menu's title font. Use "none" for transparent outline (see
title-color)
-titles-stroke COLOR
Outline color for the thumb or textmenu video titles font. Use "none" for transparent outline
(see -titles-color).
-highlight-color, -highlight-colour
Color to use for the menu buttons that your DVD remote uses to navigate.
-select-color, -select-colour
Color to use for the menu buttons that your DVD remote uses to select.
-text-mist
Put a semi-transparent misted background behind the text for the menu's title, just slightly
larger than the text area.
-text-mist-color, -text-mist-colour COLOR
Color of the mist behind the menu's title (see title-color).
-text-mist-opacity
Opacity of the mist behind the menu's title - see -opacity
-title-opacity
Opacity of the menu title text
-titles-opacity
Opacity of the text for video titles
-submenu-title-opacity
Opacity of the text for submenu menu titles
-chapter-title-opacity
Opacity of the text for submenu chapter titles
-menu-audio-fade
Number of sec to fade given menu audio in and out (default: 1.0 seconds) If you use
-menu-audio-fade 0 then the audio will not be faded.
-submenu-audio-fade
Number of secs to fade sub-menu audio in and out (default: 1.0 seconds). See -menu-audio-fade
-intro VIDEO
Use a introductory video that will play before the main menu. At present it must be a DVD
compatible video at the correct resolution etc. Only 4:3 aspect is supported: 16:9 will give
unexpected results.
Menu Style options specific to showcase and textmenu arrangements
-text-start N
This option is for -textmenu menus. The titles will start at the Nth pixel from the top of the
menu ( Y axis ).
-title-gap N
This option is for -textmenu menus. The gap is the space between titles vertically ( Y axis ).
-rotate DEGREES
Rotate the showcase image|video clockwise by DEGREES. (default: if used without options, the
rotate will be 5 degrees). Note: this will not turn a portait image into a landscape image!
-showcase-geo GEOMETRY
The position of the showcase image. ( XxY position )
-wave default|GEOMETRY
Wave effect for showcase image|video. Alters thumbs along a sine wave using GEOMETRY. (default:
no wave) "default" will produce a wave arg of -20x556, which produces a gentle wave with a small
amount of distortion. See: http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/distorts/#wave if you want to try
other values.
-showcase-shape egg|oval|plectrum|arch|spiral|galaxy|flat-tube|normal
Apply a shaped transparency mask to showcase videos or images. Note: if you wish to make your own
mask PNGS you can put them in $PREFIX/lib/tovid/masks/ or $HOME/.tovid/masks/ and use them on the
command line using the filename minus the path and extension. No frame is used for shaped thumbs.
-showcase-framestyle none|glass
For -showcase-* style template only "none" will use the default frame method, using "convert
-frame . . ." "glass" will use mplayer to make frames, which gives an interesting animated effect
to the frames, and can be much faster ( especially if you don't use -rotate or -wave as thumbs
will not need to be processed again after mplayer spits them out. Note: you need to be using
either -showcase IMAGE or -showcase VIDEO for this "frame style" to work.
-showcase-frame-size PIXELS
The size of the showcase frame. This value will be used for both width and height for the
'thickness' of the frame. This will also set the thickness of the raised "frame" of the showcase
thumb when you use -3d-showcase. See also -thumb-frame-size and -showcase-frame-color
-showcase-frame-color, -showcase-frame-colour PIXELS
The color of the showcase frame. Use hexadecimal or named colors notation. Remember to quote! (
'#ffac5f' ).
-3d-showcase, -3dshowcase
This will give an illusion of 3D to the showcase thumb: dynamic lighting on rounded thumbs, and a
raised effect on rectangular thumbs. Try it !
Thumbnail Style
-opacity [0-100] (default 100)
Opacity of thumbnail videos as a percentage (no percent sign). Anything less than 100(%) is
semi-transparent. Not recommended with dark backgrounds.
-thumb-blur, -blur NUM
The amount of feather blur to apply to the thumb-shape. The default is 1.0 which will more or
less keep the shape and produces transparency at the edges. Choose float or integer values
between 0.1 and 2.0. 3D thumbs are set to a tiny blur, so this option doesn't affect the -3dthumbs
option.
-showcase-blur NUM
The amount of 'feather' blur to apply to the showcase image/video. Choose values between 0.1 and
2.0. This option has no effect on -3d-showcase. See -thumb-blur for more info.
-align north|south
This will align thumbs/titles north or south. If -align south then menu title will align north,
unless you manually set one or both of -menu-title-geo or -menu-title-offset.
-thumb-mist [COLOR]
Use a mist behind thumbnails. The optional argument is the color of the mist. This option helps
with contrast. Be sure to set the font color to an appropriate color if using a colored mist,
and/or use a bold font.
