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tovid manual






Name[]

tovid: Make DVDs from video files (tovid 0.35.0)

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 0.35, the legacy scripts makemenu and makexml have been removed and no longer appear in this manpage. All of their functions and more can be done with the 'tovid disc' command, (todisc script). See Command:disc and the wiki for more info.

Also note that 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, makempg 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:

Main Commands

disc
Encode, make menus, author, burn. (was todisc. See Command:disc)
gui
Start the tovid GUI (was todiscgui. See Command:gui)
titlesets
A GUI wizard for multiple titlesets. (new: See Command:titlesets)

Helper Commands

mpg
Encode videos to MPEG format (was tovid. See Command:mpg)
dvd
Author and/or burn a DVD (was makedvd. See Command:dvd)
id
Identify one or more video files (was idvid. See Command:id)
chapters
A GUI using mplayer for setting chapter points. It will return a string of
chapter points to the terminal, in a format recognized by 'tovid disc'
(todisc) or by 'tovid gui', for the -chapters option.

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.
You can define the output directory for makempg here.
The 'ffmpeg' executable can be set here: ffmpeg or avconv (TOVID_FFMPEG)
~/.tovid/tovid.ini
Includes command-line options that should be passed to the various
tovid sub-commands. Note: each sub-command has its own section,
starting with the line [sub-command], for example:
    [disc]
    ; -no-warn
    -static
    -no-ask


Edit these files if you wish to change your configuration.

The following environment variables are also honoured:

    TOVID_HOME (directory containing preferences: ~/.tovid)
    TOVID_WORKING_DIR (working directory for all scripts).
    TOVID_OUTPUT_DIR (output directory for the makempg script).
    TOVID_FFMPEG_CMD (the 'ffmpeg' executable to use: ffmpeg or avconv)

These will override 'TOVID_HOME', 'WORKING_DIR', 'OUTPUT_DIR', and 'TOVID_FFMPEG' if set in ~/.tovid/preferences.

Command:gui[]

Usage[]

tovid gui [OPTIONS]

tovid gui starts the graphical user interface (GUI) for tovid. This is the easiest way to start creating DVDs with tovid. The optional arguments OPTIONS are any option used by todisc ('tovid disc') which will save entering it manually, OR the full path to a saved script from the GUI. You can also combine these, but the script must be the FIRST option directly after tovid gui . (This option to save the contents of your project allows you to use it as a bash script later, or to reload the project to continue working with it at another time.)

tovid gui will also take the option --position, which denotes the screen position that the GUI will start at, in the form '+X+Y', similar to this part of the Xorg -geometry string.

All help is integrated in the form of tooltips. You can also see

    • Command:disc ** for more detail about the options. Note: if you wish to use

a GUI to make multiple titlesets on the same DVD use *tovid titlesets*, which is a wizard that uses the the 'tovid gui. See *Command:titlesets*.

Please note that although the interface may seem complex with so many options, you can create a fully functional DVD with only a few options on the opening tab of the GUI (select video files and an output name).

Command:titlesets[]

tovid titlesets will assist in making a DVD with multiple titlesets. It can be started without any options, or you can feed it the path to a saved titleset script as an option. The option to save a script is also useful as the resulting script can be run later from a terminal.

Command:disc[]

tovid disc creates a DVD file-system with optional menus, from a list of multimedia video files and their titles. As todisc can function as a master script, calling other scripts as it needs them, 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 can do animated menus, static thumbnail menus, text-only menus, or author with no menu. In addition, it can do slideshows, using images as input, and even combine slideshows with videos. It supports sub-menus for chapter breaks, configurable menu style, animated backgrounds and transparency effects. From simple (no menu) to complex (switched menus and titlesets), you should be able to do what you want with 'tovid disc'.

Usage[]

 tovid disc [OPTIONS] \
    -files <file list> -titles <title list>
    -out mydvd

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.

General Options

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" \
      -submenus \
      -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. For example a showcase style with a showcase thumb can only do north|south|center.

More Examples:

A text-only menu:

 $ tovid disc -textmenu ...

No menu:

 $ tovid -nomenu -files file1.mpg file2.mp4 "file 3.avi" -out mydvd

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 global options applying to every titleset. If a global option is duplicated inside a -titleset or -vmgm area, the global 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, -quiet,
   -fake, -keepfiles

General Options[]

-keep-files, -keepfiles
Keep all intermediate/temporary files (helps with debugging)
-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
-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.
-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
-no-confirm-backup
This option is for when your DVD contains images for a slideshow.
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.
==Options==
-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. The
-out option is not required. 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
-encode-only
This option was originally meant for the GUI, to allow it to be used for
just encoding rather than making a DVD structure. But it works well from
the command line as well as it has the added advantage that you can input
a list of files. Remember any makempg ('tovid mpg') options you use will
be passed on to the makempg script when encoding.

