SmallDVD SmallNews SmallShrink
Monday, July 25, 2011
I am pleased to say that both SmallDVD and SmallShrink appear to be working perfectly OK with Mac OS X 10.7 / Lion. If you spot any problems with them on Lion, please do let me know.
Unfortunately, SmallNews has a problem, and doesn’t even start up. I will have a look at this and issue a new release when it’s fixed
SmallDVD SmallNews SmallShrink
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
At the start of 2010, I wrote about my plans for SmallDVD for the year. This is a quick review of those plans, plus thoughts for 2011.
The plan was to make a few improvements to SmallDVD 2, and start work on SmallDVD 3 which would replace the current AppleScript application with Objective C. The first of these was done, with 2.3 and 2.4 being released, but I’ve made absolutely no progress on SmallDVD 3.
SmallShrink had two releases, 0.3 and 0.4, which has taken it to a state where it works on most DVDs, but would still benefit from further improvement, particularly in the user interface.
SmallNews has had the most active development on it, with five releases, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.4, adding significant features such as ePub and Kindle support. I also have a 2.5 release almost ready which adds the option for storing articles in a CouchDB database.
So, plans for 2011. I would still very much like to get SmallDVD converted to Objective C, but it’s quite a big task, and the current version does do almost everything I want of it at the moment. I’ve actually been using SmallDVD a lot less recently, as I have been using disk/network video players (firstly a Networked Media Tank then a new Apple TV) in place of DVDs. So I don’t have a huge amount of motivation to rewrite SmallDVD at the moment.
SmallShrink I was using extensively with my Networked Media Tank, to rip an ISO image of a DVD. But for the Apple TV, I use Handbrake instead. So I’m using this a lot less frequently now as well.
SmallNews is the one I use every day, but again, it does almost everything I want it to do already.
I have considered working on getting some of these apps into the new Mac App Store. But I recently read about VLC being removed from the store because Apple’s distribution mechanism contravenes the GNU Public License (GPL). As SmallDVD and SmallShrink use a lot of GPL-licenced components, it would appear to rule out ever putting them in the App Store. SmallNews may be possible, but I’d have to check the licenses of the (fewer) open source components it uses.
So, right now, I’m not sure exactly where I’m going to spend time in 2011. If you have suggestions or requests, please do feel free to submit them through the feedback button.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
SmallDVD received a mention on The Unofficial Apple Weblog, in a list of alternatives to iDVD. The latest release of iLife doesn’t enhance iDVD or iWeb at all, so the TUAW article looks at the alternatives. I believe that SmallDVD is the only free alternative to iDVD listed.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
For the German speakers amongst you, a screencast about SmallDVD.
Friday, February 05, 2010
SmallDVD 2.4 is available for download. This version adds more control over the colours of the DVD menu.
You can now:
I’ve also improved (I hope) the logic about which menu settings get saved in the template.
There is known problem when selected dark coloured labels on a dark image background. The button borders show up, but the text doesn’t. I think this is a bug/oddity in iMagine Photo which is used to create the menus. If you use a solid background, or lighter colours, it’s OK.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
SmallDVD 2.3 is available for download. This release adds the ability to create DVDs without menus and optionally play the videos in a loop. There is also an updated version of ffmpeg, and a change to the way MPEG2 files are handled.
A new DVD settings tab has been added, which allows you to specify whether the DVD should be created with a menu or not (by default, a menu is created). If you put several videos on a menuless DVD, they will play in sequence. If the DVD has no menu, you can specify whether the videos should play in a continuous loop. Also, the aspect, format and chapter settings have been moved from the DVD menu tab to the DVD settings tab.
This release also makes two changes to the way ffmpeg is used. The short reason for this is to improve the compatibility with MPEG2 input videos.
If you're interested in the long explanation, first, a word of explanation. ffmpeg is the fabulous video conversion command line utility which SmallDVD uses for converting and remultiplexing video files ready for placed on a DVD. It is constantly evolving, supporting more file formats. As ffmpeg doesn't have formal releases, it is typically built from source code using all the latest enhancements submitted. But it appears that "latest" is not always "greatest".