-titles-color, -titles-colour COLOR
Color to use for the thumb or textmenu titles. If your titles are not clear enough or look washed
out, try using a -titles-stroke that is the same color as used with -titles-color (see
-title-color)
-showcase-titles-align west|east (default: center [centre])
The default is to center the text above the thumbnails. This option will align the titles either
to the left (west) or right (east). Aligning west gives more space to the titles. Aligning east
also does so, and as well will facilitate using \n in your titles to achieve multi line titles.
-tile-3x1, -tile3x1
Use a montage tile of 3x1 instead of the usual 2x2 for 3 videos ie.
[movie1] [movie2] [movie3] instead of:
[movie1] [movie2]
[movie3]
This option only comes into play if the number of videos supplied equals 3 Otherwise it will be
silently ignored. Not used for -showcase-* style.
-tile-4x1, -tile4x1
Same as -tile-3x1 above, except use tile of 4x1. (one row of 4 videos)
**-thumb-columns 3|4
Same as -tile-3x1 and tile-4x1** above, except it accepts either '3' (1 row of 3 thumbs), or '4'
(one row of 4 thumbs) as an argument. This alternative was added to help compact the gui layout.
-rotate-thumbs DEGREE LIST ( list of degrees, one for each thumb )
Rotate thumbs the given amount in degrees - can be positive or negative. There must be one value
for each file given with -files. If the values are not the same distance from zero, the thumbs
will be of different sizes as images are necessarily resized *after* rotating. With the default
montage template - this will also resize the titles; with the showcase template the titles will
remain the same size. Example:
-rotate-thumbs -10 10 -10 10 -10 (for 5 files)
**Note: this option will not turn a portrait image into a landscape image!
Dvdauthor options
-loop PAUSE
Pause in seconds at end of menu. Use "inf" if you wish indefinite pause. Note: using "inf" with
-menu-fade will disable the fadeout portion of the fade. (default: "inf" for static menu, 10.0
seconds for animated.)
-playall
This option will create a button on the main menu that will allow going right to the 1st title and
playing all videos in succession before returning to the main menu. If doing titlesets you can
use this within the -vmgm ... -end-vmgm options to allow playing ALL titlesets. (If you want also
to have a playall button in each titleset you could use this option between each -titleset ...
-end-titleset option or put it outside of the vmgm and titlset options as a general option.
-videos-are-chapters
A button will be made on the main menu for each video, which you can use as a chapter button.
Selecting any video will play them all in order starting with the selected one.
-chain-videos NUM | N1-NN
Without options this will chain all videos together so they play sequentially without returning to
the main menu, except for the last, which will return. You can also specify which videos you want
to behave this way by number or by a range. ( ie. -chain-videos 1 2 4-6 ).
-subtitle-lang "lang1 lang2 . . ."
This allows selectable subtitles in the DVD, assuming you have optional subtitles muxed into your
videos. Use 2 character language codes.
-audio-channel "Video1_track Video2_track Video3_track . . ."
"VideoN_track" is the track number to use in a multi-track (multi-language) mpeg: usually
something like -audio-channel "1 0 1". The 1st track is 0, 2nd is 1 . . . etc. If the tracks are
0. English 1.French, then the above would make French the audio language on Video1 and Video3, and
English the audio language on Video2. You can check the mpeg with "mplayer -v . . .".
-audio-lang LANGUAGE CODES
Identify the audio tracks on the DVD. These language codes are used for each video in the
titleset. When you use the audio button on your DVD remote the language name is displayed.
Example: -audio-lang en fr
-aspect 4:3|16:9
This will output a <video aspect WIDTH:HEIGHT /> tag for the dvdauthor xml file. It will affect
all videos in the titleset. Example:
-aspect 16:9
-widescreen nopanscan|noletterbox [nopanscan]
This will output a <video widescreen=nopanscan /> tag (for example) for the dvdauthor xml file.
It will affect all videos in the titleset. Use in conjunction with -aspect if your dvd player is
cropping your videos. Example:
-aspect 16:9 -widescreen
-quick-nav
This option will allow navigation of a menu with more than one titleset by using the left and
right arrow keys of your DVD remote. When you press this key the highlight will go the next or
previous title. If you are at the end of a titleset the right key will go to the next titleset.
If you are at the beginning of a titleset, the left key will go to the previous titleset. If no
next or previous titleset it will cycle to the end or beginning of the titlesets.
-outlinewidth, -outline-width WIDTH
For spumux outlinewidth variable. If there is a large gap between words in a text button, this
option may help.
-video-pause PAUSE (single value or list)
The pause in seconds after playing a video title. This is useful for slideshows: the 'slide' will
remain on the screen for this length of time. If you have grouped videos you should probably not
pause the videos that have a grouped title after it, but instead see -grouped-video-pause. Note:
if you provide a list of values they must be one for each video.
