Mailing List Archive: [OT] What's up with dvdauthor?

[OT] What's up with dvdauthor?

Oct 25, 2004, 11:27 AM

Post #1 of 9 (380 views)

Hey, ho--

I mentioned in my previous thread, 'Mystery Processes', that I was
trying to transcode a (legally purchased) NTSC DVD to PAL.

I hacked that into shape for this particular file, in any case (although
I am all thumbs with transcode); the mpeg I created plays almost fine in
mPlayer-- although there's a green stripe along the bottom, it's in the
black area, and at least the heads aren't stretched and the sound is in
sync. Good enough.

Then I try to create a DVD out of it using dvdauthor (which I need to
do, since the whole point is to play this on the cheapo DVD player we've
been loaned-- I can watch the original NTSC movie perfectly fine on my
PC), and suddenly I've got stretched heads again (viewable when
previewing the vobs in gmplayer).

This is driving me crazy, as clearly dvdauthor is doing something to the
file when vobbing it that I can't make it stop doing.

The mpeg is at 16:9 and 720x576, and despite the fact that dvdauthor
realizes that, somehow the image inside the 720x576 is further
compressed (so I have varying sizes of black borders, depending on
settings, and of course, stretched heads).

I have tried:

1. just the mpeg :
<pcg>
<vob file="my.mpg" />
</pgc>

with no additional parameters;

2. <titles>
<video aspect="16:9" widescreen="nopanscan" />
<pgc>

3. <titles>
<video aspect="4:3" widescreen="nopanscan" />
<pgc>

4. <titles>
<video aspect="16:9" widescreen="noletterbox" />
<pgc>

5. <titles>
<video aspect="4:3" widescreen="noletterbox" />
<pgc>
6. <titles>
<video aspect="16:9" />
<pgc>
7. <titles>
<video aspect="4:3" />
<pgc>

And nothing helps; the actual movie image seems to be re-compressed by
dvdauthor, resulting in stretched heads.

Does anybody know how I can make this stop? It's a shame to have wasted
so much time (transcoding takes a *looooong* time) to get the mpegs
perfect (or close to it), if the resulting DVD has the problems I spent
hours ironing out of the mpegs in the first place.

Holly

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Re: [OT] What's up with dvdauthor? [ In reply to ]

gentoo at lakedaemon

Oct 25, 2004, 12:35 PM

Post #2 of 9 (359 views)

Permalink

Holly Bostick (motub@planet.nl) scribbled:
> Hey, ho--
>
> I mentioned in my previous thread, 'Mystery Processes', that I was
> trying to transcode a (legally purchased) NTSC DVD to PAL.
>
> I hacked that into shape for this particular file, in any case (although
> I am all thumbs with transcode); the mpeg I created plays almost fine in
> mPlayer-- although there's a green stripe along the bottom, it's in the
> black area, and at least the heads aren't stretched and the sound is in
> sync. Good enough.
>
> Then I try to create a DVD out of it using dvdauthor (which I need to
> do, since the whole point is to play this on the cheapo DVD player we've
> been loaned-- I can watch the original NTSC movie perfectly fine on my
> PC), and suddenly I've got stretched heads again (viewable when
> previewing the vobs in gmplayer).
>
> This is driving me crazy, as clearly dvdauthor is doing something to the
> file when vobbing it that I can't make it stop doing.
>
> The mpeg is at 16:9 and 720x576, and despite the fact that dvdauthor
> realizes that, somehow the image inside the 720x576 is further
> compressed (so I have varying sizes of black borders, depending on
> settings, and of course, stretched heads).

Well, I suppose I'll plug my own script:

http://lakedaemon.netmindz.net/dvd9to5/

Works pretty well when you don't need subtitles... :)

Just follow the install, change the config, and put the dvd you want to
backup in the drive. I've done my whole collection without a hitch.
Burns to a 4.7GB DVD-/+R.

hth,

Cooper.

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Re: [OT] What's up with dvdauthor? [ In reply to ]

gentoo at lakedaemon

Oct 25, 2004, 12:52 PM

Post #3 of 9 (362 views)

Permalink

Jason Cooper (gentoo@lakedaemon.net) scribbled:
> Holly Bostick (motub@planet.nl) scribbled:
> > I mentioned in my previous thread, 'Mystery Processes', that I was
> > trying to transcode a (legally purchased) NTSC DVD to PAL.

> Well, I suppose I'll plug my own script:
>
> http://lakedaemon.netmindz.net/dvd9to5/
>
> Works pretty well when you don't need subtitles... :)
>
> Just follow the install, change the config, and put the dvd you want to
> backup in the drive. I've done my whole collection without a hitch.
> Burns to a 4.7GB DVD-/+R.

Ummm, nevermind. Jumped the gun when I saw the whole transcoding dvd's
thing. Can't do NTSC to PAL... sorry.

