pBurn ...CD/DVD/Blu-ray burner | Version 4.x.x pBurn GPL, Copyright 2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013 Sigmund Berglund

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> #### INDEX

> ### {1} Working in pBurn
> {2} In depth
> {3} Settings
> {4} Potential pitfalls

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> #### {1} WORKING IN PBURN

> Add files and directories to the burn-list, either with the browser or search-tool. You can also open a previously saved burn-list or import any textfile including filenames. This includes common music playlists.
> The burn-list items may be edited. You can remove items, rename items or put them into a new directory. These items are links to the actual files on your system, and will still point to their source, whatever you edit.
> pBurn handles content of the burn-list in several ways.
> - Burn a data-disc of burn-list content. This disc will be compatible with PCs, mp3-players, Divx-players...
> - Burn an audio CD of files in the burn-list, that can be played in ordinary CD-players.
> - Burn a video DVD/CD of files in the burn-list, that can be played in ordinary DVD-players.
> - Burn an iso-image of one *.iso file in the burn-list. An iso-image is a prebuilt filesystem for optical discs.
> In addition to writing items in the burn-list to disc, there are also burning tools to copy or blank a disc. You do not need 2 drives to copy a disc. If you have only 1, pBurn will first make an iso-image of the source disc, then burn this image.
> You do not have to burn anything right now. There are 2 ways to save burning content without completing the final burning process.
> 1. You can save the burn-list to a *.pbn file. This is a small file including only information about what will be on the disc. It cannot be used by any programs other than pBurn.
> 2. You can save a complete iso9660 filesystem. This contains the actual files that will be on the disc, and will often be huge. This *.iso file is compatible with most or all other burning software.
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> #### {2} IN DEPTH

> < Parameters >
> pBurn can be started with different parameters at startup. These can be added by starting pBurn from a terminal. Enter 'pburn' followed by your chosen parameter. 'pburn -h' shows all available parameters.
> < Formats >
> pBurn depends on 'ffmpeg' for decoding/encoding and supports various formats:
> Audio: *.ape, *.au, *.flac, *.gsm, *.mp3, *.ogg, *.ra, *shn, *.wav, *.wma ...
> Video: *.asf *.avi *.flv *.mov *.mpeg .mpg *.vob .wmv ...
> Image: *.bmp *.gif *.jpeg *.jpg *.png *.xpm ...
> See pburn -h for complete list
> < Video >
> If you have a complete video_ts directory for your video-DVD everything will be as the original. Else you can simply add your own video-files and images to the burnlist. pBurn records each file as a chapter. This means that you can 'skip' to the next/previous movie with your remote control. pBurn does not make any menus on the DVD. For that you need a proper DVD-authoring program.
> Please keep in mind that both audio and video are hungry for temporary space on your harddisk. A few minutes of compressed movie (avi, mov...) will be dozens of megabytes on your burnt disc. All this data must first be stored on your system.
> < Slideshow >
> This is a Video-DVD/CD with only images and an audio file for background music. Be aware that you can export the finished slideshow without doing the actual burning. Like this you can create several audiotracks with pictures, and burn it all as a standard Video-DVD/CD.
> < Import (play)list >
> This imports a textfile with a list of filenames.
> - it excludes all lines with '#'. This is usually metadata in playlists.
> - if filenames in the list have no path, pBurn uses the path of the list.
> - pBurn can optionally number the songs to preserve the order of the playlist.
> < Verify >
> pBurn can verify in 2 different ways:
> 1. 'Verify filesystem' (in finish dialog). If burning with temporary storage (off-the-fly), burnt data is checked against data in the temporary storage.
> 2. If burning an iso image (only closed session), pBurn compares the md5sum of the iso image and the content of the disc. This option also shows up in the finish dialog.
> < Advanced >
> pBurn's goal is to be functional and newbie-friendly. It doesn't show all advanced options ... But they are still available. After adding files to the burn-list and pressing the burn button, the preferences dialog shows an 'Advanced' tab. Here you can edit the command before burning. pBurn is a gui for mkisofs, cdrecord, growisofs, cdda2wav... You'll find good documentation for all these on the web.
> < Tools >
> 1. 'Verify disc quality' scans a disc for C2 errors. The reader tries to interpolate these gaps in data, but if there are too many errors, it could give a reading failure. C2 errors can occur because the disc is physically out-of-balance (like a wheel which is out-of-round, or heavier on one side), in which case they may be avoided by reducing the burning speed.
> 2. 'Fixate CD/DVD'. It could happend that the burning process burns fine, but halts at the final fixating. The disc is like this not usable. Fixating disc builds data coordinates, so the disc will be readable.
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> #### {3} SETTINGS

