Commandline Reference
Commandline Reference |
- -> (Ctrl+N)
Creates a new project. You have to choose the project type (Audio CD, Data DVD, ...).
- -> (Ctrl+O)
Opens an existing project which can be selected with KDE's Open File dialog.
- -> (Ctrl+R)
This is a shortcut to re-open recently opened projects. The sub-menu belonging to this item contains a list of these projects, clicking on a specific file will open it again.
- -> (Ctrl+S)
Saves the current project. If there has already been a save of the document then this will overwrite the previously saved file without asking for the user's consent. If it is the first save of a new document the Save As dialog will be invoked.
- ->
Saves the current project with a new file name. KDE's Save As dialog appears to specify name and directory of the new project file.
- -> (Ctrl+C)
Closes the current project. If a project has been modified but not yet saved then K3b will ask what to do. You can choose to save or discard the changes, and you also have the opportunity to cancel closing and keep the project open.
- -> (Ctrl+Q)
Quits K3b after closing all of its open projects. For every unsaved project K3b will ask what to do, just like it does when -> is selected.
- ->
When this item is selected, the appearing dialog lets you choose one or more files to be added to the project. This has the same effect as dragging files directly from the Contents View into the Project View. If the current project is a data disc project, the added files will appear in the disc's root directory.
- ->
Removes all files and directories from the current project. The project itself remains open.
- -> (Ctrl+B)
Opens the Burn dialog which is in fact the same as the Properties dialog. The only difference is that there is an additional Burn button which causes K3b to burn a disc from project data. The Burn dialog won't open if the project does not contain any files.
- -> (Ctrl+P)
Opens the Properties dialog. Here you can specify a lot of options concerning the project. Every project type has got a different set of options, most of them can be explained by using What's This (accessible by right-mouse-clicking).
- ->
This Item only appears if a Data CD/DVD or Video DVD project is active. It causes K3b to import the file entries from the previous session to the current project. You can use this when compiling files for multi-session discs. Hence that data from the previous session is always included, even if you don't choose to make use of this command. It just helps to know what's on the disc already.
- ->
This Item only appears if a Data CD/DVD or Video DVD project is active. It causes K3b to remove the file entries from the current project that were imported by -> while keeping all of the other data in the project. Hence that making use of this command doesn't actually remove anything from the disc that will be burned, it just hides these files again.
- ->
This Item only appears if a Data CD/DVD or Video DVD project is active. Here you can specify boot images in order to create bootable CDs or DVDs. A boot image can be a direct copy of a floppy or hard disk (for example, created by the dd shell command) as well as another disc's boot image. In any case it's a single file containing a complete, bootable system that is burned as a normal file. In order to let the computer know that the disc contains a boot image, the burning application creates a boot catalog file whose name can be determined in the dialog window.
- ->
Allows you to rename audio files in a data project using their meta information. The new file names are defined by patterns containing information like title or artist name.
- ->
Contains a number of tools to handle CDs:
- ->->
Opens the CD Copy dialog. Without the need of a project file, it provides the ability to copy a CD's content to another disc. Alternatively, you can choose only to create an image of the source CD which can be burned anytime. There is also an option to clone the CD instead of normal copying, which should be preferred when copying CDs with defective sectors or Video CDs.
- ->->
Opens the Erase CD-RW dialog. With its help you can clear the contents of a CD-RW, or part of it.
- ->->
Burns a previously created CD image. The Burn CD Image dialog asks to select an
*.iso,*.cueor*.tocfile as data source that you can instantly burn by pressing the Start button. (Nero*.nrgfiles are currently not supported, so you have to make use of other tools like Nrg2Iso.)
- ->
Contains a number of tools to handle DVDs:
- ->->
Opens the DVD Copy dialog. Without the need of a project file, it provides the ability to copy a DVD's content to another disc. Alternatively, you can choose only to create an image of the source DVD which can be burned anytime. Currently, video transcoding within the DVD Copy dialog is not yet supported, so the destination disc has to be large enough to contain all of the source disc's (video) data in its original form.
