Where the name Mistelix comes from?

The name Mistelix is the result of the combination of the Catalan word Mistela and the ix part of the name Unix. Mistela is a traditional wine in Catalonia made by adding alcohol to non-fermented or partially fermented must. Mistela's taste is sweet and has a yellow color.

Why another DVD authoring tool?

At the time that Mistelix was considered, there was no simple DVD and slideshows authoring tool for Linux. Traditionally DVD authoring tools have been difficult to install due to complex dependencies and the legal issues to distribute codecs.

Mistelix is built on the following principles:

• It is easy to install and use
• Written in a modern platform (Mono and C#)
• Built on top of GStreamer multimedia framework which allow to extend its capabilities
• It is highly extensible extensions and themes

The target audience for Mistelix are end-users that require an easy to use tool to author DVD or slideshows for personal use.

Under which license is Mistelix released?

Mistelix is a free/open source software released under the MIT/X11 license.

Why the distributed version of Mistelix cannot build DVD projects?

The MPEG-2 video compression format, required for DVD authoring, is protected by patents under United States law and international treaties. Most of the Linux distributions have currently no support for MPEG2. See as examples Fedora Linux distribution policy the OpenSuse Linux format restrictions page, or the restricted formats page.

Mistelix by default is packaged and distributed with several distributions. These versions support only Theora slideshow authoring to make Mistelix compatible with the distribution of free software.

We have no evidence that these patents are either (a) valid or (b) infringed by anything that Mistelix does. Additionally, Mistelix web server is located in Europe, where software patents are not currently legal. This is the reason why we provide the necessary MPEG2 codecs in the download area.

Can I build a DVD using Theora encodec files?

No, you cannot. MPEG2 is the official authoring video format for DVD as defined by the DVD Forum. All the subtitles, menus, camera angles, and other DVD features are part of MPEG2 format.

Does Mistelix work in Windows or Mac OS?

It does not but it is technically possible to port it to these systems. We have no plans to do so but it will be an interesting exercise to embrace.

Where does Mistelix store configuration files?

It is stored under the directory ~/.config/mistelix/. There you have the preferences file and the Mono.Addins library.

How do I burn a DVD from the Mistelix's output?

If you are authoring a DVD project, Mistelix creates a subdirectory named dvd that contains a DVD-Video file system output that you can record directly on a DVD.

Generate an ISO image using mkisofs:

mkisofs -dvd-video -udf -o dvd.iso dvd

Once this is done you can use your favorite DVD burning application to burn your authored DVD.