To help with the question you asked, though, I think your problem lies
in the pixel aspect ratio (different from screen aspect ratio). Could
be wrong though, I've never had to do it myself.

hth,

Cooper.

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Re: [OT] What's up with dvdauthor? [ In reply to ]

motub at planet

Oct 25, 2004, 2:43 PM

Post #4 of 9 (359 views)

Permalink

Jason Cooper wrote:
> Jason Cooper (gentoo@lakedaemon.net) scribbled:
>
>>Holly Bostick (motub@planet.nl) scribbled:
>>
>>>I mentioned in my previous thread, 'Mystery Processes', that I was
>>>trying to transcode a (legally purchased) NTSC DVD to PAL.
>
<snip>
>
> To help with the question you asked, though, I think your problem lies
> in the pixel aspect ratio (different from screen aspect ratio). Could
> be wrong though, I've never had to do it myself.
>
> hth,
>
> Cooper.

Even if you've never had to do it, could you explain what that means, so
I could try to search information on how to correct it properly?

Thanks for the tip, though (even a name to put in a Google search string
is more info than I had up to now).

Holly

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Re: [OT] [SOLVED?] What's up with dvdauthor? [ In reply to ]

motub at planet

Oct 26, 2004, 5:31 AM

Post #5 of 9 (360 views)

Permalink

Holly Bostick wrote:
> Hey, ho--
>
> I mentioned in my previous thread, 'Mystery Processes', that I was
> trying to transcode a (legally purchased) NTSC DVD to PAL.
>
> I hacked that into shape for this particular file, in any case (although
> I am all thumbs with transcode); the mpeg I created plays almost fine in
> mPlayer-- although there's a green stripe along the bottom, it's in the
> black area, and at least the heads aren't stretched and the sound is in
> sync. Good enough.
>
> Then I try to create a DVD out of it using dvdauthor (which I need to
> do, since the whole point is to play this on the cheapo DVD player we've
> been loaned-- I can watch the original NTSC movie perfectly fine on my
> PC), and suddenly I've got stretched heads again (viewable when
> previewing the vobs in gmplayer).
>
> This is driving me crazy, as clearly dvdauthor is doing something to the
> file when vobbing it that I can't make it stop doing.
>
<snip>

> Holly

Well. I went to the dvdauthor list and read several archived posts, and
ultimately got the idea that the DVD player itself is supposed to
re-stretch the image (if you tell it how, using the widescreen=
options). I took a guess as to what this DVD player was capable of (it's
borrowed from a friend who's going on vacation to Indonesia (!!!) for a
month; we don't even have the remote, much less a manual, but given that
we already know it doesn't convert NTSC to PAL on the fly, I figured it
probably wasn't much good at pan-and-scan either), and set only

<titles>
<video widescreen="nopanscan" />
<pgc>

vobbed it, and just burned the DVD (with my fingers crossed; I *hate*
wasting media).

Turns out that yes, the image is re-stretched to 16:9 when played in the
standalone DVD player. Looks very nice (except for the horizontal green
line in the black crop area, which is distracting, but it obviously
could be worse, and the movie itself looks quite nice).

Which is all just peachy, but it invalidates testing authored files with
mPlayer, since that suggests that the image won't be displayed properly,
thus causing me to waste 2 days re-vobbing the bloody thing over and
over, when it was already perfectly fine.

Now OK, I know that part of this is me not wanting to waste media (which
is my good right, doggonnit), but am I wrong to be starting to think
that maybe mPlayer is not the greatest thing since sliced cheese?

In other words, should I be testing via Xine? Or will all PC players not
accurately reflect the behaviour of my (admittedly junky) standalone DVD
player, and I should just gird my loins for the possibility of wasted
media, because I won't be able to tell whether the image will actually
be displayed properly (having no accurate test)?

Holly

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Re: [OT] What's up with dvdauthor? [ In reply to ]

gentoo at lakedaemon

Oct 26, 2004, 5:40 AM

Post #6 of 9 (362 views)

Permalink

Holly Bostick (motub@planet.nl) scribbled:
> Jason Cooper wrote:
> >Jason Cooper (gentoo@lakedaemon.net) scribbled:
> >>Holly Bostick (motub@planet.nl) scribbled:
> >>>I mentioned in my previous thread, 'Mystery Processes', that I was
> >>>trying to transcode a (legally purchased) NTSC DVD to PAL.
> >
> <snip>
> >
> >To help with the question you asked, though, I think your problem lies
> >in the pixel aspect ratio (different from screen aspect ratio). Could
> >be wrong though, I've never had to do it myself.

> Even if you've never had to do it, could you explain what that means, so
> I could try to search information on how to correct it properly?

What it basically means is that on television set, pixels aren't square.
However, on a computer monitor, they are.

> Thanks for the tip, though (even a name to put in a Google search string
> is more info than I had up to now).

