Polidori

Polidori is an outstanding DVD Authoring System that is compatible with Gnome and Linux. Instead of reinventing the wheel, it integrates several useful tools like dvdrtools, dvdauthor, ogle, and others that are already available for Linux and come pre-bundled with most distributions.

Linux users may be aware that there is an absence of visual DVD authoring tools on this platform, unlike what is available on Macintosh and Windows platforms. However, Polidori addresses this issue by bringing together various command-line tools into a project-based workflow.

Here are some of the key features of Polidori:

- Gnome-compliant GUI for creating projects
- Visual development of navigation menus, backgrounds, sub-titles, and more
- Integration with Kino for video editing and SMIL data for chapter/scene data
- Intuitive integration with Ogle for previewing ISO images before burning them to media
- Importing of images for backgrounds
- Enhanced support for layered images created with the Gimp
- Creation of DVD ISO disk images
- Ability to write disk images to media (DVD-R, DLT, etc)

Notably, the software's nomenclature is derived from Dr. John Polidori, an author of early 19th Century Gothic fiction. Scholars widely recognize Dr. Polidori as the pioneer of the 'vampire' fiction genre through his short story titled "The Vampyre," published in 1819. This story presents a vampire as an aristocratic and romantic character, a blueprint that inspired future literature, including famous vampire characters like Count Dracula and Lestat de Lioncourt. The team behind the software chose to honor Dr. Polidori with a name that sounded unique and attractive.

To install Polidori, you have to fulfill the following requirements: dvdauthor for VOB file encoding, mjpegtools for video and image conversion, dvdrtools for the production of DVD ISO images, and DVDrecord for the burning process.

Overall, Polidori is an excellent software that is worth considering for Linux users who want a GUI-driven DVD authoring experience. It is integrated with various tools that simplify project workflow, making it an ideal pick.