Handling .vob files (1 Viewer)

[eetaylog]

Ok, ive been out of the game for some time now and am looking at updating my old 1.0.1 build to the current MP 1.1.3 and in doing so want to use the latest stable version of Tvseries.

One issue ive always had with TVseries is the tedious way in which it handles DVD rips (ie, VIDEO_TS folders) because trying to update my database with newly ripped DVD series is always very difficult due to the generic way that DVD rips are named (the video files all have the filename VTS_1_1.vob etc).

Is there any way that TVseries is able to read the name of a tv series at the folder level rather than at the video file level, because currently i have to add every episode manually...

By the way, I really want to avoid having to convert every one of my .vob file episode into .avi or .mkv containers as i have hundreds of episodes spread over around 20-25 tv series.

thanks in advance.

 

[eetaylog]

Anyone?

 

[1stdead]

Issue 133 - mptvseries - Ability to use a single ISO as target for mulitple episodes + loading of ISO's - MP-TVSeries: plug-in for organizing TV shows in MediaPortal - Google Project Hosting
Issue 495 - mptvseries - Support for VIDEO_TS - MP-TVSeries: plug-in for organizing TV shows in MediaPortal - Google Project Hosting

 

[eetaylog]

Issue 133 - mptvseries - Ability to use a single ISO as target for mulitple episodes + loading of ISO's - MP-TVSeries: plug-in for organizing TV shows in MediaPortal - Google Project Hosting
Issue 495 - mptvseries - Support for VIDEO_TS - MP-TVSeries: plug-in for organizing TV shows in MediaPortal - Google Project Hosting

Thanks, but not quite what i was looking for as i have every episode from my dvd boxsets ripped seperately. I think im going to just have to convert the multiple 1Gb chunk .vob files from all my episodes into single .vob files and rename them s01e01.vob or somethig like that.

:-(

 

[Tony B]

I was looking for the same info...

 

[RoChess]

You can rely on foldernames for the Series/Season/Episode information, but the maximum support of episodes per media container is two.

So if you have a DVD containing 3 or more episodes, you are faced with a problem. There are multiple solutions, such as hardlinks/softlinks, but none of them will allow you to launch an episode individually because such support lacks not just in MP-TVSeries, but specifically in MediaPortal for playback.

There are many tools available however that can re-mux your files in a way where each episode is their own VOB file, so that you can either rename them to match the series/season/episode info, or rely on the foldername to provide it (keeps compatability with players who expect VTS_1_1.vob alike filenames).

Because you are remuxing and not transcoding, the process is very fast, but due to mass amount of files, it certainly won't be painless. You can then also decide to upgrade to a more modern container format such as MKV. The MKV container format has no problem supporting the audio and video codecs used in VOB containers, and you can even mux in the bitmap subtitle files if needed. DVD menu support is also included to some extend, but this is very prelimenary, so test first before deciding on that.

 

[Jason_Todd]

So it looks like for the time being if I want to play a backed up DVD as the through the VIDEO_TS.vob file it seems that WMP is still the best option?

 

[RoChess]

So it looks like for the time being if I want to play a backed up DVD as the through the VIDEO_TS.vob file it seems that WMP is still the best option?

If you backed up correctly with menu/chapter structure in place, then you can still use MP-TVSeries.

But a single ISO/VOB/Folder containing multiple episodes requires extra steps.

For a 2-episode ISO/VOB/Folder you can simply name it correctly so it ends up in the S01E01+E02 format that will then be picked up correctly.

For a 3+ episode ISO/VOB/Folder you have to resort to softlinks or hardlinks where you make S01E01, S01E02, S01E03, etc all point to the same ISO/VOB/Folder file, so that all the episodes get imported into MP-TVSeries correctly. Windows has default support for creating those links via command-line, but if you Google around you can find GUI tools for this process as well. It is supported on any NTFS volume, so it works on XP/NT4/2000/2003/2008/Vista/Win7/Win8. There are also tricks for FAT32, but those border on the insane, so you should just convert those volumes over to NTFS then.

What you are then still left with is the playback problem. Any 2+ episode will start at the beginning of first episode. But this is where the chapter/menu system will come into play. You bring up the MediaPortal context menu and jump straight to the correct chapter to start playback on the correct episode.

And in all honesty, if you start to watch a show, the normal way would be to go from Episode 1 to 2, to 3, etc... You normally don't decide to watch episode 4 and then jump to 2, then 5 and finally decide to watch 1. The only issue might be Trakt support, I'm not sure if the scrobble detection system has chapter support, so that it would recognize when you finished an episode, but that can always be worked on later. It is an existing enhancement request for 3+ episode support via ISO/VOB/Folder, and Trakt support will be done correct then.

 

[Jason_Todd]

Please forgive this newbie I have just started backing up my DVDs and am looking at ways to play them back as the PS3 wont play either the VIDEO_TS.vob or the VIDEO_TS.ifo( Some of the DVDs only have a VIDEO_TS.ifo and no VIDEO_TS.vob) to allow me to use the menus and converting them to .avi is a major time consuming prospect. I use Magic DVD ripper on the back-up setting backing up the Copy Disc Fully setting Which give me the VIDEO_TS.vob file and a range of other .vob files. I am putting together a mini itx to play them on and am looking into mediaportal as the player to use.
Cheers

 

[RoChess]

Please forgive this newbie I have just started backing up my DVDs and am looking at ways to play them back as the PS3 wont play either the VIDEO_TS.vob or the VIDEO_TS.ifo( Some of the DVDs only have a VIDEO_TS.ifo and no VIDEO_TS.vob) to allow me to use the menus and converting them to .avi is a major time consuming prospect. I use Magic DVD ripper on the back-up setting backing up the Copy Disc Fully setting Which give me the VIDEO_TS.vob file and a range of other .vob files. I am putting together a mini itx to play them on and am looking into mediaportal as the player to use.
Cheers

Your best bet would be to look into MP4 container with H.264 codec for video and AAC for audio (AC3 is supported by PS3, but not officially by the MP4 format, so I would test that first). At least DTS should be avoided, because the PS3 and XBox360 have trouble sometimes streaming DTS via LPCM, though this has been made easier for the PS3 with recent firmware updates. You should limit your transcodes of MPEG-4 codec to 8Mbps, and H.264 codec to 15Mbps as otherwise you might end up with stream issues on the consoles as well.

MediaPortal won't have any trouble with any container or codec, because you can simply add them as DirectShow filters to Windows, but the consoles are much more restrictive. I personally prefer the MKV container format, because it offers very DVD alike features (soft subtitles, menus, chapters, etc) while supporting all the video and audio codecs in a good way. But the XBox 360 and PS3 do not support this container. You can convert the MKV to VOB for PS3 playback, but that would be an extra step that you should want to avoid from the start.

So MP4 container format is the most compatible then amongst all the existing devices, as even Apple iPods/iPads/etc can play them.

As for an easy way to convert your DVD collection over, I would look into open source Handbrake.