- ->->
Opens the DVD Formatting dialog. With its help you can format a DVD-R(W) or DVD+R(W), which causes the disc's contents to be deleted. K3b gives the choice between 2 writing modes.
- ->->
Burns a previously created DVD image. The Burn Iso9660 Image dialog asks to select an
*.isofile as data source that you can instantly burn by pressing the Start button.
- ->
A DVD video that has been ripped before can be encoded with a little help from the Encoding Video dialog. This dialog box normally opens after ripping the DVD from within the Content View, but can also be used standalone. It contains information about the ripped DVD video, encoding options and even video resizing and cropping abilities.
- ->
Pops up a list of K3b's toolbars. If a toolbar entry is checked, it means that the toolbar is currently visible.
- ->
This enables you to show or hide the small bar at the bottom of the main window containing various information about K3b's status and activities.
- ->
Toggles the visibility of the Project View. This contains information about the structure of the disc that you are preparing to burn. Each project type has got a slightly different view, but they all feature drag and drop functionality and a bar at the bottom that shows how much space on the CD/DVD is already occupied and how much will be left.
- ->
Toggles the visibility of the Directory View. This enables you to select directories and disc drives. When selected, their contents will appear in the Contents view. Disc drives have also got a context menu providing functions like Disk Info, (un)mounting the drive or ejecting the medium.
- ->
Toggles the visibility of the Contents View. This enables you to select files that can be dragged into the Project View in order to add them to the project. The Contents View also acts as an interface to rip audio CDs and video discs when a disc drive containing an appropriate CD/DVD is selected in the Directory View.
- ->
Toggles the visibility of the document header belonging to the Project View. This is a small bar that is only visible if the Project View contains any open projects. The document header has no functionality, yet it's nice eye candy and improves clarity by separating the Project View from the other views.
- ->
This command opens a dialog box where the key bindings for K3b's menu commands may be changed. After selecting one of the available commands from the upper part of the dialog, the shortcut for this action can be changed in the lower part.
- ->
This command opens a dialog box where the toolbars can be customized. The drop down box on top of the dialog determines which toolbar can be edited at the moment. The Available Actions list on the left contains all commands that can be added to the toolbar, the Current Actions list on the right shows the ones that are already there. Items can be added by selecting the appropriate command out of the Available Actions list and pressing the right button to move it to the Current Actions list. Removing an item works the other way round. The up and down buttons change the commands's position within the toolbar.
- ->
Opens the Options dialog where general program settings can be configured. Although most of K3b's functionality should work out of the box, this dialog allows to customize and fine-tune the program.
- ->
This opens K3bSetup which helps setting the right permissions needed by K3b in order to burn CDs and DVDs. Linux' user rights management permits program execution and access to disc drives if no permissions have been granted by the administrator. K3bSetup cannot set permissions without administrator privileges, so you have to enter the root password when starting up.
- -> (F1)
Invokes the KDE Help system starting at the K3b help pages. (this document).
- -> (Shift+F1)
Changes the mouse cursor to a combination arrow and question mark. Clicking on items within K3b will open a help window (if one exists for the particular item) explaining the item's function.
- ->
Opens the Bug report dialog where you can report a bug or request a ?wishlist? feature.
Table of Contents K3b features, like many other KDE applications as well, a DCOP interface which makes it possible to control a part of it's functionality from e.g. a shellscript.
DivX4/5, libdvdread (tested with version 0.9.2, www.dtek.chalmers.se/groups/dvd/).First step is to choose the title/movie you want to rip. For this click on the drive icon of your DVD-Drive. You will now see a list that shows the content of the DVD with all movie sequence. The longest movie sequence (usually the main movie) is automatically selected. Right click on the title and choose copy.
In the following dialog enter the destination directory in the first line. The second and third will be filled out automatically. Don't change these paths.
