My Blu-Ray backup tool

[madhatter300871]

Hello

So, I have written a front end to some CLI tools that I use in order to backup my blu-ray collection and I have 2 questions :-

1. Is it worth me hosting it so that other can use it ?
2. Am I allowed to include the CLI tools that I use if I do host it ?

OK, so I know the answer to the second question. READ THE LICENCE ! So before that comes back as an answer I am just asking for some advice on what I should look for in a license in order to know if I can re-distribute someone else s code or not. If I can't, how is it best to contact an author in order to ask ? Is it acceptable to link to someone else s code so it can be downloaded separately ? Any general advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

The CLI apps. that I use in my front end are :-
eac3to.
BDsupTosub
mediainfo
mkvtoolnix
mp4box
neroaac encoder (free)
x264
xvidencraw
mplayer (but am working on changing this and using MPC-HC)
ffmpeg (working on not using this also)

AVIsynth also needs to be installed, I know I can't host this and I have no desire to.

Directshow filters for video/audio decoding also need to be installed, I use FFdshow and so far for me it works flawlessly.

Now to be clear I am in no doubt that this front end of mine is nothing special and offers nothing that other rather excellent tools also offer. It is just a front end for other tools, nothing more. Furthermore I wrote this app tailored to my own specific needs, covering all those things I was doing over and over again.

In short it allows me to :-

Demux blu-ray streams.
Re-encode video to xvid or x264 (if desired).
Re-encode audio to MP3 (if desired).
Crop and resize video (if desired).
Re-mux streams into MKV or MP4 (if desired).

This is also very much a work in progress, but it is now usable and in fact I have been using it for about 1 month now with good results.

I am sure there are bugs in my code but am confident that over time I'll iron them all out.

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any feedback.

[setarip_old]

Hi! 1. Is it worth me hosting it so that other can use it ?Certainly ;>} I'm sure you're aware that there is a sub-forum here at Doom9 that's devoted to just this topic.

I'm sure others will be along to address your licensing concerns...

[madhatter300871]

Thanks for reply.

OK, I'll do a basic web page showing instructions and I'll host it.

I wasn't sure where best to post my question, shall I ask a moderator to move it to the blu-ray section do you think ?

[setarip_old]

I'd suggest the sub-forum titled "MPEG-4 Encoder GUIs"...

[GodofaGap]

OK, so I know the answer to the second question. READ THE LICENCE ! So before that comes back as an answer I am just asking for some advice on what I should look for in a license in order to know if I can re-distribute someone else s code or not.
You should look for anything in the license that involves redistribution of the binaries and under what conditions. These conditions are usually the most clear things about licenses.

For GPL programs these means that you also have to make the source and any modifications to that source available and I'm pretty sure you can't redistribute neroaacenc under any condition. I don't know if there are other licenses involved in there.

Sorry, but you really have to start reading this yourself, because if you screw it up you can't come back here telling us we gave you wrong information and shift responsibility to us.

If you are not sure then just release the frontend, and only give links to binaries.

[7ekno]

Shouldn't be much of an issue, StaxRip, Ripbot264 and HDConvertToX come packaged with a few of these tools (so it might be worth PMing the authors of those GUIs to see what hurdles you may need to jump thru!) ...

Good luck with the frontend! I have been thinking about writing one that does BD, DVD and other DirectShowSource() files, but I have just been too lazy to write it (and not really motivated since there are some awesome tools out there already!) ...

7ek

[madhatter300871]

7ekno, I agree. Some great tools out there, I use them as well. I wrote my own front end just do do all those mundane tasks that I usually do, and did it just for the enjoyment of making it really.

Yes, I saw Staxrip and the like come bundled with other packages which is what made me think I probably could do it as well. MeGUI in particular seems to come bundled with just about everything under the sun.

And guys, fear not. I won't be telling anyone they gave me the wrong information and shift any responsibility. This is just a forum remember, not a legal advice service, I'm just engaging myself here in a hobby that I enjoy.

I'll probably just link to what CLI apps I use.

Thanks.