-group-video-pause PAUSE (single value or list)
The pause in seconds after a grouped video plays. If you wish to pause after the whole group
finishes, then only use a value greater than zero for the last video in the group. If providing a
list of values they must equal the number of grouped videos.
Command:mpg
tovid mpg converts arbitrary video files into (S)VCD/DVD-compliant MPEG format, suitable for burning to
CD/DVD-R for playback on a standalone DVD player.
Usage
tovid mpg [OPTIONS] -in INFILE -out OUTPREFIX
Where INFILE is any multimedia video file, and OUTPREFIX is what you want to call the output file, minus
the file extension. OPTIONS are additional customizations, described below.
By default, you will (hopefully) end up with an NTSC DVD-compliant MPEG-2 video file; if you burn this
file to a DVD-R, it should be playable on most DVD players.
For example:
tovid mpg -in foo.avi -out foo_encoded
Convert 'foo.avi' to NTSC DVD format, saving to 'foo_encoded.mpg'.
tovid mpg -pal -vcd foo.avi -out foo_encoded
Convert 'foo.avi' to PAL VCD format, saving to 'foo_encoded.mpg'.
Basic options
-v, -version
Print tovid version number only, then exit.
-quiet Reduce output to the console.
-fake Do not actually encode; only print the commands (mplayer, mpeg2enc etc.) that would be executed.
Useful in debugging; have tovid give you the commands, and run them manually.
-ffmpeg
Use ffmpeg for video encoding, instead of mplayer/mpeg2enc. Try this if you have any problems with
the default encoding method. Using this option, encoding will be considerably faster. Currently
does not work with -subtitles or -filters.
Television standards
-ntsc NTSC format video (USA, Americas) (default)
-ntscfilm
NTSC-film format video
-pal PAL format video (Europe and others)
Formats
Standard formats, should be playable in most DVD players:
-dvd (720x480 NTSC, 720x576 PAL) DVD-compatible output (default)
-half-dvd
(352x480 NTSC, 352x576 PAL) Half-D1-compatible output
-svcd (480x480 NTSC, 480x576 PAL) Super VideoCD-compatible output
-dvd-vcd
(352x240 NTSC, 352x288 PAL) VCD-on-DVD output
-vcd (352x240 NTSC, 352x288 PAL) VideoCD-compatible output
Non-standard formats, playable in some DVD players:
-kvcd (352x240 NTSC, 352x288 PAL) KVCD-enhanced long-playing video CD
-kdvd (720x480 NTSC, 720x576 PAL) KVCD-enhanced long-playing DVD
-kvcdx3
(528x480 NTSC, 520x576 PAL) KVCDx3 specification
-kvcdx3a
(544x480 NTSC, 544x576 PAL) KVCDx3a specification (slightly wider)
-bdvd (720x480 NTSC, 720x576 PAL) BVCD-enhanced long-playing DVD
See kvcd.net (http://kvcd.net/) for details on the KVCD specification. Please note that KVCD ("K Video
Compression Dynamics") is the name of a compression scheme that can be applied to any MPEG-1 or MPEG-2
video, and has little to do with VCD ("Video Compact Disc"), which is the name of a standard video disc
format.
Advanced options
Aspect ratios
tovid automatically determines aspect ratio of the input video by playing it in mplayer. If your video
plays with correct aspect in mplayer, you should not need to override the default tovid behavior.
If mplayer does not play your video with correct aspect, you may provide an explicit aspect ratio in one
of several ways:
-full Same as -aspect 4:3
-wide Same as -aspect 16:9
-panavision
Same as -aspect 235:100
-aspect WIDTH:HEIGHT
Custom aspect, where WIDTH and HEIGHT are integers.
The above are the intended INPUT aspect ratio. tovid chooses an optimal output aspect ratio for the
selected disc format (VCD, DVD, etc.) and does the appropriate letterboxing or anamorphic scaling. Use
-widetv to encode for a widescreen monitor or TV.
Video stream options
-quality NUM (default 6)
Desired output quality, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 giving the best quality at the expense of a
larger output file. Default is 6. Output size can vary by approximately a factor of 4 (that is,
-quality 1 output can be 1/4 the size of -quality 10 output). Your results may vary. WARNING:
With -quality 10, the output bitrate may be too high for your hardware DVD player to handle. Stick
with 9 or lower unless you have phenomenally good eyesight.
At present, this option affects both output bitrate and quantization (but may, in the future,
affect other quality/size-related attributes). Use -vbitrate if you want to explicitly provide a
maximum bitrate.
-vbitrate NUM
Maximum bitrate to use for video (in kbits/sec). Must be within allowable limits for the given
format. Overrides default values. Ignored for VCD, which must be constant bitrate.
-interlaced
Do interlaced encoding of the input video (top fields first). Use this option if your video is
interlaced, and you want to preserve as much picture quality as possible. This option is ignored
for VCD, which doesn't support it.
