Using Terminal and drutil to create DVDs

G

golf

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Hi, hope y'all had a good Christmas!

I have a VIDEO_TS directory on my hard disk with VOBs etc that plays perfectly with Apple's DVD player. Now I want to burn it to DVD (yes, it's smaller than 4.3GB).

In order to create an image of the VIDEO_TS folder I use this command:

drutil -drive firewire burn -noverify -eject -iso9660 ~/Desktop/MovieDir/

This creates a DVD, but Apple's DVD player doesn't see it as a real movie DVD, I guess it sees it as a data DVD. If I tell DVD Player to go to the mounted DVD directory and open the VIDEO_TS directory there it plays - but that's just like playing the VIDEO_TS from my hard disk. I'd really like DVD Player to think of the DVD as a movie DVD which it starts playing automatically. I have also taken this DVD to a friend's house where his fancy Bose DVD player refuses to play it.

I also tried using UDF instead of ISO9660 like so:

drutil -drive firewire burn -noverify -eject -udf ~/Desktop/MovieDir/

Basically the exact same result.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong in my attempt to go from a VIDEO_TS directory on my hard disk to a "proper" DVD? Can anyone tell me what kind of file system a movie DVD uses?

Thanks in advance!
 
The name of your burned DVD should have a title that is in ALL CAPS, and no spaces in the name for maximum compatibility. Then, you should have a VIDEO_TS folder on that DVD that contains the VOB files. The disk should be in UDF format.

Are you sure you're not just burning the VIDEO_TS folder on a DVD, thus having the VOB files in the root directory of the DVD? The root directory of the DVD should contain either one or two folders: either a VIDEO_TS folder alone containing the VOB files, or a VIDEO_TS folder containing the VOB files and an empty folder called AUDIO_TS.

What does the directory structure of your DVD look like?
 
Thanks Jeff -

The drutil program doesn't let me specify a volume name, so I'm not sure how to set that.

As for the directory structure, it is as you suggested: I have a VIDEO_TS with the VOBs, and an empty AUDIO_TS. These two directories are going to the root of my DVD, so it's not the situation you warned against with the VOBs directly in the DVD's root.

I tried renaming ~/Desktop/MovieDir to ~/Desktop/MOVIE just in case drutil magically uses the directory name as the volume name, but it made no difference.

Any other suggestions? I'm only using drutil because "DVD Imager" seems to have a problem with 10.4.3 - if you know of another imaging tool that'd be great.

By the way, thanks for confirming that it's UDF I should be using - that cuts the possibilities in half.
 
Hmmm... I'm at a loss here, then. DVD Player will play the VOB files when you do the "Open" command, but will not recognize the disk otherwise?

The only thing I can think of is that you have an invalid directory structure. Can you list the filenames in the VIDEO_TS folder here -- perhaps one is missing or something... that's a weird problem, as I can see no error in how you're creating or burning the DVD.
 
You have to make a UDF format image - if you burn an HFS image, the files will be accessible, but most DVD players won't play it.

Here's what I did to go from a folder (call it MOVIE) with two subfolders (VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS)

hdiutil makehybrid -udf -o MOVIE.iso MOVIE

This makes a file calles MOVIE.iso. Then open the file in disk utility and burn it, and you should end up with a playable DVD.
 
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