Get me started please (1 Viewer)

[caveman38]

Hi from a snowy, cold Lodon.
I am about to start ripping my DVD collection and hopefully play them within MP. So that I don't cock anything up (as I'm a bit green) I would like to ask you guys some quesions.
I intend to use DVDShrink and archive the DVD's in a file structure that would just be Film Title/ IFO, BUP, VOB - do I need to keep the Video-TS folder for MP to work.
Can I get cover art and film info automatically from MP or do I need third party software to work in conjunction with MP, and
Once the archive is complete would it also be compatible with Windows Media Centre if I was to upgrade in the future.
Thanks for listening to me. I hope you are a friendly lit of guys who don't mind an old duffer like me asking basic questions. I hope to get cracking with this soon as it don't look like I'm going anywhere for a couple of days, I must put another wooly on. Cheers guys.

 

[VdR]

There should be no problem playing the ripped DVDs in MP.

DVDShrink is is good choice. But since DVDShrink has not been updated for a long time you need something else (like the thing sometimes refered to as 'the sly fox') running in the background to break newer protections.

I have never tried to do without the VIDEO_TS folder, I don't see a reason why and wouldn't experience too much for the sake of compatibility.

I use MovingPictures (MP plugin) for video content, that will automatically download cover art and other info.

The MP database will not be compatible with MCE, but your folders with content will be. Word of warning though; MCE likes to mess up your cover art, it replaces the folder.jpg files with low resolution, often wrong images without warning. I NEVER as in NEVER EVER let MCE access my media folders !!! ... !!!

Upgrade from MP to MCE ? You must be kidding.

When I rip using DVDShrink I put compression to 0 and ignore the warning that the file won't fit on a single layer DVD. That way the rip is done without re-encoding and is fast and quality is untouched. HD space is cheap.

Welcome to MP and good luck.

VdR