DVD ISO files with My TVSeries Plugin (1 Viewer)

[ixian]

The more I think about it the more I think this really would be a cool feature to have. Ripping a DVD set of a series to .iso is pretty easy. Ripping each show off each dvd and reencoding/packaging it is not.

If all MyTVSeries did was allow you to manually point episodes to specific .isos that would be good enough. Having it know which file in the .iso corresponds to which episode would be the ultimate but I imagine that would be orders of magnitude more complicated.

I'm going to try the symlinks for ntfs program mentioned above in the interim. If I understand it right, I would make dummy files named (for example) like this:

deadwood-s01e01.mkv
deadwood-s01e02.mkv
deadwood-s01e03.mkv
deadwood-s01e04.mkv

deadwood-s02e01.mkv
deadwood-s02e02.mkv

etc. etc then symlink those dummy files to deadwoodse01.iso for the first season and deadwoodse02.iso for the second. Then I'd add the dummy files in MyTVSeries which should pick them up as regular video files and download all the info, etc.

Then, when I clicked to launch one of the dummy files in MyTV, the symlink would direct it to the .iso, MediaPortal would mount and play the .iso as normal, and then I'd just navigate in the dvd to the particular episode as I would normally.

This way I get all the episodes with their descriptions, fanart, summaries, etc in MyTV, and it at least launches the correct .iso file that has the episode on it. This sound right? It should work?

Having to choose the episode again in the actual dvd menu once it launched is a small price to pay for the added features. Having this built in to MyTV itself so I don't have to manually create symlinks would be even better but I'll try it this way first.

 

[Johnyd]

Ive put the request on the issue tracker hope thats okay
Issue 133 - mptvseries - Ability to use a single ISO as target for mulitple episodes + loading of ISO's - Google Code

 

[murkyl]

The NTFS sym links do work. Just be aware that the NTFS links are hard links, not soft links. This means they have to be on the same file system and cannot span disks. I personally have all my media sitting on a Linux SAMBA server which makes softlinks much easier.

I keep all the ISOs of the DVD series in 1 directory structure and then I have a second directory structure which has 1 symlink per episode pointing to the same DVD.

So something like:
episode1.iso -> /other/path/dvd1.iso
episode2.iso -> /other/path/dvd1.iso
episode3.iso -> /other/path/dvd2.iso
episode4.iso -> /other/path/dvd2.iso

Unfortunately I don't get any media information such as run time or video dimensions since mediainfo.dll can't handle ISOs. Even if it could, it would be difficult for it to figure out which chapters represent that particular episode.

Does anyone know of a metafile that can be used to represent the media information and point to the ISO at the same time? That would work fairly well right now.

 

[Trypa]

Can anyone make a tutorial teaching how to make the hardlinks with the program?? I tried but I dont know how this program works...


Another thing, when I make the hard links to ISO files and use it into MyTvSeries , daemon tools automaticly mount these files? And can I change de audio and subtitles?

 

[murkyl]

Trypa,

Here is a command line tutorial. The command to create a hard link is built into Windows XP.

Here is some information about the program from Microsoft directly: Fsutil hardlink

Let's say you have this directory structure:
c:\series\SomeSeriesName
c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO

DVD1.ISO contains episodes 1, 2, 3 and 4 from season 1.
What you want to get as the end result is:
c:\series\SomeSeriesName\Series - S01E01 - Title.ISO
c:\series\SomeSeriesName\Series - S01E02 - Title.ISO
c:\series\SomeSeriesName\Series - S01E03 - Title.ISO
c:\series\SomeSeriesName\Series - S01E04 - Title.ISO

Where, each of the Series - S01Exx - Title.ISO is actually the same files as c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO.
You don't want to make copies since the ISO file is 8 GB large. This is where a hard link can help you out.

