Someone might could clean this up a bit, but it is functional. Paste it into the Applescript Script Editor and save as an application without startup screen. This will create a droplet on which you can drop the parent folder of your VIDEO_TS folder. robg edit: placed code in container for narrower display.

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FYI, I have tested ISO images made with hdiutil, and they don't seem to be compatible with all set-top DVD players. Be warned.

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You could check out my DVD Image Utility. It is a revised version of the above script (with mkisofs).

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This looks like a great little utility. May I suggest that you submit it to VersionTracker or MacUpdate so it is easier for people to find?

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DVD Imager has worked for me.

http://lonestar.utsa.edu/llee/applescript/dvdimager.html

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True, but I believe the point of this hint was to show that it could be done without third-party tools.

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I tried using DVD Imager, but it kept on crashing on me. I then ran the mkisofs command which DVD Imager uses, and that failed too, reporting errors. Using hdiutil worked fine each time.

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I currently use mkisofs in a similar Applescript to the one I posted above for my DVD imaging needs. The terminal command for mkisofs looks like this:

mkisofs -f -dvd-video -udf -V DVD_VIDEO -o ~/Desktop/DVD_VIDEO.iso ~/Desktop/DVD_VIDEO/

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#!/bin/sh
DIR=$1
NAME=$(basename "${DIR}")
hdiutil makehybrid -udf -udf-volume-name "${NAME}" -o "${NAME}" "${DIR}"

or

#!/bin/sh
DIR=$1
NAME=$(basename "${DIR}")
mkisofs -f -dvd-video -udf -V "${NAME}" -o "${NAME}".iso "${DIR}"

Both just dump the iso wherever you execute the script.
I'm not sure if name cleanup is necessary, some players might not like lower case and spaces. Then again, that might not matter at all. DVD player is fine with both anyway.

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i am jack's amusing sig file

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bah

the usage for both would be: script.sh "path"

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i am jack's amusing sig file

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also, mkisofs seems to be about twice as fast (based on one test for a 1GB image (1 vs 2 minutes)) and creates slightly smaller ISOs (~200k)

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i am jack's amusing sig file

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Hmm, My version of hdiutil doesn't accept the -udf parameter.
Is this hint only for 10.4?

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This recommendation may not truly be in the spirit of the original hint but...why bother with command-line or "ISO" nonsense?

For the cost of three XL cups of Starbucks coffee, you can buy Burnz (found at http://www.thinkertons.com/ ).

It will burn a UDF disc (or anything from ISO9660 to HFS+) and do it quickly without having to mess with anything geeky. It lets you assign a picture for the disc icon (and uses Google to facilitate the search for the picture).

It's everything a Mac app should be: Fast, small footprint, reliable, Universal Binary, and is from a developer who answers his eMail!

No, I don't have any financial arrangement with thinkertons; I'm just a very satisfied customer.

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Two things in this world aren't overrated: Macintosh and Lemon Meringue Pie.

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If you wanted to make a DVD image before burning it then surely you could just open Disk Utility.app and then:

File -> New -> Disk Image From Folder

Choose the folder that contains the VIDEO_TS folder (making sure that there's nothing else in there), and then when prompted to choose the image format, choose DVD/CD master.

I haven't had a problem with that method

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This is the easiest method and the cheapest and it works. Forget about all the terminal scripting or buying expensive programs.

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The reason a DVD player is unable to recognise the disk is that it requires the files in the VIDEO_TS to be physically in the correct order, in particular the VIDEO_TS.IFO file should come first. When you insert a disk into a DVD player it scans the first few sectors looking for this file which contains a list of sector offsets to find the title sets on the DVD. If the DVD player can’t find the IFO file or finds another file first it generally gives up.

Unfortunately, alphabetically the file “VIDEO_TS.BUP” comes first and the mac writes this file first when burning a plain data disk. A computer DVD player, on the other hand, understands the file system on the disk and can therefore find any file it wants with out having to know the offset values. That’s why the mac can play the disk OK, but not a DVD player.

It is also important that the VOB files are in the correct order as a DVD player just plays the data it finds, ignoring file boundaries, until it reaches the end. In fact a DVD player doesn’t even understand files and only uses sector offsets to find data.

HERE’S AN EXAMPLE OF A CORRECT VIDEO_TS FOLDER:

VIDEO_TS.IFO
VIDEO_TS.VOB
VIDEO_TS.BUP
VTS_01_0.IFO
VTS_01_0.VOB
VTS_01_1.VOB
VTS_01_2.VOB
VTS_01_0.BUP
VTS_02_0.IFO
VTS_02_0.VOB
VTS_02_1.VOB
VTS_02_0.BUP

So the problem is to structure the files in the required order on the written disk, and not just alphabetically. I’ve experimented with various disc images & software tools (e.g Burn), with no success. How do you burn a disk with files in a certain order?

Any suggestions?

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> Just type in this command and change the paths to suit:
> hdiutil makehybrid -udf -udf-volume-name DVD_NAME \
> -o MY_DVD.iso /path/to/VIDEO_TS/parent/folder

That's incomplete. The command has to be:
(Suffix *.iso is appended automagically and may be omitted)

hdiutil makehybrid -iso -joliet -udf -udf-version 1.02 \
-default-volume-name "DVD_VIDEO" \
-o "/path/to/my/outputfile.iso" "/path/to/disks/content_folder";


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Hey,

I tried this but I didn't get any joy... it's above my head... Unfortunately now my Macbook Pro is not burning even regular DVDs from regular drag and drop method of ordinary QT files.

Please tell me what to post into Terminal to return this to it's normal function.

Thanks!

Rowan

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For me, DVD Imager (http://lonestar.utsa.edu/llee/applescript/dvdimager.html) worked perfectly for many different DVDs until I upgraded to Snow Leopard. Since DVD Imager crashes in SL, I switched to Burn (http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net), but I found that it only worked for *some* DVDs, not all. For some it would complain that "some incompatible files were found...would you like to convert those files to DVD mpg?"

So I gave up on burning DVDs reliably in Mac (for free, anyway, which was my goal) and just burned DVDs using Windows, which I have running in a virtual machine on my Mac. A program called ImgBurn works great. Using VMWare Fusion, I can actually burn DVDs successfully even when the files are located in a Mac folder. The only trick was connecting the drive to the virtual machine (easy), and then enabling DMA on the drive, which is described here - http://communities.vmware.com/message/947050.

If you don't have VMWare Fusion or access to a PC, I bet you could use the free virtualizer called VirtualBox. You would need to somehow get your hands on a copy of Windows that had been activated no less than 6 months ago so you could activate it again. Then, connect your DVD drive to it, follow the same steps to enable DMA on the drive, and it would probably work. You would also need to enable folder sharing. So it's probably not worth the trouble unless you plan on also doing other things in Windows, but it's pretty cool to have.

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Here's DVD Imager for Snow Leopard:

http://lonestar.utsa.edu/llee/applescript/DVD_Imager_Snow_Leopard.dmg

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If you like, there is an application which uses this command (hdiutil) to create an ISO image from a VIDEO_TS folder. It is very user-friendly and allows you to monitor the progress of the ISO creation. It is available free on Sourceforge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/aquaiso/

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