You can tell your source video is interlaced by playing it, and pausing during a scene with
horizontal motion; if you see a "comb" effect at the edges of objects in the scene, you have
interlaced video. Use this option to encode it properly.
If you would prefer to have output in progressive format, use -progressive. If you have a DV
camera, use -interlaced_bf since DV footage is generally bottom fields first.
-interlaced_bf
Do interlaced encoding of the input video (bottom fields first).
-deinterlace | -progressive
Convert interlaced source video into progressive output video. Because deinterlacing works by
averaging fields together, some picture quality is invariably lost. Uses an adaptive kernel
deinterlacer (kerndeint), or, if that's not available, the libavcodec deinterlacer (lavcdeint).
-mkvsub LANG (EXPERIMENTAL)
Attempt to encode an integrated subtitle stream (such as may be found in Matroska .mkv files) in
the given language code (eng, jpn, etc.) May work for other formats.
-autosubs
Automatically include subtitle files with the same name as the input video.
-subtitles FILE
Get subtitles from FILE and encode them into the video. WARNING: This hard-codes the subtitles
into the video, and you cannot turn them off while viewing the video. By default, no subtitles are
loaded. If your video is already compliant with the chosen output format, it will be re-encoded to
include the subtitles.
-type {live|animation|bw}
Optimize video encoding for different kinds of video. Use 'live' (default) for live-action video,
use 'animation' for cartoons or anime, and 'bw' for black-and-white video. This option currently
only has an effect with KVCD/KSVCD output formats; other formats may support this in the future.
-safe PERCENT
Fit the video within a safe area defined by PERCENT. For example, -safe 90% will scale the video
to 90% of the width/height of the output resolution, and pad the edges with a black border. Use
this if some of the picture is cut off when played on your TV. The percent sign is optional.
-filters {none,denoise,deblock,contrast,all} (default none)
Apply post-processing filters to enhance the video. If your input video is very high quality, use
'none'. If your input video is grainy, use 'denoise'; if it looks washed out or faded, use
'contrast'. You can use multiple filters separated by commas. To apply all filters, use 'all'.
-fps RATIO
Force input video to be interpreted as RATIO frames per second. May be necessary for some ASF,
MOV, or other videos. RATIO should be an integer ratio such as "24000:1001" (23.976fps),
"30000:1001" (29.97fps), or "25:1" (25fps). This option is temporary, and may disappear in future
releases. (Hint: To convert a decimal like 23.976 to an integer ratio, just multiply by 1000, i.e.
23976:1000)
-crop WIDTH:HEIGHT:X:Y
Crop a portion of the video WIDTH by HEIGHT in size, with the top-left corner at X, Y.
-widetv
Always encode to 16:9 widescreen (only supported by -dvd, -kdvd, -bdvd), for optimal viewing on a
widescreen monitor or TV.
Audio stream options
-normalize
Analyze the audio stream and then normalize the volume of the audio. This is useful if the audio
is too quiet or too loud, or you want to make volume consistent for a bunch of videos. Similar to
running normalize without any parameters. The default is -12dB average level with 0dB gain.
-amplitude NUM[dB]
In addition to analyzing and normalizing, apply the gain to the audio such that the 'average'
(RMS) sound level is NUM. Valid values range 0.0 - 1.0, with 0.0 being silent and 1.0 being full
scale. Use NUMdB for a decibel gain below full scale (the default without -amplitude is -12dB).
-abitrate NUM
Encode audio at NUM kilobits per second. Reasonable values include 128, 224, and 384. The default
is 224 kbits/sec, good enough for most encodings. The value must be within the allowable range for
the chosen disc format; Ignored for VCD, which must be 224.
-audiotrack NUM
Encode the given audio track, if the input video has multiple audio tracks. NUM is 1 for the
first track, 2 for the second, etc. You may also provide a list of tracks, separated by spaces or
commas, for example -audiotrack 3,1,2. Use tovid id on your source video to determine which audio
tracks it contains.
-downmix
Encode all audio tracks as stereo. This can save space on your DVD if your player only does
stereo. The default behavior of tovid is to use the original number of channels in each track.
For aac audio, downmixing is not possible: tovid runs a quick 1 frame test to try to downmix the
input track with the largest number of channels, and if it fails then it will revert to the
default behavior of using the original channels.
-async NUM
Adjust audio synchronization by NUM seconds.
Other options
-config FILE
Read configuration from FILE, containing 'tovid' alone on the first line, and free-formatted
(whitespace-separated) tovid command-line options on remaining lines.
-force Force encoding of already-compliant video or audio streams.
-overwrite
Overwrite any existing output files (with the same name as the given -out option).
-priority {low|medium|high}
Sets the main encoding process to the given priority. With high priority, it may take other
programs longer to load and respond. With lower priority, other programs will be more responsive,
but encoding may take 30-40% longer. The default is high priority.
