### vdr2dvd The archive contains the following files: - this README EN/DE - CHANGELOG - COPYING - Template for ds.jar (ds.ini) - The script vdr2dvd.pl vdr2dvd is a simple script, handling all needed steps to create a DVD out of a VDR recording, incl. the burn process itself. It was created out of the need to burn VDR recordings with a new Pioneer DVD-104. The script does the following: - Merging multiple .vdr files to a big one per DVD title - Conversion into a PS-stream using ds.jar - Multiplex to a correct DVD-stream - Creation of DVD structure - mkisofs creates the ISO image - dvdrecord burns the image to the disc Theoretically, the script should run on any UNIX-like operating system, as long as the needed application can be executed, and a current JAVA Runtime environment with Swing is available. An X-Server (local or remote) is needed, even if there is no output to any windows. A possible solution to run it without X-Server is documented here: http://www.vdrportal.de/board/thread.php?threadid=1218 Requierements: - sudo : http://www.sudo.ws/sudo/ (no preference about the version. If there is a .deb, .rpm, etc. for your System, take that) - mkisofs which is part of CDRTOOLS: http://www.fokus.gmd.de/research/cc/glone/employees/joerg.schilling/private/mkisofs.html (Ver. 1.10+11a39 or newer) - mjpegtools : http://mjpeg.sourceforge.net/ (Ver. 1.6.1 or newer) - transcode to adapt recordings with non-standard horizontal resolutions.: http://www.theorie.physik.uni-goettingen.de/~ostreich/transcode/ (Ver. 0.6.2 or newer) - JAVA Runtime Environment to execute ds.jar: http://java.sun.com/ (Ver. 1.4.1 recommended) All applications up to here are available for all common distributions. Inofficial additional apt-sources for Debian: http://marillat.free.fr/ http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/languages/java/linux/debian/ Furthermore you need - the dvdauthor package: http://dvdauthor.sourceforge.net/ (Ver. 0.5.0) - cdrecord-ProDVD ftp://ftp.fokus.gmd.de/pub/unix/cdrecord/ProDVD/ (recommended) or alternatively dvdrecord or a patched cdrecord : http://www.abcpages.com/~mache/cdrecord-dvd.html for historical reasons the script calls the script dvdrecord. This can be changed through the variable $dvdrecord. For me simply works the wrapper script with the cdrecord-ProDVD license key as dvdrecord under /usr/local/bin (Ver. newest possible) - Owners of a DVD+R(W)-Recorder need growisofs: http://fy.chalmers.se/~appro/linux/DVD+RW/ - ds.jar: http://home.arcor.de/matt2/dvb.matt/ (Ver. 0.60g newer should work but not testet) A few notes to the needed application: - Why sudo? It is not a good idea to do everything as root. dvdrecord needs full access to the DVD drive. Theoretically you could set the SUID bit on dvdrecord, but that would allow all users on your system to run the program. From a security stand point this is not a good idea. Just put a line like this: user ALL = (root) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/dvdrecord into /etc/sudoers and you are done. Who wants to set at nought my warnings, simply sets the variable $sudo to '' - Why an additional JAVA application? Well ... there are no problems with JAVA. The speed is great. Only problem is, even though it is a commandline application, due to the fact that all awt/swing classes are initialised, you have to have an X-Server. I have had no success in using other available programs (mplex/transcode) to convert VDR recordings to PS-files with an intact A-V synchronisation. transcode works, but not without resampling the sound, which introduces losses and is slow. If anyone has a solution for this, I am all ears. !Notice to ds.jar: according to dvbmatt it possibly causes problems if the cut in file is to large > 13:15:00. But this should not occur for normal commercial breaks. - What is dvdrecord? For me it is simply the cdrecord-wrapper.sh script for cdrecord-ProDVD cdrecord-ProDVD is a extended version of cdrecord with support for DVD- writers, developed by the original author of cdrecord. Opposite to cdrecord cdrecord-ProDVD is not free software, but can be used without charge in research, for private use and for non-commercial in education. Earlier I used a patched cdrecord which likewise supports some DVD-R recorders. After some testings my conclusion is: as far as you can use non free software with quiet conscience, use cdrecord-ProDVD. It is head and shoulders above the patched cdrecord. For example it is much more active developed, supports more writers, has better data pool, gives more informations etc. Other questions. - Is this beta software) Well, lets say the function work without a hitch, and a couple of input checkings are done as well, however, there are still some checks missing, like does it fit on the DVD etc.. There are still some missing commandline parameters, and some automatic features are going to be integrated as well. I'd call it usable alpha software. In between I've written more than 20 DVDs with this tool. - Does it work with DVD+R/RW writers. Yes. You will need growisofs. The source for this is noted upwards. Additionaly you have to set $writertype to 2. - Does the DVD creation work with any recording? The creation yes. Sometimes transmissions are not being sent in DVD-conform horizontal resolution. The standard says MPEG2 on DVD may be 720, 704 or 352 pixels wide. Standalone players, which are capable of playing SVCD, should be able to work with 480px as well. But Premiere for example, transmits some of its programming with 544 px. Most standalone players will not be able to display those recordings. Linux software players should not have a problem. vdr2dvd.pl checks the stream using transcode, and changes the stream to 720x576. This can be turned off with switch -c. - Are you able to burn more than one recording onto a DVD Yes. Every named subdirectory is going to an individual title. I've burned four DVDs with Black Adder recordings. Menues are no possible at the moment, because dvdauthor is going to support them in one of the following version, only. - Are you able to copy DVDs with this tool? No, use dvd-create for this. http://dvd-create.sourceforge.net/ Now lets get going with the installtion: - change pathes and options in vdr2dvd Remember, the user executing vdr2dvd needs to have full access rights to $dvdroot. Usually, you should just need to change /volmisc2 to your path, and change $dvdrecorddevice and maybe $dvdrecord. I installed ds.jar into /usr/local/bin. If you don't like that, change the relevant variable. - copy vdr2dvd to /usr/local/bin/ and ds.ini to /usr/local/etc - add the line described up top into /etc/sudoers For testing purposes, you may deactivate the burn option with switch -n. usage shows vdr2dvd --help TODO: - More commandline parameters (for example bitrate for transcode) - Check for enough disc space - Move all variables into a config file - Make steps switchable (on/off) - Allow for single step execution (like burning/mkisofs) - Better cleanup of temporary files. - Installation script, which changes the relevant variables. .... Other things I am thinking about: - Make it executabel direct from vdr. - Make it a CGI to be usable within a browser. Dirk Hartmann, dha@morticah.net 02.03.03 Initial translation by posde@theinternet.de, 02.12.02 (faults in expression and orthography are completely introduced by dha)