VT Player - VideoTools Player Fork

What is VT Player?

VT Player is a fork of VideoTools focused on the playback and inspection workflows. It keeps the same modern GUI foundation while letting us evolve player-specific tooling separately from the broader VideoTools suite. Some docs and screens still reference "VideoTools"—those will be updated as the fork matures.

Key Features

DVD-NTSC & DVD-PAL Output

• Professional MPEG-2 encoding (720×480 @ 29.97fps for NTSC, 720×576 @ 25fps for PAL)
• AC-3 Dolby Digital audio (192 kbps, 48 kHz)
• DVDStyler compatible (no re-encoding warnings)
• PS2 compatible (PS2-safe bitrate limits)
• Region-free format (works worldwide)

Batch Processing

• Queue multiple videos
• Pause/resume jobs
• Real-time progress tracking
• Job history and persistence

Smart Features

• Automatic framerate conversion (23.976p, 24p, 30p, 60p, VFR → 29.97fps)
• Automatic audio resampling (any rate → 48 kHz)
• Aspect ratio preservation with intelligent handling
• Comprehensive validation with helpful warnings

Quick Start

Installation (One Command)

bash install.sh

The installer will build, install, and set up everything automatically!

After installation:

source ~/.bashrc    # (or ~/.zshrc for zsh)
VTPlayer

Alternative: Developer Setup

If you already have the repo cloned:

cd /path/to/VT_Player
source scripts/alias.sh
VTPlayer

For detailed installation options, see INSTALLATION.md.

How to Create a Professional DVD

1. Start VT Player → VTPlayer
2. Load a video → Drag & drop into Convert module
3. Select format → Choose "DVD-NTSC (MPEG-2)" or "DVD-PAL (MPEG-2)"
4. Choose aspect → Select 4:3 or 16:9
5. Name output → Enter filename (without .mpg)
6. Queue → Click "Add to Queue"
7. Encode → Click "View Queue" → "Start Queue"
8. Export → Use the .mpg file in DVDStyler

Output is professional quality, ready for:

• DVDStyler authoring (no re-encoding needed)
• DVD menu creation
• Burning to disc
• PS2 playback

Documentation

Getting Started:

• INSTALLATION.md - Comprehensive installation guide (read this first!)

For Users:

• docs/BUILD_AND_RUN.md - How to build and run VT Player
• docs/DVD_USER_GUIDE.md - Complete guide to DVD encoding

For Developers:

• docs/DVD_IMPLEMENTATION_SUMMARY.md - Technical specifications
• docs/INTEGRATION_GUIDE.md - System architecture and integration
• docs/QUEUE_SYSTEM_GUIDE.md - Queue system reference

Requirements

• Go 1.21+ (for building)
• FFmpeg (for video encoding)
• X11 or Wayland display server (for GUI)

System Architecture

VT Player has a modular architecture:

• internal/convert/ - DVD and video encoding
• internal/queue/ - Job queue system
• internal/ui/ - User interface components
• internal/player/ - Media playback
• scripts/ - Build and run automation

Commands

Build & Run

# One-time setup
source scripts/alias.sh

# Run the application
VTPlayer

# Force rebuild
VTPlayerRebuild

# Clean build artifacts
VTPlayerClean

Legacy (Direct commands)

# Build
go build -o VTPlayer .

# Run
./VTPlayer

# Run with debug logging
VIDEOTOOLS_DEBUG=1 ./VTPlayer

# View logs
go run . logs

Troubleshooting

• See BUILD_AND_RUN.md for detailed troubleshooting
• Check videotools.log for detailed error messages
• Use VIDEOTOOLS_DEBUG=1 for verbose logging

Professional Use Cases

• Home video archival to physical media
• Professional DVD authoring workflows
• Multi-region video distribution
• Content preservation on optical media
• PS2 compatible video creation

Professional Quality Specifications

DVD-NTSC

• Resolution: 720 × 480 pixels
• Framerate: 29.97 fps (NTSC standard)
• Video: MPEG-2 codec, 6000 kbps
• Audio: AC-3 stereo, 192 kbps, 48 kHz
• Regions: USA, Canada, Japan, Australia

DVD-PAL

• Resolution: 720 × 576 pixels
• Framerate: 25.00 fps (PAL standard)
• Video: MPEG-2 codec, 8000 kbps
• Audio: AC-3 stereo, 192 kbps, 48 kHz
• Regions: Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia

Getting Help

1. Read BUILD_AND_RUN.md for setup issues
2. Read DVD_USER_GUIDE.md for how-to questions
3. Check videotools.log for error details
4. Review documentation in project root