It is actually very easy, even for users who are not that tech-savvy, to create a video DVD with the application. The start screen displays links to all program features, a help and the options. It is a good idea to open the options first to check several important settings.

Here it is possible to select the video format (PAL or NTSC), Image ratio (4:3 or 16:9), default DVD Type (DVD-5 or DVD-9), DVD language (default Chinese, make sure you switch to English or another supported language if you are not Chinese that is)

Video DVD author is the first available option. It looks like a heading and not an option which can confuse some users. It basically combines all three other options (that is convert videos to VOB, compile DVD, burn DVD).

Most users should click on Video DVD author to create a video DVD as it walks the user through the creation step by step.

The first screen is the selection screen. A click on the plus icon opens a file browser which can be used to add videos to the DVD. A bar above the icons shows the available free space that is left on the disc.

A preview is available and it is possible to sort videos. A click on the >> icon opens the DVD menu creator.

Several preconfigured templates are available from the left sidebar. It is furthermore possible to add a custom image file from the computer, music and text.

The next screen displays the DVD creation and burning options. A click on start begins the conversion. The video DVD will be burned to DVD once that process has finished.

WinX DVD Author offers excellent value for a free video DVD creation software. The usability and interface have a few quirks that the developers should sort out, especially the DVD menu creation lacks features like automatic video title integration or automatic menu alignments.

DVD author is compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 98 to Windows 7. It can be downloaded directly from the developer homepage over at WinX DVD. (via)

A solid free alternative is Free Videos To DVD from Koyote Soft. The application is as easy to use as ConvertXToDVD which is its greatest strength. Users do not need to worry about different source video formats, conversions or bitrates as is it all handled by the program in the background.

A video DVD is created in six steps that are displayed in a wizard like interface. It begins with the selection of a video DVD project name, DVD format and working directory. The dvd authoring software supports PAL and NTSC DVD formats and can create DVDs that play in 4:3 or 16:9.

The DVD chapters are added in the second step. A file browser assists the user in adding videos from the local hard drive to the DVD. Free Videos To DVD displays the file name and duration of each file as well as the estimated size, duration and quality of the video DVD on the screen.

Here it is also possible to load an existing VIDEO_TS file instead, and modify the quality of the video DVD with the quality slider. A better quality results in a larger size and vice verse. It is important that the size is not passing the red limiter for single layer DVDs. If it does a dual layer DVD is required to burn the video DVD.

The video DVD menu is created in the third step of the process. It is possible to create a DVD without menu which would mean that the DVD plays as soon as it is placed in the DVD player, or a classical menu with options to customize titles, chapters and appearance.

Among the options are titles, fonts and colors for the DVD title and its chapters, the position of those elements on the screen and a background image with options to use the default image or an image on the local system.

The output parameters are defined in step 4 of the process. Video DVDs can be burned directly to a writable DVD, saved as an ISO image for mounting it or burning it later or created as IFO and VOB files only. The DVD writer and speed are selected in this step as well.

The selected videos are then converted by Free Videos To DVD. The speed of the conversion depends largely on the speed of the computer system. It is possible to enable a preview of the video in this step, but it is generally not recommended as it may slow down the conversion.

The videos are processed in the last step of the authoring process. DVDs are either burned directly to a writable DVD, saved as an ISO image or as IFO and VOB files.

Free Videos To DVD is an excellent free application for the Windows operating system. It has been designed to give users of all experience levels a video DVD authoring tool at hand. Advanced users will find out that it lacks a few features that other tools, like ConvertXToDVD, are offering. Still, if you need to quickly turn some videos on your PC into a video DVD then this tool can do that for you, quickly and without problems.

Free Videos To DVD can be downloaded at the official Koyote Soft website. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

The whole process is divided into three easy to follow steps. The user adds videos to the program in step 1. Various information about the videos – like the bitrate, playtime or screen resolution, are displayed in that step. Here it is also possible to switch between DVD-5 and DVD-9 DVD DVDs, aspect ratios and Pal or Ntsc video formats.

The DVD menu is created in the second step. Several templates are available in that section and there are editing possibilities to add text, move elements around and to add background music to the DVD menu structure.

The actual DVD creation is handled in the third step. Here it is possible to select the DVD burner, volume name, output folder for the video_ts folder and output quality settings.

Here are some information about the software program:

• Supported Video Formats: AVI, ASF, WMV, MPEG, MP4, MOV, RM, RMVB, XviD, DivX, H.264, OGG, QT, FLV, etc.
• Disc Type: DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW, DVD DL+R, DVD DL+/-RW, etc.
• Platforms: Windows 98, NT, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)
• Language: English, French, Chinese, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, etc.
• Subtitle support
• Video clipping

WinX DVD Author can be downloaded for free for the rest of October from the developer’s website.

What I wound up with is a combination of three tools – only one of which was a command. It’s not as simple as creating them in Windows, but it’s free and it’s reliable (and will also up your geek “cred” – which we all could use.)

DeVeDe

This first tool started out to be the most promising – until it came time to actually burn the DVD. Unfortunately DeVeDe stinks at the process of burning. So what I wound up using this tool for is to create the DVD structure which consists of a directory VIDEO_TS and all necessary files (.IFO, .VOB, and .BUP to be precise.)

Getting and installing DeVeDe is simple because it is found in most common repositories. Fire up your Add/Remove Software utility, do a search for “devede” (no quotes) and install the results of the search.

DeVeDe Main Window

Once it is installed fire it up. The opening window will ask what disk type you want to create. Click “Video DVD”. the new window (shown on the left) is where you add your files and configure your options. You can really get creative with creating menus, etc. For the sake of simplicity we will stick with the basics.

Click the Add button under the Files Pane. This is where you will locate the .avi file you want to add to your movie. In the resulting window you can also switch from PAl to NTSC, add audio tracks (if there isn’t already one), add subtitles, and a number of advanced options.

Once you have added your file click the OK button to come back to the main window. Now, click the Advanced options drop down to reveal a few more options. In this section you want to select the option “Create Disk Structure”. Don’t bother with the iso option – DeVeDe is as bad at creating the iso as it is at burning.

Now click the Forward button and the process will begin. Depending upon how many files (and how large they are) you might have a long wait.

Once the process is complete you can Quit out of DeVeDe. You are done with that application.

mkisofs

Now you need to locate the directory housing the VIDEO_TS directory. You have to run the mkisofs command on that directory like so:

mkisofs -dvd-video -o ~/DVD_NAME.iso /path/to/VIDEO_TS

Where DVD_NAME is the name you want to give the iso file and where /path/to/ is the absolute path to the VIDEO_TS directory (but leave out the VIDEO_TS portion.) So if VIDEO_TS is located in /home/jlwallen/movie and I want to name the iso lost.iso the command would look like:

mkisofs -dvd-video -o /home/jlwallen/lost.iso /home/jlwallen/movie

You will want to make sure there is plenty of space on the drive (or directory) you use for this because it can take up some space (how much depends upon the size of the DVD being created.) The results, once the command is finished, will be DVD_NAME.iso (Again where DVD_NAME is the actual name of the iso you created.)

K3B

Now the easy part. Using K3B you will burn this iso image to disk. You can follow the process in my previous article Burn CD and DVD ISO images with K3B. Once K3B finishes you should have a DVD suited for nearly any home DVD player.

Final Thoughts

Nope…it’s not as easy as it should be. But now you can re-create the process fairly quickly with the right tools. Have you found an easier way to create DVDs in Linux? If so let your fellow gHacks readers know.