Archives For November 30, 1999

This simple tutorial shows how to install the DVD authoring tool, DVDStyler 3.3 Beta, in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.

DVDStyler is a free software for creating professional-looking DVDs. It provides many built-in buttons, templates, and file browser to make easy to burn DVDs.

I was maintaining a PPA with DVDStyler package for Ubuntu users, but stuck at v3.1.2, because of compile issue for the lastest v3.2. Now, it’s back and includes the latest DVDStyler 3.3 Beta for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04 and Ubuntu 23.10.

Features of DVDStyler 3.3 Beta so far include:

  • Ability to specify custom video file for buttons
  • Add object ‘Caption and rectangle’ (thanks to ecodrv)
  • Fix video frame selection dialog
  • Add setting “FFmpeg options” to specify transcoding options such as -hwaccel
  • Add menu template “wall” with text based title buttons

How to Install DVDStyler via Ubuntu PPA

UPDATED: For Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 22.04, the PPA contains the latest stable DVDStyler 3.2.1. While, it has v3.3 Beta for Ubuntu 23.04 & 23.10.

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal windows. Then, run the commands below one by one to add the PPA and install DVDStyler.

1. To add the PPA in all current Ubuntu releases (amd64 and arm64/armhf), run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/dvdstyler

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Linux Mint user need to manually refresh system package cache, though it’s done automatically in Ubuntu 20.04 and higher while adding PPA. To do so, run command:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, run command to install the software package:

sudo apt install dvdstyler

Fix ‘can’t open user configuration file’ error

In recent version, it may output an error on close of DVDStyler app window:

Failed to create a temporary file name (error 2: No such file or directory)
can’t open user configuration file.

The solution is just create the .dvdstyler folder in user’s home directory! Or, open terminal and run command:

mkdir -p ~/.dvdstyler

Uninstall DVDStyler

To remove the DVD authoring tool, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove dvdstyler

And, remove the Ubuntu PPA either by deleting source line from ‘Software & Updates‘ tool under ‘Other Software’ tab. Or, by running command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/darktable

Open source DVD authoring tool DVDStyler 3.1 was released a day ago with enhancements. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 19.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and their derivatives.

DVDStyler 3.1 release highlights:

  • Added some new buttons (movie, settings, etc.)
  • Added possibility to create a new button from SVG file
  • Added possibility to edit buttons
  • Added frame-text button and template
  • Fixed functionality of command “call last menu;” if specified for a chapter
  • Added support of HD videos (experimental, can be activated in settings)
  • Fix compiling issue with FFmpeg 4.
  • Many other bug-fixes.

How to Install DVDStyler 3.1 in Ubuntu:

Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from app menu. When it opens, do following steps one by one to install DVDStyler from the unofficial PPA:

1. To add the PPA, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/dvdstyler

Type user password (no asterisk feedback due to security reason) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. After that, either search for and install dvdstyler via Synaptic (or other) Package Manager, or run the commands one by one in terminal to update and install the tool:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install dvdstyler

With the PPA repository added, you can receive future updates via Software Updater once a new release is out and made into PPA.

How to Uninstall:

To remove DVDStyler, either use Synaptic Package Manager or run the command below in terminal:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove dvdstyler dvdstyler-data

And the PPA can be removed by going to System Settings -> Software & Updates -> Other Software tab.

A new update of the free and open-source DVD authoring tool, DVDStyler 3.0.4, was released a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and Ubuntu 18.04.

DVDStyler 3.0.4 is a small release with following changes:

  • fixed handling of files with multiple video streams (pictures, video thumbnails or cover arts)
  • added possibility to play video from internal file browser
  • win32/win64: updated Manolito’s VBR plug-in

How to Install DVDStyler 3.0.4 in Ubuntu:

For all current Ubuntu releases and derivatives, you can easily install DVDStyler 3.0.4 from the PPA repository.

Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for ‘terminal’ from app launcher. When it opens, do following steps:

1. To add the PPA, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/dvdstyler

Type in your password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. After that, search for and install dvdstyler via Synaptic (or other) Package Manager. Or run the commands below in terminal to update and install the tool:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install dvdstyler

With the PPA repository added, you can receive future updates via Software Updater once a new release is out and made into PPA.

How to Uninstall:

To remove DVDStyler, either use Synaptic Package Manager or run the command below in terminal:

sudo apt remove dvdstyler dvdstyler-data && sudo apt autoremove

And the PPA can be removed by going to System Settings -> Software & Updates -> Other Software tab.

DVDStyler 3.0.3, a cross-platform free DVD authoring tool, was released on New Year’s Day 2017. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu via PPA.

Changes in DVDStyler 3.0.3:

  • disabled copy option for non-MPEG2 video streams
  • added parameter “-pix_fmt yuv420p” to transcoder
  • fixed displaying first video frame in frame button
  • changed transcoding caching to allow put multiple equal video files on DVD (e.g. with different cut points)
  • added support of EXIF metadata in slideshow
  • added CBR option for menu and slideshow enoding settings (disabled by default)
  • added Bulgarian translation (thanks to Ivan Dobrev)
  • win32/win64: updated Manolito’s VBR plug-in

How to Install DVDStyler 3.0.3 via PPA:

DVDStyler does not offer official binary packages for Linux. An unofficial PPA is available with the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.10, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04, and Linux Mint 17 / 18.

