Howdy! New to MP and a few questions (1 Viewer)

[FiremanJim]

Hi all,
Just found out about Media Portal via AVS forum discussion. Actually, the screenshots of a skin(xface) really drew me in!

A couple of questions tho...
I see that a plugin is in the works for HD playback from within MP... until that it in use and stable, how are HD DVD and BluRay movies handled? External player? If so, any one particular or any that playback? Hard drive playback, ISO or player program dependent?

Right now, I am using My Movies 2.42 for DVD database cataloging and playback. I see a plugin or two that handle movie databases and playback... will I be able to import my collection? I did not see it listed (MyMovies) but it will output an XML file. Anyone do this before?

Overall it looks good... I'm looking forward to trying it out and moving away from MCE 2005 - I like opensource work and am happy to support it.

 

[ThaClown]

For HD Playback I use the PowerDVD codec with Haali Media Splitter.
I play HD files from the hard drive (mostly .MKV) in MP, just like Divx and normal AVI files, works great!

I dont use MyMovies so cant help with that...
Welcome!

 

[Dubyahjay]

I use FFdshow and Haali for all HD playback. It is seamless with the internal player.

Oh, and welcome to the family (I am a regular at AVSforum also, good to see you)

 

[FiremanJim]

Hmmm... looks like I have some reading to do - I just use plain ol' PowerDVD. Don't have ffdshow loaded and never heard of the media splitter! (what's it for?)

Guess I'll just have to gran MP and give it a whirl!

 

[Dubyahjay]

You can always use PowerDVD as an external player from within MP. It is under the DVD and movie setup tab in config.

 

[FiremanJim]

You can always use PowerDVD as an external player from within MP. It is under the DVD and movie setup tab in config.

But... if i use this FFdshow and media splitter I can play HD DvD and bluray movies from INSIDE media portal? that woudl be a better way would it not? I'll have to read up on them - i've never heard of the media splitter before now.

Any pointers woudl sure be helpful...

 

[jburnette]

To play a real physical HD-DVD/BluRay disc then you would need to use an external player like PowerDVD. To play a video file whose source was HD-DVD/BluRay but has been ripped/encoded then no, you wouldn't need an external player just a codec (like the PowerDVD codec or ffdshow) to decode the video file.

 

[FiremanJim]

Sweet!
will having powerDVD loaded on the computer be enough, or is there a special way of loading the codec for use by mp? man, this sounds so much better and friendly than MCE... and looking thru the plugins there are som really good looking ones (and useful too!)

Long live OpenSource!

 

[Dubyahjay]

Haali is used to split x264/h264/avi/etc from .mkv files so that the decoder can process them.

I rotate from Xface to Spinsafe revolve almost on a daily basis. They are both amazing skins!

 

[FiremanJim]

Hmmm... is splitting the files required? Not had to do that before... just using hard drive ripped HD DVD and Blu Ray disks (I own the disks but my wife is handicapped and cannot use the disks them selves so this is the best solution)

Also... mkv files? are those the files created by MP recordings I assume? WhenI get home I have a lot of reading to do...