Now press start and wait until the ripping has been finished. You should now have a directory which contains a project file (k3bDVDRip.xml), a vob directory with the vob file (like vts_0x_y.vob) and tmp directory with the IFO files (video_ts.ifo and one like vts_0x_0.ifo)
Open the encoding dialog in the menu Tools->Encode video. Now load the project file from the DVD-Rip (k3bDVDRip.xml in your movie directory) and set a file name for your final avi (movie.avi). You can now set the parameters for the encoding. For a first test choose the amount of CDs your final avi should be and the language you want it to have. The other settings can be left default.
(More information on each parameter and their choices is available as help, via right clicking the corresponding GUI element). Change to the Advanced Audio/Video Settings tab panel to set the final size of your movie. Here you can cut off black borders and resize your movie to get a proper quality (We experienced good results with a width of 640).
Initializing of the preview could fail. So first click on the slider below the preview to get a new picture. To the right of the preview choose the "FAST" resizing method. This scaling can only handle pixel sizes which are a multipile of 8, but is a lot faster than pixel "EXACT" resizing. You may also enable auto-crop. (Auto-crop should work most times. If not first try another sample image.)
When changing the final size of your movie the "VIDEO QUALITY" should be greater than 0.15 (at least for a single CD rip). Once again, see the "What's This" help for detailed information. Now start encoding.
Encoding first scans the whole movie for the min/max level of the audio track. The result is a gain level to boost/normalize the audio track. (This is normally done by the AC3 decoder of your amplifier. This can't be done with the final AVI because it contains a MP3 track.) After that the video and audio track will be encoded and after a few hours you are able to watch your encoded video with every DivX capable player (i.e mplayer, xine, aviplay and of course each player based on M$ Systems).
In general first see the debug output for further information. If this doesn't help you find help on the k3b-users mailing list (http://k3b.sourceforge.net/index.php?page=mailinglists.html). If you are using DivX make sure you choose the codec version installed on your system. You cannot install both versions on your linux box because both binaries are using the same name. If you've trouble with the different installations search all libdivxencore.so and libdivxdecore.so files and delete them. Install the version you want and start encoding again. If aspect ratio detection fails (your final movie is to high) set the height by hand after resizing and verify the aspect ratio in the info box "FINAL VIDEO".
This Quickguide shows you how to create a AudioCD with K3b. To reproduce these steps you need a working K3b and a directory in which you have audiofiles.
Now you click on "New Audio CD Project"
The files you see on the top-part of K3b can be dropped with the mouse to the bottom-widget. Another way is to right-click on a file an select Add to Project. In order to rearrange the order of the audio-tracks you can simply move the tracks with the left mouse-button. The properties of the tracks can be changed by clicking with the mouse button and choosing Properties. As soon as you like the arrangement of the tracks click on Burn... in the right-bottom corner.
Note
When you burn AudioCD from MP3s or other lossy compressed music, remember that if you encode this CD back to MP3, you'll get poorer quality regardless the bitrate you use. To check whether AudioCD was burnt from lossy format, try auCDtect.
In this dialog you can control the settings of the burning itself. The default-settings of K3b are probably correct for you. In the top-right corner you can control the speed. One last step before the actual burning you can give the CD a title by choosing and selecting Write CD-Text. The two which are probably most important for you are Title and Performer. As soon as you are content with the settings click on .
This Quickguide shows you how to create a Data-CD with K3b. To reproduce these steps you need a working K3b and the CD you wish to copy inserted in your CD-ROM.
After you have set up K3b click on . You will get a dialog similar to this:
In this dialog you can watch to progress of the copying. As soon as the writing of the image-file is done you will be asked for a emtpy CD on which the data will be burned.
e.g. a shellscript.To use these DCOP functions you can either use the dcop commandline program or the more convenient Kdcop application. Both provide the same functionality so it's mostly a matter of taste and context of usage when deciding which way to choose.
This chapter assumes that you're using the dcop commandline program. To access K3b's DCOP functions, make sure that K3b is started and then enter something like this at a console:
#dcopk3bK3bInterface[function]Besides the generic DCOP functions available to all KDE applications, K3b's DCOP interface mainly consists of two parts as described below.