For google: 'dvd authoring linux pal ntsc'
(note the space between 'dvd' and 'authoring')

and this will probably help you out:

http://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=221928&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=c69b27bcab4be854cb73ba28aef793f9

Let me know how it goes, that ifoedit looks pretty straight forward.

Cooper.

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Re: [OT] [SOLVED?] What's up with dvdauthor? [ In reply to ]

dol-sen at telus

Oct 26, 2004, 6:39 AM

Post #7 of 9 (351 views)

Permalink

On Tue, 2004-10-26 at 14:31 +0200, Holly Bostick wrote:

> Now OK, I know that part of this is me not wanting to waste media (which
> is my good right, doggonnit), but am I wrong to be starting to think
> that maybe mPlayer is not the greatest thing since sliced cheese?
>
> In other words, should I be testing via Xine? Or will all PC players not
> accurately reflect the behaviour of my (admittedly junky) standalone DVD
> player, and I should just gird my loins for the possibility of wasted
> media, because I won't be able to tell whether the image will actually
> be displayed properly (having no accurate test)?
>
> Holly
>

Just over a year ago we were going on a very long trip. I wanted to
copy a number of dvd's to keep our kids entertained. At the time I was
unable to get anything to work in linux. I found a free program for
windows called dvdshrink that worked wonderfully it gives options for
removing the region, selecting individual tracks, compression level,
etc.. It even lets you select the target encoding for NTSC & PAL. It
also does it in much less time than the playing time. I found most took
about 30 - 40 minutes for a 90 - 110 minute movie depending how much
re-encoding it had to do. I wish we had an equivalent in linux.

--
Brian <dol-sen@telus.net>

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Re: [OT] [SOLVED?] What's up with dvdauthor? [ In reply to ]

gentoo at lakedaemon

Oct 26, 2004, 7:18 AM

Post #8 of 9 (356 views)

Permalink

Brian (dol-sen@telus.net) scribbled:
> On Tue, 2004-10-26 at 14:31 +0200, Holly Bostick wrote:
>
> > Now OK, I know that part of this is me not wanting to waste media (which
> > is my good right, doggonnit), but am I wrong to be starting to think
> > that maybe mPlayer is not the greatest thing since sliced cheese?
> >
> > In other words, should I be testing via Xine? Or will all PC players not
> > accurately reflect the behaviour of my (admittedly junky) standalone DVD
> > player, and I should just gird my loins for the possibility of wasted
> > media, because I won't be able to tell whether the image will actually
> > be displayed properly (having no accurate test)?
> >
> > Holly
> >
>
> Just over a year ago we were going on a very long trip. I wanted to
> copy a number of dvd's to keep our kids entertained. At the time I was
> unable to get anything to work in linux. I found a free program for
> windows called dvdshrink that worked wonderfully it gives options for
> removing the region, selecting individual tracks, compression level,
> etc.. It even lets you select the target encoding for NTSC & PAL. It
> also does it in much less time than the playing time. I found most took
> about 30 - 40 minutes for a 90 - 110 minute movie depending how much
> re-encoding it had to do. I wish we had an equivalent in linux.

Do you know where it did the NTSC to PAL conversion? Was it in the
authoring? If it is, I'll try to add it to dvd9to5.

Cooper.

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Re: [OT] [SOLVED?] What's up with dvdauthor? [ In reply to ]

u.schutz at bluewin

Oct 26, 2004, 11:48 AM

Post #9 of 9 (353 views)

Permalink

On 06:39 Tue 26 Oct , Brian wrote:
> On Tue, 2004-10-26 at 14:31 +0200, Holly Bostick wrote:
>
> > Now OK, I know that part of this is me not wanting to waste media (which
> > is my good right, doggonnit), but am I wrong to be starting to think
> > that maybe mPlayer is not the greatest thing since sliced cheese?
> >
> > In other words, should I be testing via Xine? Or will all PC players not
> > accurately reflect the behaviour of my (admittedly junky) standalone DVD
> > player, and I should just gird my loins for the possibility of wasted
> > media, because I won't be able to tell whether the image will actually
> > be displayed properly (having no accurate test)?
> >
> > Holly
> >
>
> Just over a year ago we were going on a very long trip. I wanted to
> copy a number of dvd's to keep our kids entertained. At the time I was
> unable to get anything to work in linux. I found a free program for
> windows called dvdshrink that worked wonderfully it gives options for
> removing the region, selecting individual tracks, compression level,
> etc.. It even lets you select the target encoding for NTSC & PAL. It
> also does it in much less time than the playing time. I found most took
> about 30 - 40 minutes for a 90 - 110 minute movie depending how much
> re-encoding it had to do. I wish we had an equivalent in linux.

Works here under wine. If I remember right, I had to install with
cvswinex, but run it with wine. The only thing that prevents me
from using it is too less disk space.

Urs

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