-discsize NUM
When encoding, tovid automatically splits the output file into several pieces if it exceeds the
size of the target media. This option sets the desired target DVD/CD-R size to NUM mebibytes (MiB,
2^20). By default, splitting occurs at 700 for CD, 4300 for DVD. Use higher values at your own
risk. Use 650 or lower if you plan to burn to smaller-capacity CDs. Doesn't work with the -ffmpeg
option.
-fit NUM
Fit the output file into NUM MiB. Rather than using default (or specified) video bitrates, tovid
will calculate the correct video bitrate that will limit the final output size to NUM MiB. This is
different than -discsize, which cuts the final file into NUM MiB pieces. -fit makes sure that the
file never exceeds NUM MiB. This works with -ffmpeg, but not with -vcd since VCDs have a
standardized constant bitrate.
-parallel
Perform ripping, encoding, and multiplexing processes in parallel using named pipes. Maximizes CPU
utilization and minimizes disk usage. Note that this option simply does more tasks simultaneously,
in order to make better use of available CPU cycles; it's unrelated to multi-CPU processing (which
is done automatically anyway). Has no effect when -ffmpeg is used.
-update SECS
Print status updates at intervals of SECS seconds. This affects how regularly the progress-meter
is updated. The default is once every five seconds.
-mplayeropts "OPTIONS"
Append OPTIONS to the mplayer command run during video encoding. Use this if you want to add
specific video filters (documented in the mplayer manual page). Overriding some options will cause
encoding to fail, so use this with caution!
-nofifo (EXPERIMENTAL)
Do not use a FIFO pipe for video encoding. If you are getting "Broken pipe" errors with normal
encoding, try this option. WARNING: This uses lots of disk space (about 2 GB per minute of
video).
-keepfiles
Keep the intermediate files after encoding. Usually, this means the audio and video streams are
kept (eg the .ac3 and .m2v files for an NTSC DVD). This doesn't work with -parallel because the
intermediate files are named pipes, and not real files.
-slice START-END
Encode a segment from START to END (in seconds). Only works with -ffmpeg.
-from-gui
Put makempg into a fully non-interactive state, suitable for calling from a gui.
-noask Don't ask questions when choices need to be made. Assume reasonable answers.
Command:id
tovid id identifies each multimedia video file in a list, and reports its compliance with video disc
standards such as VCD, SVCD, and DVD.
Usage
tovid id [OPTIONS] VIDEO_FILE(s)
For example:
tovid id foo.avi
tovid id -tabluar videos/*.mpg
Options
-terse Print raw video characteristics, no formatting. Helpful when calling from other scripts.
-verbose
Print extra information from mplayer, tcprobe, and ffmpeg.
-accurate
Do lengthy play-time estimation by scanning through the entire video file. Use this if the
default behavior is giving you inaccurate play times.
-fast Skip lengthy play-time estimation, and go with what mplayer reports as being the video duration.
Unlike pre-0.32 versions of tovid, this is now the default behavior, and the -fast option doesn't
do anything.
-tabular
Display output in a table format for easier comparison. Most useful when identifying multiple
video files.
-isformat [pal-dvd|ntsc-dvd] (same syntax for vcd and svcd)
Check VIDEO_FILE for compliance with the given disc format. If VIDEO_FILE matches the given
format, then tovid id reports "true" and exits successfully. Otherwise, tovid id reports "false"
and exits with status 1 (failure). This checks and reports both vcd/svcd/dvd and pal/ntsc.
Examples
tovid id -verbose homevideo.avi
Report everything mplayer, ffmpeg, and transcode can determine about homevideo.avi.
tovid id -isformat dvd homevideo.mpg
Check to see if homevideo.mpg is compliant with the DVD standard.
Command:menu
tovid menu generates textual (S)VCD- or DVD-compliant MPEG videos for use as navigational menus, given a
list of text strings to use for title names. You can customize the menu by providing an optional
background image or audio clip, or by using custom font and font color.
Usage
tovid menu [OPTIONS] TITLES -out OUT_PREFIX
For example:
tovid menu "Season One" "Season Two" "Featurettes" -out MainMenu
Options
-ntsc (default)
Generate an NTSC-format menu
-ntscfilm
Generate an NTSC-format menu (24000/1001fps)
-pal Generate a PAL-format menu
-dvd (default)
Generate a DVD-format menu, with highlighted text included as a multiplexed subtitle stream.
-vcd
-svcd Generate a VCD/SVCD menu; each menu option will have a number associated with it. You can have up
to nine menu options per menu.
Menu background/audio options:
-background IMAGE
Use IMAGE (in most any graphic format) as a background. If image is not the correct aspect ratio
(4:3), it will be scaled and/or cropped, depending on the -crop and -scale options. If no
background is supplied, a default background will be created.
