Updated: April 28, 2009
Last time, we learned how to rip DVD movies. Today, we'll do exactly the opposite: learn how to create DVD movies. This is something you may consider especially if you have old DVD players that cannot support non-DVD formats - yet you have lots of videos, including home-made ones, lying about in all sorts of formats. In this tutorial, we will use DeVeDe to convert MPEG-4 movies into DVDs. Follow me.
Install DeVeDe
DeVeDe is included in the repositories of most popular distributions. Nothing much to do here.
Using DeVeDe
The moment you launch the program, it will run you through a configuration wizard.
Disc type selection
First, you need to choose what your output will be. DeVeDe supports several formats. In most cases, you will want Video DVD. For the purpose of this demonstration, I will choose VideoCD.
Choose files
Your next step is to choose the files you want to transcode. Click on Add to select the desired media files. In our case, we will use the clip from Zatoichi we converted the last time.
Some things you will have to pay attention to: Video format is important, depending where you live, Europe or North America. Additionally, you can add subtitles (a tutorial on the way, I promise). This can be particularly useful if the movie is in a foreign language that you don't understand, so embedding subtitles seems like a very sensible idea, especially if your old DVD player does not support external subtitles (.srt or .sub).
Preview
You can also preview the output. Just choose the movie length you desire and let DeVeDe transcode. The preview will be stored in the directory of your choosing. Once you finish with the previewing, it will be deleted.
Final settings
Once you're satisfied with your choice, OK the file(s). You'll go back to main menu. Here, you have several more options to choose before converting the files.
Disc usage will tell you how much space the movie will take. Under Action, you can choose between creating the files in a compliant format or packaging them in a burn-ready .iso image. DeVeDe can also use multiple CPUs to shorten the conversion.
Click Forward when you're ready.
Choose destination
DeVeDe does not like FAT32 volumes, so avoid them.
DeVeDe may also complain about missing space. If you know for sure you have sufficient hard disk space, just ignore the message.
Transcoding
And you should be on your way:
Job done
Once your movie has been created, open it and enjoy. Later, you may also burn it to DVD.
Conclusion
DeVeDe is a simply friendly utility. Again, Linux surprises us with its simplicity and ease when it comes to multimedia. Everything is done through GUI, using mouse clicks only, no special knowledge or configurations needed. From installation to actual transcoding, working with video could not be any easier. I hope you've enjoyed another tutorial in a long series on Multimedia. Many new, exciting articles are on their way. Enjoy!