1. To add the PPA, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/dvdstyler

Type in your password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. After that, search for and install dvdstyler via Synaptic (or other) Package Manager. Or run the commands below in terminal to update and install the tool:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install dvdstyler

With the PPA repository added, you can receive future updates via Software Updater once a new release is out and made into PPA.

How to Uninstall:

To remove DVDStyler, either use Synaptic Package Manager or run the command below in terminal:

sudo apt remove dvdstyler dvdstyler-data && sudo apt autoremove

And the PPA can be removed by going to System Settings -> Software & Updates -> Other Software tab.

Install DVDStyler 2.9.4 in Ubuntu 15.10 via PPA

Last updated: October 7, 2015

Free DVD authoring tool DVDStyler 2.9.4 has been released a few days ago with some new features and fixes. Here’s how to install or upgrade it via PPA in Ubuntu 15.10, Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04 and their derivatives.

DVDStyler 2.9.4 brings “turn off computer” option when burning is finish, adds support of SMPTE time codes in chapter dialog, and now displays the chapter end time if auto is selected.

Also some fixes and other improvements available in this release:

  • fixed option “remember last button”
  • fixed audio time offset (enabled only for separate streams)
  • fixed some slideshow transitions
  • changed default frame count for still NTSC menu to 15 (=GOP size)
  • forcing key frames at chapter marks if video is reencoded
  • fixed option “remember last button”
  • fixed playing the NTSC video inside the frame

Install / Upgrade DVDStyler in Ubuntu:

1. Add PPA

Open terminal from the Dash, app launcher, or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut key. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/dvdstyler

2. update package cache and install/upgrade the software.

If you have a previous release installed, just launch Software Updater. After checking for updates, the software should be available for update in the list.

Or run below commands one by one in terminal to refresh system package cache and install DVDStyler:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install dvdstyler

For those who don’t want to add PPA, grab the .deb installers from THIS PAGE. (Typo: “dvdstyler-2.9.4-1~15.04” should be “dvdstyler-2.9.4-1~15.10”)

DVDStyler, a free cross-platform DVD authoring software, has reached 2.9.x release for a couple of months, though Ubuntu repositories still provide very old versions, i.e., DVDStyler 2.7 for 14.10/15.04 and 2.5 for 14.04 LTS.

For the 2.7 to 2.9 release of DVDStyler, there are a lots of new features, fixes and some other changes, such as:

  • added selection of player for preview
  • possibility to normalize audio (replay gain)
  • ability to choose 5.1 audio and normalizing as default in the settings
  • possibility to select border or crop to keep aspect ratio
  • possibility to set default subtitle properties
  • possibility to rotate objects and buttons
  • possibility to play all titlesets
  • possibility to keep and use cached files after restarting of DVDStyler

For details, see this page.

Install/Upgrade to DVDStyler 2.9.2 in Ubuntu/Linux Mint:

Thanks to Héctor Sales Llamas from the bug report page, I’ve finally built the 2.9.2 release into PPA, available for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 15.04 and Linux Mint 17.

NOTE for Ubuntu 14.04/Linux Mint 17 users, you may first remove the packages libwxsvg0 and libwxsvg-dev via command: sudo apt-get remove libwxsvg0 libwxsvg-dev

1. To add the PPA, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/dvdstyler

2. After adding the PPA repository, you should be able to upgrade DVDStyler through Software Updater (or Updater Manager).

Or you can run below commands to install it from terminal:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install dvdstyler dvdstyler-data mjpegtools

If for some reason you want to remove/downgrade the software, install ppa-purge and purge the PPA via below commands:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge

sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/dvdstyler

For issues, please report to this page.

The DVD authoring tool DVDStyler has released version 2.6 with many improvements and bugfixes. According to the changelog, DVDStyler 2.6:

  • added slideshow transitions
  • loop slideshow audio
  • added support of ffmpeg audio filters (see https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html)
  • added possibility to specify output directory
  • added command line options “temp”, “iso” and “device”
  • added displaying of progress by loading files
  • added printing of the title size information in log
  • fixed handling of unicode filenames on Windows
  • fixed upmix to 5.1
  • fixed calculation of borders for keeping aspect ratio
  • updated ffmpeg to version 2.0.1

The DEBs packages for Debian user is availale in Sid’s (unstable) main repository.

Source code and Windows, Mac OS packages are available in official downpage.

For Ubuntu, DVDStyler 2.6 is not available in any PPA so far due to the dependency problem. You can install the v2.5.2 from Ubuntu Software Center.

Bombono DVD is a DVD authoring program for personal computers. It is made easy to use and has nice and clean GUI (Gtk).

The main features of Bombono DVD are:

  • Excellent video viewer: Timeline and Monitor
  • Real WYSIWYG Menu Editor with live thumbnails
  • Comfortable Drag-n-Drop support
  • Transcoding, if necessary (from AVI/MKV/MOV/MPEG4…)
  • Motion menus
  • Subtitles support
  • You can author to folder, make ISO-image or burn directly to DVD
  • Reauthoring: you can import video from DVD discs

The latest Bombono DVD 1.2.2 has been made into Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty. Here’s how to install or upgrade it in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring via PPA.

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command below to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:jacob/media

After that, search for and install bombono-dvd package in Ubuntu Software Center after checking for updates. Or, run commands instead:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install bombono-dvd