A friend created a video dvd in the form of a VIDEO_TS subdir with some files, so I finally had to find out how to create a working DVD from that. Using Linux, ofcourse. And using the command-line.This is the subject of several dozen howto's on the web, all differing in opinion on certain subjects.
From VIDEO_TS to .iso
First, converting the VIDEO_TS to a correct dvd image. You need to have the VIDEO_TS data in a subdir(!!) from the root of the future dvd. Start with an empty dir:$ mkdir dvd $ cd dvdPut the VIDEO_TS data in a VIDEO_TS subdir. Indeed: with capital letters.$ ls VIDEO_TSCreating the dvd image with mkisofs with the -dvd-video commandline flag.$ mkisofs -dvd-video -o ../dvd.iso . INFO: UTF-8 character encoding detected by locale settings. Assuming UTF-8 encoded filenames on source filesystem, use -input-charset to override. Unknown file type (unallocated) ./.. - ignoring and continuing. 0.70% done, estimate finish Mon Nov 26 15:31:25 2007 1.40% done, estimate finish Mon Nov 26 15:31:25 2007 2.09% done, estimate finish Mon Nov 26 15:31:25 2007 2.79% done, estimate finish Mon Nov 26 15:32:00 2007 99.03% done, estimate finish Mon Nov 26 15:32:52 2007 99.72% done, estimate finish Mon Nov 26 15:32:52 2007 Total translation table size: 0 Total rockridge attributes bytes: 0 Total directory bytes: 2158 Path table size(bytes): 26 Max brk space used 0 716987 extents written (1400 MB)Now you have a dvd-video ready iso file:$ cd .. $ ls -lh dvd.iso -rw-r--r-- 1 koos users 1.4G Nov 26 15:32 dvd.isoTo be sure, you can check it:$ isoinfo -l -i dvd.iso Directory listing of / d--------- 0 0 0 2048 Nov 26 2007 [ 275 02] . d--------- 0 0 0 2048 Nov 26 2007 [ 275 02] .. d--------- 0 0 0 2048 Nov 26 2007 [ 276 02] VIDEO_TS Directory listing of /VIDEO_TS/ d--------- 0 0 0 2048 Nov 26 2007 [ 276 02] . d--------- 0 0 0 2048 Nov 26 2007 [ 275 02] .. ---------- 0 0 0 8192 Nov 22 2007 [ 281 00] VIDEO_TS.BUP;1 ---------- 0 0 0 8192 Nov 22 2007 [ 277 00] VIDEO_TS.IFO;1 ---------- 0 0 0 36864 Nov 22 2007 [ 479292 00] VTS_01_0.BUP;1 ---------- 0 0 0 36864 Nov 22 2007 [ 285 00] VTS_01_0.IFO;1 ---------- 0 0 0 980969472 Nov 22 2007 [ 303 00] VTS_01_1.VOB;1 ---------- 0 0 0 30720 Nov 22 2007 [ 716821 00] VTS_02_0.BUP;1 ---------- 0 0 0 30720 Nov 22 2007 [ 479310 00] VTS_02_0.IFO;1 ---------- 0 0 0 486391808 Nov 22 2007 [ 479325 00] VTS_02_1.VOB;1Burning the .iso
This needs to be done as root (not too much of a surprise as this requests low-level access to the dvd-burner).# growisofs -dvd-compat -Z /dev/hdc=dvd.iso Executing 'builtin_dd if=dvd.iso of=/dev/hdc obs=32k seek=0' /dev/hdc: "Current Write Speed" is 16.4x1385KBps. 0/1468389376 ( 0.0%) @0x, remaining ??:?? 0/1468389376 ( 0.0%) @0x, remaining ??:?? 0/1468389376 ( 0.0%) @0x, remaining ??:?? 0/1468389376 ( 0.0%) @0x, remaining ??:?? 0/1468389376 ( 0.0%) @0x, remaining ??:?? 4063232/1468389376 ( 0.3%) @0.9x, remaining 138:08 35028992/1468389376 ( 2.4%) @6.5x, remaining 17:43 66486272/1468389376 ( 4.5%) @6.7x, remaining 10:32 1344405504/1468389376 (91.6%) @10.0x, remaining 0:13 1392017408/1468389376 (94.8%) @10.1x, remaining 0:08 1440120832/1468389376 (98.1%) @10.2x, remaining 0:03 builtin_dd: 716992*2KB out @ average 6.6x1385KBps /dev/hdc: flushing cache /dev/hdc: closing track /dev/hdc: closing discThe result: a fresh video dvd. And it works in the DVD-player at home (which is from way back when DVD-players weren't given away with laundry soap).Making dvd stuff in Linux
From source to video_ts is a different process. I'm not active in that area yet.