KDE DVDAuthor Wizard

This wizard will allow you to create a DVD from one or more DVD compatible MPEG-2 files. It is designed to be very easy to use. All you need to do is add one or multiple files to the playlist and answer the questions that follow.

You can add a menu that will contain animated thumbnails of the files in the playlist. Creating a menu is optional.

Features include:

* Playlist editor
* DVD menu with multiple pages
* Animated thumbnails in the menu
* Customisable menu graphics
* Add soundtrack from OGG or MP3
* Antialiased graphics prevent flickering on TV
* Both Widescreen and standard 4:3 support
* ISO DVD Image creation
* MPEG2 DVD compatibility checking
* Support for both PAL and NTSC menus

Requirements:

* Kommander >= 1.0 (part of kdewebdev >= 3.3.0)
* ImageMagick 6.2 or 6.3
* MJPEGTools
* Sox
* DVDAuthor >= 0.6.11
* Transcode

Not required (but recommended):

* Xine-UI (for testing the DVD)
* K3B

How to Install:

Just unpack the archive and run the 'Installer.kmdr' script. That's it!


Please contact me if you experience a problem.


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*** IMPORTANT ***

Because ImageMagick developers keep changing the commandline syntax for every single version, the KDE DVD Authoring Wizard does not work with versions older than 6.1.0. Also, newer versions are not compatible with their predecessors. That's why you need to make sure that your DVDAuthor version is newer than ImageMagick, because it uses ImageMagick for menu processing.

Please send your complaints about this mess to the ImageMagick mailing list.

VERSION 0.90 ( August 8th 2005 )

* Initial release

VERSION 0.91 ( August 10th 2005 )

* Improved Debug Output
* Running wizard without installing should really work now

VERSION 0.92 ( August 12th 2005 )

* Menu colors conform to Rec.601 specification
* Experimental support for generating NTSC menus
* Fix for syntax change in new MPlayer version
* Fixed selection highlights in DVD menu
* Add MPlayer output to debug output
* Detect MPlayer failures

VERSION 0.93 ( August 17th 2005 )

* Added dependency check for 'bc'
* Added more font search paths
* Make sure that Bash is used to run script

VERSION 0.94 ( August 29th 2005 )

* Fixed missing translations
* Added detection for ImageMagick problems
* Show DVDAuthor warnings, if any
* Fixed menus with > 9 pages
* Add character encoding to DVDAuthor XML file
* Return to menu after playing finished
* Force thumb title length limit

VERSION 0.95 ( September 5th 2005 )

* ImageMagick problem detection should really work
* Added workaround for mp2enc path length limit bug
* Don't fail when MPEG files are not DVD compatible
* Detect DVDAuthor failures
* Added button for DVD compatibility checking

VERSION 0.96 ( September 20th 2005 )

* Fixed detection of DVDAuthor problems
* Show DVDAuthor error message on failure
* Improve KDE path detection in Installer

VERSION 1.00 ( November 19th 2005 )

* Renamed version 0.96 to 1.0 Final.

VERSION 1.01 ( December 3rd 2005 )

* Generate proper 29.97 FPS NTSC menus
* Support DVD-ISO burning with K3B 0.12.x
* Improved MPlex/SPUMux error detection
* Fixed SPUMux problem with multipage NTSC menus
* Huge performance improvement in Playlist editor

VERSION 1.02 ( December 7th 2005 )

* Fixes to get wizard to work on KDE 3.5

VERSION 1.03 ( December 14th 2005 )

* Fix to work with old MJPEGTools (< 1.8.0) again

VERSION 1.04 ( December 17th 2005 )

* Add font paths for Ubuntu Breezy Badger

VERSION 1.04b ( Januari 18th 2006 )

* Detect buggy BASH version (BASH 3.1)

VERSION 1.05 ( February 10th 2006 )

* Work around BASH 3.1 problem
* Work around DVDAuthor bug in Debian Etch

VERSION 1.1 ( March 7th 2006 )

* Fix "file not found" issue in preview step
* Add support for defining chapters for each MPEG file

VERSION 1.2 ( April 9th 2006 )

* Major code cleanup, more readable now
* Drop mplayer dependency
* Automatic compatibility check of MPEG files
* Check if ISO will fit on DVD media
* Allow using any video file as menu background

VERSION 1.2.1 ( April 12th 2006 )

* Fix previews of fonts with spaces in filename

VERSION 1.2.2 ( May 5th 2006 )

* Fix handling of images with page information
* Also find personal fonts in $HOME/.fonts
* Check validity of soundtrack file before authoring
* Add second progress bar for multipage menus

VERSION 1.3.0 ( May 14th 2006 )

* Change directory structure, easier for distributors
* Allow user to customize DVDAuthor XML file
* Possibility to skip beginning of thumbnail animation
* Add 'washout' effect to animated menu background
* Improved responsiveness of wizard
* Creating menu preview is much faster now
* Fix trailing slash problem
* Several small fixes all over


VERSION 1.4.0 ( September 9th 2006 )

* Allow longer title, subtitle and movie titles in menu
* Better support for special characters
* Find more fonts
* Check MPEG files only before authoring step
* Improved wizard layout
* Check if user is mixing PAL and NTSC files
* Check if user is mixing 16:9 and 4:3 files

VERSION 1.4.1 ( September 9th 2006 )

* Fix a bug in aspect ratio checking

VERSION 1.4.2 ( December 1st 2006 )

* Fixed "Check Compatibility" button
* Read chapter info from DVDAuthor XML

VERSION 1.4.3 ( Januari 13th 2007)

* Work around problems in ImageMagick 6.3
* Refuse to run when DVDAuthor 0.6.12 installed
* Small improvements in wizard layout

VERSION 1.4.4 ( March 3rd 2007 )

* Support DVDAuthor 0.6.14
* Some minor little improvements here and there

VERSION 1.4.5 ( March 11th 2007 )

* Fix 'Add to List' button on Ubuntu Linux

VERSION 1.4.6 ( May 29th 2007 )

* 'Check Compatibility' button supports recent dvdauthor versions
* Include small label font fix, by Timo Bußhaus