[mythtv-users] Question - how to write saved video to dvd standard.

[William]

> Hi,
> 
> I would like (my wife) to be able to select saved video's 
> from disk and write them tot dvd so they can be played on a 
> normal dvd player (without my help). Can i do that with 
> mythTv standard, need extra software. Who has any experience 
> with this?
> 

It is possible to write videos to dvd but its anything but simple. All the
ways I have found require at least 5 steps and a good understanding of the
command line. Not at all wife friendly. My favorite and probably the least
difficult is to use the following steps. Please note, this is all covered in
much greater detail in the archives.

1. Find the file you want. The files are saved with a long numeric file name
that has to do with the start and stop times of the recording and are not at
all intuitive. There are scripts to make links to the files with human
readable file names.

2. Run avidemux2 and break the file into video and audo portions.

3. Run mplex to reassemble it in DVD compatible format.

4. Run dvdauthor to create a DVD compatible file structure.

5. Run growisofs to actually make the DVD.

At that point you will have a dvd that will play in most recent dvd players
but not all. My $3000 dvd recorder from 3 years ago will not play them but
the $39 player from Walmart will. Go figure!

That only covers the linux solutions. Under windows there are many more
options but be prepared for a 4-8 hour recoding session for each dvd you
want to cut. Under linux I can do the entire process in about 30-40 minutes.

If you are looking for a module where your wife can select a movie and pop
in a disk, it doesnt exist although there has been some discussion about it.
(its a VERY large undertaking considering all the formats available under
MythTV. Feel free to develop it, everyone would love you for it.)

Perhaps the best bet is to have the wife tell you what ones she wants and
you can burn them as part of your honey-do-project-list. That is always good
for bonus points when the wife sees how hard you have to work to make it go.
:)