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 (regardless of whether -static is part
of the command line). Only 4:3 or 16:9 videos and images are accepted for
for the showcase file: if not one of these todisc will assume it is the
aspect ratio as the videos in the titleset.
-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 justified to the left unless you add
-edge-justify to the command line. The menu will be static if no video
files are supplied with either -background or -showcase options.
-quick-menu
If you are using ffmpeg 0.8 or newer you can use this option. 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).
(i) see -bg-color if you are not using a -background and want to
change the default. (default is dark blue for -quick-menu arrangements). )
(ii) Note: todisc will still work with 'vhooks' if you have an old ffmpeg
with vhooks compiled in.
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 -quick-menu is used in combination with
-switched-menus it really speeds up an otherwise time consuming process.
Example:
    -quick-menu -showcase /home/grepper/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')
notation or named colors ('Lime'). convert -list color will show them.
See colors for more details.
-submenu-bg-color, -submenu-bg-colour
The color to use as background for the submenu(s).
(default: ntsc-safe black) See -bg-color
-static
Main menu will consist of static thumbnail links. (default: animated)
If you use a video for -showcase or -background then it will still be
a 'moving' menu, in spite of the static buttons. This option also does
double duty for the -switched-menus option, and will create static
"switched" images.
See also -switched-menus
-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 4:3 aspect ratio.
It will be resized to fill the entire background.
-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
4:3 aspect ratio. It will be resized to fill the entire background.
-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 -title-fontsize to something smaller than default
for example:
    $ tovid disc ... -menu-title "A\nMultilined\nTitle" -title-fontsize 24
-title-font, -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
-title-fontsize, -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 -title-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, -switched-menu
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.
Note that if you want to just have a static rather than an 'animated'
image, add -static to the command line.
Example for using with -quick-menu:
    -switched-menus -quick-menu


Thumbnail style[]

-titles-font FONT
Display thumbnail or textmenu titles in the given font
-titles-fontsize POINTS
Font size to use for thumbnail or textmenu titles
-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 !

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. If you want to use the
**-switched-menus option with a mixed menu leave this option out.
-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.
See General Options
-use-dvd-slideshow [FILE CONFIG]
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 shadow
-submenu-title-color, -submenu-title-colour
The fill color used for sub-menu title fonts
-submenu-titles
You can supply 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. Note: if you are passing in options
on the command line to the 'tovid disc' GUI, you must repeat the option
-chapter-titles for each video, accompanied by its respective chapter
titles. (you can also choose to use this syntax for the todisc script.)
-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 shadow
-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.
-fast-seek
Use faster seek method for ffmpeg. This is not as accurate as the default
method, and may produce grey frames.
-frame-safe Instead of seeking and then outputting one frame for
previews and static menus, output 9 frames and choose the largest. Not
frame accurate (may be as much as 9 frames off), but safer. Choose this
if you are getting grey frames/thumbnails with some videos. You can also
use it to try to get the 'best' frame. This option
has no effect on submenus at present.
-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.

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 line|rect|text|text-rect [line]
The style of button that you will see when you play the DVD.
"line" style underlines the title, "rect" draws a rectangle around the
thumb when you select it in the DVD player, "text" highlights the video
title text, 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:
[1]
-title-stroke COLOR
Shadow color for the main menu's title font. Use "none" for transparent
outline (see title-color). Note: this is not a -stroke in the sense that
imagemagick uses the term, but a shadow (the font is drawn twice). To get
a true imagemagick stroke see -title-font-deco
-title-font-deco, -title-fontdeco "IMAGEMAGICK STRING"
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
-titles-stroke COLOR
Shadow color for the thumb or textmenu video titles font. Use "none" for
transparent outline (see -titles-color). Note: this is not a -stroke
in the sense that imagemagick uses the term, but a shadow
(the font is drawn twice). To get a true imagemagick stroke,
see -titles-font-deco
-titles-font-deco, -titles-fontdeco "IMAGEMAGICK STRING"
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 others. See Usage notes for more info.
-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.

