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)