[klebel]

OK folks I am totally lost. I have a new HTPC running Vista Ultimate and a Samsung 72" DLP, Xbox 360, etc etc. All hooked up with a gigabyte switch. Plenty of bandwidth. I also built a new NAS Server with 8 TB of drive space. What I can't figure out is the best way to get the video streamed to my TV! Very frustrating. Do I convert my DVD's to some h.264 format? If so? What settings do I use? Can I just copy the whole DVD into directories on the NAS Server and read them from the drive like a regular DVD? How do I get DVD cover info? Any ideas? I'll spend the coin if I need to. I want instant access to all my movies.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DJWikiera]

For your SD DVD player I would purchase TheaterTek , AnyDVD HD for ripping and MyMovies for use in VMC. This combo integrates with VMC with no problems at all.


You don't have to convert any files, SD DVDs don't take up that much space. Just rip to folder and be done with it.

 

[klebel]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DJWikiera /forum/post/15468093


For your SD DVD player I would purchase TheaterTek , AnyDVD HD for ripping and MyMovies for use in VMC. This combo integrates with VMC with no problems at all.


You don't have to convert any files, SD DVDs don't take up that much space. Just rip to folder and be done with it.

Any chance of taking advantage of my HTPC? I already own AnyDVD and AnyDVD mobile. What are you streaming to the TV with? theatertek?

 

[DJWikiera]

Use your HTPC and connect to your TV. I use what I recommended, read the links as to what they all do. TheaterTek is a software player in the HTPC. I've got 5 HTPC's throughout the house.

 

[klebel]

Using the My Movies it looks like I could bypass the TheaterTek and play through my Vista Ultimate. Am I missing something? Thanks for the software advice. The My Movies looks like an absolute life saver at a minimum.

 

[DJWikiera]

TheaterTek is your software player for your DVDs. MyMovies was written to take advantage of TheaterTek in VMC for one click playing of movies. VMC player is subpar compaired to TheaterTek as your player.

 

[klebel]



Quote:
Originally Posted by DJWikiera /forum/post/15468479

TheaterTek is your software player for your DVDs. MyMovies was written to take advantage of TheaterTek in VMC for one click playing of movies. VMC player is subpar compaired to TheaterTek as your player.

DJ please don't get too annoyed. Like I said I'm a noob at this stuff. I am still missing why I need the TheaterTek. Isn't the Windows Media Center my player? Also I was reading the My Movies documentation and came across this...

http://wiki.mymovies.dk/Playing%20ISO%20Images.ashx


This shows that I can play ISO files directly out of My Movies. Am I just reading this incorrectly? Does My Movies require TheaterTek to play back those ISO's?

 

[jimre]



Quote:
Originally Posted by klebel /forum/post/15468707


DJ please don't get too annoyed. Like I said I'm a noob at this stuff. I am still missing why I need the TheaterTek. Isn't the Windows Media Center my player? Also I was reading the My Movies documentation and came across this...

http://wiki.mymovies.dk/Playing%20ISO%20Images.ashx


This shows that I can play ISO files directly out of My Movies. Am I just reading this incorrectly? Does My Movies require TheaterTek to play back those ISO's?

Theatertek is not required for your setup. Many people prefer it to the built-in DVD playback in VMC (which is what MyMovies uses by default) - but the built-in DVD playback in VMC is perfectly adequate for lots of people, including me.


And there's no need to rip your movies in .ISO format - I find that simply ripping them to a VIDEO_TS folder structure works just fine, and is ultimately a lot simpler.

 

[klebel]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jimre /forum/post/15470695


Theatertek is not required for your setup. Many people prefer it to the built-in DVD playback in VMC (which is what MyMovies uses by default) - but the built-in DVD playback in VMC is perfectly adequate for lots of people, including me.


And there's no need to rip your movies in .ISO format - I find that simply ripping them to a VIDEO_TS folder structure works just fine, and is ultimately a lot simpler.

Are you guys making the assumption that the HTPC is setup directly to the TV? I usually use the 360 as an Extender. Can I play the moves through the extender now? In the past the 360 would not play VOB files or read the DVD straight from the disk. I had to convert it to H.264 to watch them through the extender.

 

[jimre]



Quote:
Originally Posted by klebel /forum/post/15470757


Are you guys making the assumption that the HTPC is setup directly to the TV? I usually use the 360 as an Extender. Can I play the moves through the extender now? In the past the 360 would not play VOB files or read the DVD straight from the disk. I had to convert it to H.264 to watch them through the extender.

Yes, based on your post I didn't realize you wanted to stream DVDs thru your Xbox. It seems possible, but you're right - there's probably a lot of horrible yucky transcoding in your future. Good luck - I wouldn't touch this option with a 10-foot pole if ripped DVDs were the main thing I cared about.

 

[dmann304]

I just made a post about issues with my movies not seeing the dvd rip library in my htpc.


And i noticed when i have a dvd in the drive, my movies stops responding when im in mce in my movies so my movies sounds like a no no to me.

 

[klebel]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jimre /forum/post/15470787


Yes, based on your post I didn't realize you wanted to stream DVDs thru your Xbox. It seems possible, but you're right - there's probably a lot of horrible yucky transcoding in your future. Good luck - I wouldn't touch this option with a 10-foot pole if ripped DVDs were the main thing I cared about.