The default K3b DCOP interface provides functionality like copyCD, formatDVD, and methods for creating new projects.
DCOPRef createDataCDProject() DCOPRef createAudioCDProject() DCOPRef createMixedCDProject() DCOPRef createVideoCDProject() DCOPRef createMovixCDProject() DCOPRef createDataDVDProject() DCOPRef createVideoDVDProject() DCOPRef createMovixDVDProject() DCOPRef openProject(KURL url) QValueList<DCOPRef> projects() DCOPRef currentProject() void copyCd() void copyDvd() void eraseCdrw() void formatDvd() void burnCdImage(KURL url) void burnDvdImage(KURL url)As result from one of the createXXXProject methods one gets a DCOP reference to the newly created project:
DCOPRef(k3b,K3bProject-0)Alternatively you may create a project using the command line:and then retrieve a reference to this project with#k3b--audiocdUsing this reference it is possible to manipulate the project using the K3bProjectInterface.#dcopk3bK3bInterfacecurrentProjectvoid addUrls(KURL::List urls) void addUrl(KURL url) void burn()K3b offers the K3bProjectInterface as listed above or the more powerful K3bDataProjectInterface which only applies to data projects (CD and DVD):
void createFolder(QString name) void createFolder(QString name,QString parent) void addUrl(KURL url,QString parent) void addUrls(KURL::List urls,QString parent) void removeItem(QString path) void renameItem(QString path,QString newName) void setVolumeID(QString id)Using this it is possible to fill a data project with files and folders from a script. The following script for example creates a new data project, adds several folders to the project, and adds files to the newly created folders:
#!/bin/bash PROJECT=$(dcop k3b K3bInterface createDataCDProject) dcop $PROJECT createFolder test dcop $PROJECT createFolder foo dcop $PROJECT createFolder bar /foo dcop $PROJECT addUrl /home/trueg/somefile.txt /foo/barK3b is part of the KDE project http://www.kde.org/.
K3b can be found in the kdeextragear-1 package on ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/, the main FTP site of the KDE project.
In order to successfully use K3b, you need KDE >= 3.1 and Qt? >= 3.1
cdrdao - cdrdao records audio or data CD-Rs in disk-at-once (DAO) mode based on a textual description of the CD contents (toc-file).
cdrecord/mkisofs - cdrecord creates home-burned CDs with a CD-R/CD-RW recorder.
DVD+RW-Tools - The DVD+RW-Tools are used to burn and format DVD+R(W) and DVD-R(W) media.
Optionally K3b can make use of all these libraries:
MAD MPEG Audio Decoder Library - MAD is a high-quality MPEG audio decoder. It currently supports MPEG-1 and the MPEG-2 extension to lower sampling frequencies, as well as the de facto MPEG 2.5 format. All three audio layers Layer I, Layer II, and Layer III (i.e. MP3) are fully implemented. Used by the Mp3 decoding plugin.
cdparanoia devel - Cdparanoia is a Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA) extraction tool, commonly known on the net as a 'ripper'.
transcode - transcode is a linux text-console utility for video stream processing. Ogg Vorbis library - Ogg Vorbis is a completely open, patent-free, professional audio encoding and streaming technology with all the benefits of Open Source. Used by the Ogg Vorbis decoding and encoding plugins.
VCDImager - A full-featured mastering suite for authoring, disassembling and analyzing Video CD's and Super Video CD's.
Normalize - normalize is a tool for adjusting the volume of audio files to a standard level. This is useful for things like creating mixed CD's and mp3 collections, where different recording levels on different albums can cause the volume to vary greatly from song to song.
eMovix - eMoviX is a tiny Linux CD distribution containing all the software to boot from a CD and play automatically every video file localized in the CD root.
You can find a list of changes at http://apps.kde.org/kapp.
In order to compile and install K3b on your system, type the following in the base directory of the K3b distribution:
%./configure%make%make installSince K3b uses autoconf and automake you should have no trouble compiling it. Should you run into problems please report them to the KDE mailing lists.
The 
