Linux DVD Authoring with Q DVD-Author
My main desktop, out of the 8 computers currently sitting in my office, runs Fedora Core 7 Linux. I have multiple machines running Linux and one Mac. While working with my Linux machines the goal of creating a DVD has come up before. So, like many other, I have found myself scouring the usual places for information on the ability to create DVDs with menus and backgrounds. I have often checked Freshmeat, SourceForge, and rpm repositories to look for something that would fill this seeming void. I finally found the answer.
There have always existed miscellaneous tools to manipulate video on the Linux platform. And honestly, performance while encoding and decoding video is much better in my opinion on the Linux platform. However, I am biased. Tools such as ffmpeg, transcode, and mencoder have been around for a long time. These are powerful command-line tools for video editing. And yes, there are front ends available to make them easier to use. There also exists a command-line tool to create DVDs, professional ones, with menus, buttons, graphics, animated buttons, backgrounds, etc. This tool is called DVD-Author. This tool reads an xml file created manually or with a tool specifically for creating DVD xml files and that file provides it with the information related to the structure of the DVD. The xml file is basically just a layout file for the structure of the DVD.
Using a command-line tool with this many options can be difficult for someone who is not familiar with the CLI or Linux. So, I am happy to report to you that there is a great GUI available for DVD-Author. It is called “Q” DVD-Author and it is a QT front-end to the DVD-Author software. It is a graphical design tool that in the end sets up your video encoding, if necessary, and then outputs your xml file and pipes that to DVD-Author automatically. It creates your DVD in a folder which you can then burn at your leisure, or it will call the DVD writing software for you to burn immediately. Here is a screen capture of the utility’s interface.
http://qdvdauthor.sourceforge.net/
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