The program is called: fsutil
The command is: hardlink
The format of the command is: fsutil hardlink create <destination> <source>

So you would go into the directory that you want to have the hardlinks. In this case:
cd \series\SomeSeriesName
Then you would enter the following 4 commands:
fsutil hardlink create "Series - S01E01 - Title.ISO" c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO
fsutil hardlink create "Series - S01E02 - Title.ISO" c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO
fsutil hardlink create "Series - S01E03 - Title.ISO" c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO
fsutil hardlink create "Series - S01E04 - Title.ISO" c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO

I haven't used the program mentioned near the beginning of the thread so I can't advise you on that.

Remember there is a limitation in that you cannot create hard links in Windows XP across file systems. So if your DVD ISO file is on D:, you cannot make a link to it from C:. This limitation is not present in Windows Vista however.

Also for those that are not familiar with hardlinks, a file will only be deleted after ALL references to the file are deleted. So in the case above, the DVD1.ISO file has 5 references. The original one in c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO and 4 additional ones that were just created. So to really delete the file you have to delete it 5 times.

The limitation with this method is that you must manually navigate to the correct episode within the DVD. This just tricks MP TV Series into recognizing the DVD as 4 different episodes. I haven't yet figured out a good way to have the link jump automatically to the correct chapter in the DVD.

 

[Trypa]

Trypa,

Here is a command line tutorial. The command to create a hard link is built into Windows XP.

Here is some information about the program from Microsoft directly: Fsutil hardlink

Let's say you have this directory structure:
c:\series\SomeSeriesName
c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO

DVD1.ISO contains episodes 1, 2, 3 and 4 from season 1.
What you want to get as the end result is:
c:\series\SomeSeriesName\Series - S01E01 - Title.ISO
c:\series\SomeSeriesName\Series - S01E02 - Title.ISO
c:\series\SomeSeriesName\Series - S01E03 - Title.ISO
c:\series\SomeSeriesName\Series - S01E04 - Title.ISO

Where, each of the Series - S01Exx - Title.ISO is actually the same files as c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO.
You don't want to make copies since the ISO file is 8 GB large. This is where a hard link can help you out.

The program is called: fsutil
The command is: hardlink
The format of the command is: fsutil hardlink create <destination> <source>

So you would go into the directory that you want to have the hardlinks. In this case:
cd \series\SomeSeriesName
Then you would enter the following 4 commands:
fsutil hardlink create "Series - S01E01 - Title.ISO" c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO
fsutil hardlink create "Series - S01E02 - Title.ISO" c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO
fsutil hardlink create "Series - S01E03 - Title.ISO" c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO
fsutil hardlink create "Series - S01E04 - Title.ISO" c:\realseries\SomeSeriesName\DVD1.ISO

I haven't used the program mentioned near the beginning of the thread so I can't advise you on that.

Remember there is a limitation in that you cannot create hard links in Windows XP across file systems. So if your DVD ISO file is on D:, you cannot make a link to it from C:.

Thx murkyl!!

But I think I have a problem.. Im using windows vista/seven.. the commands are the same?


Andwhat I have to do for MyTvseries recognize ISO format?? The automount function of MP works with the plugin??

 

[murkyl]

Trypa,

This will work with Vista. In fact it works slightly better. On Vista you can create links between file systems, so if your source file is on D: you can make a link on C:.

MyTV Series should recognize the ISO format if you have setup MediaPortal itself to recognize ISO files.

So you need to have Daemon Tools installed and configured in MediaPortal. Configuration for Daemon tools is under: General -> Daemon Tools
Make sure the Automount .iso/.bin files using Daemon Tools is checked
You need to have the correct path to the deamon.exe file in the Daemon tools: box
Make sure you have the correct Virtual Drive and Drive number as well.

To make sure MediaPortal, MP TV Series and Moving Pictures can use .ISO files you need to add the .ISO extension to the Video Extensions. That configuration is in Videos -> Video Extentions.

 

[Trypa]

i add .ISO extecion to video extecion but MyTVseries dont recognize it...

any sugestion?

 

[rekenaar]

Hi guys

I have not followed every posting here, but regarding the hardlinks, see this page for an integrated explorer method.

 

[murkyl]

i add .ISO extecion to video extecion but MyTVseries dont recognize it...

any sugestion?

Are you using the internal player or an external player?

Can you play .avi or .mkv files in MP TV Series right now?