-crop (default)
If provided background image is not 4:3 aspect ratio, crop edges to make it so. Image will be
scaled up if it is too small. Cropping keeps the center area of image. If you want to do
cropping/scaling yourself in another program, provide an image of 768x576 pixels.
-scale If provided background image is not 4:3 aspect ratio, scale/stretch it to make it fit. May cause
visible distortion!
-audio AUDIOFILE
Use AUDIOFILE (in most any audio format) for background music. The menu will play for long enough
to hear the whole audio clip. If one is not provided, 4 seconds of silence will be used.
-length NUM
Make the menu NUM seconds long. Useful for menus with -audio: if you don't want the entire
AUDIOFILE in the menu, then you can trim the length of the menu with -length.
Menu text options:
-menu-title "MENU TITLE TEXT"
Add MENU TITLE TEXT as a title/header to the menu.
-font FONTNAME (default Helvetica)
Use FONTNAME for the menu text. Run 'convert -list type' to see a list of the fonts that you can
use; choose a font name from the leftmost column that is displayed. Or you can specify a ttf font
file instead. E.g., '-font /path/to/myfont.ttf'.
-fontsize NUM (default 24)
Sets the size for the font to NUM pixels.
-menu-title-fontsize NUM (default -fontsize + 8)
Sets the size of the menu title.
-fontdeco 'FONTDECORATION'
Sets the font decoration method to FONTDECORATION. It is used by the 'convert' ImageMagick command
to draw the menu text. You can add colored text outlines, gradient fills, and many others. See
Usage notes.
-align {left|center|middle|right}
Align the text at the top left, top center, very middle, or top right side of the screen. You may
also substitute any "gravity" keyword allowed by ImageMagick
(north|south|east|west|northeast|southwest|...).
-textcolor {#RRGGBB|#RGB|COLORNAME}
Use specified color for menu text. #RRGGBB and #RGB are hexadecimal triplets (e.g., #FF8035).
COLORNAME may be any of several hundred named colors; run 'convert -list color' to see them.
White (#FFF) is the default color.
DVD-only options:
-button BUTTON (default '>')
Specify the button used for menu selection. Specify either a _single_ character or one of the
shortcuts:
• play -- Use a button shaped like 'Play' on many A/V electronics: a triangle pointing to the
right. (uses the font Webdings)
• movie -- Use a button shaped like an old movie projector. (uses the font Webdings)
• utf8 -- Use your own non-keyboard character as a button. Provide only the four hex digits: eg
'-button utf8 00b7'. Beware that ImageMagick's utf8 characters aren't the same as those drawn
in character browsers like gucharmap.
-highlightcolor {#RRGGBB|#RGB|COLORNAME}
Use the specified color for button highlighting. Yellow (#FF0) is the default color.
-selectcolor {#RRGGBB|#RGB|COLORNAME}
Use the specified color for button selections (when a menu item is played or activated). Red
(#F00) is the default color.
-button-outline {#RRGGBB|#RGB|COLORNAME}
Outline buttons with the specified color. 'none' is the default.
-button-font FONTNAME
Specify a differnt font to use for the buttons. By default, the button font will be inherited from
the title font (see -font). Use this option to use a different font for the buttons. The button
font size is inherited from -fontsize and cannot be changed.
Other options:
-debug Print extra debugging information to the log file. Useful in diagnosing problems if they occur.
This option also leaves the log file (with a .log extension) in the directory after encoding
finishes as well as all the temporary files created.
-nosafearea
Do not attempt to put text inside a TV-safe viewing area. Most television sets cut off about 10%
of the image border, so the script automatically leaves a substantial margin. This option turns
that behavior off, leaving only a tiny margin. Use at your own risk.
-overwrite
Overwrite any existing output menu.
-noask Don't ask interactive questions, and assume answers that will continue making the menu until
completion.
-quiet Limit output to essential messages.
If the word "back" is given as an episode title, a "back" button for returning to a higher-level menu
will be added at the end of the list of titles. "Back" must be the last title listed.
Examples
Make an NTSC VCD menu with white Helvetica text containing three centered selections: Episode 1, Episode
2, and Episode 3. The finished menu will be called Season-1.mpg:
tovid menu -ntsc -vcd \
-align center -textcolor white -font "Helvetica" \
"Episode 1" "Episode 2" "Episode 3" \
-out "Season-1"
Make an NTSC DVD menu with white Kirsty text containing three lower-left aligned selections: Episode 1,
Episode 2, and Episode 3. Items under the cursor will be highlighted a pale blue, and selected items will
be a pale orange (before going to the selected title). The finished menu will be called Main-menu.mpg:
tovid menu -ntsc -dvd \
-align southwest \
-textcolor white \
-highlightcolor "#5f65ff" \
-selectcolor "#ffac5f" \
-font "Kirsty" \
"Episode 1" "Episode 2" "Episode 3" \
-out "Main_menu"
Usage notes
The argument given to -font must be one of the fonts listed by the command 'convert -list type'. Please
note that many of your installed fonts may not be available; if you want to maximize the number of fonts
available, download and run Anthony Thyssen's (http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~anthony/anthony.html)
imagick_type_gen.pl (http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~anthony/software/imagick_type_gen.pl) script and run it
like this: imagick_type_gen.pl > ~/.magick/type.xml. If that doesn't work, try imagick_type_gen.pl >
~/.magick/type.mgk.