Ya screw it. I won't use the 360 for extending. The problem is that the HTPC is also my main PC at my house. Dual Quad Core, 8 GB Ram and 8 TB of drive space. Its not a dedicated box for a HTPC and it is about 30 ft from my TV at my computer desk. I would hate to have to drape a cable across the room or buy a DVI extender to go from the PC to the TV over cat5. If that is what I am going to have to do though I will.

 

[oliverjg]

klebel,


i used dvdshrink to rip to a stripped down video_ts folder. then vob2mpg to convert the video_ts to an mpg file. this works all the time.


the mpg file will stream to xbox 360, ps3 and anything else i have tried so far.


getting the mpg file is very fast because you aren't reencoding.

 

[dmann304]

why is the vob file stil the same size as in the dvd folders?


I thought it would shtrink it down to s sub gig file to save on storage.

 

[Derek K.]



Quote:
Originally Posted by dmann304 /forum/post/15471032


why is the vob file stil the same size as in the dvd folders?


I thought it would shtrink it down to s sub gig file to save on storage.

dvd shrink can compress dvds further, but why bother? you are losing quality and big hard drives are cheap.

 

[chadamir]

Im in love with mediaportal + moving pictures at the moment. Give that a look.

 

[Mopar_Mudder]

My HTPC is also the main PC for the house. I have a 50' HDMI cable run to the TV and set it up as Extended Desk Top and an Optical cable to the receivers. Also had to run a USB cable out their to run the remote receiver into. The set up works great, in reality it is not very often that we ever need to use the PC while watching a movie off from it. And if we need to we can because the PC has the power, the biggest thing is you have to keep hitting Alt Tab to get the mouse to come back to the PC screen. Also you have to switch your audio device from the optical that goes to the TV back to the OC speakers if you need sound at the PC, again not a big deal.


As for ripping all of our DVD's and Bluray is stored on an UnRaid server. I rip the DVD's with DVDFAB, it lets you pull just the main movie and Audio tracks that you want. This gets rid of all the menus and crap, when you hit play the movie starts right away. I just rip to folders, simple and easy no other converting, hard drives are cheap.


When you have your TV on as the extended desk top and launch Vista Media Center (which can be done with the remote, no need to tuch the PC) it comes right up on the TV. My Movies integrates right into Media Center, select the movie you want and hit play. I didn't use any third party player, just whats in media center. Too me it is better quality then our stand alone player was so I don't know how much better TheaterTeck can be.


Also their is a program called Transcode 360 that I think is suppse to transcode DVD from folders on the fly when you want to stream them to your 360. I was going to try it but haven't got around to it yet.

 

[klebel]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Mopar_Mudder /forum/post/15473121


My HTPC is also the main PC for the house. I have a 50' HDMI cable run to the TV and set it up as Extended Desk Top and an Optical cable to the receivers. Also had to run a USB cable out their to run the remote receiver into. The set up works great, in reality it is not very often that we ever need to use the PC while watching a movie off from it. And if we need to we can because the PC has the power, the biggest thing is you have to keep hitting Alt Tab to get the mouse to come back to the PC screen. Also you have to switch your audio device from the optical that goes to the TV back to the OC speakers if you need sound at the PC, again not a big deal.


As for ripping all of our DVD's and Bluray is stored on an UnRaid server. I rip the DVD's with DVDFAB, it lets you pull just the main movie and Audio tracks that you want. This gets rid of all the menus and crap, when you hit play the movie starts right away. I just rip to folders, simple and easy no other converting, hard drives are cheap.


When you have your TV on as the extended desk top and launch Vista Media Center (which can be done with the remote, no need to tuch the PC) it comes right up on the TV. My Movies integrates right into Media Center, select the movie you want and hit play. I didn't use any third party player, just whats in media center. Too me it is better quality then our stand alone player was so I don't know how much better TheaterTeck can be.


Also their is a program called Transcode 360 that I think is suppse to transcode DVD from folders on the fly when you want to stream them to your 360. I was going to try it but haven't got around to it yet.

Transcode 360 is something that I have tried several times on several different PC's. I have never gotten it to work. It is buggy as hell. I did install My Movies last night. That was a great recommendation. I could about 40 of my DVD's copied over last night. Wow that is a cool program. Getting the box covers and actor information was excellent. I wonder my I never stumbled across that before.

 

[mcnabney]

Converting folders (VOBs) to one big'ol MPG is quick and easy. You lose no quality (since both are MPEG), but you will lose the chapters stored in the VOBs. I leave my movies as folders, but convert TV shows to MPEG. Extenders are for people that haven't yet tasted the joys of PC games using a mouse/keyboard on the big screen.

 

[klebel]



Quote:
Originally Posted by mcnabney /forum/post/15474212


Extenders are for people that haven't yet tasted the joys of PC games using a mouse/keyboard on the big screen.

I have two 24" ASUS monitors side by side on my PC. I can play Bioshock, WoW, Crysis, etc just fine without the 72" DLP.

I just hate the idea of draping cables clear across the room from my desk to the tv.