Style options specific to showcase/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. ( +X+Y position )
For example: -showcase-geo +300+200
-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: [2] 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[]

-user-thumbs IMAGE(S)
Supply your own images for menu buttons, rather than relying on todisc to
generate them from the video. They must be the same aspect ratio as the
videos in the titleset (4:3 or 16:9), as todisc will resize them without
checking and cropping. There must be on image for each thumb that will be
displayed on the menu (ie. one thumb for each video in a titleset).
-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 DIRECTION
This will align thumbs/titles in DIRECTION, which is a compass direction
as used by imagemagick: ie. north|south|east|west|northeast|northwest etc.
If -align south then menu title will align north, unless you manually
set one or both of -menu-title-geo or -menu-title-offset.
Only -align north|south|center has any effect on showcase with thumb,
or with the default montage arrangement of central thumbs. The most
apparent changes with be with textmenu, though with 2 column arrangements
only the north* and south* changes will show an effect.
Diagram:
. northwest north northeast .
. .
. west center east .
. .
. southwest south souteast .
-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 global 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.

Usage notes[]

The argument given to various *-font options that set the font to use 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 to todisc, download and run Anthony Thyssen's imagick_type_gen script and run it like this: imagick_type_gen > ~/.magick/type.xml. If that doesn't work, try imagick_type_gen > ~/.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 *-stroke options in todisc are not a stroke in the sense that ImageMagick uses the term, but rather a font shadow (the text is drawn twice) To get a truer Imagemagick -stroke try something like: -title-font-deco "-stroke black" (or -titles-font-deco "-stroke black"). The -fontdeco option is quite flexible and takes a lot of ImageMagick's convert options. Please refer to the tovid wiki and Anthony Thyssen's guide [[3]] for further explanation and examples.

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. It can do almost everything that
mpeg2enc does such as -filters and -subtitles by using a pipe from mplayer
though using these options will make encoding somewhat slower. The
exceptions are some special options like -kvcd* -bdvd where you will still
need to use the default mpeg2enc option.

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 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. This works with both -ffmpeg and the default,
mpeg2enc.
-dvd-subtitles, -dvdsubs | FILE
Get subtitles from FILE(S) and add them as a subtitle stream into the
video. This allows selectable subtitles on your DVD. You can use more than
one file for multiple languages. Be sure to use the -subtitle-lang option
in 'tovid disc' so the name of the language will show up on the DVD instead
of 'UNKNOWN' or similar
-dvdsubs-only
Use this if you have an already complient MPEG and wish to add a subtitle
stream without re-encoding, using -dvdsubs ,
-dvdsubs-fontsize NUM [18]
The pointsize in pixels for DVD selectable subtitles. To affect this for
hard-coded subtitles ( -subtitles ) you will need to pass options to
the player via -mplayeropts or -mpvopts.
-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'. This works
with both mpeg2enc and -ffmpeg.
-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.

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.
-mpv
Use mpv instead of mplayer. This option is experimental.
-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!
-mpvopts OPTIONS
Append OPTIONS to the mpv command run during video encoding. Use
this if you want to add specific video filters (documented in the mplayer
or mpv 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.
-keepfiles
Keep temporary directory for debugging.
-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.
-mpv
This option is mainly for testing. If you have only mpv installed instead
of mplayer, it is used automatically. With this option, you can have BOTH
installed and choose which one to use. (default: mplayer)

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:dvd[]

tovid dvd takes a DVD directory as generated by tovid with 'tovid disc' or one of the GUI frontends like 'tovid gui' or 'tovid titlesets' and burns it to appropriate media. This will also work if the DVD directory is generated by the dvdauthor backend that tovid also uses.

Running this program may slow down your other applications, due to intense disk activity.

Usage[]

tovid dvd [OPTIONS] DVD_DIR

For example:

tovid dvd /path/to/DVD/directory

Options[]

-burn
Burn a DVD file-system in DVD_DIR (must contain a VIDEO_TS folder).
This option is currently not necessary as the makedvd script ONLY burns
now that legacy scripts like makexml have been removed. Left for
compatibility only.
-eject
Eject the DVD tray after burning is complete. By default, the DVD is not
ejected.
-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.
   After burning, the DVD can be previewed by calling:
   xine dvd:/path/to/output/directory
   or:
   vlc /path/to/output/directory

Command:chapters[]

tovid chapters will start a GUI using mplayer to set chapter points in a video. If the video plays through and you want to add more chapters you can press the play button again, but remember that new chapter points will be appended (in correct sequential order). It will display the resulting chapter points, and also output to a terminal (useful for scripts). As well it will give the option of saving the chapters string to a text file.

Note that the 'tovid gui' now features a similar widget when you press the chapters button on the opening page.

Examples[]

tovid chapters foo.avi
chapters=$(tovid chapters /home/grepper/videos/foo.avi)

CONTACT[]

For further assistance, contact information, and mailing list please refer to the tovid homepage.


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