> The preferences dialog can be opened from the file-menu. Here you can choose your preferred settings. Your changes will be saved for later use when you press the OK button. If settings are hard to understand, help is very close. Every tab of the preferences dialog has its own info-button.
> pBurn will also open the preferences dialog when you press the burn-button in the main window. You can now override the settings before burning.
> {3.1} GENERAL
> < Search / MIME >
> pBurn uses 'Pfilesearch' as its file-search-engine. Search settings are global, and will affect other programs that use Pfilesearch. The exception is the searchpaths, - they will only work for pBurn. If running a frugal installation it is not a good idea to search all files in root directory (/). This will slow down search dramatically.
> < Language Support >
> When set to 'auto', pBurn uses the environment variable LANG to detect the active language. If no language files exist for your language, english will be used.
> {3.2} BURN
> < Multisession >
> By default, pBurn allows you to burn to the same disc more than once. It doesn't matter if it is a writable disc (CD-R/DVD+-R/BD-R) or rewritable (CD-RW/DVD+-RW/BD-RE). You can close (finalize) the disc at any time.
> Note that for DVD/BD, the md5sum of an iso-image will be changed during a multisession burn. The only way to verify a multisession burn is to use a CD-R(W).
> < On-the-fly >
> Burning on-the-fly (without temporary storage) is the default choice because of speed and no harddisk usage. Using a temporary storage is faster if you are burning several copies of the same data. If you don't have much free RAM, you may have trouble burning on-the-fly. Try using a low burning speed to help an overloaded system.
> If you burn an Audio CD from *.mp3, *.ogg... etc. files, they still need to be converted to *.wav files in temporary storage before burning, but you can burn an Audio CD directly from standard *.wav files on-the-fly. Similarly, if you burn a video DVD, the videos will first need to be converted to the right format in temporary storage.
> < Overburn >
> The 'Overburn' option allows pBurn to write more than the official size of a medium. This feature depends on the fact that most blank media may hold more space than the official/detected size. All media may be overburned by at least 13Mb (88 sec).
> Overburn is not compatible with multisession burning, and requires the user to close the disc. Not all devices allow overburning.
> {3.3} FILESYSTEM
> < Filesystem >
> The files must be burnt in a way that is readable in your target system. The default setting works for most PC systems, but not for Windows 95 and 98.
> For standalone players supporting mp3/divx/... you will most likely succeed with the 'Others' option.
> The option 'Old standard' is NOT recommended as it will crop filenames to fit into the limited standard. This is only meant for very old systems and in case other options fail.
> Note! Whatever filesystem you choose, It should work just fine in Linux.
> {3.4} DEVICE
> < Devices >
> By default, pBurn uses /dev/cdrom for burning. This may not work if there is more than 1 drive on the system. Choose your burner from the list.
> < Speed >
> The maximum write speed of your drive may not be the best choice for your system. When you set the speed to 'auto' pBurn tries to decide the best speed for your burner/disc/system.
> {3.5} AUDIO
> Be aware that burning an Audio-CD to a CD-RW disc, will close the disc. You will not be able to use the CD-RW disc for burning anymore.
> < Disc-at-once >
> Normally pBurn uses 'Track-at-once' (TAO) mode. This burns track by track, and therefore uses less of the computer's memory. Between each track TAO puts a 2 second gap. This is normally OK, but not if one track fades into the next one. Then the gap sounds more like a bug on the disc. To prevent these gaps, use disc-at-once (DAO) instead. Be aware that DAO needs a lot more memory than TAO.
> Because of bad firmware, some burners do not accept TAO or DAO mode and must be used in raw-mode. This will not give gaps between songs.
> < Normalize >
> If songs come from different sources, they often have different volume levels. pBurn can alter the volume level of each song so that the average level is the same for all songs.
> Note! The normalize value is not calculated in the 'Advanced' tab. This won't happen until you actually press the burn button.
> {3.6} CD-TEXT
> < CD-text >
> CD-text is additional information on an audio-CD. This info normally contains the names of the artist/song/album, and is displayed on the CD-player if it supports it. Many players don't, and not all burners support writing CD-text to the disc.
> Avoid special characters in CD-text, as it may give unexpected results. Also, CD-text can't be written in 'track-at-once' (tao) mode, so pBurn will automatically set the burning mode to 'disc-at-once' if CD-text is chosen.
> < CDDB >
> When copying an audio-CD, pBurn can search on the internet for CD-text infomation. You can change the text before burning.
> {3.7} VIDEO
> < TV standard >
> The 2 most common TV standards are PAL and NTSC. You have to choose the right one, or you may not be able to play the disc. Check in the list for your country's standard. If SECAM is the TV standard of your country, you should use PAL.
> < Aspect ratio >
> This setting is not that important. It will play whatever you choose, but if the DVD is meant to be played on a widescreen TV, the movie will show better if it matches.
> {3.8} SLIDESHOW
> < Slideshow >
> Burning slideshow ONLY supports images and audio. NO movies will be burnt. Tune length of image delay until it is equal to audio. Audio will be cut when image slideshow is finished. Background music supports mainly the same formats as Audio CD.
> < Only build Slideshow >
> This option is great if making more complex slideshows. You can now make several slideshows, and then burn files as an ordinary Video-DVD. Or even better - you can make several Audio tracks with background image(s).
> {3.9} COPY VIDEO-DVD
> This operation requires up to 10Gb free space in the temporary storage. It will create temporary files that are greater than 4Gb, and will NOT succeed on a Windows FAT partitions.
> < Title: > The main files on the DVD are named with 'TITLE'. One title is the actual movie. pBurn looks for the title with most chapters to define which title is the movie. If this is not the correct answer, you have to override the default setting.
> < Subtitle: > If shrinking is necessary to fit on a single layered DVD, the burnt disc will contain only one set of subtitles. You should define which channel that contains subtitles for your langauge. Switch channels in a mediaplayer to detect the right one.
> < Audiostream: > Shrinking will keep only 1 set of audio for the movie. Most DVDs has only one audiostream (let the value be 1), but for dubbed movies, there might be more.
> {3.10} PUBLISH
> < Publish >
> The publish information will be added to any DATA project. It will not be added when copying a disc or burning an ISO-image. The most used publish info is the 'Project label'. This is often used by filemanagers to identify the disc. Audio CD and Video DVD projects do not support publish information.
> Publish info can only be added to a blank disc, or when overwriting existing data on a DVD or Blu-Ray.
> {3.11} ADVANCED
> < Manipulate burn command >
> Check 'Allow manual edit' to manipulate the burn-command and its pre-operations. When you press the 'Burn' button, pBurn will execute the commands as shown. When 'Allow manual edit' is unchecked, pBurn executes the selected settings.
> Geek info:
> For multisession burning, pBurn stores the initialized isolevel in the preparer-tag, ie. '-p pBurn4_3'. This means pBurn version 4, initialized with isolevel 3 and its attached attributes. If you remove the -p tag, pBurn will not recognize the settings for next session, and multisession burning will likely fail.
> < CPU priority >
> You can give pBurn more or less of your system resources. Be aware that this will affect all other running processes. Press refresh button to see changes. Note! A low CPU-priority could cause more buffer under-runs, and the disc may be useless.
> ______________________________________________________________________________________________