All versions of SmallDVD up to and including 2.0 used a version of ffmpeg I compiled back in March 2007. For SmallDVD 2.1 (and subsequently 2.2), I compiled a new version to enable a wider variety of files to be accepted by SmallDVD. However, this later version had two problems:
The first of these problems was an ffmpeg bug, which was fixed by building a newer version. However, this still showed the second problem. Therefore, while I have included a new version of ffmpeg (r21020) in SmallDVD 2.3, I have also reinstated the original version I was using (r8320) up until SmallDVD 2.0.
So, in SmallDVD 2.3, MPEG2 input video which does not require conversion will use the old ffmpeg. All other video which does require conversion will use the new ffmpeg (this includes MPEG2 files you have explicitly set to be converted).
The end result, hopefully, will be better compatibility with as many types of files as possible. Ideally, I would like to use just one ffmpeg, but until I can get the new version working as reliably on MPEG2 files as the old version did, I will retain both.
Monday, January 04, 2010
A number of people (myself included) have run into a problem where SmallDVD 2.1 and 2.2 can no longer recognise video files saved from MPEGStreamClip. This appears to be caused by the new version of ffmpeg added to SmallDVD 2.1 not recognising files in this format. My initial research hasn't found anything obviously wrong, so it may be an ffmpeg bug.
In the short term, the workaround is to save from MPEGStreamClip using "Convert to TS with MP2 audio". But I will look into why it's not working with the standard format saved by MPEGStreamClip.
Alternatively, you could revert to SmallDVD 2.0.
I use the combination of MPEGStreamClip + SmallDVD a lot, so am highly motivated to fix this!
Friday, January 01, 2010
When I first created SmallDVD, it had a very specific purpose - putting MPEG2 files onto a DVD with a very simple menu. This is why it remained unchanged for 2 years prior to v1.0 being released. Then v2.0 added a commonly requested feature - the ability to convert video from non-MPEG2 formats; I wrote about this here.
Since then, I've had a lot of requests for greater control over the DVD menus and burning the image to DVD. I was initially resistant to these as I felt that this was really iDVD's domain - if you want quick and easy DVD authoring, use SmallDVD; if you want fancy menus, use iDVD. But I have now been convinced by a couple of people that the simplicity of SmallDVD can be retained while adding more flexibility to the menus, and that it would continue to serve a purpose that iDVD does not.
So I am planning a number of 2.x releases to incrementally enhance the menu functionality.
Additionally, the documentation is getting a long way out of date, and needs a significant update.
However, the current AppleScript code for SmallDVD is becoming increasingly hard to maintain. What started as 100 fairly elegant lines of AppleScript has now becoming a rather more unwieldy 1300+ lines that has been added to regularly over the last 4 years. At the start, AppleScript seemed like a nice, easy way of creating a simple user interface to the command line tools that do all the hard work in SmallDVD. But it's not a great way of building larger applications. Also, from Mac OS X 10.6, Apple seem to have deprecated the AppleScript Studio part of the development tools, encouraging greater use of Objective C. This is a pity in many ways, and not a very developer-friendly thing to do. However, there's no doubt that SmallDVD's code needs an overhaul, so it makes sense to convert it to Objective C.
So, in parallel with the 2.x releases, I am going to start work on SmallDVD 3.0, which will be a complete rewrite in Objective C. The initial releases will almost certainly have less functionality than the latest 2.x version, but over time it should catch up and overtake. It should also provide a more sustainable basis for future enhancement.
The priority with SmallDVD 3.0 will continue to be keeping it as simple as possible. If a feature would require too much complexity in the user interface, it probably won't get in.
As always, all suggestions very gratefully received. The forums on Get Satisfaction are the best way to submit feedback, but you can also e-mail me directly.
Friday, January 01, 2010
SmallDVD 2.2 is available for download. This release makes a number of improvements to the DVD menu creation, based on requests I've received. These are:
Friday, November 27, 2009
SmallDVD 2.1 is available for download.
While the functional differences from 2.0 are fairly small, it is a significant release in that it is now Intel-only, and requires Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or 10.6 (Snow Leopard).
The reason for this is that it includes a new, right-up-to-date version of the ffmpeg utility used for converting and multiplexing the video. Previous versions of SmallDVD had been using a version of ffmpeg from March 2007. Since then, a lot of enhancements have been made, and a lot of new file formats added. So it was about time it got updated.
Other changes and enhancements in this version include:
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