Or you can specify a ttf font file directly to the -font options if you don't want to install fonts to
ImageMagick.
The -fontdeco option is quite flexible and takes a lot of ImageMagick's convert options. Please refer to
the tovid wiki (http://tovid.wikia.com/wiki/Making_a_DVD_with_text_menus) and Anthony Thyssen's guide for
further explanation and examples.
Command:xml
tovid xml generates XML output describing an (S)VCD or DVD file structure and navigation hierarchy in the
format expected by dvdauthor (http://dvdauthor.sourceforge.net/) or vcdxbuild
(http://www.vcdimager.org/).
Usage
tovid xml [OPTIONS] VIDEOS -out OUTFILE
For example:
$ tovid xml -menu MainMenu.mpg \
Season1.mpg Season2.mpg Featurettes.mpg \
-out MyDisc
Options
-dvd (default)
Generate the XML for a DVD disc, to be used with dvdauthor or tovid dvd.
-vcd Generate the XML for a VCD disc, to be used with vcdxbuild or tovid vcd.
-svcd Generate the XML for an SVCD disc, to be used with vcdxbuild or tovid vcd.
-overwrite
Overwrite any existing output files.
-quiet Limit output to essential messages.
VIDEOS may be any of the following:
<file list>
List of one or more video files to include, separated by spaces. At minimum, a DVD must have one
video file. You can use shell wildcards (i.e., "*.mpg") to include multiple files easily. Put
filenames in quotes if they have spaces in them.
-menu VIDEO <file list>
Use video file VIDEO as a menu from which you can jump to each of the listed video files. If you
have multiple menus, include a top menu so they are reachable.
-slides <file list>
Create a slide-show of still images
DVD-only options
-group <file list> -endgroup
(DVD only) List of video files to include as one single title. This is useful if you have split a
movie into several video files.
-topmenu VIDEO [-menu VIDEO <file list>] [-menu VIDEO <file list>]...
(DVD only) Use video file VIDEO for the top-level (VMGM) menu. The top menu will jump to each of
the subsequent [-menu...] videos listed. Use this only if you have multiple sub-menus to jump to.
You can only have one top menu.
-titlesets
(DVD only) Forces the creation of a separate titleset per title. This is useful if the titles of a
DVD have different video formats, e.g. PAL + NTSC or 4:3 + 16:9. If used with menus, there must be
a -topmenu option that specifies a menu file with an entry for each of the titlesets.
-chapters INTERVAL
(DVD only) Creates a chapter every INTERVAL minutes (default 5 minutes: without -chapters, each
movie will be divided into 5-minute chapters). This option can be put at any position in a <file
list> and is valid for all subsequent titles until a new -chapters option is encountered. Using
this option may take some time, since the duration of the video is calculated.
-nochapters
(DVD only) Don't create chapters for the videos.
OUT_PREFIX is the file that will receive the resulting XML.
Usage notes
The 'xml' command checks to make sure the video filenames you give it exist, but it does not check
whether they are valid for the chosen disc format. MPEG videos of menus should have the specified number
of buttons for reaching each of the videos, and, if you're using DVD, should be multiplexed with their
corresponding subtitles using spumux of the dvdauthor 0.6.0 package prior to authoring using dvdauthor.
If you use the 'tovid menu' component to generate the menu, this should all be handled for you.
Examples
tovid xml -dvd title-1.mpg title-2.mpg title-3.mpg -out My_DVD
Make a DVD without a menu. Title 1, 2, and 3 will play in sequence.
tovid xml -dvd -group chapter-1.mpg chapter-2.mpg chapter-3.mpg -endgroup -out My_DVD
Group the file chapter-1|2|3.mpg into one title and make a DVD without a menu.
tovid xml -dvd -menu main_menu.mpg -chapters 3 movie-1.mpg -chapters 10 movie-2.mpg -out My_DVD
Make a DVD with a main menu that points to two movies, with movie-1.mpg divided into 3-minute
chapters, and movie-2.mpg into 10-minute chapters.
Command:dvd
tovid dvd takes a dvdauthor XML file (as generated by the tovid xml command) and authors a DVD filesytem.
This command can also burn a DVD disc from either the XML file or from an existing DVD file-system.
