Getting Started

So, Polidori is a GUI front end written in C++ adhering to the GTK standards and drives tools such as DVDAUTHOR to enable you to take one, or several, DVD compliant MPEG2 files, and hence author and burn a DVD.

A DVD needs to have files organised in a very specific way prior to being burned. There is plenty of material available on the Internet for background reading of this subject if required.

DVDAUTHOR is an excellent tool for authoring the DVD prior to burning. Authoring is the process of preparing the MPEG2 files from the source material, and the associated files that organise the general layout and Menu structure of the DVD into a very precise format.

In order for DVDAUTHOR to function correctly not only does it require the MPEG2 source files, but it also requires an XML file which defines the structure of the DVD.

This includes :-

• The Titles

• The Chapters

• The Menus

• The Jump points to Chapters

• The Return points from Chapters

Creating this XML file is not a trivial task for a novice. Hence, Polidori was written to act as a bridge between the design of the overall DVD format required, and the necessary XML file to allow DVDAUTHOR and the other associated tools to function for you.

Polidori can either/or of the following :-

a) Create the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS files required for burning to the DVD.

b) Create the DVD.iso file which can at a later stage be burned to DVD using an application such as K3b

Burn the above files directly to DVD media without having to use a separate Burning Application

d) Provide a link to Ogle to preview the resulting DVD.iso file prior to burning

e) Create the XML required by DVDAUTHOR, which manually edited and used directly with DVDAUTHOR

OK let's move on to some examples