> #### {4} POTENTIAL PITFALLS

> - Do keep in mind that 4.7GB are salesman's GB, i.e. 1000 and not 1024. If translated to "real" GB, single layer DVD+-R[W] capacity is no larger than 4.4GiB, and Blu-ray no larger than 23.3GiB!
> - If you have problems burning with filenames containing local characters (æøå), please start pBurn with the -f parameter. Open a terminal and execute command 'pburn -f'.
> - It is not recommended to run other heavy applications (or powersaving/screensavers) while burning, as this can cause buffer under-runs if your PC was not able to allocate enough time to processing the burn. You will then have a useless disc. Choosing a burn speed that is too high, or CPU-priority that is too low, could also cause buffer under-runs.
> - Not all older drives can "see" beyond the first session. Few DVD-ROM units are capable of DVD-R multiborder playback and even fewer support DVD+R multisession. In other words your burner might be the only unit in your vicinity that can access data in the different sessions.
> - RW media can sustain only around 1000 overwrites.
> - RW media is not playable in all players.
> - Audio CDs do not have a file system, so they cannot be mounted; only played.
> - If your system has an automounter, the automounter will detect a formatted disc and mount it. You cannot write to a mounted disc, so you will need to unmount it.
> - If temporary storage is set on a Windows FAT partition, symlinks will not be stored because the Linux VFAT driver doesn't handle symlinks. FAT partitions also don't allow files larger than 4Gb.