To ensure that this script successfully executes, please run it from a directory with plenty of free
space. "Plenty" would be 10 GB for single-layer discs, and 20 GB for dual-layer discs. Running this
program may slow down your other applications, due to intense disk activity.
Usage
tovid dvd [OPTIONS] FILE.xml
tovid dvd [OPTIONS] DVD_DIR
For example:
tovid dvd -burn MyDisc.xml
tovid dvd -burn /path/to/DVD/directory
Options
-author
Author the DVD described by FILE.xml. Overwrites an existing directory containing the dvdauthor
output if already present.
-burn Burn a DVD file-system in DVD_DIR (must contain a VIDEO_TS folder).
-device DEVICE (default /dev/dvdrw)
Burn the disc image to DEVICE, the Linux device file-system name of your DVD-recorder. Common
examples might be /dev/dvdrw, /dev/scd1, and /dev/hdc. You can also use a bus/id/lun triple such
as ATAPI:0,1,0
-speed NUM (default 1)
Burn disc at speed NUM.
-label DISC_LABEL
Uses DISC_LABEL as the volume ID. This appears as the mount name of the disc on some computer
platforms. Must be <=32 alphanumeric digits without spaces.
-quiet Limit output to essential messages.
-noask Don't ask interactive questions and assume answers that will continue execution.
Examples
tovid dvd -burn -device /dev/dvdrw foo.xml
Author the dvd file-system and burn to /dev/dvdrw. This will automatically call dvdauthor to make
the file-system. -author is not explicitly needed. If there's an existing file-system, it will be
burned.
tovid dvd -author foo.xml
Author the DVD file-system and exit without burning. If the output directory given in foo.xml
already exists, then the contents are removed before authoring. At this point, the DVD can be
previewed by calling xine dvd:/path/to/output/directory.
Command:vcd
tovid vcd takes an XML file (which may be generated by tovid xml) and creates a cue/bin (S)VCD image. It
can also burn (S)VCD discs.
To ensure that this script successfully executes, please run it from a directory with plenty of free
space. "Plenty" would be about 1 GB. Running this program may slow down your other applications, due to
intense disk activity.
Usage
tovid vcd [OPTIONS] VCDIMAGER.xml
For example:
tovid vcd -burn MyDisc.xml
Options
-overwrite (default off -- nothing is overwritten)
Overwrite any existing cue/bin files matching VCDIMAGER.xml. Useful if you modified the xml file
and wish to re-image or burn the new (S)VCD.
-burn (default off -- no images are burned)
Burn the (S)VCD described by VCDIMAGER.xml.
-device DEVICE (default /dev/cdrw)
Burn the disc image to DEVICE, the Linux device file-system name of your CD-recorder. Common
examples might be /dev/cdrw, /dev/scd1, and /dev/hdc.
-speed NUM (default 12)
Burn the disc at speed NUM.
-quiet Limit output to essential messages.
Examples
tovid vcd -burn -device /dev/cdrw foo.xml
Create the (S)VCD image and burn it to /dev/cdrw. This will automatically call vcdxbuild to make
the image. If there is an existing image, it will be burned.
tovid vcd -overwrite foo.xml
Create the (S)VCD image and exit without burning. If the image already exists, then it is removed
before re-imaging.
Command:postproc
tovid postproc is designed to do simple post-processing on MPEG video files, such as those generated by
tovid. It can adjust audio/video sync, and re-quantize (shrink) without re-encoding.
Usage
tovid postproc [OPTIONS] IN_FILE OUT_FILE
Options
-audiodelay NUM
Delay the audio stream by NUM milliseconds. Use this if your final output has audio that is not
synced with the video. For example, if the audio comes 2 seconds sooner than the video, use
"-audiodelay 2000". Use a negative number for audio that comes later than the video.
-normalize
Analyze the audio stream and then normalize the volume of the audio. This is useful if the audio
is too quiet or too loud, or you want to make volume consistent for a bunch of videos. Similar to
running normalize without any parameters. The default is -12dB average level with 0dB gain.
-amplitude NUM[dB]
In addition to analyzing and normalizing, apply the gain to the audio such that the 'average'
(RMS) sound level is NUM. Valid values range 0.0 - 1.0, with 0.0 being silent and 1.0 being full
scale. Use NUMdB for a decibel gain below full scale (the default without -amplitude is -12dB).
-shrink NUM
Shrink the video stream by a factor of NUM. May be a decimal value. A value of 1.0 means the video
will be the same size; larger values cause more reduction in size. Beyond 2.0, the returns are
diminishing.
-parallel
Run all processes in parallel and pipe into multiplexer, should increase speed significantly.
-debug Save output in a temporary file, for later viewing if something goes wrong.
CONTACT
For further assistance, contact information, forum and IRC links, please refer to the tovid homepage
(http://tovid.wikia.com/).
tovid manual(1)